Bimonthly magazine Detik has downgraded its editor-in-chief Ahmad Lufti Othman to the post of editor after receiving a show cause letter from the home ministry stating that the publication had failed to inform the ministry of Ahmad's appointment.

"We admit to have carelessly made such a big mistake and have therefore apologised to the ministry" Detik said in open letter received by malaysiakini today. "Ahmad has now been downgraded to the post of editor." [[#1]Detik's open letter[/#]]

According to the ministry, Detik has also committed two other offences by not printing its publication address on the magazine and by transferring its permit to another publication company, Penerbitan Pemuda , without the consent of the home affairs minister. Detik has denied committing the latter offence.

The publication had also received a letter from the ministry stating that 90 per cent of its published articles were political in nature, exceeding the scope of their initial permit application which stated that the publication would focus on economic, social and educational issues. Further, the ministry charged that the articles appeared to be focused on opposition parties.

The letter, dated Oct 23 and signed by Tengku Mahmood Tengku Ismail, instructed Detik to cease the publication of "such articles and abide by the scope of the original permit application". The ministry further warned that the publishers of Detik could face prosecution under the Printing Presses and Publications Act if they failed to abide by the rules.

Detik had sent a letter to the ministry on the above matter but it has yet to receive a reply. The publication's application to renew its permit has been affected since the new Cabinet was formed.

Detik's permit had earlier expired on Nov 31 and it was informed in a letter, dated Dec 9, that its application was successful. Detik made a payment of RM500 immediately for the permit. However, the publication claimed that it did not receive the publication permit (PP) number from the ministry which it required for further publications.

"The ministry did not give any reasons whatsoever for witholding our PP number," said Detik . "Instead we were verbally informed later that our permit had been revoked on the instructions of the home affairs minister."

The publication added that it was still waiting for an official reply from the ministry on the status of its permit.