Dr Ling Liong Sik's assurance that MCA will not intervene in the editorial direction of Nanyang Press Holdings is total crap! People are not so politically naive as to believe that!

I am a journalist myself and I once witnessed how MCA press secretaries gave orders to The Star (owned by the party's investment vehicle, Huaren Holdings) reporters during the party's press conferences. I'm afraid if Nanyang was to eventually be bought over by Huaren, the reporters of its two publications, Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press, will suffer the same fate.

Just compare the Friday newspapers and you will discover the difference between the editorial judgments of The Star (and other mainstream English newspapers) and Nanyang.

Instead of putting the Education Minister's suggestion of extending the quota system to private colleges as a front-page lead, The Star slapped Phileo's acquisition of Pos Malaysia Bhd as its major headline. Isn't that supposed to be a front-page story on the Business Section?

In contrast, Nanyang, seems to be doing its job much more aggressively these days, putting this story as its front page lead followed by public comments on the subsequent pages.

A reporter friend of mine in Nanyang said their editorial department is now struggling to fend off the acquisition by MCA. They are also silently protesting by highlighting stories on the deal and quoting public comments on why the deal should be aborted.

If the deal goes through, then Sin Chew would virtually become the only independent newspaper in town, as Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, NST, The Star and also The Sun (its editor-in-chief is an MCA veteran and had run The Star before; its owner is also close to the ruling party) are politically connected.

Maybe Star Publications is wise enough not to buy Nanyang. Nanyang Siang Pau is only modestly profitable and has a low circulation compared to Sin Chew. If it ended up in the hands of MCA, I believe Nanyang's circulation will drop even further and might follow in the footsteps of Thung Bao. Needless to say, it might hurt Star Publications' financial performance as a public-listed company.

MCA could literally kill Nanyang.