Malaysia Govt under fire for curbs on press

KUALA LUMPUR, MARCH 3: Malaysia’s government came under fire on Friday for its clampdown on an Opposition newspaper and one critic said reported threats to extend the curbs to the Internet edition made nonsense of the national IT policy. A US journalists’ group urged Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to end a “campaign of intimidation and harassment” against Harakah, the paper of the Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS). The Committee to Protect Journalists, in a letter to Mahathir, called on him to restore Harakah’s licence to publish twice weekly and to drop sedition charges against its editor and publisher.

The New York-based group said the curbs on Harakah’s circulation “appears to be the latest example of your administration’s efforts to curb the Opposition press in Malaysia”. The Home Ministry, which licenses all newspapers, on Wednesday renewed Harakah’s publication licence only for two issues a month instead of two a week.