300 Utusan ex-staff gather to mark daily's 'demise'

 

Around 300 former workers of Utusan Malaysia gathered for a 'reunion' to commemorate the 'death' of the country's oldest Malay language newspaper.

The gathering outside the daily's former headquarters in Kuala Lumpur was also to 'symbolically' demand the newspaper compensate its former staff who left the company after being retrenched, or after accepting a Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS).

According to organising committee chairperson Saifol Bakhtiar Hamik, the reason the group gathered today was to highlight the plight of the paper's former staff to the public and Umno leaders.

"The history, spirit, and contributions of Utusan flow in the veins of every former worker.

"This gathering would like to pass the message to the public, and the country's leaders, especially from Umno which used to own the company, that the welfare of the 1,500 former staff of Utusan who were retrenched or took the VSS, are still being neglected, after the company closed down on Oct 9, 2019," Saifol said.

According to him, 13 former staff have passed away without a 'single sen' of compensation, or pending VSS payout, while 23 ex-workers are suffering from ill health following the company's closure.

'Pay up immediately'

On Oct 9, 2019, Utusan Malaysia's board of directors decided to cease operations, due to declining circulation and cash flow issues.

In an internal memo circulated to staff, then executive chairperson Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir said its holding company will be liquidated via a Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation scheme.

Meanwhile, Saifol urged UHY Malaysia, which took over the task of liquidating Utusan's assets, to immediately make statutory obligation payments, compensation, and pending VSS payout which have been held back for the last three years.

"As we can see, the Utusan signboard has been taken down from the former headquarters, and the paper's Bangi printing plant.

"This means that the buildings, estimated to be worth around RM150 million, have been sold," he claimed.

Malaysiakini has contacted Abd Aziz and UHY Malaysia for comments regarding the claims. - Mkini