The press group Media Chinese International Ltd (MCIL) has denied that it will undergo a drastic consolidation plan involving the four Chinese language dailies which it owns.

These dailies - Sin Chew Daily , China Press , Nanyang Siang Pau and Guang Ming Daily - together make MCIL the largest Chinese media company in Malaysia.

While emphasising that the publication of the four dailies would remain status quo,  MCIL is, however, reported to have said that it is still reallocating its employees.

“Constant staff training and retraining, rationalisation and reallocation of human resources for improved productivity and efficiency, are consistent initiatives undertaken by the management on a regular basis,” the group is quoted as saying by The Edge Financial Daily today.

It said this in response to Malaysiakini ’s report that it is consolidating the four publications to counter falling advertising revenue, while also eliminating competition among the four papers.

Among others, China Press would supposedly be remade into an evening paper, Nanyang Siang Pau would be transformed into a full-blown financial newspaper to be published only three times a week, while Guang Ming would focus on the northern region market.

Sin Chew - the Chinese-language daily with the highest circulation in Malaysia - would remain as MCIL’s flagship newspaper.

MCIL is majority-owned by Sarawak timber tycoon Tiong Hiew King ( left ). According to The Edge , Tiong has a 52.48 percent stake in the company.

It is noted that MCIL’s chief executive officer, Tiong Kiew Chiong, had refused to comment on the matter when contacted last week.