The Home Ministry has approved the publication of the official newsletter of opposition party PRM, said party vice-president Rustam Sani today.

He told malaysiakini that PRM received a letter yesterday from the ministry informing that the party's application for a permit to publish Suara PRM has been approved.

"We believe that this development is the result of our announcement last week that PRM would be instituting legal action against the KDN (Home Ministry), not just for failing to grant the publishing permit but also for not responding to our correspondence concerning the application, which was first submitted on March 22, 1999," said Rustam.

On Feb 6, Rustam had announced at a press conference that PRM was considering legal action against the Home Ministry for not responding to its application for a license to publish Suara PRM ([#1] Opposition plans to counter Home Ministry's ban on publications[/#] , Feb 6)

Friendly notice

The party's legal adviser R Sivarasa, who was also present, said that a "friendly lawyer's note" had been sent to the Home Ministry to remind them about the application submitted in March 1999.

In a statement today, Rustam said the party regretted that it had to issue threats of taking legal actions before the permit was approved.

"Although we have now obtained the publishing permit for our own party organ, we are nevertheless still of the opinion that the condition for publishing and dissemination of information in this country is far from being satisfactory."

He added that the government was consciously pursuing a policy of the suppression of basic rights.

Many independent publishers have had their publishing permits revoked and a number of political parties are yet to hear about the fate of their applications for permits to publish their party organs, he added.