Axed staff of The Sun said a newspaper should be run by journalists instead of non-editorial staff parachuted into the embattled English-language daily by owner Vincent Tan.

The ex-staff, accompanied by opposition leaders and representatives from non-governmental organisations, staged a two-hour vigil outside the daily's office in Petaling Jaya - the second of such protests since the shocking dismissal of some 40 staff on Friday.

The nightly vigils will continue until Tuesday.

When addressing the 60-odd crowd, deputy business editor Bob Teoh said an investigation should be initiated on how a non-editorial staff was allowed to write the front-page apology published on Dec 27.

The apology was in response to a Christmas Day report of a plot to kill the country's top two leaders - Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

This irked Mahathir, sparking a string of suspensions and resignations at the daily.

The apology claimed that the assassination report was "baseless" and regretted the great distress it caused to both leaders and their families.

However, journalists at The Sun stood by their report and went on a picket for the reinstatement of their colleagues and over the delay in paying their bonuses.

On Friday, the management sacked 40-odd staff, including some 30 journalists with immediate effect. More are expected to be axed tomorrow.

Teoh, who was spared in the initial layoff exercise, also called for the appointment of a qualified editor to run the newsroom.

A key editorial staff, chief news editor Robert Ho, was one of those suspended following the Dec 25 report. Two other key editors, Andy Ng and H'ng Hung Yong, had since resigned from their editor and editor-in-chief posts respectively.

Day-to-day operations are now being supervised by lawyer VK Lingam who was recently appointed deputy chairperson of the company.

Teoh also said that all retrenchment must stop as some editors were not consulted over the matter. Editors are coming to work to find their reporters sacked, he said.

Public support

Meanwhile, DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang, who was also present at last night's vigil, urged the retrenched journalists to rally public support for their plight.

The veteran politician also told the journalists to approach the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam).

"Make full use of every avenue and ask Suhakam to intercede," he said.

Those present yesterday also belted an adapted version of the 70s pop hit Seasons in the Sun.

Goodbye to you my trusted friend,
We've worked here for some years maybe 10,
Together we've done many stories,
Learned of Team A and Team B,
Got backstabbed and bonus freezed.

Goodbye The Sun, you're going to die,
While the other media still do or die,
Now the management isn't fair,
Bodyguard are everywhere,
Lawyers are writers, I can swear.

We had joy we had fun,
We had seasons in the sun,
Journalism under threat,
means we're running out of time.

Goodbye The Sun, it's hard to die,
Bit if you do carry on it is a lie,
Now the truth is not what you care,
To the people everywhere,
And we still fight and we still care.

We had joy we had fun,
we had seasons in the sun,
But integrity and freedom,
Like the seasons have all gone.