An independent newspaper editor, Ahmad Lutfi Othman, today expressed disappointment with Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) for failing to work towards repealing restrictive press laws.

Lutfi was at a meeting with Suhakam commissioner Prof Mohd Hamdan Adnan at the commissions office in Kuala Lumpur this morning to jointly hand over a memorandum with a group of journalists calling for the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA).

I am sad that there has not been one statement by Suhakam on this matter. Former Suhakam chairperson Musa Hitam gave it a B for its past record, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang rated it a C+ but for this, I would rate Suhakam an E, he said.

Lutfi is the publisher of two weekly magazines  Detik and al-Wasilah  which were banned by the government in Dec 1999 and March last year, respectively.

He maintained that since then, he was among several people blacklisted by the Ministry of Home Affairs from receiving a publishing permit.

We have applied so many times but we have not once been asked for an interview. The ministry has so much power that it does not even have to give a reason for its rejection, said a visibly upset Lutfi.

The media activist also lamented the ministrys control over the issuance of printing licences as few printing companies have been willing to take the risk in printing his one-off publications.

Against the law

The printers are forced to go against the law by not printing their name on the papers and to risk their businesses for publications which could at most earn RM2,000 to RM3,000 in profits, said Lutfi who has been exploiting a loophole in the PPPA.

The PPPA states that printing permits are required specifically for publications in series but does not mention one-off publications.

According to Lutfi, another area of the PPPA that should be reviewed by Suhakam is the annual renewal of printing permits as required under the law.

It takes a newspaper up to seven or eight months to turn in a small profit. Just as we started to make a profit, our permit was suspended.

The ministry suspends these permits instead of rejecting the applications for the renewal outright to avoid public protests. In the case of Detik , the suspension was over five months, stressed Lutfi who likened the suspensions to torture, for the publishers are also responsible for their own employees.

Double standards

Lutfi also bemoaned the double standards of the home affairs ministry by allowing another slanderous tabloid titled Memo 19 to be printed and distributed allegedly by the Umno division of Selangor.

Memo 19 contained several allegations and personal attacks against Sungai Burung PAS assembly representative Dr Hasan Ali and Lutfi, as well as glowing pieces on Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.

According to Lutfi, during a Selangor state assembly sitting on April 1, a deputy home affairs minister had justified its inaction against the publishers of Memo 19 by saying that the paper could be printed in as many copies as its publisher wished as it was not a serial tabloid.

However, in the meantime, we (Lutfi and his colleagues) have been going in and out of courts to fight against lawsuits for doing the same thing, he lamented, adding that several distributors of his paper have been fined thousands of ringgit by the police.

Lutfi also claimed that indirect threats have been issued to him by the police who allegedly said that they will ensure that Lutfi will not be able to sell his publications no matter how many copies he prints.

The dejected editor said the ban on Detik and al-Wasilah had resulted in the loss of employment for over 40 journalists since 1999.

Lufti recently suspended all publishing activities because of financial woes as a result of several seizures of his publications and outstanding sums due to fines dished out by courts.