While the New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd is busy downsizing its stable of publications, information-starved staff are left in the dark over their future.

Malay Mail is believed to have been 'cannabilised' by sister newspaper New Straits Times after it went tabloid and the century-old newspaper is now made the sacrificial lamb.

It is learnt that Malay Mail and Sunday Mail executive editor Ahiruddin Atan, better known as Rocky, has been offered a golden handshake of RM1 million and is being earnestly courted by rival The Star .

Strongly rumoured to replace him is a former contributing editor with Singapore-based lifestyle magazine FHM , Mohd Zulkifli Abdul Jalil, who is said to have only three years experience in journalism.

Word has it that the 36-year-old who is said to be an ex-magistrate will assume the post of chief operating officer and executive editor of the Malay Mail after Chinese New Year.

Ahiruddin, who is also the National Press Club president, and Mohd Zulkifli could not be reached for confirmation.

The four English and Bahasa Malaysia dailies affected by the group re-structuring are NST , Berita Harian , Malay Mail and Harian Metro , with the Malay Mail braced for a direct hit.

The group's CEO Syed Faisal Albar was also unavailable for comments as he was attending to the National Union of Journalists branch officials at press time.

Quoting sources and a senior journalist, The Star reported today that plans were underway to drop the Malay Mail's hard news section and turn it into an entertainment and sports daily.

Low morale

Insiders told malaysiakini that staff morale at the NST was very low with most journalists still in the dark over the latest developments.

Many were terribly upset over the rumoured changes, which would include slashing the number of staff in Malay Mail by half.

"The Malay Mail is being sacrificed by bad management decisions in favour of the NST when both are sister companies. This should not be happening," they said.

Industry sources claimed that a survey on revamping plans for the Malay Mail commissioned to international media consultant BBDO remains unfinished.

"But already news of who is going to be axed and who stays is trickling out fast."

Sources who saw the Malay Mail revamp as a ritual of sacrifice claimed that the paper's performance had improved when it began its regional expansion in July 2003 through a peninsula-wide circulation.

"It was Rocky's idea and within a year, the circulation figures had shot up to a daily average of 55,000 compared to 28,000 copies previously.

"But after the closure of the regional bureaus, the figures dropped to between 40,000 and 47,000 within three weeks. It is currently averaging 36,000 copies daily.

"It was a very stupid business decision to pull back the Malay Mail 's regional expansion last August only to make for the launch of NST's compact version citing on grounds of prioritising printing capacity."

Destructive decisions

Sources said the Malay Mail was currently banned from highlighting too many crime stories.

"Furthermore, its off-stone time (when the paper is sent for printing) was moved to an earlier slot from the usual 7am which ensured that the paper hit the streets by noon.

"Since moving the off-stone time to 2.30am, the Malay Mail and NST end up having overlapping news. This led to the former losing its competitive edge because it could not get in the breaking stories in time."

Insiders believe that it had been a bad business move to introduce the NST compact version at the expense of disrupting Malay Mail 's operations.

The company is offering a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) of between 1.1 and 1.75 months' salary per year of service based of the last-drawn basic salary.

It is learnt that Malay Mail staff who accept the VSS have until April whereas the rest have a February exit deadline.

The revamp is expected to cut down its staff strength by between half and 60 percent by April with the first issue of the new Malay Mail scheduled for launch on May 1.

Media Prima Bhd, the media conglomerate that owns print and publishing, and electronic media giant the NSTP group, is rumoured to be the new 'owner' of the Malay Mail .