KDN blackmail: Harakah sales drop by 17K copies, vendors feel squeeze

Ana Ghoib Syeikh Malaya 10:04 PG
Like a bunch of blackmailers, officers of the Home Ministry have put the squeeze on distributors and vendors to restrict sales of the PAS organ Harakah, according to the paper’s editor.

Ahmad Lutfi Othman told Malaysiakini that KDN had mounted an intimidation campaign against vendors, warning them they will be charged in court if they distribute or sell Harakah. Sales have dipped by about 17,000 copies, (a loss of about RM25,500 in circulation revenue) since last week, he said.

“Not only are copies of Harakah seized, the Home Ministry officers are telling the sellers that the next time Harakah is found at their premises, they will be charged in court,” Ahmad Lutfi said. Some sellers only sell about 10 copies and earn just 20sen a copy. If they are charged in court, they can be fined RM4,000 to RM5,000. It’s not a risk they are willing to take,” he said.

Random raids have been made in Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Malacca and Sabah. In Negri Sembilan and Kedah, seizures were made at the distributors’ offices, before the papers reached vendors. Ahmad Lutfi said distributors and sellers were reluctant to lodge police reports about the seizures in order not to run foul of the authorities.

Ahmad Lutfi said Harakah circulation hit 180,000 copies during the general election. On May 22, two weeks after polling, KDN seized 1,408 copies of Suara Keadilan (the PKR organ), 1,062 copies of Harakah and 70 copies of The Rocket (the DAP organ).

He Lutfi said Harakah had been re-classified by KDN from “newspaper” to “newsletter”, with sale restricted to party premises and to party members. Harakah management complied by telling vendors to sell only to party members, and supplied display racks for Harakah to be kept separate from general-circulation newspapers.

Ahmad Lutfi said Harakah was contemplating seeking a judicial review of KDN’s recent seizures but were concerned of possible repercussions. “Some of us are even not sure about making the information about the seizures public: news that the Home Ministry is on a rampage may spook other sellers.”

He said no restrictions should be placed on party organs as the aim of all political parties was to reach out to the general public; moreover Harakah should not exist merely at the discretion of the Home Ministry. “Seizures of newspapers only take place in communist countries or under dictatorships, not in democracies such as ours,” Lutfi said.



Malaysiakini