COMMENT | For more than four decades, the media fraternity has been campaigning for a repeal of the dreaded Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984.

It was this law that was used to suspend the publishing permits of The Star, Watan, and Sin Chew Jit Poh at the start of Operasi Lalang in 1987.

With a stroke of the pen, the then-home minister put thousands on the streets. Printing presses stopped, journalists were out of a job, and even the humble newspaper vendor saw his fortunes dip dramatically.

Those were dark days in our history and...