Moving towards a sustainable operation, Malaysiakini ’s Chinese edition will adopt a subscription model starting Oct 3 after six years of providing news and views for free.

 

This will be a joint subscription model with another Chinese-language news website, Merdeka Review , which allows readers to surf both popular portals with one subscription account.

 

Malaysiakini Chinese Logo The subscription model, which will officially start on Oct 3, only allows subscribers to read the full content of news reports and articles.

After six years of hard work, Malaysiakini ’s Chinese edition has become one of the most popular websites in the country, ranked number two among all Chinese media portals in Malaysia by traffic tracking site Alexa.com , while Merdeka Review took the fourth position.

 

Merdeka Review Logo The combined readership of both portals exceeds one million, which emerges as the biggest audience among Chinese online media.

 

The subscription model, which has been adopted by Malaysiakini ’s English edition since 2002, is one of the ways to explore a sustainable operation for independent media in Malaysia.

 

A joint subscription launching ceremony will be held by both Malaysiakini ’s Chinese edition and Merdeka Review at 8pm tonight at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall.

 

Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan, Merdeka Review editor-in-chief Chan Wai See, and their team members will be present.

 

The launching will be followed by a Mandarin forum entitled ‘Online Media and 709' featuring Selangor state assembly speaker Teng Chang Khim, former Emergency Ordinance detainee and Parti Sosialis Malaysia activist Choo Chon Kai, and political commentator Tang Ah Chai.

 

The first batch of readers who subscribe during tonight’s launching will get the chance to win attractive prizes including 10 sunglasses worth RM10,000, books worth RM700, 100 golf training vouchers and RM150 vouchers for Malaysiakini New Media courses.

 

Seven subscription packages

There are seven subscription packages to meet various needs starting from RM15 per month. Please refer to the table below for various subscription packages.

 

cn 709 book front cover The current subscribers of Malaysiakini ’s English edition and participants of Merdeka Review ’s volunteer payment project will enjoy a 30-percent discount or an optional six-month extension of their subscription period when purchasing the new packages. The promotion lasts until Dec 31, 2011.

 

New subscribers who subscribe to both Malaysiakini ’s English and Chinese editions will also enjoy a 30-percent discount or a six-month extension on one of the packages.

 

Those who take up the RM150 and RM200 packages will receive a complimentary Chinese-language book on the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally jointly published by the two portals and Prometheus Enterprise.

 

NONE For the RM388 package subscribers, on top of the book, they will receive another cartoon book by award-winning political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaq, better known as Zunar.

 

Moreover, subscribers who purchase the corporate packages before Dec 31, 2011 will enjoy one week of complimentary advertisements in both Malaysiakini ’s Chinese edition and Merdeka Review .

Subscriptions and payment can be done simply by clicking the subscription links on the front pages of both portals and filling up a form.

 

For more information or inquiries on subscriptions, please email subscription@merdekareview.com or call 016-360 5173.