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The Sun will be out on the newsstands as usual tomorrow, despite ousting 256 staff yesterday. However, the paper is set for a relaunch in April.

CEO of the daily's new owner Nexnews Bhd, Tong Kooi Ong, visited staff at the paper's office in Petaling Jaya earlier this afternoon. He, however, did not disclose the paper's new business model saying it was "competitor sensitive" and that all would be revealed gradually.

Tong, who also owns business weekly The Edge , has a 26.17 percent stake in Nexnews. Vincent Tan, the former owner of The Sun , acquired a 26.15 percent stake in Nexnews from Tong recently. The Sun is now seen as being run by Nexnews.

The daily is currently working with a skeleton staff of 15 reporters, several sub-editors and news editors, and minimal production and circulation staff.

The new management, headed by Phillip Karupiah as managing director, is setting out to turn the newspaper around and transform it into a "viable publication".

According to sources, the paper may now focus on producing news analyses and features. Daily news stories will be sourced from Bernama , the country's official news agency. A new rewrite desk will be also set up to oversee the style and presentation of the relaunched paper.

Tong told staff today the relaunched paper would be very different from the present Sun .

According to earlier news reports, the relaunched Sun may become a suburban newspaper similar to the failed The Leader , an English-language weekly distributed free by the vernacular Utusan Melayu in the Klang Valley in the mid-90s.

Meanwhile, The Sun is expected to carry on with its usual content for the next two weeks.

Suspended staff back

During his visit to the daily's office today, the first since Nexnews took over the paper, Tong advised staff to be committed to their work. Those unwilling to do so may leave, Tong is reported to have said.

He had said that he was known to practise good employer relations. He also said that this was the last attempt to save the ailing paper which is known to be losing up to RM2 million a month.

The daily's new chief editor, Zainon Ahmad, scheduled to start work today, is still in Mecca performing the Haj.

The paper's former executive editor, R Nadeswaran, is now deputy editor.

Suspended managing editor Chong Cheng Hai was back to work today as was reporter M. Manirajan. They were suspended following the Sun 's Christmas day front-page on a plot to assassinate the prime minister and deputy prime minister.

News editor Robert Ho who was also suspended was reinstated yesterday.

The retrenched staff, who number over 300, have been promised retrenchment benefits. The company has claimed that the money will be paid upon the staff clearing their income tax. Last January, 46 staff were retrenched but have yet to receive compensation.

The new management has said that retrenched staff will receive between one to one-and-a-half month's salary for every year served with the company, plus the outstanding bonuses, as part of their retrenchment package.

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