The Malaysian Insight

THE National Union of Journalists today welcomed the apology by Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd executive director Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir to all Malaysians for mistakes made when newspaper Utusan Malaysia was Umno’s official mouthpiece.

NUJ president Mohd Taufek Razak said the apology was appropriate for the type of news that Utusan had previously carried.

“It was appropriate for him to apologise to all Malaysians, especially to Utusan readers, as their stories had been of such (low) quality, especially when Barisan Nasional was still in power,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Taufek, who is also an Utusan employee, said Abd Aziz should also apologise to Utusan staff for failing to pay their salaries on time.

“We staff are still waiting for our full pay, as we have not been paid for two to three months now,” he said.

“To all Malaysians, please forgive us for our past mistakes. Give us a chance to continue our newspapers by supporting and buying them,” Abd Aziz told Mingguan Malaysia today

“We now pledge to give you balanced news as a newspaper that is committed to being the people’s voice.”

Utusan Malaysia has long been a mouthpiece for Umno, leading the charge in shaping the opinion of the Malay community to favour the party leadership’s perspective on issues.

Often, it has been accused of playing up race and religious issues to shore up support for Umno, and to demonise the then opposition, particularly DAP.

In the interview, Abd Aziz did not apologise to the Utusan staff for delays in salary payment but instead told them to work harder and with integrity if they want to see the 80-year-old daily succeed.

Taufek said Utusan should change the style of its news presentation to welcome a new group of readers.

“Our reports are one-sided and usually in attack mode against someone. Much of what had been reported was untrue, too. That is why Utusan has faced so many defamation suits.

“Our reports need to be balanced. There much be changes on the editorial floor. Utusan’s downfall is largely responsible of these people,” he said.

Meanwhile, a source close to Abd Aziz said his apology was only for the mistakes that had happened under his watch.

The source said instead of learning from his mistakes, Abd Aziz was just continuing them, adding that Abd Aziz and his management team were still hopeful of increasing the sale of the daily at a time when more readers are getting their stuff online.

“Utusan Online has more than 2 million Facebook followers. The management should make use of this platform by selling advertisements here,” added the source.

For journalism lecturer Zaharom Nain, Abd Aziz’s apology showed that he was desperate.

“This has gone on for a long time, why only apologise now?

“The efforts to make Utusan the main daily for the Malays will not work. People have moved to online media,” he said.

Utusan has been in a financial crisis since last year, while it failed to meet salary payments from June this year.

It is also having difficulty paying 800 staff members who left under a voluntary separation scheme – a move management believed would help the company stay afloat.

Last week, the staff had picketed the company over the delay in payment of their salaries.

Abd Aziz is also the largest shareholder in Utusan Melayu.

In February, Umno sold its 31.6% stake in the publisher to Opulence Asia Sdn Bhd, a company owned by Abd Aziz, for RM6.65 million. – August 25, 2019.