Any new publication permit that the government grants will take into consideration the country’s security, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said today.

NONE “My consideration is security. If there is anything that affects security, by all means, we need to address it with a clear conscience and at the end of the day, the public will have to decide,” he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Hishammuddin (left) was responding to a question on to whether the government would be more generous in issuing publication permits in light of proposed reforms to the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA).

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, in a televised address to the nation last Thursday, announced several reforms .

These included replacing the renewal of annual publication permits with one-off permits, but with the Home Ministry maintaining its right to revoke these at any time.

azlan Asked if PKR organ Suara Keadilan would have its publication licence reinstated after this was suspended last year for running foul of the PPPA, Hishammuddin was non-comittal.

“If you're talking about the opposition, whatever we do is never going to be enough. Political considerations will require the goal posts to be moved every time we get close to it. I don’t think that would be the benchmark, my benchmark is the people.”

On the fact that publishers still faced the risk of having their permits revoked at the Home Ministry’s discretion, Hishammuddin said it was too early to judge the impact of the planned reforms.

“It is still too early for me to detail, it involves three ministries. We have (Information, Communications and Culture Minister) Rais Yatim, (de facto Law Minister) Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz and myself... it will depend on what comes out, it is not whether I feel it is significant or not, it is the rakyat that is important.”

The PPPA requires publishers to apply for an annual permit for any printed periodical. This can be revoked at any time, a criterion that allows the government to ensure that applicants toe the line.

Limits under new laws

On another matter, Hishammuddin described Kota Alam Shah assemblyperson M Manoharan’s suggestion to change the national flag as “provocation”, adding that the new security laws would have limits.

najib special address malaysia day 150911 “Najib had courageously understood this new political landscape and we will draft and use the new Acts so that there will be rights and limits for politicking (but) not to the extent that it touches on patriotism, racial unity and respect among religions, pawned for political power and sympathy,” he said.

In light of the premier's announcement, including the intended abolition of the Internal Security Act, Umno leaders have gone to the ground to explain the situation to party members.

“The abolition of the ISA is closely related to new Acts that are more specific...

"When we give such an explanation, for example, (as we did) in Negri Sembilan recently, only then will people understand (that) we are not abolishing it blindly,” added Hishammuddin.

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