Sahabat2 wartawan &
reformasi,
Berikut satu surat bantahan
daripada CPJ (Jawatankuasa Perlindungan untuk Wartawan)<
September 7, 2000
His Excellency Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Prime Minister
Malaysia
Blok Utama, Tingkat
Pusat Pentadhiran Karajaan Persekutuan
Putrajaya 62502
Malaysia
VIA FAX: +603-8888-3530
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed by the recent suspension
of two
Malaysian publications, the weekly news magazine Eksklusif and the monthly
youth
magazine Wasilah.
In an interview yesterday with the online newspaper Malaysiakini, Home Ministry
official
Tengku Mahmood Tengku Ismail said Eksklusif's publication had been suspended
"due to
its imbalanced reporting and non-compliance with publication rules and
regulations." The
Kumpulan Karangkraf company, which publishes Eksklusif, was notified by written
decision last month, according to a CPJ source, but did not publicize the
matter for fear that
its other 20 publications might suffer as a result.
Eksklusif has been effectively banned since April 15, when its annual
publishing permit
expired, despite the publisher's numerous appeals to the Home Ministry. Under
the onerous
Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984, all publications are required to
apply
annually for a license to publish. The Home Ministry oversees publication
permits in
Malaysia, and there is no judicial review of ministerial decisions on media
licensing.
Eksklusif is an important source of news that might not otherwise find an
outlet in
Malaysia's tightly controlled mainstream media; its content is mostly political
and often quite
critical of the government. According to Malaysiakini, Home Ministry officials
warned
Eksklusif to "improve its coverage" after the magazine published
articles sympathetic to
ousted deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is currently jailed on what
appear to be
politically motivated charges of sodomy and corruption.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry has also refused to license the monthly youth
magazine
Wasilah, whose annual publishing permit expired August 31. Editors had applied
for
renewal three months ago, well in advance of the expiration date. Although no
official
decision has been announced, a Home Ministry source told Malaysiakini that the
permit
was in the process of being "suspended and revoked."
Wasilah's editor, Ahmad Lutfi Othman, who is a member of the opposition
Pan-Malaysian
Islamic Party (PAS), told reporters that he believes the decision was
politically motivated.
Lutfi is the former editor of Detik, an independent bimonthly magazine that was
shut down
in March.
CPJ sources said that although Wasilah was not particularly critical of the
government,
Lutfi's personal ties to the opposition likely prompted the Home Ministry to
ban the
publication.
Lutfi told Malaysiakini that he had in fact tried to tone down Wasilah's
political content to
avoid confrontation with the administration. "This decision is too
much," he said. "We have
sacrificed our own intellect in order to avoid any dispute with the [Home
Ministry]."
As an organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of press freedom
around the
world, CPJ condemns your government's frequent use of the Printing Presses and
Publications Act to shut down publications perceived as being pro-opposition.
The actions
against Eksklusif and Wasilah are further evidence that the Act is being used
as a political
tool, in violation of your government's international obligations to guarantee
freedom of
speech and of the press.
CPJ urges Your Excellency to instruct the Home Ministry to allow Eksklusif and
Wasilah
to resume publishing immediately. We also call for the repeal of the Printing
Presses and
Publications Act of 1984.
We appreciate your attention to these urgent matters, and await your response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director