Hours after its soft launch in selected parts of Malaysia yesterday, Chinese newspaper Oriental Daily News was slapped with a suspension by the Home Affairs Ministry.

Sources from the daily said the ministry did not give any reason for the suspension of the publishing permit.

They added that the management explained the situation to the staff at an emergency meeting this afternoon held at the paper's headquarters in Subang Jaya, Selangor.

The 200-odd staff were also told that work will continue as usual but the daily will not be published until the permit issue is resolved.

Industry sources believed that the suspension was linked to a breach of a 'technical procedure' under the Printing Presses and Publications Act which requires any periodical to obtain an annual permit.

At least 50,000 copies of the newspaper controlled by Sarawakian timber tycoon Lau Hui Kang were distributed for free in Penang, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Melaka and East Malaysia yesterday.

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

Malaysiakini learnt that the tycoon will lead a team comprising top management staff to negotiate with the authorities regarding the suspension.

Oriental Daily News is funded by Lau's plantation company KTS Sdn Bhd, which publishes three Sarawak dailies See Hua Daily News , Borneo Post and Utusan Borneo .

MCA link

In the process of preparing for its launch since March, the daily has recruited scores of journalists and editors who resigned from Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press .

The mass resignation was sparked off by the controversial acquisition of Nanyang Press Holdings which published both Chinese dailies by MCA last May.

Oriental Daily News ' editor-in-chief Puah You Lai had previously held the same post in China Press for more than a decade.

When MCA assumed control of the publishing group, Puah was made the editorial director of the company.

Many believed the 'promotion' which saw Puah lose control of the day-to-day editorial administration was related to the internal squabbles within MCA then.

He left the group a month after his promotion.

Oriental Daily News had originally intended to hit the streets in July but sources said the plan was postponed to September due to 'repeated advice' from the Home Ministry to drop the launch altogether.

There was talk that the new daily was associated with MCA Team B led by deputy president Lim Ah Lek and Gerakan but this was dismissed as rumours by leaders from both parties.

MCA split into two camps after the Nanyang acquisition mooted by the party's Team A, led by president Dr Ling Liong Sik.

Fill the vacuum

Yesterday, a Singapore Chinese daily quoted a senior editor from the suspended paper as saying they aimed to "fill up the vacuum as Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press were boycotted by the Chinese community since last year (in response to MCA's takeover)".

The editor told Lianhe Zaobao that the pre-publishing preparation had consumed up to RM30 million but said he was confident that it would be able to make a profit out of advertisements.

Oriental Daily News was expected to be priced at RM1.20 per copy. In the premier issue yesterday, the 28-page daily had four sections local news, foreign news, entertainment and business.

Many had predicted that the fledgling daily will face tough competition in the saturated Chinese newspaper market dominated by three main players Sin Chew Daily , which has a daily circulation of 276,239, followed by China Press (202,066) and Nanyang Siang Pau (187,458).