Investigative Report on Malaysia Internal Security Ministry's Investigation and Ban on Importation

The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong learned that on June 2, 2005, a batch of The Epoch Times newspaper was confiscated by the Malaysia Internal Security Ministry upon arriving at the Malaysia International Airport.

On June 17, the Publications Control Group of the Internal Security Ministry sent out “Publication Investigation Results," banning distribution of the 147th and 148th editions of The Epoch Times.[1] On July 7, The Epoch Times marketing company, DZY Marketing, received correspondence from the Malaysia Internal Security Ministry expressing that the tenets of The Epoch Times reports did not fit the viewpoints and policies in maintaining “friendly Malaysia-China relations,"and that the reports of The Epoch Times were not “neutral." As a result, the importation of The Epoch Times, a non-profit newspaper, has been banned from importing after over one year of free distribution. Obviously, the Malaysia Internal Security Ministry wants to maintain “friendly Malaysia-China relations" at the cost of Malaysian people’s right to know, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech.

According to DZY Marketing,[2] The Epoch Times has always been imported this way and there has never been any problem in the past. The spokesperson for The Epoch Times in Malaysia telephoned Ms. Chen, an official at the Malaysia Internal Security Ministry. Ms. Chen admitted that, “a complaint was received, and the person asked in an angry voice whether The Epoch Times is a Falun Gong newspaper…the government, from the top on down, will investigate the newspaper, especially the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party."

The Epoch Times is an independent media that is published in eight languages and in over 30 countries around the world. The global weekly circulation of the Chinese version of the newspaper is 1.2 million and is the most widely distributed Chinese language newspaper in the world.[3] Since it was created in August 2000, as a non-profit media, independent of any political group, The Epoch Times has persistently reported factual news, free of control and influence from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP tried its best to cover up many significant events, but they were exposed in The Epoch Times, such as civil rights movements, the persecution of Falun Gong and religions, the SARS epidemic, the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, the 500,000 Hong Kong citizens parading in protest of Article 23 of the Basic Law, and financial crises in China. The Epoch Times has not only provided the international community with authentic firsthand news regarding China, it has also satisfied the needs of many readers who want to know the true situations in China.

The CCP secretly planned interference and suppression of independent Chinese media abroad

Since The Epoch Times was founded, its operation has met with many forms of interference from the CCP. In December 2000, certain The Epoch Times staff members were abducted in Mainland China; they are still being held in prisons and labor camps.[4]

On November 5, 2003, the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney, Australia published article(s) with the author’s by-line name in Australia News to attack the New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV) and The Epoch Times.[5]

On December 23, 2003, The Epoch Times founded the DZY Marketing Company in Malaysia. Beginning from February 2004, the company started to airmail the Southeast Asia version of The Epoch Times from Surabaya, Indonesia to Malaysia and distributed them free of charge. In August 2004, the English, German, French and Russian versions of the newspaper were established, and the Japanese and Spanish versions of the newspaper are in preparation.

In late 2004, The Epoch Times published a series of commentaries entitled Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, to expose how the CCP has brutalized the Chinese people during the past 56 years and has destroyed Chinese culture, which has sent shockwaves throughout the international community. The commentaries triggered a wave of withdrawals from the CCP in Mainland China, and the CCP is extremely fearful as a result. Reports on the latest social updates from inside and outside China were sent to the No. 26 Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security of China. The No. 26 Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security was established for the sole purpose of persecuting Falun Gong.

The investigation revealed that in late October 2004, with approval from Liu Jing, the vice minister of the Ministry of Public Security and the person in charge of the central "610 Office," the No. 26 Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security held meetings for the head of "610 Offices" in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanxi, Hunan, and Anhui, to plan interfering with and disruption of The Epoch Times Newspaper, NTDTV and Sound of Hope International Broadcasting Network.[6] Their plan included the use of “secret overseas forces" and dispatching “special-case task workers" or spies. They devoted much manpower, money and resources to suppress these three independent overseas media.

CCP consulates in foreign countries actively cooperate with the suppression of The Epoch Times

On December 21, 2004, The Epoch Times held a discussion forum on the Nine Commentaries of the Communist Party at the National Press Club (NPC) in Washington, DC.[7] Chinese embassy personnel phoned the club and demanded the forum be cancelled, but Mr. John M. Donnelly, the vice president of the Press Freedom Commission of the NPC firmly refused. He politely informed the Chinese diplomats of the principles and ideals of the NPC, which is to serve as a platform for news freedom and free speech.

On January 28, 2005, the spokesperson for Chinese consulate in Australia called the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party published by The Epoch Times “anti-China articles."

On May 14, 2005, the print factoryfor The Epoch Times in Hong Kong stopped printing The Epoch Times after receiving threats from the CCP.

In June 2005, according to Thai government officials, Hu Xiaolan, the counselor from Chinese embassy in Thailand and other Chinese diplomats interfered with Thai residents from distributing the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in Pattaya, Thailand. They publicly told Thai officials, “you must prohibit anyone from distributing these commentaries in Pattaya, or we’ll stop Chinese tourists from coming here to visit." They also demanded the Thai government arrest volunteers for The Epoch Times who distributed the “nine commentaries."

Conclusion

What is happening in Malaysia right now is an extension to a series of suppression of The Epoch Times by the CCP. Evidence collected by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong shows the CCP not only interferes and manipulates the extent of free speech of Chinese citizens abroad, it also aids overseas Chinese media that are in line with the CCP propaganda, and the CCP promotes the suppression of independent overseas Chinese media as a “special case task." The international society should pay more attention to the CCP’s meddling in other countries' internal affairs, suppression of freedom of speech and press freedom in other countries.

Guo Jun, the editor-in-chief of The Epoch Times said, “The existence of The Epoch Times is to shatter the “Shangri-La," hard built by the CCP through the media, and reveal to the Chinese people the real China and the real world. We will work hard to reverse the losses to Chinese people treating each other as enemies as a result of the CCP’s instigation and to the Chinese people who assisted in the violation of human rights."

Reference:

[1] Official notice of the “Publication Investigation Results" by the Publications Control Group of the Internal Security Ministry
[2] Witness account by DZY Marking Company
[3] [The Epoch Times News Update] Epoch Times in Taiwan will switch to daily newspaper beginning from next week   (http://www.epochtimes.com.tw/bt/5/3/9/n842380.htm)
[4] Malaysia banns circulation of The Epoch Times, Citing Malaysia-China relations, http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-7-20/30454.html
[5] Copy of the article published by the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney, Australia on the Australia News on November 5, 2003
[6] WOIPFG investigation record: # CHGA26-102004
[7] The first English Nine Commentaries discussion forum will be held in Manhattan (http://www.epochtimes.com.tw/bt/5/1/24/n791040.htm)
[8] Website of the Chinese Embassy in Australia

World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong

Phone：1-347-448-5790；Fax：1-347-402-1444；
Address：PO.Box 84， New york, NY 10116
Website： http://www.upholdjustice.org/, http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/