[UPDATED VERSION] Starting from yesterday, Sarawak Tribune’s publication permit had been suspended indefinitely with immediate effect for reproducing caricatures of Prophet Muhammad on Feb 4.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the paper breached the permit requirements under paragraph 6 of subsection 6(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act and according to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz, there there had been an appeal from Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, but the Cabinet had decided that firm action was needed.
The paper’s editorial advisor Idris Buang is supportive of the Government decision, expressing regret and asking all Malaysians to condemn the act, in which the insensitive and irresponsible act was committed by his press itself?
The fate of its 300 employees in offices all over Sarawak, in Kuala Lumpur and in its printing plants in Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu is not known, though Kuching office on Thursday afternoon revealed that the staff was working as usual to put out Friday’s edition.
BBC has a report on the suspension too.
(SOURCE: BBC, 9 February 2006)
Screenshots asks: Wither Malaysian journalism? Is Guangming Daily next in the disposal bin?
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they still own Utusan Sarawak i think. Maybe can transfer there in the mean time, then form another new Newspaper.
[SK] They are surplus. Sarawak Tribune II? :p
with a big boss like idris buang who hailed the govt’s decision to suspend his own bloody paper, it reminds me of the saying:
With friends like this, who needs friends?
I weep for the ex-journalists and families (300) of Sarawak Tribune.
I once used to joke with buddies: R.I.P. stands for RISE IF POSSIBLE, not Rest in Peace.
But with editorial adviser SENATOR DATUK Idris saying the board fully supported the Federal Government’s satnd to suspend the licence of Sarawak Tribune (quoted fromThe Star, page 4 under "Indefinite suspension"…), can the ex-workers even rest in peace?
Oh, i see, he’s a politician!:(
"Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the paper breached the permit requirements under paragraph 6 of subsection 6(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act"
What is that? i read alot of details about the CARTOONs! in other local papers, i can imagine it in my little brain! Abdullah! Please revoke all their permits!! They are evil, trying to provoke the ppl here!!
This whole thing, and this message = CRAP.
[...] The only dismay part came from newspapers, where a 61-years-old daily Sarawak Tribune’s publication permit was suspended indefinitely since Feb 9 for reproducing the caricatures, leaving the fates of 300 employees unattended. This was followed by a suspension on a chinese press Guangming Daily for two weeks, starting from Feb 16 to Mar 1, for publishing a photo-within-a-photo of the caricatures. [...]