The government has no intention to amend the Printing Presses and Publications Act, said de facto law minister Rais Yatim today.

The minister in the prime ministers department asserted that the government is not going to make any amendment to the act as it is a question which is not in the mind of the government.

From whoever you got the source, I think you should straighten it out, said Rais during a press conference this morning at his office in Putrajaya.

Last month, Home Ministry secretary-general Aseh Che Mat was reported in Chinese daily Sin Chew Jit Poh as saying that the government was drafting amendments to expand the PPPA to include electronic publications as suggested in parliament last year.

The act was last amended in 1987 and has become increasingly irrelevant in the age of information and communication technology, Aseh was quoted as saying.

The PPPA stipulates that all periodical publishers must apply for an annual permit from the Home Ministry. However, the rule does not apply to online news portals.

Any publication without the permit can be charged and its publisher can face a three-year jail term and a maximum fine of RM20,000 if convicted in court.

Charter 2000

, a citizens initiative to demand reforms to the media environment, has said this requirement for a permit discourages publishers from practising more independent journalism.

Publishers, who have made heavy capital investments, have every reason to fear that their annual licence applications will not be approved unless they conform to the wishes of those in power, it said.

Last July, Rais announced that the government was drafting content guidelines for Internet publications as they had been abused by certain quarters to incite social unrest.

He said that the new laws were necessary to cleanse the Internet of provocative materials and pornography.