'The People’s Voice' banned

Malaysia - The Home Ministry has not renewed the publication permit of Makkal Osai (The People's Voice), the Tamil daily which has a circulation of 52,000 copies.

Speculation is rife that this is due to the newspaper's lengthy coverage of Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition parties (Pakatan Rakyat) and Hindraf issues.

Makkal Osai's general manager SM Periasamy said, "The ministry did not give a reason for not renewing the permit and so I don't want to speculate on it. We are going to submit our appeal today and we might hear from them in a week's time."

"If our appeal is rejected, the board of directors will have to decide what to do next. We will look into some possibilities where we can use our expertise," Periasamy said. He did not rule out the possibility of migrating to an online medium.

The Tamil daily is closely linked to S Subramaniam, former MIC deputy president and former arch rival of MIC president, Samy Vellu. Its closest competitor, Tamil Nesan, is owned by Samy Vellu. Both politicians decided to bury the hatchet after Vellu's shocking defeat in his constituency and MIC lost almost all their seats in the recent general elections.

Last year, the daily was slapped with a one-month suspension after it published an image of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette and a can of beer. But it subsequently carried front-page apologies for two consecutive days to assure the Christian communities that it was a genuine oversight.