Harakah, Suara Keadilan and Press Freedom
www.malaysiakini.com
March 23, 2009
The Home Ministry has suspended the organs of two opposition parties – PAS’ Harakah and PKR’s Suara Keadilan – for three months, effective immediately.
Syed Hamid: Symbol of UMNO’s Arrogance of Power
With the suspension, both newspapers will not be able to publish until the end of June, missing out on a number of crucial political events including the three by-elections on April 7. Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted in Bernama as saying that the two newspapers were suspended because they had violated the conditions of their permits.
He said they often published articles which questioned royalty and sensationalised news that were defamatory and aimed at causing confusion and disharmony in society.
“This action does not mean the government is curbing press freedom but to preserve peace and harmony in our multi-racial society,” he was quoted as saying.
Suara Keadilan editor Zulkiflee Anwar Al-Haq told Malaysiakini that no reason had been given for the ban. He said that the letter informing the weekly newspaper of the ban was faxed to his office this afternoon. The suspension order was addressed to PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
“We fear that this action by the government is a prelude to a general clampdown on press freedom in Malaysia,” PKR information chief Tian Chua told AFP. Previously Suara Keadilan has been asked to show cause by Home Ministry’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Texts Unit last September over a report on police chief Musa Hassan.
The ministry had also seized nearly 20,000 copies of the Febraury 4-11 edition that had the frontpage headlines, ‘Perak cabar SPR ke mahkamah’ (Perak challenges EC to court).
However, this latest punishment from the ministry only leaves room for speculations as to why the publication was suspended. One possible reason could be the publication’s continuous negative reports on incoming Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who is set to assume the top post in the first week of April.
Suara Keadilan only obtained its publishing permit a year ago, after the March 8 general election. KDN official Che Din Yusoh who signed the suspension order could not be contacted for comment.
Harakah’s three breaches
As for Harakah, a similar suspension letter was also faxed to the party secretary general Kamaruddin Jaffar this evening. Again no reason was given for the suspension order. However it is similarly believed that the newspaper’s continuous ‘attacks’ on Najib were the unsaid reason for the suspension.
Kamaruddin said the party would appeal against the decision. “This is a violation of the freedom of media and a violation of a political party’s right to have its official organ published freely,” he said.
“This is another sign of a new era of repressions with Najib coming into power.”
It is learnt that the ministry had written a warning letter to Harakah on February 26, stating that the publication was breaching three conditions of publications.
They were:
* Copies of the bi-weekly newspapers were not sent to the ministry promptly,
* The publication did not comply with the publication concept as applied for a party organ, i.e. it was publishing non-party matters, and
* It was being sold to the public and not just party members.
In recent months many copies of Harakah were also seized in a few states after highlighting the power grab in Perak, with news vendors warned not to sell the fortnightly.
In 2000, the ministry had reduced the frequency of Harakah’s publication from bi-weekly to bi-monthly. The decision was reversed a year ago, after the March 8 general election. The suspension imposed on Harakah today was the first such punishment in 22 years of publication.
DAP’s Rocket too
And in another development which is set to fuel further anger among the opposition, DAP deputy publicity chief Teo Nien Ching said the party’s Chinese edition of party organ Rocket was also having problem in renewing its annual publishing permit.
The monthly publication’s permit expired at the end of last year and the party is still waiting for the Home Ministry to approve the annual permit.
The Chinese version of Rocket is one of the oldest Chinese political newspapers in the country, with a circulation of about 40,000 to 50,000.
This bungling brain-dead idiot seems to go on the rampage during full moon.
juni - March 24, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I fear that democracy in Malaysia is falling apart because we have allowed UMNO and its partners, MCA and MIC, and others in the coalition to go on a rampage against press freedom and fundamental rights of citizens as provided for in our constitution.
We have ourselves to blame. It is now within our power to decide which way we want to go. The choice is ours. For me, the status quo is unacceptable. So, we must continue in our efforts to rebuild trust in government by rejuvenating all institutions of governance. Civil society organizations too should now focus on demanding and ensuring high standards of accountability from those in positions of trust including judges whose role must be administer justice, not emasculate it and civl servants.
In addition, it is vitally critical that we have press freedom so that the public is kept well informed by a free and independent media. Real democracy depends on free media and a free society. Let us thus end the licensing of newspapers and periodicals. Only the paranoid will curtail press freedom.
dinobeano - March 24, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Press freedom has long been on life support. If Najib has his way, he would turn the damn machine off. The hope is that he would. At least then we would know that press freedom is dead. We can then give it a decent burial.
But hell. That’s not the end of the problem. What sort of burial do we give ‘press freedom’ – a Muslim, a Hindu, a Christian burial??
Mr Bean - March 24, 2009 at 7:58 pm
With all the missiles fired from within and without at our very own ‘Dear Leader’, there is no surprise as to SHA’s actions which will ultimately lead to a monolithic state resembling the Kim’s dynasty.
Suppressing ‘Press Freedom’? Nah, it’s just tightening the rachet so that the unglorious & disingenious days of ‘Dear Leader’ can be elevated to ‘Paramount Omnipotent Leader’ (of course without the omniscience nor omnipresence!).
Menyalak-er - March 24, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Press freedom?? You cannot lose something you never had.
Mr Bean - March 25, 2009 at 12:36 am
[...] Harakah, Suara Keadilan and Press Freedom 5 Comments [...]
WHY NOT THE STAR &UTUSAN? WHY YOU GO FOR Harakah, Suara Keadilan OBAMA SHOULD BAN YOU FROM ENTERING U.S.A « malaysia politic today - March 25, 2009 at 3:53 am
Let us give it a mongolian burial, with due respects to the family of the late Altantuya. Sad.
eiz235 - March 25, 2009 at 6:48 am