More than 90 Chinese writers who have stopped writing for four major Chinese dailies have now found a new outlet to express their opinions.

They now write for a new section, Powerful Opinion, which made its debut two weeks ago in a Chinese tabloid, Powerful News or Jing Pao in Mandarin. The new column appears every Saturday in the thrice-weekly tabloid.

The writers stopped writing for Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press in protest of the May 28 takeover of Nanyang Press by MCA investment arm, Huaren Holdings. They also boycotted two other Chinese papers, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Guang Ming Daily , whose owner, Tiong Hiew King, is believed to have plotted with MCA to monopolise the Chinese media market.

Powerful Opinion editor Wong Chin Huat told malaysiakini that since the writers stopped writing for the papers, they have tried to find new outlets for their articles.

Some of their articles which criticised the Nanyang Press takeover were compiled and published in a book, Mourn for the papers .

The younger writers posted their articles on websites such as The Free Media, Berita Generasi and Mytianwang .

"It is only by offering more choices to the readers, that the right and the freedom can be safeguarded, and with the 'monopoly' of the media market by MCA and its cronies, we need to explore a new channel," Wong says.

The Chinese papers have since resorted to using articles from new and even translations of non-Chinese writers like malaysiakini and New Straits Times columnist Dr Farish A Noor and The Sun columnist Karim Raslan.

The Chinese writers, aware and anxious that their boycott may result in them losing an avenue for their writing, have in recent months proposed to lift the boycott. The new column has since allayed those fears.

Committed to press freedom

Wong says that the tabloid does not belong to any political party and the writers have vowed to stop writing for it if any political party buys it. Jing Pau's owner, John Pattist Chong, 44, told malaysiakini that the paper is committed to upholding press freedom.

"We hope to voice the concern of the ethnic Chinese and offer the readers another media choice with the critical views of different parties," he said.

The year-old tabloid has a circulation of about 30,000 copies per issue. Chong says he has no plans to go daily just yet but will evaluate market response in due time.

"We need the support of the Chinese community and it takes time to prove we have it," he said. Chong offers the contributors a 30 percent increase in rates over the major Chinese dailies.

For many years, writers have complained that the rate was very low but the major papers have been reluctant to increase it, Wong said.

A popular writer and columnist, Yong Sun Yong, however, sees Powerful News as only a temporary alternative channel for the writers.

"The paper still has a limited readership compared with the major dailies. It has to seek a radical change in terms of its image and content to gain a place in market," said Yong.

He pointed out that the tabloid still lags far behind other publications in the market though it now has a good fighting chance to be more visible with its "freedom of speech" stance.

Yong claims that the major Chinese dailies have becoming one-dimensional or monotonous in their news reporting and editorials.

"The news in the four papers look like the news in one paper; we hardly notice any diversity in their reporting and opinion," said Yong.