MCA president Ong Ka Ting today denied that the party directed its leaders to use their government funds to buy copies of the ailing MCA-owned vernacular newspaper, Nanyang Siang Pau.

"The MCA leadership has not issued any directive in black and white for the use of government funds (to buy Nanyang) ... we just told our leaders to support this programme," he told reporters after chairing an MCA presidential council meeting this afternoon in Kuala Lumpur.

He was asked on whether MCA leaders could be considered to be abusing government allocations in supporting the joint MCA-Nanyang programme to promote the reading habit among students.

According to documents obtained by malaysiakini recently, party leaders with ministerial posts had been asked to contribute RM20,000 each to buy copies of the Chinese-language newspaper under the programme.

For MCA deputy ministers, the amount was specified at RM15,000, parliamentary secretaries were down for RM12,000 while members of parliament were alleged to have been directed to cough up RM10,000.

Senators and leaders who hold government posts at state levels were not left out and were ordered to contribute unspecified sums.

Taking into account the total number of MCA leaders in government posts, the total amount to be gained by Nanyang could amount to RM1 million courtesy of government-allocated funds if the document's claim proves true.

Other papers too

Pressed further, Ong said the MCA had not only cooperated with Nanyang over the past years but had also helped promote other newspapers under similar programmes.

"Many parents and schools have welcomed this programme. We can't jeopardise this programme and the development of students under it just because a small group of people attempt to twist the issue," he said.

Asked whether MCA monitored how its elected representatives use their government-allocated funds, he replied: "The party representatives will know the do's and don'ts [...] I think they know what to do."

The government has allocated RM2 million to every ruling Barisan Nasional MP for the 'development of their constituencies' this year. The allocation was increased from RM500,000 last year. Opposition-held constituencies do not receive any such funds.

According to the two-page letter, copies of Nanyang bought by MCA leaders are to be distributed to schools in their respective constituencies for free.

The letter also states that the programme will be carried out for the 124 schooldays from May 5 to Nov 17. Under the sponsorship scheme, the newspaper is priced at 80 sen, compared to its newsstand price of RM1.30.

Based on these figures, the total sponsorship will work out to 9,304 newspapers being bought by the MCA per day.

Observers claimed that Nanyang is using the MCA programme to boost its circulation which has been falling in recent years.

In the 1980s, Nanyang was the country's leading Chinese newspaper. It took a dive after MCA took it over in 2001 amidst strong objections and concerns over its editorial independence.

It is currently ranked third among the four Chinese newspapers in the country with a circulation of 131,297.

Constituency 'service'

Meanwhile, a few MCA leaders contacted by malaysiakini denied that it was compulsory for them to take part in the programme or that the scheme was meant to boost Nanyang's circulation. They also said the amount for individual contributions was not fixed.

MCA Kota Melaka MP Wong Nai Chee said: "It is subject to different interpretation [...] we should look at it from a Chinese education perspective rather than from a commercial perspective. This is unfair to us."

Wong said the spirit of the programme was to promote Chinese education and MCA leaders also sponsored other vernacular newspapers such as Sin Chew Daily, China Press and Oriental Daily News.

Perak's Pokok Assam state assembly representative Ho Cheng Wang said the amount for individual contribution was not fixed as alleged in the letter adding the government allocation to them was limited and he could not sponsor all vernacular newspapers.

He argued the programme was part of his service to his constituency.

"In this programme, my identity is as a people-elected representative [...] this is a service to voters, it has nothing to do with the MCA," Ho said.