Suspending Newspapers May Not Be the Answer

A Kadir Jasin

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FURTHER UPDATE, DEC. 23 - The Star, a Wall Street Journal report, said The Heat violated provisions of its printing permit. 

The Heat now claimed that it responded to the show cause letters and the Ministry agreed to its request to change from an economic journal to current affairs. (Read here).

So who is not telling the truth?

UPDATE, Dec. 23 - Weekly newspaper The Heat was suspended because it had violated provisions mandated under its printing permit, said the Home Ministry.

A ministry spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that the suspension was not linked to a recent story the newspaper ran on expenditures incurred by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

"Any accusations to the contrary are without merit," he said - The Star.

ORIGINAL POST


THE weekly newspaper, The Heat was unknown to most Malaysians until its was suspended indefinitely by the Home Ministry on Dec 19.

Its offence was unclear. According to media reports, the ministry did not say and the newspaper appeared reluctant to talk about it.

Media reports suggest that it was being punished for a front-page story alleging big spending by the Prime Minister.

I have also been advised (and warned) by some delegates to the Kedai Kopi Assembly (KKA) and commentators of this blog to be more careful and circumspect when commenting on the government.

They advised me to go easy on the Prime Minister and lay off his wife. I told them that since we are the rakyat then there must be a government. The rakyat elected the government and pay the taxes. So it is our right and privileges to let the government know what we feel.

In any case, it was the PM who once said that the era of the governing knowing all was over.

Banning Not the Answer

Banning or suspending newspapers and other forms of publication is not new in Malaysia. And not every newspaper banned or suspended in the past disappeared.

Some made a comeback with a vengeance. They might not come back as a crusader or an irritation that they formally were. But a few like The Star and Sin Chew Daily went on to become a huge commercial success.

The two papers had their publishing permits suspended in the aftermath of the Operasi Lalang in1987. But the smaller and financially weak Malay weekly, Watan that was also suspended went out publication. Attempts to revive it failed.

Today, The Star is the largest paid English newspaper and the Sin Chew is the largest Chinese language newspaper. They are beaten only by the sensational Malay tabloids, Harian Metro and Kosmo.

For The Star and the Sin Chew, the 1987 suspension raised their profile and improved their sales when they resumed publication although they became more pliant towards the government.

In the post May 5 general elections, when its controlling shareholder – the MCA – did badly, The Star appears to be more open and impartial.

So suspending a newspaper is not always a productive thing to do, more so when strong reasons are not given or worse still when the reasons for such a tough action are frivolous.

PM’s Pledges Contradicted

In ordering the suspension of The Heat, the Home Ministry might have forgotten (or not known) that the PM had made a strong pledge to support freedom and liberty.

This is what he said in his official 1Malaysia website.

"Since I took office back in 2009 I have been clear in my vision for Malaysia as a modern, progressive and forward-looking democracy in which the people’s fundamental rights and freedoms are protected.

To that end, I have implemented the most far-reaching package of political reforms since Malaysia’s independence: the State of Emergency ordinance has been ended; the colonial-era Internal Security Act, which permitted indefinite detention without trial, has been repealed; restrictions on newspaper publishing licenses have been scrapped; the ban on students joining political parties has been lifted and I have pledged to review the Sedition Act. I have also introduced the Government Transformation Programme to make Malaysia’s public services more efficient and responsive to people’s needs, as well as clamping down on corruption.

These are truly far-reaching reforms that will benefit the Malaysian people, will see our country take its place among the world’s high income nations and will secure our reputation as a rising Asian powerhouse where political liberties flourish alongside economic growth.” (To read more).

Politicians and their officials appear to have not learned a lesson from their mishandling of the blogs under a decade ago. It was that mistake that promoted and propelled the success of the otherwise little known medium.

Ministers called bloggers “goblok’ (Javanese for a stupid person) and “penembak curi” (sniper) while Khairy Jamaluddin, then an Abdullah aide, called them monkeys.

Their attacks against bloggers were widely reported by the mainstream media. This had resulted in making the public curiosity about the blogs and they soon started to surf the internet to find what the commotion was all about. Many went on to become ardent followers of blogs.

Repeating Same Old Mistake

They are doing it all over again and even this blog is not spared.

Several debaters, delegates to the KKA and people I met along the byway, had eluded to the complicity of senior Umno politicians like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Daim and Tan Sri Sanusi Junid in our debate on the governmentlately.

I should be honoured if that’s the case. Unfortunately, it was not.

Why should Dr Mahathir want to use this blog when he has an even bigger blog to his name. And Tun Daim? Why should he wants to get his hand dirty here when he is known to have written nasty letters directly to past and present Prime Ministers?

Those accusing this blog of being the mouthpiece of Daim should ask the Prime Minister how many letters of advice he had received from Daim.

I believed people like Dr Mahathir, Daim and Sanusi had said as much or more directly to the Prime Minister than we dare say in this blog.

People who are alleging Dr Mahathir’s, Daim’s and Sanusi’s involvement in this blog should perhaps direct their energy to respond to this blog in defence of the PM and the government.

To my understanding, the PMO has many individuals and groups monitoring the media for him, including the high-powered Communication Action Group (CAG). Instead of pointing fingers at past leaders, these people and groups should take on this blog head on.

Kalau anak jantan apa nak takut?