Sources confirmed with Malaysiakini that the directive came from the Home Ministry, but the exact wording of the suspension has not been made clear.
Last week, The Heat received a show-cause letter from the ministry, but the letter did not name the exact article that was offensive.
However, the article in question is believed to be its front page report titled ‘All eyes on big spending PM Najib', which questioned the spending traits of the prime minister and his wife Rosmah Mansor.
"We still have up until Dec 24 to respond to the show-cause letter. We received it on Dec 10," said a source from The Heat.
The suspension of the weekly newspaper is the first since the amendments to the contentious Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
The Najib administration has amended this law by removing provisions that provide the home minister with absolute discretion to grant or deny publishing licences.
Another amendment removed provisions that require the annual renewal of such licences.
However, critics point out that the government can still use the law to control newspapers by means of suspending or withdrawing the licences to publish.
To keep readers updated
In a statement published in The Ant Daily, its sister media company, The Heat did not reveal anything more about the suspension apart from a statement that its subscribers will be compensated accordingly.
The statement reads:
"The Heat has ceased publication in compliance with a suspension order served by the Home Ministry. The news weekly will not be published on Dec 21 as scheduled.
"We will keep our readers, subscribers and advertisers updated on further developments through this website, and other channels.
"Subscribers will be compensated accordingly, through an automatic extension of their subscription period."
The Heat currently sells for RM 3.60 per copy, and is published by the HCK media group.
The news weekly has only been in operation since September this year.
However, its article on Najib's spending is not the first time it has sounded critical of the powers that be, having run critical reports on the government several times before the latest show-cause letter.
Previously, Astro Awani was reportedly asked to retract a news report it published about Rosmah's usage of an executive jet despite not holding public office.
The report was based on veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin's blog post.
By Ram Anand Msiakini
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