Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has been given a publication permit for its monthly newsletter Sosialis , said the party’s secretary-general S Arutchelvan.

He told Malaysiakini when contacted yesterday that he has just received a letter from the Home Ministry approving the publication.

The letter, dated Aug 4, is signed by an administrative officer on behalf of Home Ministry secretary-general Abdul Rahim Mohd Radzi.

This follows PSM’s application for the permit on May 17, and is in turn a follow-up to a proposal approved during the party’s national congress in June last year.

jerit ride for change campaign shah alam event 171208 arutchelvan “We were unsure whether to apply because many thought it was not worth it, that we’d surely get rejected,” Arutchelvan ( left ) said, noting that it took over a decade just for PSM to be registered as a political party with the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

It gained official recognition in September 2008, but it took almost another year before the ROS approved its logo in April 2009. The clenched fist logo was originally deemed too violent.

“Of course we were very sceptical about getting the registration from the Home Ministry, but then we thought that after the relaxation of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) last year, we thought maybe now it is easier to apply,” Arutchelvan said.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced in his Malaysia Day address last year that the need for annual renewal of publication permits would be abolished as part of a slew of legal reforms . The permits would remain valid indefinitely, unless revoked by the home minister.

The amendment was passed by the Dewan Rakyat in April this year, and came into force on June 18.

PSM’s Sosialis is a Malay language publication with 24 pages and printed in the tabloid format. It is one of PSM’s three periodicals.

The other two publications are a Chinese and a Tamil language quarterly newsletters.

Under the PPPA, a periodical without a publication permit can only be distributed internally.

‘It would help the party sell its papers’

Arutchelvan said he was a bit surprised about being granted the publishing permit.

“At least now it will be easier to put it on the newsstands. Some news stand operators would be worried if it was not registered, and this will help the party sell its papers,” he said.

He said Sosialis is run by volunteers, and then sold at branches or taken away to be sold at night markets, ceramah ssessions and forums.

Now, in addition to trying to sell its newsletter at news stands, Arutchelvan said, PSM would try to hire full-time workers to run the publication, and consider applying for permits for its other publications.

However, he said the registration for a publication should have been a purely administrative process, and unnecessary for political parties.

While lauding the home minister’s approval as a ‘wise move’, he also said that there is no such thing as censorship in the Internet age.

“If they don’t allow something like PSM’s publication, it is only bad publicity for the ruling parties because ultimately, everything will be out on the online media,” Arutchelvan added.