Tamil Makkalosai suspended for a week for too much coverage of Pakatan Rakyat news – is this the first sign of repression and crackdown on human rights and the little space opening in the media after the March 8 "political tsunami"?

Popular Tamil daily, Tamil Makkalosai, has been suspended for a week by none other than the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar himself for giving too much coverage of Pakatan Rakyat news.

With immediate effect, Tamil Makkalosai will not appear in the streets until next week, awaiting the fate of its appeal to the Home Minister.

Is this the first sign of repression and crackdown on human rights and the little space opening up in the printed media after the March 8 "political tsunami"?

It is clear that the decision to stop the publication of Tamil Makkalosai, which is still waiting for its KDN this year, has got the "green-light" from the Cabinet.

Why did the Ministers, particularly from UMNO and other Barisan Nasional component parties, particularly from the MIC, who have promised to end their subsidiary and subservient role in Cabinet, agreed to such a repressive measure as to immediately close down Tamil Makkalosai?

* Lim Kit Siang, MP for Ipoh Timor & DAP Central Policy and Strategic Planning Commission Chairman