Malaysian Today (MT), a former Sarawak-based tabloid turned sports bi-weekly, is due to hit the stands March 1 amid rumours that it is receiving RM500,000 a month from the Youth and Sports Ministry.

However, the tabloid's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jessie Soon (left) and the Youth and Sports Minister Azalina Othman Said have denied the deal but said that negotiations are in progress.

These negotiations include ironing out cost details for supplementary pages and advertisement space that the ministry and the National Sports Council (NSC) plans to take out in the paper solely dedicated to local and international sports.

Soon and Azalina had denied the rumours during a press conference after the paper's soft launch on Feb 3 in Kuala Lumpur.

Contacted again yesterday, Soon, who had only recently returned to Malaysia after spending many years abroad, said she was puzzled as to why this has been made into an issue.

"We are not being funded. That is not the word I'd use. There is no written agreement between (MT) and the government. We're merely in discussions as to how the paper can be used to benefit national sports," she added.

Having been entrusted with the paper by her politician cum businessman father Sng Chee Hua, Soon repositioned the previously East Malaysia circulated news tabloid into a sports publication.

Public funds

While her intention to highlight local sports has been lauded, there are certain quarters who have questioned if it is justified for the ministry to spend the money on the publication.

Sources have alleged that public funds are being used for the paper as start-up capital and launch grants which will gradually reduce as MT begins to reap in revenue from its advertisement space sales.

Sixty-five percent of the paper's copies, published on Tuesdays and Fridays, will be distributed nationwide - without charge - to colleges and universities.

While the remaining 35 percent - of the 110,000 copies for each edition - will be publicly sold, both in East and West Malaysia, for 50 cents per copy.

"The half a million ringgit figure seems to have been plucked out of the air. We are just in talks on how we can work on promoting sports," Soon said, adding that supplement pages which the NSC may take out will be charged on an as-and-when basis.

No amount confirmed

Both Soon and the ministry did not want to specify how much the costs would be if the deal is on an as-and-when basis since they claimed no figure has been put forth.

It was reported in a local daily that Azalina - who is also the NSC board chairperson - once again evaded the controversy, last Tuesday, by saying that an agreement between the parties involved was being drafted and no amount has been confirmed.

Numerous attempts to have the NSC or Azalina provide malaysiakini with the body's advertisement budget for the year has proved futile.

When asked to spell out the cost for taking out an ad space or purchasing supplementary pages in MT, Soon said it was not a figure that ran across the board as its rates would defer on a case-to-case basis.

The rates range from RM660 to RM65,000 for a full coloured wrap around ad space.

NSC director-general Mazlan Ahmad was unavailable for comment.