Sahabat2 wartawan & reformasi,

 

Berikut satu surat bantahan daripada CPJ (Jawatankuasa Perlindungan untuk Wartawan)< http://www.cpj.org > yang berpangkalan di New York. Harap sesiapa yang ada kelapangan MENTERJEMAHKAN surat ini untuk pembaca-pembaca Melayu.

 
Saya rasa dalam tempoh beberapa hari lagi, beberapa organisasi media antarabangsa akan turut membantah tindakan lapuk dan diktator KDN ini
 
SILA SEBARKAN SELUAS MUNGKIN - time utk mulakan kempen reformasi media. Terima kasih, fathi aris omar
 
http://www.cpj.org/protests/00ltrs/Malaysia07sept00pl.html 

 

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