PERMIT OF “SUARA TAUSUG” ALSO KNOWN AS “THE NEW SULU TIMES” IS REVOKED

 

Permit of Suara Tausug is revoked

Published on: Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Kota Kinabalu: The Home Affairs Ministry has revoked the publication permit of a local-based weekly, "Suara Tausug", also known as "The New Sulu Times".

Its Publication Control and Al-Quran Texts Division acting director, Yatimah Rabuan said the division received an official directive from its headquarters in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, on the matter last month.

She said the division has been instructed to take legal action against any vendor and the publisher found selling the paper to the public after March 23.

They can be charged under Section 5 of the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984. Each offender can be fined up to RM20,000 or maximum five years' jail or both, upon conviction.

"The letter that we received from the Ministry did not state the reason the paper's permit was revoked. The division here was only told to enforce the order," Yatimah said, Monday.

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Watch on Sulu tabloid

Published on: Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Kota Kinabalu: The Home Ministry is monitoring a weekly tabloid in Sabah called the New Sulu Times (Suara Tausug) which has been in circulation since the middle of this year.

Acting Director of the Ministry's Publication Control and Al-Quran Text Division, Yatimah Hj Rabuan (pic), said they had allowed the paper to continue after checking the contents.

"We found the items published in it were according to the guidelines set in their permit," she said after a Home Ministry Hari Raya Open House, Tuesday. "We also require the tabloid to send four copies of its publication to our office here and to our Putrajaya headquarters (in Kuala Lumpur)."

Nevertheless, they were constantly keeping an eye on the reports in the tabloid, as what they do with other publications, she said.

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Dr Hiew raises public concern over foreign publication

6th August, 2008

KOTA KINABALU: DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu, Dr Hiew King Cheu has asked the Home Ministry whether it has issued a permit for a foreign publication called “Suara Tausug” or “The New Sulu Times” here.

Sold at RM1.80 per copy, the 12-page publication is written in the Tausug language and in Malay.

Among the issues highlighted were about the Sultan of Sulu, the IMM13 (documents for the Filipino refugees) and street kids.

A copy of the publication was handed to him by a concerned member of the public yesterday.

Dr Hiew noted that the sale of the said publication had raised deep concern among the general public, especially with the revival of the ‘Sabah Claim’ issue by certain quarters, as recent as last month.

“The general reaction of the public toward the sale of Suara Tausug was that it could pose a threat to our sovereignty and security and so it should not be allowed to be published in Sabah, let alone selling it in the public,” he said in a statement issued here yesterday.

 

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