Malaysians must ask why there was a pall of silence over the sacking of media boss Abdul Kadir Jasin, said former opposition leader Lim Kit Siang today.

Kadir Jasin, the powerful head of the New Straits Times Press group, was reported by malaysiakini and the foreign media to have step down from his post and is currently on six-month leave. The local mainstream media have kept mum over the news with the exception of The Star , which reported today that an editorial committee would run the media company in Kadir's absence.

Lim pointed out that veteran journalist K. Das had once questioned the culture of subservience within the mainstream media at a press seminar in 1990. He quoted Das as saying, "When a man on the top of a newspaper hierarchy is suddenly asked to quit, it is big news and should have been front page headline news. It was not. But every journalist in the country knew what had happened. And they did not protest. Even the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said nothing. It was accepted as perfectly normal."

According to Lim, nothing had changed in the last decade. "In fact, the condition of Malaysian journalism has got even worse!"

"Regardless of whether NUJ or the Press Club dare to take a stand for press freedom and journalistic integrity, Malaysian journalists should come forward to demand the restoration of press freedom in Malaysia and the end of all forms of press censorship, victimisation and discrimination," he added.

Rumours had been rife over the past weeks that a major shake-up were on the cards involving the media group's top hierarchy in not only NST but also its sister publications, Berita Harian , Business Times, Malay Mail and Harian Metro . The dramatic changes at the Umno-linked publishing group are apparently a result of the party's continuous search for scapegoats for its dismal showing at the Nov 29 polls.

The dominant party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad performed well below par after retaining only 72 seats of the 94 it held in the last parliament. In addition, the party lost Terengganu to PAS and failed to re-capture Kelantan. It was estimated that the party garnered only 45.3 per cent of the popular votes in 41 parliamentary constituencies where Malays made up at least 80 per cent of the electorate. The NSTP group was blamed for its ineffectiveness to explain controversial issues involving the government during the general elections.

Lim, who is also DAP chairman, had described on Wednesday the media chief's downfall as the "latest casualty of Mahathir's undemocratic media stranglehold". He said Kadir's fate was sealed when his paper advocated that a contest should be allowed at least for the deputy president's position in Umno's party elections.

"It may be cruel but one can be excused to think of the saying, that one who lives by the sword will die by the sword - except that Kadir can still look to a life of comfort," he said.

Early this month Umno Supreme Council passed a no-contest ruling for the party's top two positions and nominated Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the deputy president's post.

A number of articles published by the NST in response to the council's decision had reportedly angered the senior leadership within Umno. Apparently Kadir, who had been at the helm of the NST group for 14 years, was blamed for allowing one particularly critical article to be published in the English daily.

The article "Second opinion: Why deputy presidency must be contested" written by Askiah Adam on Jan 8, accused the council for putting its own interests before that of the nation. Describing the act as "nothing less than a dereliction of duty", the opinion piece condemned the resolution as having suspended Umno's democracy in the pretext of unity.

Meanwhile, Singapore's Straits Times reported that an editorial committee comprising newly-appointed executive vice-chairman of NSTP Abdul Rahman Maidin, NST editor Ahmad Talib, Berita Harian editor Rejal Arbee, former Bernama editor Mazlan Nordin and former NST managing editor A. Samad Ismail was formed to oversee an operation aimed to turn around falling circulation of the group's stable of newspapers.

Abdul Rahman - the president of Malaysian Resources Corporation, a major shareholder of the NSTP group - had apparently told senior editors that they had six months to reverse the decline, especially the group's flagships, NST and Berita Harian .

However, Lim poured scorn on the effort. "One would have thought that it does not require veteran journalists of the calibre of Samad and Mazlan to give the answer, which is plain and obvious to all - that Umno should release its stranglehold and allow the NST to be run as a newspaper and not as a government gazette and even worse, as a propaganda broadsheet of the ruling parties," he said.

He offered a piece of advice to the editorial committee. " NST would be able to engineer an instant increase of circulation if it gives fair and proper space and coverage to news, statements and speeches of Barisan Alternatif leaders and NGOs."