Only one of Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) two main Malay-language mouthpieces, PAS’s Harakah, hit the streets today with PKR’s Suara Keadilan still nowhere to be seen, days after both their publishing permits expired despite applications for renewal.
Newspaper vendors around Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru here had the Harakah on display for Muslims who performed their Friday prayers there. The newspaper’s publishing permit expired on Wednesday but PAS remained confident that it will soon get the permit for another year.
PKR officials, who said they will defy the government’s warning not to publish, have yet to put their words into action as Suara Keadilan remained missing from news-stands across the city. Both Harakah and Suara Keadilan are ostensibly for members only but have been openly sold to the public at RM2 a copy. It is estimated that each edition of both newspapers have a circulation of some 100,000 copies.
“It (Suara Keadilan) was printed yesterday and it should be out by now,” PKR strategy chief Chua Tian Chang told The Malaysian Insider this morning.
PKR deputy president Dr Syed Hussein Ali concurred, saying the paper should be out today although he has not seen it himself.
However, the weekly was nowhere to be seen.
Suara Keadilan’s printing permit expired on June 30 and it can longer print or publish according to section 5 (1) of the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984.
The Home Ministry refused to renew the permit, citing the unsatisfactory answer from the weekly over its “Felda Bangkrap” article.
“Suara Keadilan is not out yet. Only Harakah is out,” said Junaidi Osman, a bookshop owner outside the Kampung Baru mosque.
The 47-year-old PR supporter said today: “Some of my friends went to Anwar Ibrahim’s house yesterday and he said the paper is ready but we just have to wait.”
Asked whether he would sell Suara Keadilan despite the non-renewal of its printing permit, he resoundingly said: “This is my party. I will sell it. If they want to sue me, let them sue me. The people have to know what the party has to say.
“The party has no other voice but the paper. Although there is the online version, it is only for the people who have Internet access. The paper is more important.”
Shamsul Nizam, a 25-year-old sales executive, said: “Even if Suara Keadilan is banned, people can still get the information from the Internet.
“News which will threaten the ruling party is not allowed to be published. This is politics.”
Permit: Harakah Hantar Jawapan Ke KDN Hari Ini
(According to themalaysianinsider)
Related links:
Rupert Murdoch’s Phone Hacking Scandal: The Latest in Pictures
Harakah Hari Ini out in the Streets, Suara Keadilan Still Missing