KL threatens to ban newspapers

KL threatens to ban newspapers

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): A government minister said yesterday
three daily newspapers in Malaysia may be banned unless they stop
printing stories that affect racial harmony or relations with
neighboring nations.

Declining to name the newspapers, Deputy Home Minister Megat
Junid Megat Ayob said the owners were given a final warning
recently.

He said their publishing permits would be withdrawn if the
reports continue over the next two weeks, the national news
agency Bernama reported.

"I advised them to be careful since national peace and harmony
depends on racial and religious unity and ties with our
neighbors," Bernama quoted him as telling reporters at a
gathering of an Indonesian-Malaysian Moslem organization.

Up to one million Indonesians work in labor-short Malaysia,
mostly as unskilled workers in the plantation and construction
sectors or as maids, frequently blamed, by both officials and the
press, for being a major contributing factor to a rise in crime
and spreading infectious diseases.