KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has directed employees affected by the latest restructuring exercise at Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo! to seek clarification from the newspapers’ owner, Media Mulia Sdn Bhd, rather than the government.
He said the government had previously intervened to help save the newspaper publisher when it encountered financial and operational difficulties, stressing that the latest move was a matter for the company’s management to explain.
“Ask Utusan Malaysia’s owners. We have already rescued it once before,” he said briefly when approached by reporters after attending the World Town Planning Day 2026 celebrations and launching the Fifth National Physical Plan (RFN5) and Third National Urbanisation Policy (DPN3) here today.
Anwar was responding to questions about the decision to place approximately 100 employees under a Paid Leave Programme, including whether those affected would be entitled to compensation.
On November 2, Media Mulia director and chief financial officer Abd Wahid Idris announced that around 100 employees involved in producing the two newspapers would be placed under the programme as part of a company-wide rationalisation exercise.
In a statement, Abd Wahid said the company was conducting a strategic review of its business model, operational structure and future direction to ensure its long-term sustainability amid mounting challenges in the media industry.
He said the restructuring was necessary to safeguard the company’s continued operations and business viability.
Utusan Malaysia, one of Malaysia’s oldest Malay-language newspapers, was first published in Singapore in 1939 by journalism pioneers Abdul Rahim Kajai and Yusof Ishak, who went on to become Singapore’s first president.
Kosmo! was subsequently launched in 2004 as a tabloid newspaper. – November 4, 2026