Deputy Information Minister and Umno supreme council member Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today expressed his objection to the proposed merger between Utusan Melayu Bhd and New Straits Times Press (NSTP) Bhd.

"As a member of the Umno supreme council, I feel there should be healthy competition among all print and electronic media in the country, hence raising the quality of news and the commercial value of the media organisations,"he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Zahid said the print and electronic media should not be controlled by one company, as this would result in a monopoly of news and information.

He said if the merger was to materialise, both would stand to lose in terms of ratings given that they were sharing the same audience.

Umno appears to be divided over the merger issue.

Both Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his deputy Najib Abdul Razak, the top two leaders in Umno, have agreed to the proposal.

On Monday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Azi backed the proposal .

Nazri, who is also an Umno supreme council member, said the alliance would create a financially stronger entity which would be able to share facilities and raise the standards of the media.

Identities at stake

Umno is the majority owner of Utusan Melayu, whose flagship Malay-language daily, Utusan Malaysia, competes with NSTP's Berita Harian .

Utusan Malaysia has for decades promoted the concerns of the country's majority ethnic Malays.

NSTP, which also publishes the influential English daily, the New Straits Times , is controlled by the country's largest media conglomerate, Media Prima.

Numerous senators and Umno grassroots leaders have also strongly objected the merger.

Last week, veteran Malay-language journalist Said Zahari warned that the merger would affect the identities of the newspapers published by the two groups.

"Their unique identities should be preserved to reflect the diversity and plurality of the country," he told malaysiakini .

" Utusan Malaysia , for example, is meant for the Malay-educated Malaysians, a large proportion of whom reside in the rural area.

" New Straits Times , on the other hand, is for the more urban-centric Malaysians who are English-educated," he said.