Introduction of Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984

Introduction of Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA) in Malaysia

PPPA first introduced by the British colonial government as the Printing Ordinance of 1948 at the beginning of the state of emergency, in order to counteract Communist activities that are seen as a threat to the establishment. All printing presses require a licence granted by the Home Affairs Minister, renewed every year. In 1971 The Ordinance was revised, after the race riots of 1969, and became the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA). Other than that in 1984 The PPPA was amended. The Act provides that it is a criminal offense to possess or use a printing press without a licence granted by the Home Affairs Minister.

Nowadays, the PPPA is the most powerful tool the government has to control the print media. The law requires newspapers to obtain annual permits to publish. It also provides the Home Minister with the discretion to suspend or revoke any newspaper’s permit. The law was well-utilised in 2010 and there are no signs that the government intends to even review, let alone abolish it. Interestingly, in June 2010, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin called for the PPPA to be abolished to improve media credibility; however he was largely ignored by his BN colleagues.

The most important way in which the BN uses the PPPA is to maintain a monopoly on ownership of the print media. Licences to print daily newspapers or political magazines are given to either companies owned by component parties, or close BN allies. Nevertheless, the Home Ministry used the PPPA against some of these cases, perhaps illustrating to curtail the free exchange of opinions and ideas between the citizens of Malaysia.

ZUNAR THE CARTOONIST (2010) Introduction Zunar also known as Zulkiflee Anwar Haque. He was born on 15 May 1962 at Bukit Junun, Gurun, Kedah. He is a cartoonist for Malaysiakini, the online news website. He has been drawing editorial cartoons for the past 20 years in Malaysia. In 1973 Zunar delivered his first works which were distributed in the magazine Bambino. Zunar’s name became well-known when he got himself involved in the Reformasi movement following the sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the then deputy prime minister in 1998. Zunar hold to the philosophy which is when one’s country is facing a moral crisis and beset by corruption, abuse of power and violations of human rights, then it is one’s duty to take a firm stand against those responsible for it. “How can I be neutral, when even my pen has a stand?” (ZUNAR 2012).

He concentrated on political cartoons after his discharged. He also produced several books of cartoons touching on many reform movements that he had previously participated including Harakah. 24 June 2010, “1 Funny Malaysia”, a book of his published works from the Malaysiakini website, “Gedung Kartun”, “Perak Dalam Kartun” and “Isu Dalam Kartun” which were a series of magazines about political and recent issues in Malaysia and Perak were banned and prohibited by the Malaysian Home Ministry to be sold in public. The Malaysian government declared the boycott on five of his political cartoon distributions under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) which is 1 Funny Malaysia, Perak Darul Kartun, Isu Dalam Kartun vol 1, Isu Dalam Kartun vol 2 and Isu Dalam Kartun vol 3.

The Background of The Case The boycott was effected by the Printing Presses and Publications (Control of Undesirable Publications) (No.5) Order 2010 [P.U.(A) 208/ 2010] which was distributed on 17th June 2010 in the Government Gazette. The boycott was made by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Wira Abu Seman Bin Yusop, "on sake and in the name" of the Minister of Home Affairs.

The only ground for banning the book is stated in the Order itself. Both books are said to be “prejudicial to public order”. The Order is said to be made pursuant to Section 7 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984. 1 Funny Malaysia by Zunar

1Funny Malaysia was distributed by Malaysiakini in November 2009. All the cartoons in this book were highlighted in the Malaysiakini site from October 2006 to November 2009. Perak Darul Kartun was distributed by Zunar himself through his distributed organization Sepakat Efektif Sdn. Bhd. in November 2009. This book highlights political drawing of various specialists drove by Zunar. Since the books are different, and are distributed by two different organizations, they have been exhorted that they should file separate applications for judicial review.

Reasons For Challenge Both Malaysiakini and Zunar fight that the banning of these books by the Government is an attempt to suppress political expression and to curtail the free exchange of opinions and ideas between the citizens of Malaysia, a privilege revered by Article 10 (1) (a) of the Federal Constitution.

The ban is an abuse of power by the Government to stifle legitimate criticism of the ruling Government’s policies and the current Prime Minister. We are at a loss to understand how these political cartoons giving fair comment and satire of Malaysian politics and politicians can pose a threat to public order (MalaysiaKini 2012).

The Government’s action in banning these cartoons is inconsistent with the representations it makes to the world about promoting human rights.This is particularly disappointing considering that Malaysia is a member of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council for the term of 2010 to 2013.