Sad day for journalism as Utusan Malaysia ceases publication

Kuala Lumpur: Utusan Malaysia, once among the largest circulation newspapers in Malaysia, has reportedly ceased publication.

“This is one of the saddest days for journalism in Malaysia,” o veteran Malaysian journalist said. “This is a dark moment in the history of journalism in our country. We are losing a newspaper that has been with us for the last 80 years,” he told AsiaN.

According to reports, Utusan Malaysia traces its roots to 1939 when it was first published as Utusan Melayu, with its address at Queen Street, Singapore.

It suspended publication during the Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore and subsequently moved its headquarters to Cecil Street, Singapore in 1945, and in 1959 relocated to Kuala Lumpur.

Utusan Malaysia started publication on 1 September 1967, being a Romanized version for Utusan Melayu and daily edition of Mingguan Malaysia. Mingguan Malaysia published in 1964.

In 1997, the Group made its entry into the world of multimedia with the launch of “Utusan Malaysia On-Line”, Malaysia’s first Online Newspaper in full text and visuals.

The service provided, in collaboration with Telekom Malaysia, enabled pay-subscribers to read exact replicas of the Group’s newspapers, including Utusan Malaysia.

The newspaper peaked with 350,000 copies a day in the 1990s.

In July 2001, “Utusan Education Portal” (Portal Pendidikan Utusan) was launched. The free service received recognition from the “Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS) as one of the top five education websites in Malaysia in 2001.

In 2002, Utusan won the “IFRA Publish Asia 2003 Award” for the “Best in Print” category.

In August 2019, the Utusan Group announced that Utusan Malaysia, its Sunday paper Mingguan Malaysia, and its sister papers Kosmo! and Kosmo! Ahad would cease their print editions on August 21, citing the company’s financial woes and bankruptcy. Utusan Malaysia would continue its online operations, they said.

Despite attempts to rescue the newspapers and cover their production costs by raising their prices, they continued to suffer losses and mounting debts.

On Wednesday, 862 employees of the Utusan media group were informed of the company’s decision to cease operations.

Utusan executive chairman Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir reportedly said that poor cash flow, mounting debts and declining sales led to the board of directors arriving at the decision

Utusan Malaysia, with its distinctive blue masthead as its logo and trademark, went off stands on October 9 amid reports that a new company, Aurora Mulia, linked to tycoon Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary, would buy up to 70 percent of its stakes and would manage it.