KUALA LUMPUR: All Pakatan Rakyat component parties will halt publication of their respective newsletters until next week, pending a meeting with the Home Ministry. Pakatan leaders say their next course of action will depend on the outcome of their talks with Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
The decision was announced by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim after a Pakatan presidential council meeting today.
Anwar, the Permatang Pauh MP, said although the opposition bloc condemns the ministry's refusal to renew the permits of all three party organs — Suara Keadilan (PKR), Harakah (PAS) and The Rocket (DAP) — it will respect procedural requirements to rectify the problem.
"We hope we can hasten the meeting with the minister and that he gives due consideration and space (for us to explain) so that the government does not appear to be autocratic," he told a press conference in his office at Parliament House.
Suara Keadilan and the other organs have been at loggerheads with the Home Ministry recently, prompting accusations that there is a government crackdown on dissent.
"It is obvious that the content of the newsletters is effective (in its assault on the government)," said Anwar.
Hishammuddin evasive
Suara Keadilan was suspended over an article claiming that the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) had gone bankrupt. The ministry claimed that the report was false.
Both Harakah and The Rocket were given show-cause letters after the two continued with their publications despite their expired permits.
DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang said it is Hishammuddin's top priority to dispel the presumption that the refusal to renew the permits is a form of a clampdown on dissent.
But, like Anwar, Lim said they will meet all procedural requirements by responding to the show-cause letters to resolve the conflict.
Meanwhile, PKR information chief Latheefa Koya claimed that PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution and chief strategist Chua Tian Chang had earlier met with Hishammuddin in Parliament.
"But he was evasive, so let's see how we can try and have a meeting with him sometime next week," she said.
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