Ministry mulls action against Guangming
Zubaidah Abu Bakar
February 13, 2006
New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR, Sun. The Internal Security Ministry will decide whether action is to be taken against the Guangming Daily after the newspaper allegedly published one of the controversial caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he was leaving it to the ministry to determine whether the newspaper had committed an offence.

"The ministry has contacted the newspaper and it is up to it to confirm (the allegation)," he said after launching the Sentul Park Koi Centre here today.

The newspaper’s editorial management has been summoned to meet ministry officials tomorrow.

Last week the Sarawak Tribune, the State’s oldest newspaper, was suspended indefinitely for reproducing the controversial caricatures.

It is learned that Guangming’s Feb 3 evening edition for the northern region had published a photograph showing a person reading a newspaper carrying one of the caricatures.

On realising the mistake, Guangming managed to retrieve most of its newspapers soon after that edition hit the streets, but it is believed that a few hundred copies were sold.

Guangming is part of the Sinchew Media Corporation, which owns Chinese daily Sin Chew Daily.

The paper has two editions — the northern, which focuses on news in northern Perak, Penang, Kedah and Perlis, and the central edition for the Klang Valley and the south.

On another matter, Abdullah said Barisan Nasional elected representatives should serve their constituencies regardless of the publicity.

"Work must be continued at all times... there is no need for the media to go and report on what is being done or for television cameramen to take their pictures. There’s no need for this, just do your work," he said.

The Prime Minister also said he was monitoring the developments in all parliamentary and state constituencies through the Implementation and Co-ordination Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department.

On whether BN elected representatives were implementing pledges contained in the 2004 BN general election manifesto, Abdullah said some of the pledges were being fulfilled, but there were constraints such as limited financial allocations.

Also present at today’s event was YTL Corp Bhd managing director Tan Sri Francis Yeoh.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Monday/National/20060213090013/Article/index_html