Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) claimed that there is a concerted effort by the government to disrupt the publication of its party organ Suara Keadilan .

Apart from making it difficult to obtain a publishing permit, party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today said the government is also allegedly issuing threats and warnings to the printer and distributors nationwide .

"We see this as a concerted effort to deny the party from disseminating information to Malaysians when at the same time we are almost blacked out from the mainstream media," she told a press conference at the Parliament's lobby.

Also present were party vice-president R Sivarasa and information chief Tian Chua.

Wan Azizah claimed that the ministry's action contradicted the assurance given by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi five years ago - who was then deputy premier - that all political parties are free to run its own publication.

She said the attempt to stop the party from reaching the public must be condemned and called on the government to acknowledge a political party's right to disseminate information.

She also wanted the government to repeal the requirement for political parties to renew publication permits as well as to review all laws that constrain press freedom.

International campaign

Wan Azizah said the party's difficulties began when the ministry rejected its application to renew the license of Suara PRM issued to Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM).

(PRM had merged with another party called Keadilan to form PKR)

"We wanted to renew the licence and change the name from Suara PRM to Suara Keadilan because of the merger. But the ministry told us that we have to make a fresh application under PKR instead," she said.

This was despite a 1999 precedent when the ministry had allowed PRM to change the name of its publication from Mimbar Sosialis to Suara PRM without having to make a fresh application, she added.

"Nevertheless, we submitted a fresh application as requested and provided all documents they have sought from us. That was in July 2005. However until today we have not received any response from the government," she said.

Bigger democratic space

Meanwhile, Tian said the party will not bow down to the government's bullying tactics and will continue publishing Suara Keadilan .

"This is our right. We will continue to print and we will not back down from our rights. We feel that the public and party members have the right to know the party's activities and views on issues affecting the country as a whole," he added.

He said if the government continued to deny the party of its rights, it would launch a campaign to highlight the issue both domestically and internattionally.

"This is not just about the party but this is about the freedom of speech. This is about the people's access to information.

"It also touches about transparency and good governance. Our campaign is not only to recover our newspaper but also to fight for a bigger democratic space and freedom of speech," he said.