According to the secretary of the publication and Quranic text control department, Che Din Yusoh, 4 000 copies of both papers were confiscated in a nationwide operation because they were not supposed to be sold in public places. However, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR, or the National Justice Party) information chief Tian Chua claimed 20 000 copies of the Suara Keadilan alone were seized. PKR is the publisher of Suara Keadilan, while Harakah is published by the Islamic party, PAS.

The recent confiscation smacks of political control as the papers had been made available in public places since licenses were granted in early 2008. It lends credence to the suspicion that the confiscation is related to the political crisis in the state of Perak, where the Federal ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, and the opposition pact, Pakatan Rakyat are wrestling for control of the state.

Invoking the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), which authorizes the confiscation in these times of uncertainties, where the public deserves more and not less information on the political crisis, shows yet again that the law is a political instrument of the ruling federal coalition. CIJ doubts that there is any strong basis for the actions except that the contents of the publications could allow people to get different views on the crisis, compared to those in the mainstream media.

CIJ calls upon the government to end this practice of seizing publications and to return the copies to the publishers and to repeal the PPPA, which is an unjust law. The public has demonstrated rejection of monopoly of expression and official propaganda during the last general election and it will be useful for the ruling government to take that into serious consideration.

Issued by

Gayathry Venkiteswaran
Executive Director

For more information please contact Wai Fong at 03 4023 0772.