New Straits Times
The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first),[3] having been founded as a local offshoot of Singapore-based The Straits Times on 15 July 1845. It was renamed as the New Straits Times on 13 August 1974.
Not to be confused with The Straits Times, a Singaporean newspaper.Type
Daily newspaper
15 July 1845 (as The Straits Times)
(65290 issues)
Balai Berita 31, Jalan Riong, 59100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English-language newspaper; however, following the example of British newspapers The Times and The Independent, a tabloid version first rolled off the presses on 1 September 2004 and since 18 April 2005, the newspaper has been published only in tabloid size, ending a 160-year-old tradition of broadsheet publication. The New Straits Times currently retails at RM1.50 (~37 US cents) in Peninsular Malaysia.
As of 2 January 2019, the group editor of the newspaper is Rashid Yusof. In 2020, the paper was listed as the 5th most trusted in a Reuters Institute survey of 14 Malaysian media outlets.[4] The New Straits Times is considered a newspaper of record for Malaysia.[5]
Incorporated sections[edit]
Bots[edit]
Previously known as Tech&U, the pullout was first published on 1 January 1986 as Computimes, an information and communication technology (ICT) section of the New Straits Times. It was earlier published every Thursday, and in the 1990s, the section was published on Mondays and Thursdays. On 1 August 2005, a decision was made to focus the Monday edition on the enterprise market while the Thursday edition focuses on the consumer market. On 1 January 2008, Tech&U became a weekly publication, available with the New Straits Times every Monday with an increasing consumer slant while keeping the pulse on the enterprise scene. Business Computing is also related to this section. It was a weekly section on Wednesdays, published from 1999 to 2004. As of 1 March 2010, it has been incorporated and merged into the Life and Times section. The tech section in the New Straits Times, now known as Bots, appears every Monday in the Life & Times section.
JOM![edit]
Previously known as Travel Times, this weekly pullout on travel in Malaysia was first published in 1999 published in support of the government's Cuti-Cuti Malaysia campaign. It became the Malaysian weekly newspaper pullout dedicated to publishing travel and travel-related news and features and has remained till this day Malaysia's only weekly travel newspaper pullout dedicated to tourism. The first issue was released on 6 October 1999 and the first weekly issue was released on 2 October 2000. It was published every Wednesday when it started, and it was published on Tuesdays until 23 February 2010 as "Travel". Starting in March 2010, it has been incorporated and merged into the Life & Times section. The travel section now appears on Thursdays and is known as JOM! meaning Let's Go! in the Malay language. This new title is chosen to basically urge travellers to go out into the world and experience all its wonders.
Business Times[edit]
The paper has incorporated the Business Times starting 1 June 2002, expanding its business section and increasing its appeal among businessmen. Prior to 1976, this is also the business section's name of the New Straits Times. Not to be confused with the Singaporean newspaper of the same name.
Life & Times[edit]
The segment was previously known as Leisure Times, Times Two and Lifestyle prior to 1994. From 1998 to 2004, the Friday edition of this segment was called Youth Quake after it was merged with the newspaper. The Saturday edition is called Weekend Life & Times, which was later known as 6, from 2005 to 2009.
As of 5 August 2019, the weekly sections in Life & Times are:
Comics[edit]
Lat is a long-time cartoonist for the New Straits Times, producing current, topical comics for Scenes of Malaysian Life.[14]
Following Lat's retirement, cartoonist Irwan A. Rahman has taken up the mantle of producing the paper's editorial cartoon, Wantoon Weekly, which is published every Monday.[15]
Political control and controversy[edit]
Owing to political sensitivities, newspapers from Malaysia cannot be sold in Singapore, hence the New Straits Times is not sold in Singapore, and The Straits Times is not sold in Malaysia. The ban was imposed before 1 May 1969 general election in Malaysia.[16]
In 2012, Senator Nick Xenophon, an independent member of the Australian Parliament, was on a fact-finding mission to Malaysia when he was caught up in anti-government protests in Kuala Lumpur. Subsequently, on 2 May 2012, the New Straits Times published an article written by Roy See Wei Zhi and headed "Observer Under Scrutiny". The report quoted a 2009 speech made by Xenophon and turned it into an attack on Islam, ostensibly to pit Malay-Muslim opinion against the senator, who was a known associate of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. In reality, the speech had been an attack on Scientology and is recorded as such in the Hansard of the Australian Senate. Xenophon threatened to sue the New Straits Times for defamation and the newspaper quickly removed the offending article from its website.
The gaffe sparked media outrage in both Malaysia and Australia,[17] and has greatly reinforced public perception that the New Straits Times and most mainstream media merely serve as propaganda mouthpieces for the ruling Barisan Nasional. As of 4 May 2012, Senator Xenophon has confirmed that he would sue the newspaper in spite of their apology.
Following Pakatan Harapan's victory in the 14th General Election in May 2018, the newspaper has adopted a more neutral approach in its editorial direction. It aims to promote the mainstream print media by giving fair space to unreported and underreported stories, and not only political ones that are sometimes, according to NST itself, "taking us nowhere".[18]