The March 1 and 2 issues of the Far Eastern Economic Review and Asiaweek magazines have yet to be approved by the Home Affairs Ministry as of today.

It is understood that the distributors have already submitted copies of the latest issues dated March 7 and 8 respectively for censorship. These issues are supposed to hit the newsstands next Monday.

The Home Affairs Ministry's Publications Control Unit chief Tengku Mahmood Tengku Ismail could not be reached for comment.

He was quoted in international news agency AFP's report yesterday as saying that the unit was still examining the contents of the magazines being held up and the delay could be due "to some problems with its contents".

He, however, declined to give details of the problems.

An official from the Asiaweek customer service department here told malaysiakini that it would not give subscribers an extension of the magazine as the delay was beyond its control.

"If the government has banned the issue, we will just have to dump the 25,000 copies we have," the official said.

Internet versions

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 were already online since last Thursday for the Review and Sunday for Asiaweek .

Meanwhile, DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang today questioned whether the ministry's withholding of the magazines was another example of the government trying to counter 'negative' reports.

"In the era of information technology where censorship is so porous, although the government may censor, ban or refuse to release the print copy for sale in the newsstands, the magazines' reports are freely and easily accessible on the Internet," he said in a press statement.

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