Given the choice between producing a print publication and an online publication we'll do print anytime. The reason is simple: print publications sell, online publications don't.

Indeed, no online news site has proved to be sustainable. The most successful ones are offshoots of their print cousins, and are invariably bankrolled by them. Few are truly online outfits. Most of these are in dire straits.

It is not that malaysiakini journalists didn't think of doing print. We did, but decided it wouldn't be worth the effort. Getting a licence to print from the Home Ministry is a major stumbling block. Keeping the licence which is renewable every year will pose another headache.

Ask Ahmad Lutfi Othman. Lutfi published two monthly magazines over the past couple of years the Detik news magazine and the youth-orientated Al-Wasilah . Both publications have since been banned.

According to the Home Ministry, which has the right to revoke publishing permits, Lutfi failed to provide 'balanced' news (read: too much opposition stuff). Indeed, if that is the reason to pull the plug on news organisations, many of our major papers would have been taken off the press. So too our TV stations.

Lutfi has subsequently applied for permits for a number of new titles, but there has been no word from the Home Ministry.

Exploiting a loophole

This drove Lutfi to exploit an existing loophole in the printing law licences are required for periodicals only, namely newspapers and magazines, but not one-off publications such as books.

Thus Lutfi proceeded to produce what was ostensibly one-time weekly tabloids. They carried different mastheads but were nevertheless easily recognisable at the news stands because of their distinctive layout. And so it went Haraki , Islah , Memo 8, Memo 14 , Memo 21 .

Soon, Lutfi was doing an average of 50,000 copies per issue pretty good for a publication without a common masthead.

He wasn't getting any advertising (few advertisers have the guts to be associated with his anti-establishment publications). But that didn't bother him. Readers were willing to fork out the RM2 cover price for the 32-page weeklies. With that, he was able to keep himself and his journalists going.

But loophole or not, the authorities eventually stepped in. Vendors who sold Lutfi's publications were harassed. A number were hauled to court for selling 'illegal' printing materials. Lutfi offered to pay their fines totalling between RM20,000 and RM30,000 as a gesture of goodwill. Still, many vendors were spooked.

The death blow came last October when Home Ministry officials raided the printing plant and confiscated truckloads of his latest edition. Lutfi lost RM50,000 and slipped into debt.

Soon after, he ceased publication.

Back in business

On every May 3 World Press Freedom Day Lufti made it a point to visit the Human Rights Commission, or Suhakam, to lodge complaints against the government's harassment. Last year, he was accompanied by his 30-odd staff. This year, he had only two with him the rest were retrenched.

"Next year, there could be no one left to make the complaints," he lamented.

Still, he refused to call it quits. A few weeks ago, the indefatigable Lutfi was back in business with his Memo 24 hitting the streets.

No doubt, given the choice, we would prefer to do print. Print publications sell, online publications don't. Indeed, we are applying for a licence to produce a print version of malaysiakini . However, given the government's track record, it is not likely we are going to get it.

This brings us back to our only option cyberspace.

Which is why we are now forced to face a Hobson's choice: Lock up the website and stand to lose our readers and there is no guarantee we can still survive or continue to keep malaysiakini free until we bite the dust in the coming months.

The journalists in malaysiakini have made our choice. We now leave it to our readers to make theirs.

And when all is said and done, we get the media we deserve.