The owners of Detik , who could not renew its permit to publish the bimonthly Malay magazine for the last three months, has decided to overcome its setback by going online.

Yesterday, Detik launched its Internet version, concentrating on daily news rather than features and news analysis which were the mainstay of the magazine.

Detik chief editor Ahmad Lutfi Othman told malaysiakini that the online Detik Daily will provide readers news coverage, with specific focus on the upcoming Umno party elections in May.

At the moment, only two editorial staff are contributing to the website, [#1]detik.daily.tripod.com[/#] , but this will be beefed up to five soon if no confirmation is received from the Home Ministry for the suspended magazine to resume publication.

Detik had its annual publishing permit, which expired last Nov 10, suspended although a "verbal" approval on its renewal was given briefly in early December.

"Every week we have contacted the Home Ministry regarding our publishing permit, but there has been no response of any kind. It is highly irresponsible for the Ministry not to give us anything in black and white, and to keep us in the dark," said Lufti.

"Come tomorrow, we would have been suspended exactly three months, meaning we have missed six issues, and that is a lot of income lost as we last enjoyed a circulation of 40,000," he said.

The online version of Detik recorded some 3,000 "hits" yesterday, its official launch date following several days of trial runs.

But Lutfi is not counting on registering high numbers of "hits" at this early stage. His priority is to enlarge his news team to five, using staff from the magazine who had stayed on with the company with partial salary during the difficult times of closure.

"We are speaking to some sponsors who believe in what we do, in giving independent news coverage. Advertising as a source of revenue is not our priority option for income generation at the moment," Lutfi said.

Since Umno branch and division elections are taking place over the coming weeks, Detik Daily will concentrate on Umno events now, and later expand to cover religion and other social issues.

Like many online publications, Detik Daily is expected to face charges of being pro-opposition.

"In the past, we have tried our best to provide independent and alternative views on major political and social issues, but certain quarters have labelled us as being anti-establishment."

But Lutfi refuted the label as unfounded, citing his opposition to PAS' proposal to publish its own newspaper, Purnama , as he believed that a political party should not publish or control a newspaper, as it would not then be impartial and independent.