news feature

K Ravindran was on his way home for a party on New Year's eve when his employer called. The 60-year-old journalist arrived at the office only to be told he no longer had a job.

The news altered not only his New Year celebration, but his immediate future as well.

Ravindran ( photo ), who had been on fixed-term contract with The Sun since mid-1999, spent the rest of the night at a candle-light vigil outside the office, where the staff had gathered to demand promised bonuses which remained unpaid.

Only two weeks earlier, The Sun 's human resource department had extended Ravindran's contract for another year.

During his 19 months with the daily, Ravindran had written at least 60 front-page news reports. He won the company's 'best story for the month' award numerous times.

Ravindran was once a teacher actively involved in the National Union of the Teaching Profession for some 15 years. Not surprisingly, most of his reports were on trade unions.

Despite the excellent track record, his service was terminated because "the company has been facing serious economic difficulties ... and has been required to take drastic and difficult decisions to preserve its very survival".

The management called his renewed contract an error which was "unsigned" and "inadvertently extended" to him, despite that Ravidran's name was already on the news-desk roster for the first half of January.

Claiming to be a victim of the company's unjust decision, he took his case to the Industrial Relations Department and demanded reinstatement.

At least 10 other staff subsequently suffered the same fate as Ravidran's in the coming days. Speculations were rife as to what the company was really up to.

Then, when some 30 permanent staff, mostly journalists, were retrenched with immediate effect, the management's intentions became crystal-clear.

The Sun , incorporated in 1991 and launched in 1994, is 19.5 percent owned by business tycoon Vincent Tan's Berjaya Group. The daily has suffered an estimated loss of some RM200 million since its inception.

It was the third leading English newspaper with a circulation of about 82,000 last year.

The other two major English dailies, New Straits Times and The Star , were selling 135,695 and 267,241 copies respectively.

The Sun was at one time run by business weekly The Edge 's owner Tong Kooi Ong. However, the deal fell through after less a year due to what many believed to be the disapproval of some key government figures then.

Tan is said to have been constantly looking since then for partners who will buy substantial stakes in The Sun . Among the names that have cropped up are Astro's billionaire Ananda Krishnan and Berita Publishing's veteran newsman Abdul Kadir Jasin.

The Sun 's retrenchment and termination exercise seems more than just the question of economic survival.

"There are other factors," said Ravindran. "The journalists were bringing back very good stories."

This work culture was a legacy which had largely to do with The Edge .

Though The Sun 's ownership reverted to Berjaya Group, Tan's predecessor had left behind a more laisse-faire management policy in the daily.

Within months of The Edge 's take over, the daily's editorial policy was loosened up and its soaring credibility made its rival dailies pale in comparison.

The staff were on a morale-high following the promise of fat bonuses - up to six months - should the circulation increase.

It did - the circulation was said to have risen close to 100,000 copies by the time The Edge withdrew from The Sun .

Critical coverage

All these have led to a more critical and balanced coverage in The Sun on hardcore issues such as the takeover of two Chinese dailies by MCA and later the widening rift within this second largest party in the ruling coalition.

The editorial staff were doing a good job, maybe too good a job.

It has drawn the attention of external parties who had problems handling either the truth or a potentially tough competitor.

Partisan interest had tried to creep into the news coverage on many occasions but the editorial staff put up defence and resistance to it.

Infuriated and desperate, the partisan interest resorted to the owner of the daily. Pressure was slowly mounting on Tan who has been toying with the idea to minimise the newspaper's losses.

Christmas shocker

Then the opportunity came as a Christmas gift.

On Dec 25, a front-page story was published and reported that police have uncovered a plot to kill the country's two top leaders - Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Mahathir took it lightly initially but when the story was picked up by the foreign press and published worldwide, the agitated premier criticised The Sun for sensationalist journalism.

The daily's editor-in-chief and editor resigned, while two senior news editors and the journalists responsible for writing the story were suspended indefinitely.

All those who have been lurking in the dark for long - old foes and new enemies, competitors and whatnot - snowballed into an avalanche and crashed right on the daily overnight.

Jan 11, 2002 will go down in history as the day when The Sun lost its shine.

Journalists, editors, graphic artists and photographers in the paper were retrenched unceremoniously and sent out the gates.

Nearly half of the desks in the editorial department are unoccupied now.

The mood is somber.

There are no more chatty tea-breaks at the warong nearby.

Those who remain, find it painful to recall the sight of former colleagues clearing their desks, packing up and leaving with their belongings.

These people came to the office to meet the deadline that day, like any other. Yet when their works were published the next morning, they were no longer part of the team.

On the night after the retrenchment, the affected staff and their supporters, including Ravindran, held a candle-light vigil outside the office.

Many were moved to tears - they knew in their hearts that The Sun had set.