A new Chinese newspaper that has been the hot topic in recent months among the ethnic Chinese, is in its final stages of preparation and set for launch anytime soon.

The newspaper, whose printing plant-cum-office is at an industrial park in Selangor, is expected to be named Oriental Daily , or Dong Fong Yit Poh in Mandarin. Earlier, it was thought it would be called People's Daily .

Sources said a multi-million ringgit press arrived about three weeks ago, together with technicians from Sarawak-based Chinese newspaper See Hua Daily News who were flown in to assemble the unit.

Oriental Daily will be the sister newspaper of See Hua Daily News as both of them are owned and financed by KTS Sdn Bhd, a plantation company owned by Sarawakian timber tycoon Lau Hui Kang.

Lau is the elder brother of Sarawak United People's Party politician Robert Lau Hoi Chew, who is the member of parliament for Bandar Sibu.

It is estimated that preparatory work for the new daily had consumed up to RM20 million so far, which includes salaries of key editorial staff recruited since June.

Hundreds of journalists and editors who were working for Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , two dailies published by Nanyang Press Holdings, had resigned over the past few months to join the newspaper.

Controversial deal

Nanyang Press was acquired by MCA in a controversial RM230-million deal last May despite strong objections from the Chinese Malaysian community and various opposition parties.

It is widely believed that the editor-in-chief of Oriental Daily will be Puah You Lai, who had held the same post at China Press for more than a decade until he was made the editorial director of Nanyang Press after the takeover.

A month later, in April, Puah however left the publishing group. Many believed Puah's 'promotion' and subsequent resignation was related to the internal squabbles within MCA then.

Meanwhile, a source close to Oriental Daily pointed out that the printing plant which is under construction showed that the newspaper had already obtained a licence for possessing printing presses, a requirement under the 1984 Printing Presses and Publications Act.

The source who requested anonymity added that, the newspaper had also bought an old publishing permit, which is to be renewed annually under the PPPA, from Tan Tiew Bok, a former MCA Perak leader and a businessman who currently runs several Chinese tabloids.

"It is difficult to apply for a new publishing permit for a newspaper and so the best way is to buy from someone who has it. But an existing permit is not cheap; it may very well be worth a six-digit figure," said the source.

Tan was a Perak state executive councillor until he quit the party following a leadership crisis in MCA in the early 1980s between the acting president Dr Neo Yee Pan and central committee member Tan Koon Swan. He then joined People's Progressive Party but retired from politics in the early 1990s.

Chinese press war

When contacted, Chan Eng Seng who had served as See Hua Daily News editor-in-chief from 1988 to 2000 said it would not be easy for Oriental Daily to penetrate the Chinese newspaper market which is now largely controlled by Pemandangan Sinar Sdn Bhd, publisher of Sin Chew Daily (the former Sin Chew Jit Poh ) and Guang Ming Daily .

"There will definitely be casualties in this Chinese newspaper war because it is unlikely the readers would buy more newspapers," he said.

He said the target audience of Oriental Daily might be young urban readers and working adults.

"If that is the case, the newspaper will focus more on light, short, and entertainment-oriented news instead of serious stuff," said Chan who is now the academic director for Han Xing Academy of Journalism and Communication.

He also said it may just be wishful thinking to assume that the advent of a new Chinese newspaper will definitely lead to greater freedom of expression due to competition.

"As it is now, apart from the media laws, the continuous 'advice' from Chinese-based parties in Barisan Nasional on what is not fit for publication also makes it difficult for the newspapers to truly represent the interests of the people," he said.

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation's statistics in 2000, Sin Chew Daily was the best-selling Chinese newspaper with an average sales of 276,239 per day, followed by China Press (202,066) and Nanyang Siang Pau (187,458).

Observers noted that the sales of Sin Chew Daily had continued to increase at the expense of the latter two, published by Nanyang Press Holdings, which suffered a cut by at least 10 percent after MCA acquired their parent company last year.

The owner of Pemandangan Sinar, Tiong Hiew King was speculated to be eyeing a substantial stake in its rival media group, Nanyang Press, then.

However, this did not materialise due to what was believed to be disapproval from the government as well as the tight financial situation faced by Tiong.