Harakah sales plunge 20 per cent
Ein AzmiPublished: Apr 10, 2001 7:53 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
PAS' organ Harakah suffered a 20 per cent dip in sales after the Home Ministry prohibited the biweekly tabloid from being sold in news stands and to non-party members.
The ministry, in a warning letter dated Dec 24, imposed the condition that Harakah should only be sold within the party's headquarters and offices nationwide. The ministry gave a Jan 8 deadline to the party to abide by the ministry's conditions before action is taken against PAS.
"Sales have dropped because the vendors and distributors are afraid," Harakah managing director Hishamuddin Yahya told malaysiakini today.
According to a marketing staff of the publication, sales of Harakah average about 300,000 copies per issue. Approximately 20 per cent, or 60,000 copies, from each issue of the tabloid were left unsold since the ministry began confiscating the tabloid on Dec 22 .
The source added, however, that readers were dissatisfied with the prohibition and they had been purchasing the tabloid from its publication office in Jalan Pahang Barat, Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, a senior official from the Home Ministry warned that stern action would be taken against Harakah if the newspaper continued to be sold in the news stands and to non-party members.
"We are simply abiding to the original permit application by PAS that the bulletin was only meant for members and activities of the party," said assistant chief secretary of the Publishing Control Division, Tengku Mahmood Tengku Ismail when contacted by malaysiakini.
"The ministry would still take action if the publication was bought by non-members even though it is sold within the party headquarters and offices."
Hishamuddin, however, stressed that Harakah needed two months to heed the conditions set by the ministry. "We have sent a letter on this matter to the ministry but we have yet to receive a response from them," he said.
In a related development, Mahmood said that the ministry "would thoroughly investigate" the renewal application by bimonthly magazine Detik. The delay has caused three issues of Detik to be shelved since last December.
According to Mahmood, the publisher of the magazine had flouted certain conditions in its original permit application. He denied that the issue of Ahmad Lufti Othman's appointment as the magazine's chief editor, which had been raised by the Home Ministry, was political.
Malaysiakini was told that the ministry had questioned Lufti's appointment as chief editor of the popular magazine. According the ministry, Lufti's post was not stated in the publishing permit.
The ministry, in a warning letter dated Dec 24, imposed the condition that Harakah should only be sold within the party's headquarters and offices nationwide. The ministry gave a Jan 8 deadline to the party to abide by the ministry's conditions before action is taken against PAS.
"Sales have dropped because the vendors and distributors are afraid," Harakah managing director Hishamuddin Yahya told malaysiakini today.
According to a marketing staff of the publication, sales of Harakah average about 300,000 copies per issue. Approximately 20 per cent, or 60,000 copies, from each issue of the tabloid were left unsold since the ministry began confiscating the tabloid on Dec 22 .
The source added, however, that readers were dissatisfied with the prohibition and they had been purchasing the tabloid from its publication office in Jalan Pahang Barat, Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, a senior official from the Home Ministry warned that stern action would be taken against Harakah if the newspaper continued to be sold in the news stands and to non-party members.
"We are simply abiding to the original permit application by PAS that the bulletin was only meant for members and activities of the party," said assistant chief secretary of the Publishing Control Division, Tengku Mahmood Tengku Ismail when contacted by malaysiakini.
"The ministry would still take action if the publication was bought by non-members even though it is sold within the party headquarters and offices."
Hishamuddin, however, stressed that Harakah needed two months to heed the conditions set by the ministry. "We have sent a letter on this matter to the ministry but we have yet to receive a response from them," he said.
In a related development, Mahmood said that the ministry "would thoroughly investigate" the renewal application by bimonthly magazine Detik. The delay has caused three issues of Detik to be shelved since last December.
According to Mahmood, the publisher of the magazine had flouted certain conditions in its original permit application. He denied that the issue of Ahmad Lufti Othman's appointment as the magazine's chief editor, which had been raised by the Home Ministry, was political.
Malaysiakini was told that the ministry had questioned Lufti's appointment as chief editor of the popular magazine. According the ministry, Lufti's post was not stated in the publishing permit.
View Comments0