Not just once, but twice within the same week - this was how many times now-suspended daily Sarawak Tribune had published a photo of the controversy-ridden caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.

It first published the photo of the Danish-originated cartoons on Feb 2, two days before the highly-publicised incident that led to the 'resignation' of duty editor Lester Melanyi, and indefinite suspension of its licence by the internal security ministry.

The top managers, who had said they held Lester solely responsible for the Feb 4 publication fiasco, have not made any mention of the Feb 2 publication or indicated knowledge of this to date.

A French news agency AFP photo of the caricatures - which first appeared in a full page in Danish weekly Magazinet - was taken on Jan 10.

The photo was released to subscribers worldwide, including those in Malaysia, with a report headlined 'Denmark PM tries to curb Muhammad cartoon damage'.

On Feb 2, this appeared on Page 9 of the Sarawak Tribune world news section. Malaysiakini was given the name of the duty editor that day, but has withheld it pending verification.

Officials of Sarawak Press Sdn Bhd, owner of Sarawak Tribune and Utusan Sarawak , could not be immediately contacted for comment.

SB questions

When contacted, Lester said he had the day off on Feb 2 and that he was not aware of the photo having been published until the day after he was forced to resign.

"Some former colleagues called and told me the same phote had been published two days earlier," he said.

He said he decided to keep quiet about this when Special Branch (SB)officers interviewed him at his house.

"They only questioned me about the Feb 4 publication. Besides, I did not want to add to the already tense situation," he explained.

A week later, a senior SB told him about the first incident and asked why he had not informed the police about it. Lester's response was that he thought they had known about it, and that he had confined his answers to the Feb 4 editorial decision.

A senior member of the daily's editorial staff ,who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he only found out about the Feb 2 incident from the police. He added that internal security ministry officials had not raised the issue during their meeting with the management and editors.

The paper had taken a three-day break for the Chinese New Year and Awal Muharram holidays and had resumed publication on Feb 1.A number of the editorial staff were still on holiday at the time.

Lax controls?

Commenting on the matter, a local university academic, who asked not to be identified, said two wrongs do not make a right.

"What happened was clearly a case of either loose editorial control, or lack of control, and absence of clear guidelines to the editorial staff on what can or can't be published," the academic said.

When contacted, rival paper Borneo Post group chief editor M Rajah said a conscious decision was made at a daily editorial meeting that he had chaired, and which was attended by editors from the news, sports, business and world news sections.

"We subscribe to AFP news and photos, among other (news agency services). My world news editor drew my attention to the APF photo of the caricature.

"I made it very clear that the subject is of a very sensitive nature and that on no account should the photo be used. However, I told the foreign news editor it would be all right to use the AFP story as there was nothing sensitive in it."

There have been angry and sometimes violent demonstrations in many parts of the world, following publication of the caricatures. Malaysia has since banned the possession and distribution of the caricatures in any form.

The internal security ministry is currently investigating Penang-based Chinese-language Guang Ming Daily for similarly publishing the cartoons, although it had immediately removed most of the copies on realising the implications.