The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) president Hata Wahari has been suspended from his job at Utusan Malaysia pending the domestic inquiry over his public statements against the company.

NONEA Jan 11 letter from the Malay daily’s human resources manager informed Hata of the suspension until the completion of investigations against him.

“During the suspension, you are not allowed to enter any Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad unless you are here to explain yourself or before obtaining permission from the company beforehand,” said the letter.

The NUJ president’s vocal stand against the Umno-owned daily’s journalistic conduct had landed him in hot soup with his employer.

He is due for a domestic inquiry session on Monday to answer charges that he had insulted the company's management and tarnished the company's image following his comments that had appeared in several publications, including Malaysiakini.

Utusan orders house arrest?

The letter also curiously states that Hata is not allowed to “leave his neighbourhood” and would have to be in areas that are reachable by the company “at all times”.

“During the suspension period, you are requested to always be in areas that are reachable by the company and you are not allowed to leave the boundaries of your residence,” said the letter.

However, it is unclear if the suspension means a forfeiture of Hata's salary.

NONEWhen contacted by Malaysiakini, the NUJ general secretary V Anbalagan (right) said that it was a normal procedure for employers to suspend their staff pending a domestic inquiry.

“But I hope that Utusan makes their decision as soon as possible,” he said.

However Anbalagan said the directive to impose “house arrest” on Hata was utter nonsense.

“I don’t know where Utusan derived their power from. Which law says it can do this? Utusan is not the police, nor is it the Attorney-General’s Chambers," he said.

He added that while he will be present at the daily’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to represent Hata, the NUJ will still adopt a wait-and-see approach until the decision from the inquiry is made.

“We just want to go through due process. We want to fight the DI (domestic inquiry) first. We are not going to protest now, but we will wait for the outcome of the DI,” said Anbalagan.

It was previously reported that Utusan will be barring “outside representatives” from assisting Hata during the DI itself and that he can only be represented by the NUJ's branch in the newspaper.

Eight counts of misconduct

Hata is facing eight counts of misconduct for issuing statements to news portals Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insider and Merdeka Review, and The Sun newspaper between Sept 21 and Oct 14 last year.

Hata is an Utusan Malaysia senior journalist and was elected NUJ president last September.

Since then, Hata has criticised Utusan several times for publishing pro-Umno propaganda and blamed its editorial policy for the daily's dwindling circulation.

NONEIf sacked, Hata would be the third Utusan employee to get the boot for his union activities.

Former NUJ president Yazid Othman as well as the NUJ-Utusan Melayu chairperson Amran Ahmad had also previously been dismissed during their tenures in office.

Following Utusan’s persecution of Hata, a Facebook group has sprung to his support garnering 699 ‘likes’ at press time.