The Penang state legislative assembly has no plans to reverse its ban on Utusan Malaysia from covering its proceedings, which resumed today.

azlan Speaker Abdul Halim Hussein said journalists of the Malay daily are not allowed to enter the compound of the assembly building.

However, they can still cover the proceedings via ‘live’ streaming on the Internet, he noted.

Met in the lobby and asked when the ban would be lifted, Abdul Halim said this would only be when the Umno-owned daily apologises.

"When the rights and privileges committee met in April to discuss the matter, we invited the editor to attend the session to explain the paper's (side of the story).

"However, the editor did not turn up and we decided on the ban as the newspaper published a false report that is slanderous.”

He was referring to the Nov 11 news report last year headlined 'Apa status kediaman rasmi Guan Eng?' (What is the status of Guan Eng's official residence?), in reference to the Penang chief minister.

NONE The committee, headed by Abdul Halim and including several Umno assemblypersons, had met on Jan 26 and Feb 16 this year to deliberate the matter.

A resolution tabled by the chief minister to ban the newspaper was passed at the assembly sitting in May.

The report had quoted Umno’s Permatang Berangan assemblyperson Shabuddin Yahaya as saying that the cost of renovations for the chief minister’s official residence had amounted to RM1.5 million.

Shahabudin was asked during the November sitting if he had made the comment and had denied it.

‘Review Utusan conduct’

Yesterday, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) had urged the Penang government to immediately revoke the ban.    

General secretary V Anbalagan said the House should not have used its "brute" majority to impose the ban, which NUJ believes is unprecedented.

Abdul Halim rebutted this, suggesting that the NUJ should review Utusan's conduct to determine if the newspaper was wrong in what it did.

"Can anyone do this? Quote someone wrongly, and slander others? Is it all right to do this?" he asked.