Magazines woes could be linked to negative reports
Leong Kar YenPublished: Mar 21, 2001 9:33 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin said today that the government's delay in approving the distribution of two Hong Kong-based weeklies, the Far Eastern Economic Review and Asiaweek, is "most probably" due to negative reports on Malaysia.
He told malaysiakini that his ministry has a special committee to vet all publications and should it find any infringements of the government's regulations, the publications concerned would be advised about them.
"But if they keep on doing it (breaking regulations), we will have to stop them," he added.
"Before we allow them to produce or to print, they have to abide with all the regulations. If they don't abide by them, we won't allow it (to be distributed)".
On Saturday, national news agency Bernama quoted Zainal as saying that the last two issues of the Review were delayed because its distributors and printers failed to meet conditions set by the ministry.
However, he could not give a direct answer as to what the violated regulations were when asked today.
An official from the local distributor for both magazines, Magazine Services (M) Sdn Bhd, earlier told malaysiakini that the company had yet to be informed about the violations. ([#1]Review and Asiweek yet to be told of violations[/#], March 19)
PM 'doesn't care'
Asked if the delay could have been due to negative reports on Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Zainal stated that the prime minister "doesn't care about" such matters.
"If we want to talk about criticising the PM then we would have to stop a lot of newspapers and magazines. We don't act when it comes to criticisms of personalities. Even when the PM was the home minister, he was very heavily criticised," he said.
However, Zainal said that on matters pertaining to national security, the Home Ministry will not "gamble" nor hesitate to take action.
The release letters for the sale of the foreign publications are usually given at the beginning of each week after a few copies are submitted to the ministry for vetting a few days earlier.
When contacted today, distributor Magazine Services said that the March 8 edition of the Review and March 9 issue of Asiaweek were approved by the ministry for distribution yesterday, almost three weeks after they were sent to the Home Ministry for clearance.
The ministry had earlier delayed the March 1 and 2 editions of the Review and Asiaweek by two and three weeks respectively
The Review's March 15 and 22 editions and Asiaweek's March 16 and 23 editions have yet to be released.
Asiaweek raised Mahathir's ire when it published an unflattering photo of him in its Jan 26 issue, which the prime minister said attempted to portray him as an "idiot".
The Review and Asiaweek have a readership of 15,000 and 25,000 respectively in Malaysia. Internet versions of the current editions of both magazines are already online.
He told malaysiakini that his ministry has a special committee to vet all publications and should it find any infringements of the government's regulations, the publications concerned would be advised about them.
"But if they keep on doing it (breaking regulations), we will have to stop them," he added.
"Before we allow them to produce or to print, they have to abide with all the regulations. If they don't abide by them, we won't allow it (to be distributed)".
On Saturday, national news agency Bernama quoted Zainal as saying that the last two issues of the Review were delayed because its distributors and printers failed to meet conditions set by the ministry.
However, he could not give a direct answer as to what the violated regulations were when asked today.
An official from the local distributor for both magazines, Magazine Services (M) Sdn Bhd, earlier told malaysiakini that the company had yet to be informed about the violations. ([#1]Review and Asiweek yet to be told of violations[/#], March 19)
PM 'doesn't care'
Asked if the delay could have been due to negative reports on Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Zainal stated that the prime minister "doesn't care about" such matters.
"If we want to talk about criticising the PM then we would have to stop a lot of newspapers and magazines. We don't act when it comes to criticisms of personalities. Even when the PM was the home minister, he was very heavily criticised," he said.
However, Zainal said that on matters pertaining to national security, the Home Ministry will not "gamble" nor hesitate to take action.
The release letters for the sale of the foreign publications are usually given at the beginning of each week after a few copies are submitted to the ministry for vetting a few days earlier.
When contacted today, distributor Magazine Services said that the March 8 edition of the Review and March 9 issue of Asiaweek were approved by the ministry for distribution yesterday, almost three weeks after they were sent to the Home Ministry for clearance.
The ministry had earlier delayed the March 1 and 2 editions of the Review and Asiaweek by two and three weeks respectively
The Review's March 15 and 22 editions and Asiaweek's March 16 and 23 editions have yet to be released.
Asiaweek raised Mahathir's ire when it published an unflattering photo of him in its Jan 26 issue, which the prime minister said attempted to portray him as an "idiot".
The Review and Asiaweek have a readership of 15,000 and 25,000 respectively in Malaysia. Internet versions of the current editions of both magazines are already online.
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