The dissenting voices in the Umno supreme council to the proposed merger between New Straits Times Press (NSTP) and Utusan Melayu signal a loss of confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad's leadership, said former NSTP group editor-in-chief A Kadir Jasin.

"The opposition by Umno supreme council members despite the go-ahead from Abdullah (who is also Umno president) amounts to no less than a vote of no confidence," he told a forum in Kuala Lumpur last night.

The proposed merger was announced last November. Umno members fear the merger would destroy the identity of Utusan Malaysia , which was formed in 1938 as the country's first daily to cater specifically for Malay readers.

"You have members of the Umno supreme council publicly opposing the merger despite the country's top two leaders (including Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak) saying it should go ahead," he added.

Money to be made

Kadir said this clearly showed the existence of a rift between the interest of party members and the leadership.

He said the party leadership appears to be caught in a bind. While ministers could be removed from their posts in the cabinet as punishment for dissent, they would be immune to similar action as supreme council members.

Share prices of both companies increased following news of a possible merger before tumbling by 20 percent after the merger was put off on Dec 4. Share prices recovered days later.

Kadir suspected that insider-trading occurred weeks before the announcement of the merger, resulting in the increase in share prices.

"There's money to be made. The merger is not just driven by political interests," he claimed.

The veteran journalist, who helmed NSTP from 1988 to 2000, said Utusan lacked the capital to carry out a reverse takeover.

"Once Utusan's editorial content erodes, I predict that it would lose at least 50,000 readers. Then Star (Publications) will launch their Malay daily, Minda Massa ," he said.

Media Prima Bhd, an investment arm under Umno, owns a 43 percent stake in NSTP. The media conglomerate also currently controls all terrestrial television stations namely TV3, Ntv7, 8TV and Channel 9.

Umno owns a 50 percent stake in Utusan Melayu - the company which owns Utusan Malaysia . It is said that a merger would substantially reduce the party's stake in the new company.

Media selling soap

Meanwhile, another former NSTP group editor-in-chief Abdullah Ahmad told the forum that the merger was politically motivated.

He said the merger would allow Umno a better position to consolidate its support amongst Malay voters.

"Monetary profit is secondary. The merger is an attempt to control Malay thoughts," he said, adding that a new merger would allow better control over editorial content.

"It's easier to issue out orders to one person than to deal with four or five people serving under different companies," he noted.

He also observed that the quality of the media has been on a slide since Abdullah became prime minister in 2003.

"Malaysians are unhappy with the media even the media itself is not happy with the prevailing conditions because there is too much self-censorship, news management and manipulation," he said.

He lamented that there was too much 'spin' and political propaganda.

"It borders on paying homage to underperforming people in an obvious attempt to sell their masters as if they are selling soap or toothpaste," he said.

Abdullah was a former ambassador to the United Nations and served as a political secretary to second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak. In 1976, he was arrested under the Internal Security Act on suspicion of being a communist spy and spent five years in detention.

He was sacked from his post as group editor-in-chief of NSTP in 2003 for criticising the Saudi government.

The forum held at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall was attended by over 100 people. It was organised by the Strategic information and Research Development Centre.

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