[Mahathir mungkin boleh menekan dan mencengkam dunia persurat-khabaran melayu tetapi dengan akhbar Cina ia tidak semudah itu. Masyarakat Cina telah bersatu (menubuhkan kesatuan CAT - National Assembly of Chinese Organizations Against the MCA Takeover of Nanyang Pres) mendesak tindakan mengambil-alih Nanyang dibatalkan jika tidak ia akan meninggalkan perjuangan MCA kerana langsung tidak ambil perduli masyarakat yang ingin diwakilinya. CAT baru sahaja melancarkan program anti pengambil-alihan itu keseluruh negara.

Kemarahan gabungan kesatuan masyarakat Cina itu amat membimbangkan Chua kerana pengaruh dan sumbangan mereka kepada kemenangan MCA selama ini. Dengan berpaling dari tuntutan mereka, MCA akan menghadapi risiko kepupusan sokongan yang amat diperlukan dalam pemilu nanti. Seluruh masyarakat melayu harus mempelajari sesuatu di sini. Kita akur sahaja bila akhbar melayu dicengkam dan tidak mendesak kerajaan sebegitu berkesan - apatah lagi untuk bersatu membentuk satu badan untuk mengganyang cengkaman pemberitaan. - Editor]

The Asian Wall Street Journal
4th June 2001

Malaysia's Chinese Step Up Campaign Against the Buyout of Nanyang Press

By CRIS PRYSTAY

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Chinese community groups opposed to the takeover of two influential Chinese-language newspapers by a party in Malaysia's ruling coalition stepped up their campaign against the buyout, calling for a nationwide readership boycott and promising a petition drive against the sale.

Huaren Management Sdn. Bhd., the business arm of the Malaysian Chinese Association, or MCA, which is part of the governing coalition, bought a 72.3% stake in Nanyang Press Holdings Bhd. from a unit of Hong Leong Group on May 30 for 230.1 million ringgit ($60.6 million). Nanyang Press publishes Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press, two dailies with a combined circulation of 390,000.

The deal has angered ethnic-Chinese groups, who say it is designed to silence the relatively outspoken Chinese-language press. It has also opened a rift within the MCA, as a growing number of the party's politicians express concern that the issue could alienate the electorate at a time when government needs to shore up support among ethnic Chinese.

"I truly appreciate the Chinese community, which in the last two elections strongly supported us. Do we now ignore their views? Do we wish to risk an erosion of their support?" asked Health Minister Chua Jui Meng, an MCA member of Parliament who voted against the deal.

Mr. Chua's fears were played out late last week as anger spread throughout the Chinese community. On May 30, 245 ethnic Chinese from nongovernmental organizations, ranging from education groups to clan associations, formed the National Assembly of Chinese Organizations Against the MCA Takeover of Nanyang Press. The group, which announced on Friday a nationwide campaign against the move, issued an open letter to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad asking him to quash the deal. The influential Association of Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry also weighed in, offering to broker a new deal with Hong Leong, provided the MCA withdraws.

In the letter, the coalition warned that "the Chinese community will abandon the MCA if the party chooses to ignore the views of the very community it claims to represent."

The ethnic-Chinese vote helped shore up Dr. Mahathir's ruling coalition in the 1999 elections. But Dr. Mahathir alienated many Chinese last August when he likened a powerful Chinese lobby group to communists. The lobby group had called for greater transparency, less corruption and the elimination of some of the country's pro-Malay affirmative-action policies, which favor Malays in university, business and employment. Malays make up about 60% of Malaysia's 22 million people, and Chinese account for about 30%.

In recent months, Chinese papers have given broad coverage to an array of language and education issues that have stoked discontent with Dr. Mahathir's government among the Malaysian Chinese community.

The MCA already owns Star Publications Bhd., which publishes Malaysia's most widely read English-language newspaper. The country's two largest Malay-language dailies, and the English-language New Straits Times and Business Times, are owned by companies with historic links to Dr. Mahathir's United Malays National Organization.

Huaren will use its entire stake in Star as collateral for a 230 million ringgit loan to finance the acquisition of Nanyang.

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