An international press watchdog group today called on other journalist associations to send appeals to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed to lift the ban on bimonthly magazine Detik and allow all media in Malaysia to operate freely and openly.

Expressing its alarm at the banning of the magazine, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists urged journalist groups to stress that the country's harsh licensing regime and other press controls violate internationally recognised standards of free expression.

"The recent actions against Detik and Harakah indicate an apparent unwillingness on the part of the Malaysian government to tolerate any alternative views in popular media," it said in a press release emailed to malaysiakini .

"By restricting the press, this country is doing a disservice to its people, and setting strict limits on the public discourse that is essential to democratic nations."

The Home Ministry on March 27 officially notified Detik that its publishing license which had expired in December last year would not be renewed. The ministry did not give any reasons for the banning of the magazine.

Former editor-in-chief Ahmad Lutfi Othman, however, told malaysiakini that a ministry official had informed him by telephone that the magazine was banned because "the original permit was handed over to another party".

Lutfi added that another magazine al-Wasilah , the sister publication of Detik , may also likely lose its publishing permit when it comes up for renewal in August.

A number of international and regional press organisations have reacted with dismay at the latest crackdown on the media in Malaysia.

The Paris-based Reporters San Frontiers had on Tuesday sent a letter to Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Abdullah Badawi urging him to lift the ban on Detik .

Yesterday, Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance described the ban as sending a "chilling message of repression to the entire journalism profession".

Meanwhile, the National Union of Journalists has refused to comment on the issue.