Human rights group Aliran has taken the Home Ministry to task for banning the independent Internet news provider, malaysiakini , from government functions, as announced by its deputy minister yesterday.

"Does the ministry realise - or care - how absurd and ridiculous they sound? They seem to have run out of logical reasoning and rational thinking in their response to criticism," said Aliran president P Ramakrishnan in a statement.

The Sun today reported Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung as telling reporters that the Home Ministry has banned malaysiakini from covering and attending any government function as the website is "very critical of the government".

Chor also reportedly said that malaysiakini was not categorised as a local daily and as such did not have press cards issued to other news agencies by the Information Ministry.

On Chor's explanation for the ban, Ramakrishnan said: "Is the ministry suggesting that the government is above criticism and beyond reproach just because it is the government? Is the ministry insisting that the government not be accountable to the public and therefore should not be questioned?

"Government functionaries like Chor must understand that there are rational answers available in responding to criticism rather than resorting to puerile action."

Meanwhile, the Information Ministry yesterday announced that it would be setting up a joint committee to deal with "inaccurate reports" on Malaysia by foreign news agencies.

A Bernama report yesterday quoted minister Khalil Yaakob as saying that "we had agreed to set up the committee even before this issue caused by Asiaweek as several other magazines had also misrepresented facts without finding out the true situation in the country".

The weekly magazine Asiaweek had published a picture of Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and a report noting that Mahathir "slumped in his chair and appeared tired and worn out". Mahathir had said that it made him appear like an "idiot".