After the recent Indera Kayangan by-election, Barisan Nasional secretary-general Khalil Yaakob told the opposition not to blame the media for their humiliating defeat.

Good advice. Perhaps he should tell that to his boss, too. After all, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad blamed Chinese-language newspapers Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press for BNs spectacular defeat in the Lunas by-election two years ago.

Journalists, rightly or wrongly, are often blamed for the shifting fortunes of politicians. True, news organisations can, and often do, make or unmake politicians. Which is why the media are frequently on the firing line from both the powers that be and the wannabe powerbrokers.

Take, for example, the mass sacking  no, journocide  in The Sun. There is little doubt that the newspapers controversial report on the assassination plot of the countrys top leaders has served as manna from heaven for those nursing the intention to muzzle the increasingly outspoken tabloid.

Since the termination of 43 journalists and the suspension of a number of others, little has been heard about the police investigation into the controversial report. Why the silence? Is there any truth in the report?

Here in malaysiakini, we, too, have our share of trials and tribulations.

We were accused of being traitors to the country, stooges of western imperialism and servants of infamous currency speculator George Soros. Our journalists were thrown out of press conferences. Ministers refused to talk to us. Police reports were made against our articles.

On top of that, we need to survive financially.

Investing in journalists

Over the past two years, in the bid to keep our heads above the water, malaysiakini has evolved from a news provider into a technology company, developing software for a growing list of clients.

We have also launched the Strategic Analysis Malaysia to provide political consultancy to a selected group of policy-makers.

Indeed, both initiatives are pulling in more money than what the website could earn through advertising. This is especially true given that many of our advertisers are being spooked by the authorities.

But such ventures have unfortunately diverted almost half of our already limited resources from what we can do best  giving our readers news and views that matter.

The subscription plan, to be launched on Friday, is to help us invest in our original aim  to be an independent news provider.

Indeed, over the past few months, we have a staff of five reporters working around the clock to bring you up to speed on major national issues. All of them are first-time journalists. But despite this, they have done an amazing feat. Some write three or four reports a day. Many work 10, sometimes 12 hours. Not surprisingly, the burn-out rate is high.

To overcome this, we hope to increase our team of journalists to about 10. While this will still be a fraction of the size of newsrooms in the mainstream dailies, we believe malaysiakini can do better with a few more hands on the team.

Worry-free e-coupons

And fully aware that Malaysians are still wary of online payments, the business team in malaysiakini has come up with an innovative idea of payment by cash through pre-paid cards  the e-coupons. They are now available at selected stores.

To subscribe to malaysiakini, get a RM50 e-coupon. Scratch the panels on the card for the login and key numbers. Log on to our website. Follow the instructions. A password will be e-mailed to you within seconds. With the password, you can access malaysiakini for six months.

It is only through becoming a malaysiakini subscriber that you will be able to access all contents on the website  the latest news, letters forum, columns, opinions and features, foreign news, and much, much more.

Those who are not subscribers can only access news and letters.

Do tell your friends about the e-coupons. Better still, if you come across people who want to be e-coupon agents, put them in touch with us.

Of course, you can still pay by traditional means - credit card, cheque, postal/money order and later next month, Maybank2U (for those with accounts in Maybank).

In November 1999, when malaysiakini first went live, an editor in a mainstream paper gave us three months. We survived a little longer than that.

Perhaps the editor has since revised his prediction to three years. We intend to prove him wrong  again. And that shouldnt be too difficult with your support.