Home Ministry officials, including the minister and his two deputies, seem to be in the dark over the status of a suspension order issued to Chinese newspaper Oriental News Daily on its first day of operation nearly a month ago.

Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin said a decision is still pending on the suspension.

"We are waiting for the report," he stressed when met at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Asked if the ministry was conducting a probe or something to that effect, he merely said, "It should be".

Earlier this week, Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung was also quizzed on the issue by malaysiakini but said he had no knowledge about the developments.

Chor added that he did not know who was handling the case and asked malaysiakini why he was being questioned about the issue.

The ministry's publication control unit chief Abdul Rahim Mohd Radzi when previously contacted had refused to comment on the suspension.

He also claimed that he did not know who was in-charge of the matter.

However, malaysiakini learnt that the suspension order was signed by Abdul Rahim.

The publication control unit chief could not be reached for comment today.

Also labouring in the dark over this issue was Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

When asked about the matter last month, the deputy premier had told reporters that he was unaware of the suspension and asked them to refer to ministry officials instead.

Still appealing

Oriental News Daily was slapped with the suspension order on Sept 29, just hours after its inaugural issue hit the streets.

No reasons were given but several quarters claim that there could be political agendas behind the suspension.

Following this, a team from the management met with ministry officials to appeal against the decision but were yet to make any headway.

When contacted this afternoon, a source from the daily said they were "still in the appeal" process.

The source, who requested anonymity, also dismissed rumours that the daily was to apply for a new publishing permit.

It is learnt that the management, in its letter of appeal, stated that it had abided by all the requirements and demanded a clear reason from the ministry for the suspension.

They also explained the company's financial status to the ministry, including the RM30 million investment for preparatory works since June, the RM1 million needed monthly to pay the 200-odd staff and maintain the daily's printing plant-cum office in Subang Jaya.

Repeated advice

The daily was supposed to have hit the streets in July but sources said this was postponed due to the "repeated advice" from the ministry to drop the launch altogether.

Scores of journalists and editors from rivals Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , had joined the fledgling daily.

The resignations were said to be related to MCA's controversial acquisition of Nanyang Press Holdings, the publisher of the two dailies.

Oriental News Daily 's staff are working as usual, 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.

A senior editor from the suspended paper had said in an interview with a Singapore daily recently that Oriental Daily News 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 the controversial take-over of the papers by the MCA)".