Kuala Lumpur, April 25 (IANS) Malaysia’s Tamil language daily Makkal Osai will be back on the news stands Saturday following the home ministry’s permission to resume publication. Makkal Osai’s application against the home ministry decision to refuse to renew the publishing licence had been rejected April 16. However, it filed an appeal against the ministry’s decision and the approval for renewal of its licence was granted Thursday.

Many newspapers Friday carried photographs of smiling Makkal Osai employees standing outside their office here and making thumbs-up signs.

The newspaper’s general manager S.R. Periasamy said the daily had received the approval letter from the ministry and paid the publishing licence fee, reported The Sun.

After the application was rejected, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar had said the newspaper had violated media guidelines, indicating that it had published material that could cause hatred among ethnic groups.

The minister had denied that the decision had anything to do with the coverage of the opposition’s viewpoint during last month’s elections. Albar had himself suggested that the newspaper could file an appeal.

On Thursday, Periasamy pledged that the daily would continue to play an effective role in looking after the interests of the ethnic Indian community.

“We will continue to be vocal and continue to play our part in safeguarding racial harmony,” he said.

He said none of the 102 employees had resigned or had their services terminated, although the newspaper had suffered losses since publishing had been suspended for a week.

The daily began operations as Tamil Osai in 1981 and changed its name to Makkal Osai in 2005. It has a daily circulation of 52,000, and 95,000 on weekends.

Tamils, who came here during the British era, form the bulk of the ethnic Indian community, which constitutes eight percent of Malaysia’s 28 million population.