Some 60 newspaper vendors from Kepong have asked the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (SCAH) in Kuala Lumpur for help in contacting the authorities to act against alleged intimidation over distribution of the new Chinese daily Oriental Daily News.

SCAH, which received the letter last Saturday, forwarded copies yesterday to the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, Inspector-General of Police, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association, the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia, Selangor Newspaper Vendors' Association and the publishers of two major Chinese dailies, Nanyang Press Holdings and Pemandangan Sinar Sdn Bhd.

The letter is part of a wider protest being organised by these vendors to protect their interest in distributing the new daily. They feel that they are being hindered by rival newspaper groups with ties to the established Chinese media market.

"We are afraid because staff from the other major dailies are keeping an eye on us whenever we're on our rounds. They are intimidating us to make us stop distributing the Oriental Daily," spokesperson Chow Chee Kong claimed when contacted yesterday.

Chow, a vendor for the past seven years, alleged that he and the others had received repeated "warnings" from Pemandangan Sinar and Nanyang Press employees not to be involved in the distribution of Oriental Daily even before the new paper had hit the street.

Editors in both newspaper groups have refused to comment since last week, despite repeated attempts by malaysiakini to get their side of the story.

Fair competition

Launched last Sept 29, Oriental Daily was slapped with a suspension order from the Home Ministry the same evening. No reason was given for the suspension while some quarters had claimed it was politically motivated.

However, the daily managed to hit the street again on Jan 1 after negotiations with the ministry. The paper, owned by the Sibu-based KTS Group led by Sarawakian timber tycoon Lau Hui Kang, immediately ran into distribution problems.

Malaysiakini understands that the Oriental Daily management reached agreement last week with the Indian Newspaper Vendors Association to distribute the paper.

Meanwhile, the Kepong vendors also claimed that the Selangor Newspaper Vendors Association, of which they are members, has not acted on their problems.

Association chairperson Tan Choon Huat could not be reached for comment. The association is an associate member of SCAH.

"What are we supposed to do? This situation is affecting our income. Oriental Daily also has its readership, just like the other papers. While we are keen to distribute the new paper, we also wish to maintain a cordial working relationship with the other newspapers," Chow said.

"Although we are still getting regular supply of all the four major Chinese papers, the constant threats and intimidation are affecting our work. All we ask is fair competition here. Let the public choose the paper they want."

'Right to protect network'

Rivals of Oriental Daily have also lashed out at the paper.

Sin Chew Daily said in a statement published in the paper that the fledgling daily's wide coverage of its distribution difficulties was an attempt to play victim to gain public sympathy and "is actually misleading the public".

"We won't prevent any new daily to hit the market but we have the right to protect our distribution network which we have painstakingly built up," said the statement, published two weeks ago.

An editorial in Nanyang Siang Pau last week said "an additional newspaper would make it harder for everyone to survive".

"We have a very small market with intense competition...if our survival faces any threat, it would be foolhardy of us to help our competitor by allowing them to make use of our distribution network," it said.

An earlier report in the paper also quoted its editor-in-chief Hoong Soon Kean as suggesting that Pemandangan Sinar should work together with his group, Nanyang Press, to fight the "evil outside force".

Hoong explained that the current Chinese newspaper market is very saturated, hence "a new daily is bound to decrease the circulation of an existing one".