HOME MINISTRY CAUGHT LYING AGAIN? Approval was given to change focus to current affairs - The Heat

Editors of the suspended weekly The Heat met with the Home Ministry today, noting that it did reply to two show cause letters from the authorities, and had received approval for its conversion to a "current affairs" weekly last September.

Putrajaya had issued two show-cause letters to the weekly and suspended it last Thursday, before it could publish its 16th edition since its launch in early September, ostensibly for breaching provisions in its permit.

"We have replied to two show-cause letters (dated November 27, 2013 and December 2, 2013) issued by the Home Ministry within the time frame provided," the editors said in a statement posted at its affiliate website, theantdaily.com.

The weekly is published by HCK Media, which also publishes business weekly Focus Malaysia. The group is owned by Sarawakian businessman Tan Sri Clement Hii, a former journalist and former executive deputy chairman of The Star, who is a major shareholder of Segi College.

In the three-paragraph statement, the editors also refuted the charge that it had changed its format without informing the Home Ministry. The other complaint was that it had changed shareholders without informing the ministry.

"The Heat was originally approved on July 8, 2013 as a weekly publication under the “Economy/Social” category. Subsequently, it applied to change its category to “Current Affairs”. Approval was given on September 18, 2013.

"The editors have met with officials of the Home Ministry again today, and we are extending our full cooperation to the ministry to fully resolve the matter. The ministry has assured us that it will consider The Heat’s appeal to lift the suspension in a fair and prompt manner," they said in the statement.

The Heat received show-cause letters after publishing a report that questioned Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's (pic) spendthrift ways, but the Home Ministry denied such a link.

The weekly is the first newspaper suspended by the Najib administration. The last newspaper that received a suspension order was the Sarawak Tribune in 2007 for publishing images of Prophet Muhammad, which is banned in Islam.

On Saturday, the Home Ministry said The Heat weekly was suspended because it did not inform of changes in its ownership and its purpose of being a business magazine.

"The Heat’s publication permit states that the outlet is required to inform the Home Ministry of any change of ownership.

"Furthermore, the permit provides for a weekly business magazine. However, these provisions were violated," the ministry had said in a statement.

The weekly was suspended after getting a second show cause letter from the ministry.

The ministry said the first show cause letter required a response from the publisher, but none was received.

A second show cause letter was sent, but no official response was forthcoming.

Therefore, the ministry said The Heat was suspended until an official response was received from the publisher.

The ministry insisted in the statement that the suspension was not related in any way to the news weekly's report on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

The first show cause letter was sent to the publisher HCK Media last week.

The weekly’s editor-in-chief David Lee Boon Siew had also been summoned to the ministry in Putrajaya and told to tone down its reports.

HCK Media had been given 14 days to reply to the show cause letter.

In its front-page report in the November 23-29 issue headlined, "All eyes on big-spending PM Najib", The Heat had listed expenditures incurred on overseas trips and consultancy fees, as well as Rosmah's use of a government jet to attend a conference in Doha, Qatar, where she received an award.

Opposition politicians, journalists and human rights groups have criticised Putrajaya over the suspension.

PKR vice-president N. Surendran said the suspension of the news weekly was an act of personal vengeance by Najib and Rosmah as The Heat dared to criticise Putrajaya over its spending.

The National Union of Journalists and human rights group Lawyers for Liberty said the suspension contradicted the meaning of democracy.

"The media is the Fourth Estate and we have a responsibility to update the public, especially if there is any abuse or wrongdoing by the government," said NUJ president Chin Sung Chew.

LFL co-founder and adviser Eric Paulsen described Najib as a false democrat whose promises of reform has come to nothing. -  TMI