The Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) which allows the government to keep the country's newspapers on a short leash, is outdated.

According to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia communications lecturer Prof Dr Mohd Safar Hasim, the PPPA's relevance should be reviewed since technological advances have now enabled news to be freely channelled through other forms of media, such as the Internet.

While he said that some aspects of the law should be maintained, such as the prohibition of pornographic materials, clauses which seek to curb press freedom should be repealed.

Safar was among the five panelists invited to speak during yesterday's press freedom workshop organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, or Suhakam. He echoed Suhakam chairperson Abu Talib Othman who called for a review of all laws that curtailed press freedom.

"The printing licence provision may be required to stop printing of unsuitable materials such as fake bills or pornographic materials," said Safar who is also a board member of Bernama news agency.

"However, steps must be taken to ensure that its implementation does not restrict democratic traditions such as freedom of speech and press freedom."

Safar also pointed out a 'weakness' of the PPPA licencing requirement which states that the provision is applicable only to machines which are able to print 1,000 copies per hour or above.

"It is to be stressed that the machine size is limited by the number of copies it can print but not its speed of print," he added.

Safar recommended that the printing licence provision be repealed and a regular business licence issued in its place.

Publishing permits

Meanwhile, Safar also called into question the requirement under the PPPA for all publishing companies to apply for a publishing permit.

"There is a concern over pre-censorship with this requirement. Even before one publishes, there is already control over it," he said, adding that the very existence of the provision creates fear among publishers.

Safar said that, since Deputy Home Affairs Minister Chor Chee Heung asserted that the requirements were not always strictly enforced, there should be a rational move to repeal the act.

The lecturer also criticised section 13A in the PPPA which prohibits judicial review of the home minister's decision to ban publications.

"It is high time that the courts be given back their discretion to review the home minister's decision," said Safar.

The provision, which stated that the home minister's decision cannot be questioned, was part of an amendment to the PPPA in 1987 in the aftermath of the 'Operasi Lalang' crisis during which more than 100 opposition politicians and social activists were arrested under the Internal Security Act.

According to Safar, those affected by the Home Affairs Ministry's ruling to reject their application or revoke their publishing permits should be given the opportunity to have their cases reviewed by the courts.

OSA and Sedition Act not forgotten

Safar also called for a review of other restrictive laws such as the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) and the Sedition Act 1948.

Among others, he recommended for a statute of limitation to be applied to documents placed under the OSA to a minimum of 25 years.

"At the moment, there is no limitation for information to be placed under this Act. This should be considered because at one time, we have to know what happened in the past," Safar added.

Other speakers at yesterday's Suhakam press freedom workshop included Deputy Home Affairs Minister Chor Chee Heung, Information Ministry parliamentary secretary Zainuddin Maidin, malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan and alternative media spokesperson Ahmad Lutfi Othman.

The workshop, attended by journalists, editors and government representatives, resolved to call for a review of the licencing regime of publications as a first step to the eventual repeal of the PPPA.