by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Friday, July 29, 1994:
MCA President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik has a responsibility to save Malayan Thung Pau Daily News because MCA had sold the paper to Sin Heap Lee after being owner for 11 years
The MCA President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik has a responsibility to save Malayan Thung Pau Daily News because MCA had sold the paper to Sin Heap Lee(SHL) after being owner for 11 years.
The closure of a Chinese daily must be regarded as a grave setback to the development and promotion of Chinese culture in Malaysia.
After being owner for 11 years, MCA cannot disclaim all responsibility over the impending closure of Malayan Thung Pau just because MCA had sold it to Sin Heap Lee (SHL) two years ago.
What were the terms and conditions of the sale of Malayan Thung Pau by MCA, through its investment company Hauren Holdings, to Sin Heap Lee in 1992?
Before the sale, did the MCA leaders satisfy themselves that they were selling Malayan Thung Pau to a new owner who is conscious of the responsibility to promote Chinese journalism in Malaysia and extract an assurance that the new owner would not close down Malayan Thung Pau after one or two years?
If the MCA leaders refuse to do anything to save Malayan Thung Pau, then it is not only Sin Heap Lee but the MCA leadership which must also bear responsibility for the death of a Chinese newspaper in Malaysia.
I have no doubt that there would have been great repercussions in the Malay society if anyone of the Malay dailies had announced that it was closing shop and UMNO leaders would have stepped forward to intervene in the matter.
Why are the MCA leaders so indifferent to the closure of the Malayan Thung Pau, especially considering MCA’s history and background of ownership of Malayan Thung Pau?
Who is responsible for the ‘death’ of Malayan Thung Pau – Sin Heap Lee the persent owner for two years or MCA when it had owned the daily for 11 years from 1981 to 1992?
As a Chinese newspaper is an important citadel of Chinese culture in Malaysia, the closure of a Chinese newspaper is not a private matter but an issue which concerns the entire Chinese community.
For this reason, the Chinese community has a right to know why Malayan Thung Pau, which the MCA bought from the Chew family in 1981 for RM11 million, has reached the end of the road! What went wrong? Who really killed Malayan Thung Pau?
Did the joint central committee meeting of the MCA, MCA Youth and MCA Wanita on Tuesday discuss the impending closure of Malayan Thung Pau to find a way to save it?
As the MCA had sold Malayan Thung Pau to Sin Heap Lee, Liong Sik should gave an urgent meeting with the Sin Heap Lee management and work out a rescue scheme to save Malayan Thung Pau.