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New Dawn For English Newspapers In Sarawak! |
 Two weeks after The Star launched Mingguan mStar, a Bahasa Malaysia weekly bundled with the Sunday Star, last weekend saw the launch of The Star Sarawak edition. While most West Malaysian papers are available in East Malaysia, they arrive later in the day. The Star Sarawak changes this as it hits the streets at first light because the edition is printed in Sarawak. Plus the content has a local focus.Â
Almost 40 years after its inception, The Star has finally planted its roots in East Malaysia. And going for RM1.20 a copy it's 'cheaper' than in West Malaysia, considering that stuff generally costs more in East Malaysia.
The newspaper scene in East Malaysia is largely fragmented with a multitude of players, minus the overnight punters who spring up whenever an election is called. The Daily Express is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Sabah, there's the New Sabah Times, the long standing Borneo Post, Sarawak Daily News and Rengah Sarawak, touted as an off-mainstream paper.
Most endearing is the story of Sarawak media tycoon Tan Sri Datuk Tiong Hiew King who spent a good part of his teenage years tapping rubber in Sibu. He also owns Sin Chew Media Corp Bhd, Nanyang Press Holdings Bhd and Ming Pao Enterprise Corp Ltd. Datuk Tiong has a declared intention to build a global Chinese publishing group with his Ming Pao Enterprises: Ming Pao is available in San Francisco, New York, Vancouver and Toronto. He began as a timber lord and his logging operations extend to Papua New Guinea and Russia.
Is The Star in the right place at the right time with their Sarawak edition? While political pundits have since been parroting this as another 1Malaysia move, one can't help but second guess if there's more to these recent flurry of paper launches. Just a week ago, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak hit the ground running in Kuching and included an hour-long walkabout to the riverine villages of Lintang, Sungai Bedil Besar and Tanjong. He had earlier opened the 12th general assembly of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Sarawak, paving the way for state-wide elections.
Regardless, the potential for The Star in Sarawak is enormous. English literacy is high and they deferred instituting Bahasa Malaysia as a medium of instruction in schools compared to West Malaysia (we were ahead in the race since 1969). And if it's elections time soon, The Star would surely beat the rest of the West Malaysian papers to the breakfast table. Don't forget that apart from state seats, Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats... or 13% of Parliament!
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