Printing Presses And Publication Act ( PPPA ) 1984 is an act to regulate the use of printing presses and the printing, importation, production, reproduction, publishing and distribution of publications and for matters connected therewith. It replaced the Printing Presses Act 1948 and the Control of Important Publications Act 1958, revised in 1972.
The arrangement of sections was displayed with five parts, namely Preliminary, Licensing of Printing Presses, Permit to Publish Newspaper, Control of Undesirable Publications and Miscellaneous. The PPPA 1984 which was amended in 2012 consists of 27 sections.
PPPA was initially established by the British known as The Printing Ordinance of 1948. It was the earliest law controlling publishing and the operation of presses in Malaysia (“Printing Presses And Publication Act Law Constitutional Administrative Essay”). The statute was introduced to prevent the Communism movements which was seen as threatening the establishment and to obtain yearly renewal of publishing license for printing presses and newspapers.
Following the 1969 Sino-Malay sectarian violence, the British revised the Ordinance into an Act of Parliament, which was named after the Printing Presses and Publication Act (PPPA) in year 1971 (“The History Of The Printing Presses And Publication Act Timeline.”). This act aimed to forbid provocation of racial sensitivities that might eventually leads to prejudicial national sensitivities. In achieving national developments, the government was given additional power to revoke newspaper licenses when the printing presses and newspaper seems to be detrimental to the nation or might provoke national sensitivities.
In spite of the objections, a major amendment took place in year 1984. The Home Minister has had the “absolute discretion” in granting and revoke a printing presses and newspaper licenses as well as restrict or ban outright publications which tends to endanger national security interest or create social unrest. An ouster clause was established in the year 1987 to stop actions of the home minister from being questioned by the courts (Kaur, 2011).
In year 2012, an amendment was made as PPPA was criticised as it was contrary to Article 10, Freedom of Expression in the Federal Constitution. It was further amended and was aimed at restraining the absolute power of the Home Minister (Anuar, 2015), which in comparison less strict as more freedom for press was given in this amendment. The amendments made are majorly to control the Home Minter’s absolute discretion is Substitution of Section 3 and Amendment of Section 6(1), the Cancellation of annual renewal in Substitution of Section 12, while Amendment of Section 13A by deleting the words “and shall not be called in question by any court on any ground whatsoever”, and Allows one to be heard in Substitution of Section 12B (Printing Presses and Publications (Amendments) Act 2012). In this amendment, what remains is that the Minister still has the ability to apply his control over the publications concerned as far as determining on the sustainability of permit is concerned. This act also gives the minister provisions in manipulating undesirable publications (Printing Presses and Publications Act, 1984, n.d.).
It has been quite a debate on whether there is a need for abolishment of Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 in order to achieve press freedom. The PPPA aim was to maintain the real news stories, form regulated press sector, as well as issuing legal guidelines to the journalist, some stated that the law enactment Paste your essay in here…