The Heat suspended for changes in ownership, purpose, says Putrajaya

The Heat weekly was suspended because it did not inform of changes in its ownership and its purpose of being a business magazine, the Home Ministry said today.

"The Heat’s publication permit states that the outlet is required to inform the Home Ministry of any change of ownership.
"Furthermore, the permit provides for a weekly business magazine. However, these provisions were violated," the ministry said in a statement late today.
The weekly which was launched in September had suspended publication this week after getting a second show cause letter from the ministry.
The ministry said the first show cause letter required a response from the publisher but none was received.
A second show cause letter was sent but no official response was forthcoming.
Therefore, the ministry said The Heat was suspended until an official response is received from the publisher.
The ministry also insisted in the statement that the suspension was not related in any way to the news weekly's report on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
The first show cause letter was sent to the publisher HCK Media last week.
The weekly’s editor-in-chief David Lee Boon Siew had also been summoned to the ministry in Putrajaya and told to tone down its reports.
HCK Media had been given 14 days to reply to the show cause letter but the Home Ministry appears to have suspended the publication before it could reply to the letter.
In its front-page report in the November 23 to 29 issue headlined, "All eyes on big-spending PM Najib", The Heat had listed expenditures incurred on overseas trips and consultancy fees as well as Rosmah's use of a government jet to attend a conference in Doha, Qatar, where she received an award.
Opposition politicians, journalists and human rights groups have criticised Putrajaya over the suspension, saying its action contradicted the meaning of democracy.
PKR vice-president N. Surendran said the suspension of the news weekly was an act of personal vengeance by Najib and Rosmah as The Heat dared to criticise Putrajaya over its spending.
The National Union of Journalists and human rights group Lawyers for Liberty said the suspension contradicted the meaning of democracy.
"The media is the Fourth Estate and we have a responsibility to update the public, especially if there is any abuse or wrongdoing by the government," said NUJ president Chin Sung Chew.
LFL co-founder and adviser Eric Paulsen described Najib as a false democrat whose promises of reform has come to nothing. - December 21, 2013.