The Home Affairs Ministry is still keeping mum over the hold-up in granting permission to the latest issues of two foreign weekly magazines to be sold to the public.

The Far Eastern Economic Review and Asiaweek magazines, with a cover date of March 1 and 2 respectively, are still without release letters from the ministry ([#1] Latest Review, Asiaweek to be banned? [/#] Feb 28).

As with yesterday, ministry officials declined to comment when contacted today.

Said Rohaizad Abdul Rahim, press secretary for minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, "I have no comments. I am not going to speak to malaysiakini or any other foreign publications."

The ministry's Publications Control Unit chief Tengku Mahmood Tengku Ismail also could not be reached for comment.

According to the magazines' Malaysian distributor, Magazine Services (M) Sdn Bhd, the release letters, usually given at the beginning of the week, have still not been issued. The company has no idea on the reason for the delay.

"We cannot distribute the magazines until the ministry gives us the permission to do so," an official who declined to be named said.

Review managing editor Michael Vatikiotis, when contacted in Hong Kong today, also said he did not know the reason for the delay.

"We have no information at all. We'll just have to wait and see what the government does," he said.

Articles on Malaysia

The Review and Asiaweek , which were supposed to hit the newsstands a week ago, have a readership of 15,000 and 25,000 respectively in Malaysia.

Internet versions of the current editions of both magazines are already online since last Thursday for the Review and Sunday for Asiaweek .

In Review 's website, among the stories included an article by Lorien Holland on the recent Malay gathering organised by the Malay Action Front. Entitled '[#2] Shaking the party grip on power [/#]', it stated that the rally had created a fear within Umno on its grip of a half-century of political dominance.

In Asiaweek 's website, there were two articles referring to Malaysia in its latest issue.

The first, '[#2] The new crusade [/#]' by Roger Mitton, was about the rise of radical Islam in Southeast Asia. It also alleged that the Moro fighters are supported by the Malaysian government, insinuating that Malaysian businessmen, and even Malaysian Information Minister Khalil Yaakob, had ties with a Muslim rebel leader who is wanted on murder charges by the Philippine government.

In another article, '[#3] Building a legacy [/#]', writer Arjuna Ranawana asserted that many rulers, from the Mughals of India to Asia's post-colonial leaders, have sought to perpetuate their legacies by constructing buildings and cities that they hope will last beyond their time.

Mentioning Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as an example, he said Malaysia's new administrative capital Putrajaya had Mahathir's personality stamped on it, even if it is named after the country's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj.