Home Ministry desperately seeking 'Suara Keadilan'

The Home Ministry was on the prowl today searching for the latest issues of PKR mouthpiece Suara Keadilan which the party leadership have stated would be printed, despite having its publication permit recently suspended.

A printing company was visited by Home Ministry (KDN) officials following rumours that it was going to publish the party organ.

The premises of Angkatan Edaran Sdn Bhd was visited by four officers from Selangor KDN this morning.

The company's assistant manager Hussin Jan said that an officer heading the team queried him several times and examined the premises themselves when they were not satisfied with his answers.

"I told them; we did not print it. If you don't believe me, you check for yourselves," he said in a telephone conversation with Malaysiakin i.

He added that the team spent about 20 minutes to examine the premises, located in Section 16, Shah Alam.

They later moved to another printer nearby that is also owned by Angkatan Edaran. The team however left after another futile search that lasted for about 15 minutes.

"They were just checking. They did not take anything from us," he said.

The manager, Nor Azlan Jan, however said that Angkatan Edaran used to print Suara Keadilan back in the days when the party newsletter had not yet received a publishing permit.

He also confirmed that PKR intended to print the tabloid at his company, but he declined.

"When they had obtained the permit, (PKR) printed it elsewhere. But when they are facing trouble, they want to come back to us.

"I said, this is not how we do business, and it's not like we need their money," he said when contacted today.

Suara Keadilan was granted the publishing permit by the government in April 2008, and the permit was suspended for three months in March last year, as was PAS mouthpiece Harakah .

Harakah editor: It won't affect us in any way

Coincidentally, Angkatan Edaran is also the printer for Harakah . It's editor Taufek Yahya said that the mere appearance of KDN officials at the printer would not affect the daily's operation in any way.

"This company is definitely the printer for Harakah , but it is only coincidental that they (used to) print Sua ra Keadilan ," said Taufek.

He added that the KDN's operation today is not a form of harassment of Harakah . Instead, it is clearly targetting Suara Keadilan .

"Otherwise, they would have confiscated copies of Harakah because we are going to print today, for Friday's edition," he said.

Meanwhile, Suara Keadilan chief editor Dzulkarnain Taib said the company is still looking for a printer for its latest edition since the party is bent on printing it without a permit.

"We are still deliberating how best we can implement the decision of the party. We still don't know where to print, it is hard for me to say right now," he said.