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Subject: Malaysia Closes Down Newspaper For Publishing Danish
Cartoons
From: <nkdatta2468@bigmailbox.net>
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kashmir
soc.culture.indian.jammu-kashmir
soc.culture.indian.delhi
alt.religion.islam
alt.sect.ahmadiyya
Date: 10 Feb 2006 13:35:32 -0800

Feb 10, 06 4:12pm


Tribune 'deserved it': Suhakam's Hamdan
By Pauline Puah


Suspended Sarawak English daily The Sarawak Tribune 'deserved to be
closed down', Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam)
Commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan said today.


"I think it deserved to be closed because religion is something very
sensitive [...] the media must be very careful when dealing with
religion (issues) because the outcome will be very obvious," he said.
He was speaking to reporters at a Suhakam press conference on custodial
deaths.


He said no media should be allowed to escape the consequences if they
have belittled any religion.


Asked if Suhakam supported the suspension on the paper, Hamdan said:
"It's not a matter of supporting or not [...] the government has
right to ensure (security) because the right to life is the most
important right in human rights. If there is violence erupting, surely
I think the right to life will be threatened".


The Sarawak Tribune was suspended indefinitely by the government
yesterday under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984
following the controversial caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad which
it reprinted in it last Saturday edition.


Asked if his statement was contradictory with Suhakam's stand to
revoke the PPPA, Hamdan said th closure has nothing to do the Act as
the government can invoke other laws - including the Sedition Act - in
taking action against the Tribune.


"The first thing the government needs to worry about is national
security. I don't think the government is serving its own interest.
It's serving the people's interest (in suspending the paper).


He said the suspension might be seen as harsh but for the time being it
might be 'the best course of action'.

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