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It was 1999. The dot-com boom was in full swing.
This technology “gold rush” was sparked by Netscape, the browser of choice at the time, which launched into an initial public offering a few years earlier, resulting in a market value of nearly $ 3 billion, unheard of for a company that was established only a few months before and that had yet to make a single cent of profit.
Meanwhile, Google was just getting started and had Yahoo, the market leader in search engines, in its sights.
In Malaysia, we were in the midst of unmitigated economic and political turmoil. The “tom yum kung” financial crisis, so named because it originated in Thailand, had hit the country very hard.
In the wake of the crisis, Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad fired his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim. Reformasi rang loud as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets. Feeling more trouble ahead, Mahathir called an early general election for November 29.
A month before that, Premesh Chandran, co-founder of Malaysiakini, rented a non-lift parking office in Section 14, Petaling Jaya. Located on the fifth floor, the office was previously an architecture firm with wall-to-wall lime green cabinets. Was Malaysiakini’s first headquarters.
Fresh from Thailand after quitting my job at a Bangkok newspaper, I didn’t even have time to look for a place to stay. Instead, I threw myself into preparing for the launch of the country’s first online news website and slept in the back of the office, a small cubicle that was converted into a prayer room for our Muslim staff.
Not that there is anything to complain about. Our situation was perhaps much better than that of some Internet startups. Many began their journey in basements or garages, driven solely by the hope of developing a killer app that would change the world.
In Malaysiakini, our ambition was a little more modest. We just wanted to change Malaysia.
We quickly hired three relatively wet journalists and a 19-year-old web designer. Armed with a 56k dial-up modem, we posted our first stories on November 20, nomination day for the 10th General Election (GE10).
In those days, there was no Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, WeChat or Instagram. To let people know we were in business, we relied solely on word of mouth. As expected, Malaysiakini It got off to a slow start. But soon, our traffic grew from 500 visitors to 5,000 and then to 50,000.
Mahathir suffered a major setback at GE10. While he was able to retain the government, many Malaysians left Umno to support both the fledgling PKR and PAS. Ironically, he was saved by non-Malaysian voters who were apparently scared by the riots in Jakarta the previous May that led to the overthrow of Indonesian strongman Suharto.
From those early days, we went on to keep another four general elections under our belt, we saw a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime change of government and, yes, the return of Mahathir.
Dangerous task
Few human endeavors demand a fiercer commitment to the truth as journalism.
It is no wonder that in countries where the truth is persecuted by those threatened by the power of the written word (and images), journalism has become not only an onerous endeavor but also a dangerous endeavor.
Malaysia is no exception.
One prime minister declared us “traitors” and another sued us. We faced debilitating cyber attacks, we were kicked out of press conferences over and over again, we saw several of our journalists arrested, and the police raided our office at least five times.
Not only do we have to deal with hostile political forces seeking to suffocate us, but we also have to face the vagaries of the internet economy.
Malaysiakini’s Existence is guided by an unshakable principle: Independent media need independent funding. But getting people to pay for content online is difficult.
Many of our contemporaries could not continue. We, however, carry on. It was not easy. There were times when we were convinced that we too had to close the store. But we were able to persevere thanks to the support of our growing community of Malaysiakini subscribers.
By the way, one of those companies that closed was Netscape. Despite raising billions on the stock market, Microsoft soon shut it down. How that happened is another story.
So we change Malaysia? The jury is still out on that. But Malaysia changed, from the dark days when people had to look over their shoulders when talking about politics to today, when Malaysians know they have the power to change government.
But there is one thing that did not change: Malaysiakini. Our values remain the same as 21 years ago: tell the truth to power and hold power to account.
We remain firm in the problems that led us to establish
Malaysiakini. Among them the fight against corruption, good governance, the defense of human rights and the protection of the environment, the independence of the judiciary and freedom of the press.
Today we turn 21, but our task continues. We thank everyone who was with us on our 21 year journey. And we hope they get more on board. To celebrate our 21st anniversary, we are offering a 21 percent discount to all current and new subscribers for the next seven days. This special offer will end next Friday, November 27.
Click here subscribe to
Malaysiakini. Join us today, and together we will be the change we wish to see in Malaysia. And maybe the world.
Subscribe to Malaysiakini with a 21% discount here.
STEVEN GAN is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Malaysiakini.
