Terms of Service

Updated on 30 Jan 2024

1. Copyright

All editorial content, graphics, video and soundbites on this site are protected by Malaysian copyright law and international treaties and may not be copied or re-used without the express permission of Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd, the registered owners of the domain malaysiakini.com (hereinafter referred to as “The Company”), which reserve all rights. Re-use of any of such content online for any purpose is strictly prohibited. Permission to use malaysiakini.com’s proprietary content is granted on a case by case basis. Please direct your enquiries to [email protected]. The materials from this website are available for informational andnon-commerciall uses offline only, provided that: the content and/or graphics are not modified in any way; all copyright and other notices on any copy are retained; and permission is granted by The Company. You may not display the content or material contained in malaysiakini.com in a website whether for commercial or personal purposes without the express permission of The Company.

You may not copy or adapt the HTML code that The Company creates to display pages. It also is covered by The Company’s copyright. The ‘look’ and ‘feel’ of malaysiakini.com and its subsites also are trademarks of The Company. This includes malaysiakini.com’s colour scheme, button shapes, layout, and all other graphical elements.

Third party news agency material contained in malaysiakini.com is protected by copyright and shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither this material nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. The news agency/agencies will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.

2. Trademarks

Among the trademarks and service marks owned by The Company are malaysiakini and the respective logos of all the sites. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

3. Responsibility

For practical reasons, The Company does not monitor this site at all times. While every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of our content, we take no responsibility for any material input by an outside source (e.g., users who subscribe to the above services), posted automatically or manually, on the website. You are encouraged to verify the information with other reputable sources before committing to any action or investment that may affect your financial standing. We are not responsible for the content of any other websites linked to the site; links are provided as a complimentary service only.

4. Posted Content and Materials

Given the nature of the website and the technology now in place, we cannot verify the accuracy of statements that users place on malaysiakini.com. Although we have full control over the systems that malaysiakini.com operates on, we are not in a position to investigate and confirm the accuracy of a user’s statements. Accordingly, we do not make any representations, nor do we endorse the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information available through malaysiakini.com.

Furthermore, we do not guarantee that such material has been posted with the permission of the copyright holder or the proprietary owner. You may rely on such materials solely at your own risk. We do not assume responsibility for materials contained in postings, but we do reserve the right to remove or modify such materials at our sole discretion for any reason.

5. Subscription

All subscription packages are non-transferable, no matter the circumstances as each account is tied to an individual account. Thus, when a subscriber enters into either a single or recurring agreement to pay Malaysiakini for its news subscription, they are agreeing to pay for that individual account only. Malaysiakini cannot legally allow an individual account’s agreement to be sold/transferred to another individual or entity.

You agree to receive exclusive Malaysiakini newsletters by subscribing or registering to Malaysiakini.

SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT

By subscribing to Malaysiakini, you agree to adhere to these Terms and Conditions for Auto-Renewal Subscription Payment. Your subscription grants you access to our online news content, subject to these terms.

SUBSCRIPTION PLANS PAYMENT

Payment for your subscription will be processed automatically using the payment method provided by you during the sign-up process. You agree to maintain accurate and up-to-date payment information.

AUTO-RENEWAL

All auto-renewal subscription plans are set to automatically renew at the end of their respective billing cycles unless you contact Malaysiakini’s customer service to cancel your subscription. By agreeing to these terms, you authorise us to charge your payment method for the renewal fee.

YOU UNDERSTAND THAT IF YOU HAVE SELECTED TO RENEW YOUR PACKAGE AUTOMATICALLY, PAYMENT WILL BE TRANSACTED AUTOMATICALLY AT THE END OF THE INITIAL SUBSCRIPTION PERIOD. IT WILL CONTINUE TO RENEW AND YOU AUTHORISE US TO COLLECT THE THEN-APPLICABLE PERIODIC SUBSCRIPTION FEE AT THE SAME INTERVAL AS YOUR INITIAL SUBSCRIPTION PERIOD (E.G., MONTHLY, ANNUALLY) UNTIL YOU CONTACT US TO CANCEL.

6. Cancellation and Refund Policy

CANCELLATION

You may cancel your subscription at any time by contacting our customer support team. Cancellation requests should be made before the next renewal date to avoid being charged for the next billing cycle.

Refunds are not applicable to subscribers who violate the terms of service and/or commenting terms & conditions as stated in article 7 below. Blacklisted or banned subscribers can still access and continue reading Malaysiakini news in full until their paid subscription period expires.

Refunds are also not applicable for any unused or remaining portions of subscriptions if it is cancelled after a certain period has lapsed. Subscribers will, however, be able to access and continue reading Malaysiakini news in full until their paid subscription period expires.

The current subscription package value is RM20 per month.

The minimum subscription period is 3 months – at RM60.

An admin fee of RM10 is applied for refunds.

Below are examples of the refund process where applicable:

EXAMPLE 1: NON-DISCOUNTED PLANS (3-MONTH SUBSCRIPTION)

The 3-month subscription package is offered at a non-discounted rate of RM60. In the event you request a refund, we will refund for the remaining balance months of your paid subscription.

For example, if you have used up your subscription for 2 months and then later request a refund:

Total used subscription value = RM20 x 2 months = RM40

Total refund = RM60(Total Paid Value) – RM40(Total used) – RM10(Admin Fee) = RM10

EXAMPLE 2: DISCOUNTED PLANS (1-YEAR & 3-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION)

The 1-year subscription package is offered at a discounted rate of RM200. In the event you request a refund, you will lose the discounted offer and the charges will be calculated with the original rate of RM20 per month and not RM17 (RM200/12). We will refund the remaining balance months of your paid subscription.

For example, if you have used up your subscription for 5 months and then later request a refund:

Total used subscription value = RM20 x 5 months = RM100

Total refund = RM200(Total Paid Value) – RM100(Total used) – RM10(Admin Fee) = RM90

The 3-year subscription package is offered at a discounted rate of RM450. In the event you request a refund, you will lose the discounted offer and the charges will be calculated with the original rate of RM20 per month and not RM12.50 (RM450/12). We will refund the remaining balance months of your paid subscription.

For example, if you have used up your subscription for 24 months and then later request a refund:

Total used subscription value = RM20 x 24 months = RM480

Total paid = RM450

Since the total used value exceeds the total paid value, the refund is not applicable.

Refunds are not applicable for subscriptions purchased with special discounts or promotions. This includes Senior Citizen / Student / Institutional or Promo Codes usage.

TERMINATION

We reserve the right to terminate your subscription if we believe you have violated these Terms and Conditions. Termination may result in the forfeiture of any remaining subscription period without a refund.

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions, concerns, or need assistance with your subscription, please contact our customer support team via email at [email protected], reach out to us via WhatsApp or call us at +60 17-323 0707

7. Commenting Terms and Conditions

While Malaysiakini has always endeavoured to protect our subscribers from bona fide attempts to invade their privacy, we regret that we are unable to extend this privilege if they are in clear breach of the law and for which the authorities are pursuing action. We, therefore, very strongly advise all our subscribers to strictly abide by our guidelines when commenting to avoid prosecution.

All comments are linked to your Malaysiakini subscription profile which we reserve the right to disclose to law enforcement agencies should they require it for valid purposes. In the past, Malaysiakini had refused to divulge the identity of our contributors, resulting in police raids and computers seized. We will continue this policy. However, there may be exceptions to this.

Malaysiakini encourages readers to comment and maintain a community where everyone feels free to express themselves but we also recognise that some conversations following articles can lead to:

When these happen, we reserve the right to close and/or remove the comments on those articles.

Name-calling, profanity, obscene abbreviations or alphabets followed by dashes or punctuation symbols, personal attacks, impersonation and antisocial behaviour such as spamming and trolling will not be allowed

Violators run the risk of being blocked permanently. You are fully responsible for the content you post. Be civil. As a general guide, place your comments as family-friendly as possible.

Refrain from abusive comments, foul language, vulgar, slanderous, threatening, or sexually-orientated comments or the use of any other method of communication that may violate any law or create needless unpleasantness. Such actions will result in a ban.

If you feel that your comment has been unfairly rejected or that you have been banned from commenting without just cause, kindly send us an email at [email protected] stating your reasons why the decision should be reviewed.

An editorial team member will then consider your appeal. We cannot edit a comment once it is posted. Comments are either approved or rejected.

Only paying subscribers can post comments. Depending on your area’s bandwidth usage, there may be a delay before a posted comment appears. Please comment only in Bahasa Malaysia and English for Malaysiakini’s Malay and English sites. Avoid using vernacular languages or their romanised versions.

We reserve the right to display our readers’ comments in our “Yoursay” articles which are a pick of comments of the day according to a topic.

Avoid sharing your password in order to prevent others from using your account to post comments. You have the option to change your display name and add an avatar (profile picture) to highlight your comment.

For longer comments, please send them as an article or a ‘Letter to the Editor’ to [email protected]

Read our general FAQ section here.

8. SSO Data Collection Privacy Policy

All social media tools are covered by the malaysiakini.com Privacy Policy, but here are some key points:

Note: In order to display Google/Facebook modules on malaysiakini.com, Google/Facebook servers may identify which pages of our site you visit. Google/Facebook’s use and collection of that information is subject to their own Privacy Policy.

Subscription / Tech Support

+60 17-323 0707[email protected]

Editorial

[email protected]