The New Sarawak Tribune is an English-language

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

published in Kuching,

Sibu Sibu (; Hokchew Romanized: ''Sĭ-bŭ'') is a landlocked city in the central region of Sarawak. It is the capital of Sibu District in Sibu Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. The city is located on the island of Borneo and covers an area of . It i ...

and

Bintulu Bintulu is a coastal town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. Bintulu is located 610 kilometres (380 mi) northeast of Kuching, 216 kilometres (134 mi) northeast of Sibu, and 200 kilometres (120 mi) ...

, in

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

that was relaunched after the suspension of the Sarawak Tribune following the publication of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons.

Overview and history

Originally formed by teachers in 1945, the ''Sarawak Tribune'' was the second English-language daily in Sarawak and was, prior to its suspension, the state's oldest and largest operating state daily, with over 400 employees throughout the state and 70 editorial staff in Kuching. The daily was regarded as a legacy of British colonial Sarawak. Its sister paper was the state Malay-language daily, Utusan Sarawak. Formerly, its other sister paper was the state Mandarin daily, Chinese Daily News, now known as United Daily. It was last owned by Sarawak Press Sdn Bhd.

2006 Muhammad cartoons controversy

During the

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy The ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy (or Muhammad cartoons crisis, da, Muhammedkrisen) began after the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten'' published 12 editorial cartoons on 30 September 2005, most of which depicted Muhamma ...

, the daily reprinted a collection of the cartoons on page 17 of the 4 February 2006 edition to illustrate a story on the topic titled "''Cartoon No Big Impact Here''". The publication drew flak from the

Malaysian government The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia ( ms, Kerajaan Persekutuan Malaysia), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Mala ...

, which consisted predominantly of Muslim politicians. As a result, Lester Melanyi, an editor of the newspaper, resigned from his post for allowing the reprinting of the cartoon. Company advisor Senator Datuk Idris Buang announced that the daily would choose to suspend itself. The paper was officially suspended on 9 February 2006, while a formal letter was delivered to Idris at the daily's main office. The group editor, Toman Mamora, resigned soon after. The daily's indefinite suspension has been generally described as a loss.

Successor

A new tabloid, the ''Eastern Times'', is said to have replaced the ''Sarawak Tribune''. Its printing license was approved on 1 March, and began publication on 26 March 2006. The ''Eastern Times'' is owned by Total Progressive Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of a real-estate developing corporation and

government-linked company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

, Naim Cendera Holdings . The company was renamed Eastern Times News Sdn Bhd in May 2006.

External links

Current website for the New Sarawak Tribune
* {{Newspapers of Malaysia 1945 establishments in North Borneo 2006 disestablishments in Malaysia 2010 establishments in Malaysia Newspapers established in 1945 Publications disestablished in 2006 Newspapers established in 2010 Newspapers published in Malaysia English-language newspapers published in Asia Mass media in Kuching Asian news websites Malaysian news websites

Overview and history

2006 Muhammad cartoons controversy

Successor

Further reading

External links