The Malaysian Islamic opposition party newspaper has escaped closure and won a new publishing permit from the government which had accused it of violating laws, an official said Thursday, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report.
The government has in recent weeks also refused to immediately renew the licences for two other opposition newspapers in what critics have said is a crackdown aimed at silencing free speech. The three-member opposition alliance led by Anwar Ibrahim has said it is being muzzled as it attempts to circumvent the government-controlled mainstream media and reach out to voters amid speculation over a snap election.
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Officials at the Harakah daily, published by the conservative Islamic party PAS, said it had a received a new permit after the old one expired a week ago, but was only allowed to continue publishing under strict rules.
Editor-in-chief Ahmad Lutfi Othman said the home ministry, which is in charge of internal security, had ordered it sold only at party headquarters and read only by party members which number one million nationwide. He said the government had held back the new permit because it claimed that Harakah was being sold in public areas.
All newspapers in Malaysia need an official permit to print, which must be renewed annually. The licensing system allows the government to close media outlets at will and often encourages publishers to toe the line.
Ahmad said the publication of Harakah was vital for the Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) to counter reports in mainstream press controlled by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. "We need Harakah to act as an alternative news platform. If there was fair reporting by mainstream newspapers, then there is little need for Harakah," he said. Ahmad criticised the sale conditions, saying that many of its members lived in rural areas and far away from the headquarters located just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, a minister in the prime minister's department, said Sunday that authorities were only clamping down on lies and not free speech.
The opposition scored unprecedented gains in elections in 2008, which saw it claim five states and a third of parliamentary seats. The next election is not officially due until 2013 but pundits say it could be held next year.
