The circulation of Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau which was taken over by MCA's investment arm four months ago had soared and will continue to grow, said party president Dr Ling Liong Sik today.

"I was told that Nanyang Siang Pau 's circulation continues to go up and I am happy with that," said Ling at a press conference after officiating a regional dental health function in Kuala Lumpur.

He explained that the increase was due to the fair and balanced reporting of the newspaper which "follows the old tradition of journalism".

However, he did not provide reporters with the exact increase in the sales of Nanyang .

In late May, despite strong public objections, MCA's investment arm Huaren Holdings acquired Nanyang Press Holdings - publisher of two major Chinese dailies Nanyang and China Press - in a controversial RM230 million deal.

A boycott campaign was subsequently launched and had reportedly affected the sales by at least five percent.

Those opposing the Nanyang takeover by MCA feared that it would erode press freedom.

The purchase also resulted in a widening split within the party where leaders who supported and opposed the deal went on roadshows nationwide to garner support.

A party extraordinary general meeting was eventually called for and saw a tissue-thin majority voting in favour of the takeover.

Terrorist attacks

When contacted, Nanyang 's advertising manager Robert Kok said the average daily circulation is currently 180,000.

He said this is a clear increase from 170,500 prior to the Nanyang Press takeover in May.

"Many of our readers still support us," he said.

However, president of Malaysia's Federation of Newspaper Vendors Tan Chun Huat told malaysiakini that all the newspapers had generally witnessed a notable increase in their sales since the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

"The increase is not confined to Nanyang alone. People who did not buy newspapers before this are suddenly buying two to three every day because they want to know the latest development in the US and Afghanistan," said Tan.

However, Tan could not ascertain the percentage of increase of Nanyang , adding he would first have to compile the figures from newspaper vendors across the country.

Likely buyers

Meanwhile, MCA chief Ling also said the Huaren's board of directors are studying the proposals from those interested in taking a stake in Nanyang Press, but have yet to decide who would be the likely buyers.

Huaren currently controls a 92 percent stake in the newspaper group but had reportedly said it would only want to hold 30 percent of the shares due to the financial burden on the party's investment arm.

Ling, who is one of the four Huaren trustees, said there were still "a lot of interested parties" sending in their proposals even after the withdrawal of a five-member Chinese consortium led by prominent business figure Lim Guan Teik.

Lim initially proposed to purchase the entire stake of Huaren in Nanyang Press at RM5.60 per share, 10 sen higher than what Huaren paid, but pulled out from the bid after his group was only offered 20 percent of the shares.

It has been widely speculated that Sarawak timber tycoon Tiong Hiew King, who owns rival Chinese dailies, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Guang Ming Daily , is interested to take a major stake in Nanyang.

However, this deal could kick off another controversy as it would give Tiong an almost complete monopoly on the Chinese-language newspaper market in Malaysia.