Harakah editor Zulkifli Sulong confirmed this afternoon that the Prime Minister's Department today over-ruled the condition to bind the PAS organ's Internet edition to be published only twice a month, a restriction applicable to its print version.

"I have received verification that the ruling to restrict our Internet edition was not accepted by the PM's Department," Zulkifli said when contacted by malaysiakini today.

Confusion stemmed from a report by the national news agency Bernama which quoted Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung yesterday as saying that the regulations governing the print version of Harakah also applied to its Internet edition. It was also reported by several local newspapers.

Reuters today reported that Bernama issued a note to editors late yesterday saying that the PM's Department had asked that subscribers "kill" or "ignore" the earlier story carrying Chor's remarks.

Chor's remarks seem to have contradicted Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed's commitment on the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) to make it the country's Silicon Valley and the national information technology policy to leapfrog Malaysia into the information age.

According to Zulkifli, Chor's statement contravenes the objectives of Malaysia's cyber laws and would undermine Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's MSC project.

Meanwhile, DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said that the contradicting remarks yesterday had gone a long way to destroy all the work done in the past few years to project Malaysia as an ideal location for the cutting edge of information technology and to position the country as a suitable site to become an Asian Silicon Valley.

"Mahathir had solemnly announced its Bill of Guarantees, one of which is that there would be no Internet censorship, when he offered the MSC as 'a gift to the world'. When this guarantee is violated, the MSC will not even be a gift to Malaysia let alone be a gift to the world!" he lamented.

Lim urged the Prime Minister to come out with a new policy statement, which should strongly and unequivocally renounce all government attempts to censor or regulate free flow of Internet information before more damage was done to MSC and the national IT policy.

Mahathir should make it crystal clear that the government has no intention to renege on its bill of guarantee of no Internet censorship and that there would be no regulation of website content as being considered as indicated by Deputy Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia Tan Chai Ho yesterday, said Lim.

Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pao carried on its front page a report today that Tan said the government is planning to formulate regulations on website contents to ensure they observed ethics and government legislation.

The newspaper also quoted Tan as saying that the Internet version of Harakah is also restricted to two publications a month, a condition imposed on its print edition.

"In an age when information is transmitted at the speed of light, it is most antediluvian for any government minister to warn that any Internet website can only be updated once a fortnight. The Cabinet and government must learn fast, that websites are updated not once a day, but many times a day and even all-round-the-clock," said Lim.