Chinese newspaper Oriental Daily News which was suspended hours after it hit the streets, 12 days ago, is still in the dark about its future.

Launched on Sept 29, the daily managed to distribute 50,000 complimentary copies in Penang, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Melaka and East Malayisa before the Home Ministry suspended its publishing permit.

The ministry did not provide any reason for the suspension. Following this, a team from the management met with ministry officials to appeal against the decision.

A source from the daily who requested anonymity told malaysiakini today that they are still "ardently appealing" against the suspension.

However, he said they have failed to make much headway as the ministry had yet to make any contact with the daily and the top management.

Officers in the ministry's publication control unit were not available for comment.

MCA's acquisition

Most of the journalists and editors of the new daily are former employees of Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , published by Nanyang Press Holdings.

The publishing house was acquired by MCA in a RM230 million deal that sparked strong objections from the Chinese Malaysian community.

Among the staff members who had resigned over the past few months to join the newspaper was Oriental Daily News ' editor-in-chief Puah You Lai who 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.

Work as usual

It was learnt that the 200-odd staff for the suspended daily are currently working as usual as they are providing news for their sister daily, the Sarawak-based See Hua Daily News .

The two dailies are both 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 Lai Hoi Chew, who is the member of Parliament for Bandar Sibu.

Besides the two Chinese dailies, KTS also owns two English dailies, Borneo Post and Utusan Borneo .

Oriental daily News , whose printing plant-cum-office is located in the Subang Jaya Industrial Estate had originally intended to hit the streets in July but sources said the plan was postponed to September due to 'repeated advice' from the ministry to drop the launch altogether.

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).

A senior editor from the suspended paper had said in an interview with a Singapore daily earlier that Oriental Daily News aims 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)".