Tuesday, Sept 22
BBC, New Zealand television signals cut from Malaysia
AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 (AFP) - The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) said here Monday its television pictures of civil unrest in Malaysia were being jammed on government orders.

Television New Zealand (TVNZ) in Auckland also reported that its broadcasts of riot police cracking down on supporters of ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim were being censored.

''As soon as any images of the rioting are shown the circuit is switched, making it impossible to transmit,'' said BBC news editor Paul Newman at the Commonwealth Games International Broadcasting Centre here.

''Engineers in the master control room have been told by the minister of information to monitor output,'' he added. Newman said that other international broadcast companies, including New Zealand broadcasting, were also being stopped from relaying riot pictures.

''It is exactly the same problem for everyone.''

The BBC has ordered some staff to neighbouring Singapore to get the pictures sent back to London.

''It is very inconvenient but we will get the pictures out. We are working on several options,'' said Newman.

However, a BBC correspondent said in a report from the Malaysian capital that footage of a state visit by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II had passed without difficulty.

In Auckland, TVNZ initially said it was having ''technical problems'' when a broadcast went blank as a Moslem leader told the station: ''This is the beginning of another bloody revolution in Malaysia ... It's going to come to that.''

The signal resumed after a brief break but there were another three lapses in transmission, the state-owned broadcaster said.

''Eventually we were able to record most of the story,'' TVNZ news reader Judy Bailey said, ''but due to another interruption in transmission we lost the last 10 seconds.''

TVNZ said it believed the pictures, filmed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., were being jammed at the main Malaysian satellite transmission station.