Journalists from Malay daily Berita Harian have been barred from covering the proceedings of the Kelantan state assembly after it had failed to publish a correction on a report concerning the address by the Sultan of Kelantan.

The report - titled ' Sultan murka kerajaan PAS gagal tadbir Kelantan ' (Sultan angry PAS government fails to administer Kelantan) - has been accused of being inaccurate.

Speaker Mohd Nassuruddin Daud said he had read the newspaper today and found that no correction had been made in relation to the article which was published yesterday.

"Following Article 14 of the Standing Orders, I made the decision to disallow the daily’s journalists from covering the proceedings," he was quoted as saying in the state assembly by Bernama .

Yesterday, Dr Zainuddin Awang Hamat (PAS-Limbongan) demanded that Berita Harian apologise over the article and its journalists be prohibited from covering the proceedings.

He felt that the report published on the front-page had tarnished the image of the state government and the Sultan of Kelantan.

'A loss to the state government'

Zainuddin's call was supported by several other PAS assemblypersons forcing Mohd Nassuruddin to intervene and calm the situation.

The speaker then asked the daily to run an apology in today’s edition, failing which, he warned that necessary action would be taken.

Following the speaker’s decision this morning, Berita Harian reporter Khairul Anuar Abdul Samad was ordered by the security personnel to leave the premises.

Khairul told Bernama later that he accepted the decision but was dissatisfied with the move to bar the daily from covering the entire proceedings.

"We have been providing coverage on the issues which need to be publicised by the state government and we also reported information which needed to be relayed to the public.

"This decision (to bar the daily from covering the entire proceedings) is actually a loss for the state government," he said.