Indie newspapers confiscated - again?

Suara Rakyat (Voice of the People) is an independent pro-opposition daily newspaper under the Parti Keadilan Rakyat, or the People's Justice Party. The paper aimed to reach out to rural areas up north which has less accessibility to the Internet for information.

There is a need for a publication print in Malaysia. Some say it is a way to provide legitimate information from the publications, others say it's an attempt to silence dissent or anti-government news. SR has always took a stand in question the government's actions, and thus was not granted a proper permit for many years now.

With that being said, the papers were confiscated recently due to the lack of permit, which was caused by a refusal to serve papers that went against their interests.

Despite the bleak news, there is a sign of optimism among the distributors:

It's a futile effort as information will still reach the rakyat, even if they keep confiscating over and over again - Alor Setar PKR secretary Peter Jayabalan

The government is responsible to uphold the freedom of speech as constituted in Article 10. The bigger question is, if silencing dissent was not their aim, why does it have to be so tough for them to blatantly renew permits?

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