by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Monday, 1st August 1994:
Sin Heap Lee, the Thung Pau proprietor, should explain why it has to close down the Chinese newspaper two years after buying over from MCA
Sin Heap Lee, the Thung Pau proprietor, should explain why it has to close down the Chinese newspaper two years after buying over from MCA
Sin Heap Lee decide right from the beginning to operate Malayan Thung Pau, as when it bought over Thung Pau from MCA, it had assumed a trust to the Chinese community to make a success of the Chinese newspaper.
Did Sin Heap Lee decide right from the beginning to operate Melayan Thung Pau for only two years and then to close it down, and if so, was the MCA aware of this when it sold Malayan Thung Pau to Sin Heap Lee?
What were the full terms and conditions of the sale of Malayan Thung Pao by MCA, through MCA Investment Company, Hauren Holdings, to Sin Heap Lee that made it impossible for the new proprietor to make a success of Malayan Thung Pau?
MCA leaders have claimed that MCA lost RM30 million in the 11 years from 1981 to 1992 when it bought over and operated Malayan Thung Pau staff that it had lost RM20 million in the two years since it bought over Malayan Thung Pau from MCA.
Can Sin Heap Lee publicly confirm its claim that it had lost RM20 million in two years when the MCA only lost RM30 million in 11 years?
Does this figure of RM20 million include the price paid by Sin Heap Lee to MCA for the purchase of Malayan Thung Pau, and if so, what was the amount that Sin Heap Lee paid to MCA for taking over Malayan Thung Pau.
If this RM20 million included the price paid by Sin Heap Lee to MCA for buying over Malayan Thung Pau, then the only beneficiary from the Malayan Thung Pau closure would be the MCA.
It is public knowledge that after 11 years of MCA ownership and management, Malayan Thung Pau’s circulation had dropped to its lowers point in the newspaper’s history, and that with its bad financial position, it would be difficult for MCA to find a buyer for Malayan Thung Pau.
Why then did Sin Heap Lee buy over Malayan Thung Pau from MCA in 1992. Was it because Sin Heap Lee had a mission to make a contribution to Chinese culture in Malaysia by promoting Chinese journalism, and was prepared to bear financial losses in the first three, five or even ten years of its ownership?
Or were there other reasons, conditions or incentives made by MCA that led Sin Heap Lee to buy over Malayan Thung Pau with a good pay-off to MCA in 1992?
And were these reasons, conditions or incentives given by MCA not been fulfilled which led to the Sin Heap Lee decision to close down Malayan Thung Pau only after two years’ takeover?
Whatever the reason, Sin Heap Lee owes a trust to the Chinese community to make a success of Malayan Thung Pau and not to close it down without giving the full reasons as to why it had to close down the Chinese newspapers after two years and the real reasons why it had acquired Malayan Thung Pau from MCA in 1992 in the first place.