Media take heed. The fate that befell Sarawak Tribune should serve as warning for others to be more responsible about media freedom.

Tribune , Saawak's oldest newspaper, has been slapped with an indefinite suspension for reproducing a demeaning caricature of Prophet Mohammed which has ignited worldwide protests.

Deputy Information Minister Donald Lim Siang Chai said the action, ordered by the Internal Security Ministry, was not meant to curb press freedom but to preserve harmony in Malaysia.

"It is a good and right decision," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Lim told reporters this after attending a Chinese New Year open house organised by the Juxian Sports Centre in Penang last night.

He said although Malaysia was among nations that gave out many newspaper publishing permits, the government continued to monitor press freedom in the country.

So far between 40 and 50 permits had been issued by the Internal Security Ministry and of these 23 were for Chinese and 10 for English newspapers, he added.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also Internal Security Minister, announced the suspension of Sarawak Tribune on Thursday.

The newspaper had published the caricatures accompanying an article titled "Cartoon Not Much Impact Here".

Asked on the appeal against the suspension by Sarawak Tribune 's group editor, Lim said it would depend on the police investigation into the case.

He praised Muslims in the country for not going overboard when reacting to the caricature issue.

"Muslims here are an example for others as they adopt a moderate approach in handling this issue," he said.

Management accepts decision

In a related development, the senior management of the Sarawak Tribune newspaper, which is owned and published by Sarawak Press Sdn Bhd, had accepted the government's decision to suspend the daily until further notice.

Its editorial chairperson Idris Buang said that he and Sarawak Press executive director Polit Hamzah had been given the mandate by the company's board of directors to resolve the problem in a professional manner.

"From tomorrow, the Sarawak Tribune will cease to operate until such a time when the suspension is lifted," he told reporters yesterday.

Idris said the suspension order issued by the Internal Security Ministry was received by Polit at his office in Jalan Abell here at 8.40pm.

Asked about talk that Sarawak Press group editor Toman Mamora had been sacked following the incident, Idris said no decision had made on the type of action to be taken against the editorial staff responsible.

He said the company's Malay edition, Utusan Sarawak , was not affected by the suspension as it held a different licence and would continue to publish as normal.

Utusan Sarawak is published by Warta Distribution Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Sarawak Press.

On the fate of Sarawak Tribune 's editorial staff now that it had been suspended, Polit said he and the management would resolve the matter professionally and ensure their welfare was not neglected.

"Besides the Sarawak Tribune , we have many other publications," he said, adding that the staff might temporarily be absorbed by them.

The Sarawak Tribune has about 70 staff in the editorial division throughout Sarawak.