Malaysia Today unveiled a spiffy and breezy new look for its web site on Saturday with a new logo, and resumed service at its original domain name.

It now has a much more commercial feel to it, in contrast to the old site’s homespun philosophy, which readers may miss.

The changes come just a few days before the launching of another news site Free Malaysia Today, a name that dates back to Reformasi days of a decade ago stemming from the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim from government and his many subsequent tribulations.

Not coincidentally, Anwar is embroiled yet again in another trial on a sex crime charge that many are willing to believe is a put-up job designed to thwart his attempts to demolish the Umno-Barisan Nasional grip on power.

The new Free Malaysia Today, I am told, is planned to be a general news site providing Malaysian news and commentary together with world news, lifestyle articles, and sports.

Mohsin Abdullah, former NTV7 news editor and contributor to MySinchew and Malaysian Insider, is the biggest name on its masthead, though the site has several veteran news media personalities in the background.

The site will launch at noon on Nov 9 (corrected - admin) and its backers have intentions of reviving the lost art of investigative journalism and providing a middle path between the traditional media and the existing alternative press.

For the moment, its prototype site contains nothing that will alarm any of the existing Internet newspapers like MalaysiaKini, Malaysian Insider, Malaysian Mirror, or the Nut Graph.

Until it comes out with something spectacular, Free Malaysia Today will have a tough time living up to the pioneering efforts of its short-lived predecessor FreeMalaysia.com, in the turbulent days of Reformasi, which also led to the birth of MalaysiaKini — 10 years old on Nov 28 — Malaysia’s pioneer in independent Internet journalism.

It was the Asian economic crisis of 1997-99, and the sacking and subsequent jailing of Anwar, that led to the boom in Internet usage among Malaysians, the spectacular growth of Internet news and commentary web sites and discussion groups, and the dramatic erosion of the credibility of the “mainstream” BN-owned press.

Raja Petra Kamarudin began the Free Anwar Campaign and shortly after in 1999 the FreeMalaysia web site was launched promising to provide “the sort of free speech which is next to impossible to find ANYWHERE in the traditional print and broadcast media”. Soon it unleashed a series of hard-hitting exposés on Malaysian government corruption and of the cronyism prevailing in the Mahathir administration, particularly the Mahathir-Daim Zainuddin nexus, explored in a series labelled the “Rogue’s Gallery”.

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Comments (23)

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written by Motherchell, November 14, 2009 14:43:24

Congrats! -----People Power with added sharpness of thought to thwart the evil that besets Malaysia. Justice has become abstract from the monarchy to the minion in the AG's chambers. UMNO can continue eating crow!-----

Inculcating the TRUTH to the people in the land is so vital which a media as MT is verily doing.
Your conquest to bring that freedom is within reach.
The sword in the stone is waiting for you.

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written by mulut murai, November 09, 2009 13:57:23

hey...I also found out you cannot type lick (that is L.I.C.K.) here.

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written by mulut murai, November 09, 2009 13:55:49

Is it just my English.....
Try c***king News/Commentaries or From Around the Blogs, or anything below,

Is it Malaysia Today, Your Source of Independant ( or INDEPENDENT??) news

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written by jaz, November 09, 2009 11:40:20

I just discovered that the new comments are added to the top and not at the bottom like the old one. No wonder I didn't see my comments after I posted it. I thought it would have to wait for approval. Silly me. Haha.

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written by lobster, November 09, 2009 11:40:03

Admin please take note. I am experiencing frequent problem in comment voting:

"You cannot vote on the same comment more than once" is displayed even for my 1st vote.

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written by siewchinteo, November 09, 2009 09:06:12

nice new look, new format......errrr......so does it mean officially YM RPK has now handed the baton over to a new team?

Geee......... gonna miss the whacking of YM RPK on the comment-ers then!

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written by Counterpointer, November 09, 2009 08:50:00

Yeah to the new MT look. Great web page design.

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written by red door, November 09, 2009 00:34:33

Great GUI. Cheers MT!

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written by a guest, November 09, 2009 00:24:12

Great work...!! Much better..More pleasant look..and soothing.......Will go far....

New beginning to BN;s end.... !!

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written by Arowana, November 09, 2009 00:01:14

Long live Malaysia Today.

We will continue to hit UMNO/BN until they close shop.

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written by Fair n Square, November 08, 2009 22:36:56

Greeeaaaat works, Guys! Appreciate all the uncensored & unbiased news/feedbacks reported. My utmost appreciation & admiration to the team & of course, RPK. Sir, where ever you are or may be, please take good care of yourself & family

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written by jayenjr, November 08, 2009 22:22:44

Congrats on the new look...

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written by michasumi, November 08, 2009 22:18:08

Congrats........

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written by fromamovingtrain, November 08, 2009 21:59:39

congratulations on the rebirth. May umno eat shit faster now!

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written by Alice, November 08, 2009 19:23:43

Cool..... RPK Great job!!

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written by peter, November 08, 2009 18:39:04

Congrats! Great site. Keep up the great work.

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written by varvoom, November 08, 2009 18:27:00

nice look...i can live with my name splashed across

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written by varvoom, November 08, 2009 18:25:56

nice format pet..i can live with that with my name splashed across..

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written by ffoc, November 08, 2009 17:23:43

Hey guys... the "Malaysia Today" banner heading at top of the home page.... the combination of the letters "o" and "d" with the black dot look mighty suspicious... If it was intentional then, great job at subtlety !

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written by Racheljansz, November 08, 2009 17:00:35

Looking forword to more RPK on a vibrant new site and look!
Onwards we shall march on our fight against corruptions!

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written by loosecannon, November 08, 2009 16:14:41

The new format is quite cheerful but I find it a nuisance having to scroll to the bottom for latest postings. Would the administrator please put it right at the top for speedy reference. Apart from that, it's still the best kid on the blog.

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written by biggun129, November 08, 2009 14:12:01

I like it, I am old now after following the MT for so many years, but it nice to have a new look and new heart!

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written by hellosunshine, November 08, 2009 13:44:08

Getting the feel and hang of the new site after a while. Always got conned into logging into old news in the popular posts though. A paradigm shift?

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