“Bernama should explain why it cancelled the interview,” Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo told FMT.

A livid Siti had questioned if Barisan Nasional was still in charge of Bernama, following the sudden cancellation of the interview programme which was supposed to have been aired on a news channel run by the news agency.

The interview with Siti, best known for her strong criticism of Malaysia’s religious bureaucrats, was to be broadcast live, on the topic of challenges and reforms in post-election Malaysia.

Siti said she was in the dark over who was behind the cancellation.

“I would think the person or persons must be pretty high in the chain of command either at Bernama or at the Ministry of Information – editorial freedom be damned,” she wrote on Facebook.

Siti had also questioned if there were parties intent on pushing their own views, and to block progressive voices.

“It seems to me that in this new Malaysia somethings never change,” she said.

Gobind had previously said that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government would ensure press freedom and did not support media blackouts.