In The Star today, ‘MCA not selling assets, says Chua‘.
KUALA LUMPUR: MCA has denied all allegations that the party is selling off its assets.
.
“All assets are under the MCA headquarters and any decision regarding them (the assets) has to have the support of at least two-thirds of the party’s central committee members.
.
“The CC (central committee) can also ask for an extraordinary general meeting to decide,” said MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. .
.
He added that the party would sue those who continued to spread rumours about the party’s assets.”
.
Dr Chua appears to be alluding to Raja Petra Kamarudin’s disturbing article titled ‘The rats leaving the sinking ship‘ (Malaysia Today, 20 May 2013).
PIE CHART BELOW: The Star readership demography below (mostly urban, 25 percent Malay).
A quarter of The Star readership is Malay
The MCA’s prize asset is of course the multi-billion ringgit Star Media Group cash cow.
In GE13, the party lost 8 Parliament seats (from 15 in 2008 down to 7 in 2013) that it previously held. The loss of these of Parliamentary constituencies means the MCA is today minus the influence of 8 Members of Parliament.
Therefore we can say that the MCA has lost an amount of influence commensurate to the influence that could have been wielded by its 8 representatives in Parliament. Now how much influence do you figure 8 MPs to hold collectively?
However, the MCA does possess something more influential than a batch of 8 lost MPs.
And that is its multi-media empire with the thousands of print, broadcast and online reporters, hundreds of editors, deejays in the Star radio stations, magazine and other various publications, and their combined reach to an audience of 5.63 million adults.
That’s the influence of the Star conglomerate. The Star should not be shy in taking some credit for the Urban Tsunami that the DAP has been talking up.
Mind-moulding the young Malays
Do not forget that a quarter of The Star readers are Malay.
GE14 will be determined by the urban Malay fence-sitter vote. The DAP has denied that a Chinese Tsunami ever happened. Instead the DAP has insisted that it was the swing by the urban electorate that caused the BN to lose the popular vote.
With more concentrated cucuk-cucuk and tikam belakang from The Star over the next 5 years, the Malay urban vote may swing even more in 2018. If Umno is to be eliminated, the Chinese will need the cooperation of the Malay masses to carry out the kill.
A reader of this blog Alwie Abdullah‘s observation bahawa beliau “melihat di pejabat-pejabat kerajaan yang staffnya majoriti Melayu, akhbar The Star yang paling banyak dikepit di bawah ketiak dan dibawa sama waktu sarapan” must always be kept in mind.
Also bear in mind that Malaysia has a young population and these impressionable Gen Y , Gen Z minds (someone who is in Form Four today will be eligible to vote in the next general election) can well be persuaded by the City Harvest Church-style trendy approach that The Star is adept at peddling.
And we already know where The Jerusubang Star‘s loyalty lies, don’t we?
Backroom maneuverings in Star boardroom
The MCA currently has a direct 42 percent stake in the Star.
According to industry talk, Dr Chua Soi Lek had supported a proposed management buyout of Star Publications before the general election. (An MBO coup had once before been successfully executed on the NSTP in the 1990s.)
At times grudgingly complying with orders from the top (its political masters) and at other times subtly sabotaging BN, gergaji dua mata The Star has been adroitly playing both sides. But it is only for so long that the paper can keep up its schizophrenic bipolarity.
After raking in the abundant profits through its balancing act of appealing to Jerusubang as well as appeasing its undeserved reputation as an MCA mouthpiece, the chickens have come home to roost for The Star.
The two-timing paper has now attracted the ire of BOTH the pro-opposition and pro-establishment camps.
Boycott of The Star
The too cleaver-by-half (pun intended) Gunting dalam Lipatan was recently the target of a boycott initiated by Bersih, alongside the other usual suspects mainstream newspapers Utusan, Berita Harian and the NST.
There is also an online signature campaign to protest the hudud paid-advertisements placed by the MCA in their Scissors during GE13 and earning incestuous profits for the ad firms linked to the Star deputy chairman.
On the other side of the political divide, The Star has been included in the list of Chinese-owned companies whose products are being boycotted by Malays in their Buy Chinese Last (BCL) or better yet don’t-buy-Chinese-at-all campaign.
P. Gunasegaram reported yesterday in Malaysiakini‘s Kinibiz that revenue earned by The Star for the year had declined slightly from RM819.2 million to RM791.3 million, and pre-tax profits made by Star Publications for the year ended Dec 31, 2012 amounted to RM259.6 million.
P. Gunasegaram is a former managing editor of The Star. The quote above is sourced from his article ‘Why Ho Kay Tat left The Star‘ (Malaysiakini, 13 Dec 2012)
Let’s look at Guna’s quote more closely: “The Star is owned by the MCA / run by the MIC / for the benefit of the DAP”.
-
Brian Martin – Executive Editor
-
Associate Editor – Davin Arul
-
Dorairaj Nadason – Deputy Executive Editor
-
T. Selva – Chief News Editor
-
Devid Rajah – Senior News Editor
-
Ann Marie Chandy – Editor, Features
-
Manogaran Rethinam – Editor, Sports
-
Risen Jaya Seelan Dennis – Business Editor (News)
-
Frederick Fernandez – Editor, Metro
-
Joseph Raj – Editor, Star Online
-
Wong Chun Wai – Group Chief Editor ( EVANGELISTA HEAD HONCHO )
-
Wong Siah Pin – Chief Operating Officer
-
David PL Yeoh – Deputy Group Chief Editor (I)
-
Leanne L Y Goh – Deputy Group Chief Editor (II)
-
June H L Wong – Managing Editor
-
Wong Sai Wan – Executive Editor
-
Errol Oh Boon Peng – Executive Editor
-
Tommy Lee – Executive Editor
-
Soo Ewe Jin – Deputy Executive Editor
-
Agatha Matayun – Editor Sunday
-
Paul Yeo – Senior Editor, Health
-
Tan Cheng Li – Editor, Environment
-
William K C Kee – Editor, Fashion
-
Ivy Soon – Editor, Women & Family
-
Melody Louisa Goh – Deputy Editor, Features Central
-
Chelsea Ng – Editor, Education
And the only Malay “acting” editor from the list of the 26 top positions in The Star.
-
Dzireena Mahadzir – Acting Editor, Clove
.
@imokman is DOCTOR (PhD) Ong Kian Ming, the DAP election strategist
The Star AGM today
Kinibiz‘s P. Gunasegaram said to expect “fireworks” at the Star annual general meeting to be held today.
While the behaviour of the MCA-owned and controlled newspaper may appear to be erratic in the eyes of the general public, there is a surely “method to the madness” — to borrow a famous saying from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
TWEET ABOVE: The Star editors cheerleading @imokman (DOCTOR-PhD Ong Kian Ming) who thereafter won the Serdang Parliament seat on the DAP ticket
What cannot be denied is that The Star is not averse to doing hatchet jobs. It did one on Tony Pua after their ignominious falling out on the eve of polling day. Read ‘Finally, The Star admits giving DAP evangelistas the VIP treatment’.
“We regret that he [Tony Pua] has not been thankful to what The Star has done for him,” a spokesman for the newspaper lamented on 2 May 2013.
Never in their long honeymoon with the DAP evangelistas had The Star ever published such an unflattering photo of Tony as it did on May 2 (reproduced below).
Evangelistas in The Star
And it was only following the tiff with the DAP over DAP’s rebuttal to the MCA hudud ads in the paper during GE13 that The Star was finally willing to frontpage a story on the DAP “Red Bean Army” — 48 hours before the country went to the polls — despite the paper’s own implied admission that it was aware the cybertroopers had already been operating for six years.
For six long years, The Star was willing to close one eye to the operations of the opposition cyber hit squads who spread slander, terror and carry out drive-by cyber shootings (character assassination).
For six long years, The Star carried out its almost daily promotion of Jerusubang.
TWEET ABOVE: Ong Kian Ming puts down Chua Tee Yong as acting “really classless”. Ong Kian Ming, together with Hannah Yeoh, is The Star‘s favourite evangelista couple (Alvin and Vivian come second, evangelista or not).
You really don’t know where the Red Bean Army ends and where the Star red cadres begin.
But you can be sure The Star jolly well knows where lie the sympathies of the majority of its staff. Menara Star-Phileo Damansara (not too far from DUMC) is a nest of DAP sympathizers.
Now with the wipe-out of the MCA, the big question mark is The Star showing its true colours. For sure, it ain’t dark blue.
*** *** ***
HARAP BOLEH TOLONG
SEBARKAN!
.
Dear readers and fellow bloggers,
Please help to dissemminate this story.
The more people there are talking about these developments, the more difficult it will be for ‘them’ to Shoot the Messenger by targetting any single individual who is doing the expose on The Star.
There is a smear campaign being carried out against critics of the Jerusubang Star-DAP nexus with malicious lies being spread (by I’d presume those trying to cover their exposed arses.)
Remember that The Star is very, very rich (worth billions);
Its directors including Wong Chun Wai are paid millions of ringgit each per annum in directors fees so they’ve got a lot at stake, the Star Media Group has got a lot of resources, a lot of writing staff and even some covert operations in cyberspace such as its links to the MCA-friendly political blogs and websites.
Look at the photo they published of Tony Pua after their sudden fall-out — compared to the handsome photos of him that they used when they were still kam cheng — to get an idea of what kind of people are running The Star.
Helen Ang 
The Star is the 吳三桂 of Malaysian politics. but for the Democratic Action party, it should call itself 三桂党. look at what it has become. a party staffed by Anglophiles and Evangelists. sold out the Chinese without the Chinese knowing what has really happened.
enough with the 三桂党 ! I shall continue tomorrow !
Actually the star needs MCA to hide from JAKIM. In fact the articles in the star is more towards proselytising Christianity to the Malays as the 25% Malays unknowingly thought that the STar is secular. In reality TheStar is spreading Christianity to the Malays which is against the Federal Constitution.
Thnak you Helen for the 25% Malays readership information as this is solid proof that [edited].
These will make all the states Islamic bodies sit up. Thus the LBGT propagated by TheStar is infact directed towards the Malays!
The Attorney General Gani Patail must wake up and stop focusing on theStar red herring about underage Malay marriage. Every time chinese christians issues come out the Star will try to divert their attention.
Malays too have realised the Indians duplicity in NST. Kalimullah the poor Indian reporter in NST is now the biggest shareholder of AirAsia! Thanks to his Indian mentor Mahathir. This Indians used the English language papers like Malay Mail to promote another Indian Subahan Kamal to as wannabe Selangor MB.
So keep up the good work. Report the STAR to JAKIM. Time to stop the recolonisation of Malaya by the Jesuits.
re: “Every time chinese christians issues come out the Star will try to divert their attention.”
So true!
Ataupun mereka buat tak tahu ataupun sekaligus timbis cerita.
Mahathir-bashing ?!? I don’t like.
I also do not like Mahathir bashing …
1. Have stopped subscribing Star paper.
2. Have deleted bookmark Star Online.
Good on you – well done :-)
“Now with the wipe-out of the MCA, the big question mark is The Star showing its true colours. For sure, it ain’t dark blue.”
The logo is very red like the rocket.
Helen, you are scaring the shit out of me.
I bet the management buyout will be financed by the Jerusubang holy-ee people. With the 10% God Tax they surely can afford it.
The Star is not just a print empire. It is also radio and TV.
Imagine this, the paper and the radio stations (Red FM) and the Li channel. Jerusubang will be on air, on line and on print.
Yes, WCW was part of the proposed MBO team.
And again yes, Jerusubang is very rich. They built the KL Calvary Church biggest in SE Asia at the cost of RM200m and there’s the DUMC Phase Two bulding also at the cost of tens of million (to be completed next year).
see photos,
https://helenang.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/gereja-calvary-kl-rm200j-terbesar-di-rantau-sudah-dibuka/
https://helenang.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/dumc-kaya-raya-macam-city-harvest-sediakan-servis-bahasa-melayu/
And the Tabernacle evangelical church in Subang Jaya where Nurul spoke is huge as well.
Also, the Jerusubangites got plenty of Aduns and MPs now. Even HY’s personal asst can be Adun.
It is better for everyone if the MBO proposal goes through. For the Star’s Editorial Board, it will no longer be bound by MCA’s political “persuasion” to promote MCA and/or BN and will thus be able to show its true colours tanpa segan dan silu lagi.
For the MCA, relinquishing control over the STAR means it is no longer in the position of the cuckold … and MCA can get on with its life as a political entity – within the BN or otherwise
For its readership, the pro-Pakatan supporters can now buy the STAR without having to worry whether the money is going to BN or not while for the neutrals, they can judge for themselves the integrity of the Star purely based on the quality of the reporting.
For pro-BN supporters – vote with your RM …
Not sure what the terms of the MBO and exactly who the players are. Perhaps there will be more reports in the media after the AGM today.
Guna’s report mentions CSL, WCW, Vincent Lee and Fong Chan Onn.
Dan mereka masih menjerit di sana-sini BN (lebih tepat UMNO) mengamalkan cronismn. Kalau betullah mereka tak mengutamakan kroni, sepatutnya sekarang ni kepala Rajiv masih menempel di bahu Hannah, bukan duduk sama rendah, berdiri sama tinggi dengan bekas bossnya = sama-sama jadi Adun. Memang cakap tak serupa bikin betul!
Yang peliknya ada orang yang beriya-iya mengatakan bahawa The Star ialah suara MCA.
Melihat kepada senarai – Brian Martin lah, Frederick Fernandez lah, Devid lah (ada seorang lagi David), Joseph lah, Anne Marie lah – yang semuannya keturunan India belaka seperti diperkatakan ungkapan popular yang dipetik Encik Guna, saya pun hairan apalah yang mereka-mereka ini tahu tentang sejarah dan budaya MCA.
While I would like to believe MCA, the fact is sadly that MCA does not really get the full support of its own members, if we use the PRU13 as a yardstick. A management buyout is not an impossibility.
Well, I hope the Communications ministry will monitor this, as well as JAKIM. Because if they reallly take over and then start promoting their evangelist agenda, it should be nipped at the start and not wait until it has become like the kalimah Allah issue.
The star suara DAP. byk ‘pengesian’ DAP di sana. Towkay pulak kata, janji masyuk!
Awat @imokman DOCTOR (PhD) Ong Kian Ming tulisan DR tu mmg kena saiz gaban ka? Bukankah dia Dr (PhD) paling samdol dan narrow minded?
Jika benar MCA jual aset, The Star akan dibeli oleh DUMC sbb depa banyak duit. Si ‘pengesian’ yg terdiri dari kelas bangsarian bayar zakat dengan banyak sekali ke sana.
If the DUMC wants to buy out the Star, why not. Let them buy the company lock stock and barrel. Let them run the show, they were still not the rulers of Malaysia! Let them evanglize using the asset they bought and we will see what the ruling government will do.
To clarify, I did not say that DUMC wanted to buy out The Star.
I said that the industry talk had rumoured a management buyout and that WCW’s name was included in the reported MBO team.
As to which groups are possibly rich enough to be able to take over the paper, I agreed that the evangelical grouping is plenty rich as evidenced by their ability to build the mega churches costing a cool couple hundred of million ringit – the Calvary Church in Bulit Jalil, reputedly the biggest in SE Asia, is case in point.
Regardless, aside from government TV, the Christians already control the English-language media in Malaysia.
my wrong, I like to imagine that way. DUMC being so rich why not buy the star & enjoy super privilege as an owner of mass readership media. That surely can spread their wings in what they want most, power in politics.
The churches are very savvy in social media. They’ve got happenin’ Facebook(s) and their presentation (interactive applications, graphics, etc) is top-notch.
The Star like everyone is very aware of now is really the ‘gunting dalam selimut’.
Not only the Star is pro DAP, I won’t be surprised if even the MCA and Gerakan members themselves had voted for DAP…. May be they are all guntings.
What I don’t understand is how they (the Chinese) think they are repressed, aren’t they allowed to conduct their businesses freely, or practice their religions or send their kids to vernacular schools….In other countries they are mostly confined to certain areas in the cities called Chinatown, here they are free to live wherever they like.
Ya that’s why I think we are very curious to know why they feel repressed/oppressed…… Thus the question ‘apa lagi Cina mau?????’
from the political stand point, this is not about logic, this is about creating a negative perception onto the people about the so called oppression.
if you really like asking why, why not talk to those rocketeers and hear their stories and ask them questions. from my observation through my social circles, their most significant characteristics are prejudice, clueless, double standard, naive and dogma.
so given such rocketeers, their leaders can create whatever negative perceptions onto the followers about their opponents and the rest of the lies will be automatically taken care by their followers.
the bigger the lie, the more people are going to believe it. the more you repeat a lie, the faster it will become the ‘truth’.
bob marley kata you can’t fool all the people all the time :)
If the MCA wants to rise again like a phoenix from the ashes, the very first thing it has to do is to sack the whole Board of the Star and the top management and Wong Chun Wai to winkle out the moles arising from the many complaints and for doing business with the Singapore Government.
I’m not sure MCA cares enough to do this. Sorry I think, at least the big guns selesa dengan apa yang telah berlaku, walaupun mungkin mereka telah tersilap percaturan.
CSL is far from remorseful. Still full of himself! Arrogant tak bertempat!
Amongst the Malay neutrals, word is going round that its the DAP’s handiwork that CSL was elected president of MCA – knowing fully well that CSL’s acting prowess will diminish support for the MCA from within and without … maybe thats why CSL always seems to be on his own even during PRU13
Thanks to you, Kak Helen, my family has stopped buying The Gunting.
frustration aside, best we still try to read how this rocket ambassador plays around with their gunting on topics or issues or etc, else we wont know their propaganda and will have no idea how to counter and hit back. they are now like in the open blasting rocket tune, so the battle will become harder because their readership is just too many.