Malaysia warns opposition paper

Malaysia warns opposition paper

KUALA LUMPUR (DPA): The Malaysian government warned an opposition party-linked newspaper on Wednesday to tone down its antigovernment coverage and to limit sales to its own party members or face being shut down, local news reports said.

The warning was conveyed by deputy home affairs minister Abdul Kadi to Hishamuddin Yahya, the managing director of Harakah, the newspaper published by Parti Islam (PAS), the key Islamic opposition party.

Restricting sales to party members is one of the conditions of the government-granted license to PAS to publish the internal newspaper.

Hishamuddin replied that "Harakah is an opposition newspaper whose objective is to topple the (ruling coalition) Barisan Nasional", the report said.