By Hafiz Yatim | Malaysiakini
The Home Minister cannot limit Malaysiakini’s right to publication just because it wants to limit competition among newspapers, the web portal operator Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd’s lawyer K. Shanmuga told the Court of Appeal today.
Shanmuga (left in photo, with Edmund Bon) said that if the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) was not there, it would not limit the publication of newspapers.
He said the minister, in not giving any reason for rejecting Mkini Dotcom’s application for a publishing permit, can be a subject of judicial review.
“The minister, in giving reasons only in the affidavit, had said they want to ensure there would not be too many newspapers for the public.
“They say that there are already 75 newspapers and they do not want to crowd the market as this would affect the profitability of newspapers and people would be confused when there are so many different versions of a story.”
They, the lawyer said, contended that this was the policy of the Home Ministry, which is to limit the number of publications.
“However, such a reason goes against the Competition Act as the people should be allowed to have their choice of publication and the country should encourage healthy competition,” Shanmuga added.
Also appearing for Mkini Dotcom is Edmund Bon.
Shanmuga also pointed out that several court decisions in India showed that publishing is a right as over there, there is no law to limit publications. However, in Malaysia, it seems to be a matter of patronage.
Malaysiakini did meet ministry officers
He said it was wrong for the senior federal counsel to say Malaysiakini representatives did not meet Home Ministry officers as its chief executive officer Premesh Chandran had met one of the ministry officers.
At the meeting, Shanmuga added, the officer asked whether Malaysiakini has any political backing in its intention to publish the news, to which Premesh replied that the portal was independent and is not affiliated with any political party.
He said the Home Ministry also checked on this and found that Malaysiakini does not have any political financier.
Despite this explanation, the lawyer said, the ministry decided not to grant the publishing permit.
He further submitted that the Home Minister had to furnish reasons why it had rejected Mkini Dotcom’s application but it did not do so.
“The High Court says the minister must give reasons, and the minister did so only through an affidavit in 2011, after we filed for the judicial review in 2010,” he said.
Shanmuga said as the matter affected freedom of speech and the right to print a paper, if the Home Minister is refusing an application, he should tell why.
