PKR has been left baffled by a police report lodged by the Home Ministry that cites breach of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) by the new party organ Keadilan .

In a statement today, Home Ministry deputy assistant secretary Abdul Rahim Mohd Radzi confirmed that the report was lodged because Keadilan had published a document classified as ‘secret’ on its front page.

dzulkarnain taib Editor-in-chief Dzulkarnain Taib had said yesterday that the ‘document’ in question was the ministry’s show-cause letter against Suara Keadilan , the suspended party organ.

“It is not a secret. Don’t come up with petty reasons. As a registered political party, we have the right to publish our own newspaper,” he said.

The OSA allows designated officials to classify any document as ‘top secret’, ‘secret’, ‘confidential’ or ‘restricted’. Holding such a document or disseminating the contents is punishable by a mandatory jail term of ranging from one to seven years.

Contacted today, Dzulkarnain said the publisher is in discussion with lawyer Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin on the next move.

“After we replied the first show-cause letter dated July 28, the ministry sent another letter stating that it was not satisfied with the explanation,” he said, adding that a third show-cause letter was received on July 9.

keadilan 110710 01 The ministry, which oversees the annual licensing of publications, decided against renewing Suara Keadilan's permit.

It was unhappy with chief editor Dzulkarnain's explanation over an article containing allegations that the Federal Land Development Authority is bankrupt.

However, PKR chose to defy the ban by coming up with the one-off publication dubbed Keadilan .

Published by PKR Youth, it was distributed free of charge to the public yesterday at the Masjid Jamek LRT station in Kuala Lumpur.

Harakah submits reply

In another development, PAS party organ Harakah has also replied to a second show-cause letter issued by the Home Ministry.

NONE “However, the details of our letter cannot be revealed,” said Harakah chairperson and party secretary-general Mustafa Ali.  

The publishing permit for the party organ expired on July 7 and has not been renewed by the ministry.

The next day, Harakah received a show-cause letter for the delay in submitting eight copies of each issue to the ministry, and for selling the newspaper to non-PAS members and outside the areas allowed.

A second show-cause letter demanded an explanation as to why the party organ was published and distributed when the permit had expired.