Abdul Kadir Jasin, the editor-in-chief of New Straits Times Press group, has stepped down from his post. Rumours have been rife over the past weeks that a major overhaul involving the pro-Umno media group's top hierarchy in NST and its sister publications, Berita Harian , Malay Mail and Harian Metro , are on the cards.

A secretary from Kadir's office who requested anonymity told malaysiakini that her boss was on a six-month leave beginning this week. She, however, refused to confirm the departure of the powerful media chief.

Singapore's Straits Times reported today that in the absence of Kadir, the day-to-day running of NST would be temporarily handled by a committee of senior editors headed by veteran journalist Mazlan Nordin. However, Mazlan denied being involved in the committee when contacted by malaysiakini .

"I didn't know what had been said of the committee," he said, referring to the Straits Times report. He stressed that he was only an editorial consultant and was not involved in changes that might have taken place in NST .

He, too, refused to confirm Kadir's resignation.

According to Straits Times , the dramatic changes at the Umno-linked publishing group were a result of the party's continuous search for scapegoats for its dismal showing at the Nov 29 polls.

The dominant party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad performed below par after retaining only 72 seats of the 94 it held in the last parliament. In addition, the party lost Terengganu to PAS and failed to re-capture Kelantan.

"After the November general elections, there were rumblings in the Umno hierarchy that the NST and its sister publications were not effective in explaining issues in the run-up to the polls," the report stated.

According to Professor Shahnon Ahmad, Kadir's falling out with the country's oldest publishing group was politically motivated. He said Kadir's weekly column, "Other Thots", failed to lend credibility to Umno as it was rejected by readers as a propaganda tool used by the media boss to curry favour with Mahathir and other politicians.

"His columns went overboard in trying to make the ruling government, especially Mahathir, look good, to the dismay and anger of the Malay community who ended up voting against Umno," said Shahnon, who is the author of the controversial novel "Shit" and a PAS MP.

DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang described the media chief's downfall as the "latest casualty of Mahathir's undemocratic media stranglehold". He said Kadir's fate was sealed when his paper advocated that a contest should be allowed at least for the deputy president's position in Umno's party elections.

"It may be cruel but one can be excused to think of the saying, that one who lives by the sword will die by the sword - except that Kadir can still look to a life of comfort," he said.

Umno Supreme Council passed a no-contest ruling for the party's top two positions and nominated Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the deputy president's post.

A number of articles published by the NST in response to the council's decision had reportedly angered the senior leadership within Umno. Apparently Kadir, who had been at the helm of the NST group for 14 years, was blamed for allowing one particularly critical article to be published in the English daily.

The article "Second opinion: Why deputy presidency must be contested" written by Askiah Adam on Jan 8, accused the council for putting its own interests before that of the nation. Describing the act as "nothing less than a dereliction of duty", the opinion piece condemned the resolution as having suspended Umno's democracy in the pretext of unity.

Ahmad Lufti, editor of Malay-language magazine Detik , said the sacking of Kadir was an indication that journalists would be further muzzled if they were unwilling to sing the government's tune".

He also said Kadir's removal came as no surprise as there had been a major reshuffle which saw former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's allies in the media industry replaced two years ago. One such person was Ahmad Nazri Abdullah, a close ally of Anwar, who resigned as chief editor of Berita Harian .

Kadir, who then became the country's media chief, faced a challenging task of boosting the falling circulation of NST , Malay Mail and Berita Harian . The plummeting sales, which came as an aftermath of Anwar's sacking and arrest, was attributed to public anger against the government and their view that mainstream media practised unfair reporting.

Local papers were forced to take the backseat as the sales of Harakah , the newspaper of the opposition PAS, rocketed from 75,000 to 300,000, allowing the party to reach a larger segment of the population.

Kadir could not be contacted for comments.