A question mark hangs over the future of Sarawak's oldest Malay daily Utusan Sarawak.

Owned by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud family-controlled Sarawak Press Sdn Bhd, the company's directors are expected to meet this weekend to chart the future direction of the paper.

It is reliably learnt that the paper may be published under a new name, under a different company with different shareholders.

According to the company's general manager Chew Bang Boon today, the board of directors is toying around with a new name, Warta Timor, for the paper. More importantly, the meeting will assuage the feelings of its many loyal staff, he said.

There is anxiety among Utusan Sarawak staff as the latest development could have an adverse effect on their welfare as not all will be absorbed by the new Bahasa Malaysia daily.

Founded in 1949

This could leave half of the present staff of 60 without jobs if the Sarawak Press directors should decide to fold up Utusan Sarawak to let the new paper take over under a new company.

And the consequence of that is Sarawak Press will be left with its printing business. Presently it is printing the Eastern Times, set up after the Sarawak Tribune folded following the revocation of its permit.

Utusan Sarawak first hit the street in Kuching in January 1949 as a tabloid. Its founder editor was the late Abang Ikhwan Zaini, a prominent Kuching Malay leader who later became a state minister and acted as Sarawak Governor on several occasions.

The paper is believed to have a daily circulation of 40,000 copies. The paper's advertising revenue is said to be on the upward trend and is self-sustaining.

Utusan Sarawak chief editor William Chan was not available to comment on the latest development.