The leader of the eight-member consortium which has offered to buy Nanyang Press Holdings from MCA, has known for a year that Sarawak's media tycoon Tiong Hiew King planned to link up with the political party to take over the publishing company.

"The news that Tiong Hiew King has contacted MCA to take over Nanyang Press was made known to me a long time ago," Lim Guan Teik told malaysiakini in an exclusive interview at his office yesterday.

Lim, the president of the Associated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Malaysia, is leading a group of prominent businessmen to buy 72.35 percent of Nanyang Press shares from Huaren Holdings, the investment arm of MCA, at RM5.60 per share, totalling RM234 million.

It has been widely speculated in the Chinese community that Tiong, the owner of Pemandangan Sinar media group, which publishes rival dailies Sin Chew Jit Poh and Guang Ming Daily , is seeking to take over Nanyang Press from MCA.

Lim cited the timing of the June 8 interview with Tiong by Hong Kong-based Yazhou Zhoukan - a Chinese regional magazine, also owned by Tiong - in which the media tycoon revealed his interest in controlling Nanyang.

According to him, on the same day, MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik announced that the party is looking for strategic partners to take up shares in Nanyang Press.

"The reports were not a coincidence. Tiong said in the Yazhou report that should he be offered a stake, he would want a major one. On other hand, Ling stated that MCA is even willing to settle for a minority stake in the company," said Lim.

Political party members

Various Chinese organisations and opposition leaders have opposed strongly to the possibility of Tiong taking over, fearing that the consolidation of the two largest Chinese newspapers groups will bring an end to the diversity of opinions.

Lim also regretted Sin Chew 's reports in the past few days about his position on Tiong's participation, claiming that his views have been unfairly presented. The consortium has set the condition that while they do not rule out Tiong's participation, all investors are only allowed to hold a minority stake.

He also categorically denied being a member of any political party, though he did not rule out the possibility of other members of the consortium being members of political parties.

"Some of them could be MCA members, but we will not allow political party matters or problems being brought into the consortium," he said.

Lim said the principle agreed upon by the consortium is that shareholders should not have any strong political background, and they should enter the deal in their individual capacity.

He is also fully confident about the Nanyang acquisition, claiming that he knows the Chinese community will give the consortium strong support, especially in terms of advertising.

"Given time, Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press will register a marked improvement in their performance. The Chinese community had galvanised themselves into rescuing the newspapers when they were in trouble before," he said.

Lim also confirmed that MCA has responded to the Chinese consortium's offer in a letter sent on Tuesday, and that he will send his reply on or before June 22.

Second group

In another development, according to a Sinchew-i.com , MCA's Ling said apart from the eight-member consortium led by Lim, another group has indicated its interest in taking a stake in Nanyang Press.

Ngan Ching Wen, a member of the Lim's consortium, said MCA should reveal the identity of this second group to the public so that the details of their proposal could be made known to all.

Ngan also said he doubted that MCA would be signing any deal to divest its Nanyang stake before the party's extraordinary general meeting this Sunday, especially with Tiong, as it would be most improper and unwise, and would spark off a protest from the Chinese community.

Meanwhile, the Committee Against Takeover of Nanyang Press by MCA criticised Lim for entertaining the possibility of Tiong's inclusion in his consortium.

" Sin Chew is the main rival for Nanyang and China Press . It would be most unthinkable and illogical to allow the owner of a rival newspaper to sit on the board of Nanyang Press and to have access to all the commercial secrets of the company," said its chairperson Tang Ah Chai in a statement.

CAT urged the initial five businessmen in the consortium, namely Lim, Ngan, Foo Wan Thot, Tan Yew Sing and Quek Suan Hiang, to scrutinise the background of potential members before accepting them.

"Business ethics should be upheld in a civil society. We urge Tiong not to take over Nanyang Press, either directly by buying from MCA's Huaren or indirectly through the consortium," Tang said.