In a 27 March 2000 letter to Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Badawi, RSF protested his decision to withdraw the publishing licence of “Detik” magazine. RSF asked the minister to change his decision, which it said constituted a violation of press freedom. Once again, the organisation asked the minister to renew the licences of […]
In a 27 March 2000 letter to Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Badawi, RSF protested his decision to withdraw the publishing licence of “Detik” magazine. RSF asked the minister to change his decision, which it said constituted a violation of press freedom. Once again, the organisation asked the minister to renew the licences of “Al-Wasilah”, “Eksklusif” and “Tamadun”, which are still waiting for decisions. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary general, urged the authorities to “liberalise the press laws, for example the Printing Press and Publications Act, and to stop direct and indirect pressure on private newspapers.”
According to RSF’s information, on 25 March the government decided not to renew the licence of the bimonthly “Detik”. Since December, the newspaper’s editors have been waiting for a decision from the ministry. According to Malaysian press law, all the printed media must request the renewal of their publishing permits every year. The editor of “Detik” has been accused by the authorities of failing to respect the conditions of the magazine’s permit. In reality, the authorities are upset because he appointed a chief editor who was not favourable to the government.
Since November 1999, five privately owned newspapers close to the opposition have been submitted to what amounts to blackmail by the authorities. They are accused of failing to respect the conditions of their licences and are subject to “thorough investigations” by the ministry. Following one of these
“investigations”, the editors of “Harakah” learned on 1 March that the periodicity of the publication was to be reduced from biweekly to fortnightly.
