Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has expressed empathy for The Malaysian Insight staff, who have not been paid their wages for several months.
He said he had met the staff two weeks ago to see what could be done to help.
“We know that recently our online media friends from TMI faced a very difficult situation, when a group of 43 staff, journalists part-time and full-time, faced difficulty.
“The process (to help) will take some time but if there is a solution, the best is for it to be a private initiative, but we will look into this,” he said at the launch of the Media Code of Ethics in Putrajaya today.
TMI ceased publication on Jan 22.
Internal sources shared with Malaysiakini that they were informed to “take a break” until all staff were paid their wages by the company’s funders.
It is also understood that most staff were last paid full salaries in November for their October wages.
Each staff was also reportedly paid RM1,000 in December as part of the salary owed to them.
The development comes two months after speculation that TMI would be acquired and merged with The Vibes.
Malaysiakini was made to understand that the merger went through and that TMI is now owned by Petra Group, which also owns The Vibes.
TMI was launched in 2017 as a continuation of The Malaysian Insider.
The Malaysian Insider was shut down in 2016 after the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission blocked access to the website, leading the portal’s then owner The Edge Media Group to cut their losses.
The Edge had bought The Malaysian Insider in 2014.
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