updated version

The government has admitted blocking the distribution of several news magazines because it is upset about their coverage of issues including Islam and terrorism.

The magazines - Newsweek , Time and the Far Eastern Economic Review - had been withheld for "inaccurate and untrue reporting of the situation in Malaysia," Deputy Home Affairs minister Chor Chee Heung told today's Star newspaper.

He cited reports quoting the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation as saying Malaysia was a launchpad for the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

"The accusation that Malaysia is a launching pad for terrorists is something we cannot accept," he said.

"The US ambassador to Malaysia said her government appreciates Malaysia's efforts against terrorism but the magazines seem to indicate a different stand towards Malaysia."

In addition, Chor said, Newsweek 's Feb 11 issue had been blocked because it carried an image of the Prophet Mohammad and "lopsided reporting" in an article comparing Islam and Christianity.

"We don't want the society to be contaminated by unhealthy and unfit news for readers," he said.

Sending a message

The Star quoted a Home Ministry official as saying the delay in releasing the publications was to "send a message to the magazines to print the truth and not report based on half-baked sources."

The delays have affected the last four issues of Time and Newsweek and five issues of the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER).

Chor gave no specific details of the complaints against FEER , but said yet another magazine, The Economist , was "under review" for articles about action taken against foreign workers.

On Monday, the government denied any crackdown on foreign publications, with the home minister's press secretary Rohaizad Abdul Rahim telling AFP the delays in releasing the magazines could be due to many reasons.

Spokesmen for the publishers told AFP then that they had been given no official reasons for the delays.

Trouble in Thailand

The FEER is also embattled in neighbouring Thailand, where Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says he is determined to expel two of the magazine's journalists.

The government has faced a storm of criticism against its move to deport Bangkok-based journalists Rodney Tasker and Shawn Crispin over a Jan 10 Review article which touched on government relations with the monarchy.

Tasker and Crispin have lodged an appeal against deportation orders served at the weekend, after they were named Friday on an immigration blacklist for allegedly posing a threat to national security. (AFP)