PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA: Malaysia is lying 132nd on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, up 10 spots from last year's.

The seventh annual worldwide press freedom index was released by the international organisation yesterday.

It categorised Malaysia as "'one of the countries that wavers between repression and liberalisation, where the taboos are still inviolable and the press laws hark back to another era".

Malaysia was also described as "strictly forbidden to report anything that reflects badly on the president or monarch, or their family and close associates".

"The main lesson to be drawn from the index is that not economic prosperity but peace guarantees press freedom," Reporters Without Borders said on its website.

Malaysia's performance is relatively more encouraging than several Asean countries such as the Philippines (139th), Singapore (144th), Laos (164th) and Vietnam (168th).

Indonesia and Thailand fared better at 111th and 124th places respectively, while Cambodia notched in at 126th.

The index measures the degree of freedom journalists and media enjoy in more than 160 countries.