Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's excuses for refusing a printing permit for two news portals is a broken promise that marks the return of bygone "government knows best" era.

In saying this, the Johor DAP policy director Wong Shu Qi (left) also asked why the BN federal government pretends that it cannot tell the difference between tabloids which fabricate stories and news portals such as FZ.com and Malaysiakini .

"If tabloids reporting baseless ghost stories or fabricated pieces are allowed to publish, there is no reason for the permits not to be granted to FZ.com and Malaysiakini since they have never confused readers with such fabricated and unfounded stories," she said in a statement.

Zahid has told the Dewan Rakyat last week that he would not allow the two news portals to go into print publishing because they have the "tendency" to publish "sensational and controversial news".

While he also said there are sufficient newspapers already, Wong said he should not dictate what people can or cannot read.

"With such groundless and illogical excuses to deny the printing permit applications of the two news portals, it only shows that the BN has no political will to carry on the transformation programmes,” she said.

"Zahid and the Prime Minister Najib (Abdul Razak) should clarify if the transformation promises are indeed broken again.”

She said “an open and developed society” can never have enough publications,  as knowledge and information would strengthen the nation.

"More publications lead to more open discourse and hopefully a healthy environment that encourages critical thinking” she added.

Malaysiakini has stated its intention to apply for a printing permit again, following the court ruling late last year which overturned a Home Ministry attempt to quash its past attempts at getting a permit.

FZ.com , despite initially being granted a printing permit, had this revoked by the ministry earlier this year.