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The widespread coverage given by Malaysia's Tamil language newspaper Makkal Osai to the Opposition parties is probably they got banned by Home Ministry today, says Malaysiakini.

The editors at Makkal Osai probably expected this. Their publishing permit was up for renewal and it wasn't renewed by Home Ministry. No explanation given.

Publishing permits for newspapers in Malaysia are renewed annually, under the draconian Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, subject to the absolute discretion of the Home Ministry. Your proverbial Sword of Damocles.

I suppose this is Syed Hamid Albar's "absolute discretion". Since the Indian votes in Malaysia swung almost en masse to the Opposition on the March 8 General Elections, the paper gets blamed.

You wanna know what powers are vested in the Home Ministry in relation to printing and publishing? Let's take a 10-minute break for a Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah.

You can read the entire Act here.  Do read it, and pay particular attention to the dates the Amendments took effect.

Dr Mahathir said Melayu Mudah Lupa. I don't think so. I'd like to think Malaysians in general are not to be dismissed so easily under the "mudah lupa" category.

So, you read the Act? Can you see that this Amendments took effect 8 January 1988? It happened a couple of months after the infamous Operasi Lalang that saw the arrest of many DAP people under another draconian law that is the Internal Security Act (ISA).

ISA muzzled the opposition. PPPA muzzled the newspapers. The judges balked at this, of course, initially. 

At least, then High Court Justice Harun Hashim did in the case of Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara v. Minister of Home Affairs, saying that the Home Ministry's decision not to allow the Aliran to have a Malay language publication should be subject to judicial review.

The case went to the Supreme Court where Harun's decision was reversed by the magical Justice Ajaib Singh who recognised the ouster clause (Sec 13A of the PPPA)  that came in in 1988, Sec 13A that states (drum roll please….)

Any decision of the Minister to refuse to grant or to revoke or to suspend a licence or permit shall be final and shall not be called in question by any court on any ground whatsoever.

READ MORE HERE

Comments (24)

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written by sickofitall, April 20, 2008 21:53:27

Is it not rather, a case of 'choose between us and your principles: if you uphold your journalistic integrity, we ban you' ...? These Bn fellas still have not learnt their lesson... sigh.

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written by smeagrooo, April 20, 2008 21:54:44

so they banned this tamil newsprint. When is the rakyat's turn to BAN and boycott all govt newsprint? WHEN???

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written by Motherchell, April 20, 2008 21:58:13

!!!!!!"""""""""Any decision of the Minister to refuse to grant or to revoke or to suspend a licence or permit shall be final and shall not be called in question by any court on any ground whatsoever.""""""""""""

So the Minister is above the Law?????????????//Every lie and every shading of the truth was the foundation of the system by the despots . No wonder they had mouths bigger then a whales !!!!!!!!!Luckily we checked them on the 8thMarch.! God is great.

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written by box, April 20, 2008 22:15:04

I wonder what will be Mahathir's response to defend the need for clause in section 13.a, if there is any.

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written by binarytan, April 20, 2008 22:16:07

A typical dictator country is I do not want to hear you to say no to me.

So our country media system is rather monitored by dictator and not the truely media person.

Hence where is the freedom of media which we ae seeking for?

We do not only want to hear good side on the government but also all the bad things done by government. If this is done fairly, then there is nothig good for them to write.

It is better to change the government next time to free up the media.

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written by RobertS, April 20, 2008 22:28:44

No decency prevailed under the former and even the present admin. If they found something in the constitution that did not suit their intentions or benefitted them they would change it coz they had two thirds majority. All those who were suckering up to TDM would vote in favour and even those who had a tiny drop of sanity were also forced to vote in favour coz they would be blacklisted and probably removed.Where is the democracy...We lived in a one man show nation and the show he put up has lead us all to the dogs....or should I say to the oink oink.....

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written by miwaki, April 20, 2008 22:31:46

They are banning a paper that they themselves don't read.What is wrong with these people.I don't read Tamil paper anyway and I also do not read Berita harian,Mingguan malaysia,Star and New Strait Times and Chinese papers.You can all of them and I don't give a damn !

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written by 1eyecls, April 20, 2008 22:37:10

yes,indeed the won-by-small-majority gomen now is revenging!to the indian,they ban their press firm,to the chinese,they are in the process of banning pork to be sold in the market,more and more dirty tricks will prevail,using their JENTERA-JENTERA KERAJAAN to do it!

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written by Jivathma, April 20, 2008 22:38:17

Now we can see what Mahathir has been in this one matter.

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written by tbsbidayuh, April 20, 2008 22:46:28

I stopped buying Beritah harian, NST, The Star, Borneo Post and eastern time since last year. i will only listen and read the actual media which is alternative media and foreign news. My last news paper was Sarawak Tribune. after that I read malaysia today, malaysia kini, malaysia insider as my main daily news media. I collected any mainstream newspaper for my dried fish packaging. at least my customer can read while they cutting their dried fish. Better recycle them all to get $$$ too.

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written by 1eyecls, April 20, 2008 22:54:30

like wat the UMNO leaders always say:kami perlu gerakkan jentera-jentera untuk mempastikan rakyat(melayu)masih akan memberi mandat kpd kami!"

now,they have initiated the 1st JENTERA (machinery),which is TV3,second Jentera:UTUSAN,third Jentera:Berita Harian,everyday,without failure,they are using BABI issue to trigger Malays angers,these actions are very sedition,i dun think Pak Tidur will do anything,let the BR takes over the gomen later and send these trouble-makers behind bars!

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written by sarawakian, April 20, 2008 23:03:38

the year is now 2008. this PPPA is obsolete.

we now have CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera (from satellite and not 30mins delayed Astro) and also the internel with Malaysiakini, MT etc etc.

BN should wake up and realise "resistance is futile"

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written by johanssm, April 20, 2008 23:04:28

All is not lost for "Makkal Osai".
It it entirely left to states decision now, states have the total rights to grant or cancel out licenses.
"Makkal Osai" can continues to publish their news, if granted to do so from states under the Pakatan Rakyat.
Individual states have different admin or government.
It is also hope that all Pakatan states to outlaw the use of OSA and ISA...Is the Kamunting detention camp in Perak?
Perak MB must ask them to leave the state of Perak.
Pakatan must kick the detention camp out.
Do what is right, stick to Pakatan principles.Outlaw the ISA in your state.

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written by budakindia, April 20, 2008 23:37:30

and they thought that would stop us in cyberspace! Oh how wrong they are!

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written by chanatak, April 20, 2008 23:41:06

The rakyat had hoped that BN got a clear message from the votes cast. AAB eventually said that he got the message. Apparently either it was clear enough to him or, being a poor communicator he forgot to cascade it down to his subordinates. The rakyat looks at the result ... not the excuses. The result is .... BN is unrepentent of its ways.

GET RID OF BN at the next election.

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written by DatoSeri, April 21, 2008 01:04:22

A bunch of NAZIs, full of hatred!

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written by StevenO, April 21, 2008 05:55:31

You Sabotage Us, We Ban You

Wrong Title!!

Should read,

You Tell The Truth, We Ban You!!

Don't Spin Our Story? Break Your Rice Bowl!!

Talk Bad About Us, We Screw You Big Time!!

With leaders like that, things will definitely deteriorate. But how are we going to explain to our coming generation, if we don't stand our ground??

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written by cancan, April 21, 2008 09:54:14

Business versus Politics

Link: http://www.kingsmary.********.com/

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written by Umar Rentaka, April 21, 2008 09:58:02

Ajaib Singh is an idiot!

If Lord Denning was the presiding Judge, he would have said, the ouster only applies if the minister makes a correct, just and fair decision. It was not the intention of the Parliament to ouster the Judicial Reviews, he would have judged.

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written by apanama, April 21, 2008 21:41:21

ajaib singh same crass as augustink paul.
just full of shits in their clans. also the unqualified and disqualified pajan singh.

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written by SUV, April 22, 2008 10:45:35

ini anjing samy punya taktiklah..dia mau dia punya paper bikin lui.

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written by InspectorSahab, April 23, 2008 02:19:10

Tidak hairanlah kita bila telah diletakkan antara negara2 yang mempunyai tahap kebebasan bersuara yang terhad meskipun diwar-warkan sebagai sebuah negara berdemokrasi... Puihhhh, taik kucing punya pemimpin2 kerajaan M'sia masakini. No wonder the UM-NObrains always proud of their MOTTO "dulu, kini dan selamanya".

However for all the "current still active" UMNO members who is out there, do note that UMNO is definitely true in fact THAT YOU'RE NO LONGER RELEVANT NOWADAYS.

Sedangkan kentut manusia pun kalau disenyapkan SILENCER bunyinya dengan deruman enjin2 MAT REMPIT Putera UMNO yang diketuai oleh KJ dan juga Buntal Hitam a.k.a Abdul Azeez Karim.... tetap berbau bangkai, inikan pula bangkai gajah, AKAL ADA KA????.......

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written by InspectorSahab, April 23, 2008 02:47:22

Aiiiyoo yoo, ini lain kerja tadak punya, misti Semi Value punya kerja.... Even we all keep on continuing calling him Semi Value, do remember that he has 2 remarkable history for his own HALL OF FAME which he can be proud of;

1. PLUS - Until the last day of the giant conglomerates, it will continue to Pungut Lebih Untuk Samy....

2. Proton SAVVY - Specially designed and marketed by Proton in the recognition of the most longest serving MP not only in M'sia (BUT IN THE WHOLE PLANET of Earth)....

Utusan MeLOYA, Berita HAIRAN, Nude Take Times, The STUCKs a.k.a SUCKS, TV3SUKU, RTMaideen and the rest of MSM are currently ranked as an outdated sources and unfair plus biased media..... What are we waiting for?

IT HAS and will DEFINITELY BE USEFUL AND RATHER BEING more MINDBOGGLING if the majority of citizens in Malaysia could enjoy the internet services throughout their own residence and area to browse for MToday, M'siaKINI and the rest of the blogsite. That is why, there were some part of the country eventough internet services cud be made available, BUT the development of it just being deferred and postponed.....

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