The DAP's official magazine, Rocket , will have its format restored to its original tabloid newspaper next month to save costs.

DAP national publicity secretary Ronnie Liu told malaysiakini today that the printing of Rocket in the present magazine format placed too much burden on the party's budget, hence the party decided to revert to the tabloid format, with the next issue scheduled to come out on May 19.

Rocket has been published since 1967 with DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang serving as the first editor. It was a weekly tabloid until 1984 it became a monthly tabloid which sold between 30,000 to 50,000 copies monthly.

In 1998, the Rocket was turned into the magazine format, in line with the changing political environment, and this format, which was costlier, had remained to date, with its publication frequency being "irregular" although it was licensed to be a monthly.

"The printers and the distributers have warned by the authority many times, and we have been forced to stop the publication a few times," Liu said.

Liu pointed out that before 1987 Operasi Lalang , the tabloid earned some money for the party. However, after the crackdown, the restrictions imposed by the authority have led to the publication to incur financial losses.

He said the new tabloid will focus on the general news from DAP, Barisan Alternatif component parties and NGOs, as well as some political commentaries.

He also stated that Rocket will be published every month, in four language editions - English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil.

"The 24-page Rocket will have a print run of 50,000 copies monthly and sold to members at RM1," he said.

Liu added that the Rocket plays a major role to getting DAP news across to the public, since the party's news and actvities have been blacked out by the mainstream media for the past 30 years.