What is the magazines current circulation, and when was it highest?
Circulation is around 5,000 to 6,000; it fluctuates. We have got more than 2,000 subscribers. We had good sales during Operation Lallang as we were the only guys around to report what was happening. We were doing about 20,000 copies then. During the “reformasi” period, it was also a high point. Aliran Monthy was given a licence to produce a Bahasa Malaysia edition, despite a long-held belief that the government did not want its critical views to reach the Malay majority. Why was the magazine discontinued? Aliran planned to publish a fortnightly magazine in the national language and applied for a permit since 1982. Each time, our application was rejected without just cause or reason. Finally we took the government to court. The High Court on Sept 2, 1987 quashed the Home Minister’s decision to refuse a permit to Aliran. An application to publish a newspaper should be granted as a matter of course. What was stated in the court was very interesting. In his oral judgment, Justice Harun Has
