Recently, Home Ministry under the helm of newly appointed Syed Hamid Albar decided to reject the renewal of Tamil daily Makkal Osai’s publication permit.
Interestingly, the letter issued which stated that the daily’s application ‘will not be considered’ without stating any reasons for the rejection.
However, it’s presumed that the ban is due to the Tamil daily’s extensive coverage given to the Opposition leaders such as PKR de-facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, in which it’s a stark mockery of the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s post-election promise to keep all ears open to comments, criticism and information that might serve as useful feedback to the federal government!
Expectedly, the ban caused uproar among the alternative media, who questioned the ban as unethical since Makkal Osai was doing their best to give fair coverage to Opposition sides, given the fact that Barisan Nasional was given more than enough coverage among the remaining mainstream media, hence easily outweigh the coverage given to Opposition in the last General Election compared to trivial coverage by Makkal Osai and other new alternative media.
Besides, it’s quite apprehensive for the Home Ministry to stoop that low in order to curb rakyat’s voice, which I’m afraid might lead to further resentment among concerned citizens, NGOs, social-activists and etc. towards the Government which is already weaken by the ongoing infighting between the component parties and rumors of defection from the ruling camp to the Opposition camps.
Probably, the ban on the Tamil Daily is merely the tip of iceberg and does that equal to the start of a new round of massive clampdown among papers which are perceived to be anti-establishment soon?
Rumors are rift that Chinese daily Oriental Daily’s fate is in jeopardy too. Do or die, the verdict is going to be made known soon, and as unfortunate as it might sound, Syed Hamid is going to be the decision-maker again.
Related posts:
I don’t suppose that Syed Hamid has learnt that playing god with information dissemination is a game of the past and that such high-handed behaviour was one of the main reasons why BN fared so badly in the last GE.
Good behaviour is so hard to cultivate, especially for those deeply ingrained in the bad ones.
The permit has just been approved.
See 27th poster at http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/malaysian-politics-motivational-posters/, enjoy!