The Home Affairs Ministry was censured in Parliament today for not issuing a publication permit to Berita Keadilan , the party organ of Keadilan, although its application was submitted more than a year ago.

PAS MP for Tumpat, Kamaruddin Jaafar said that when the government changed the permit of the PAS party organ, Harakah , from bi-weekly to a bi-monthly publication last year, Prime Minister and the then Home Affairs minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was reported to have said that all political parties would only be allowed to publish their respective newsletters fortnightly at most in the future.

Kamaruddin said that it has been a year since, and Keadilan has yet to be granted the permit.

"I was surprised to learn that after more than a year, Keadilan is still waiting for the publication permit that they should have got a long time ago. It is unlawful to restrict Keadilan from publishing its bulletin as a legitimate party in Malaysia," he said.

Under the existing Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984, any proprietor of a print media has to apply for a permit which is to be renewed annually at the absolute discretion of the Home Affairs Minister.

In response to Kamaruddin's criticism, Home Affairs Ministry parliamentary secretary Abu Zahar Isnin said that the ministry is in the process of reviewing Keadilan's application.

Abu Zahar said that the ministry had sent letters to Keadilan to gather some additional information required for the issuing of the permit.

"If the information conforms with the requirements of our procedures, we will issue the permit," he said.

Abu Zahar who is also Umno MP for Jasin, however, did not specify a time frame as to when the review will be completed.

Citing Harakah and the Rocket (the DAP's party organ) as evidence that the government has no intention to curb the opposition's voices, he said that the government will not impede on the opposition's freedom to express their views as long as they do not misuse that freedom to publish malicious or false news.

"We allow the opposition to voice out their opinions and views, but we will take action against them if they are found to be misusing their freedom," he said.

'Incompetent government'

Meanwhile, Berita Keadilan editor Khalid Jaafar told malaysiakini when contacted that the party first applied for its publication permit before the general elections in Nov 1999.

He expressed his frustration over the fact that all component parties in Barisan Alternatif except Keadilan have their respective publication permits.

"The government cannot deny us of our publication permit. It is a delay, and this has again shown the people what an incompetent government is about," he said.

Khalid said that although Keadilan has received letters from the ministry, they were solely to confirm that the ministry had started processing their application and did not ask for additional information.

He said that the ministry has not briefed them on the latest status of their permit since then. This, however, is not stopping the party from publishing Berita Keadilan , he added.