 Reporters
Without Borders condemns the censorship and self-censorship which the home
affairs ministry has imposed on Malaysia's leading English-language daily, The
Star, by issuing it with a warning about an article criticising the caning of
three Muslim women under Sharia law.
As one of the country's most widely-read newspapers, The Star
should have a free hand to provide its readers with the broadest range
of news and views on social issues, Reporters Without Borders said.
We urge Prime Minister Abdul Razak to reconsider this decision and to
quickly amend the 1984 Publishing and Printing Presses Act, whose
licence renewal system denies newspapers the security they need.
In response to the pressure from the government and Muslim groups,
the newspaper was forced to publish an apology and withdraw the
offending article from its website. Written by managing editor P.
Gunasegaram and published in the paper on 19 February, the article,
entitled Persuasion, not compulsion, said the sentence of caning
passed on 9 February on three Muslim women accused of adultery was
disproportionate. It was the first time in years that a Malaysian court
has issued such a sentence.
After receiving the home affairs ministry's warning letter, the
newspaper refused to publish an article by one of the newspapers
contributing columnists, Marina Mahathir , in which she argued that
Sharia laws were written by men, not God, and as such were open to
debate. She finally posted the column on her
blog.
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