Why did MCA take over Nanyang Press? The battle of the two Lims put newspapers on the table

"A strategic political investment."

When MCA president Ling Liong Sik used those words to describe the takeover of Nanyang Press, many readers did not hear business language.

They heard a political party admitting that newspapers had political value. ^1,2

In 2001, MCA-controlled Huaren Holdings prepared to acquire Nanyang Press. The deal involved Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press; MCA already controlled the English-language newspaper The Star through its investments. Once the deal was completed, a member party of the government would reach further into Chinese-language publishing. ^1,3

The battle of the two Lims suddenly had readers#

MCA was already divided into two camps.

Team A, led by Ling Liong Sik, controlled the party machinery. Team B, which included deputy president Lim Ah Lek and Chua Jui Meng, challenged the leadership over succession and the distribution of power. If only party posts had been at stake, the public might soon have lost interest.

But the Nanyang deal pulled every reader into the fight.

Ling's camp argued that the investment was lawful and strategically valuable; a majority of the Central Committee supported it. Lim's camp objected. It questioned both the procedure and the sequence in which party assets were pledged, and it feared that direct party control of newspapers would damage the media's credibility. ^1,3,4

The question on the street was simpler than the party constitution:

When a newspaper investigates the governing party, will its editors first have to think about who owns it?

Even if no one ever calls to kill a story, press freedom has already paid a price once journalists and readers begin to suspect that such a call could come at any moment.

The peace plan settled the posts, not the question#

Mahathir later intervened to advance what became known as the peace plan. Ling Liong Sik and Lim Ah Lek eventually stepped down together, and new leaders including Ong Tee Keat and Chan Kong Choy took over. The bitter succession battle subsided for a time. ^1,4

But the newspapers had already been bought.

That is why this contest belongs in the history of the country, not only in MCA's party history. It changed more than one office. It changed the structure through which the public obtained information. Every time MCA later asked the Chinese community to trust it, the same question waited: do you represent the readers, or do you own the newspaper they open each day?

The new leaders received a blank cheque#

Not long after the two Lims stepped down, the prime minister changed too.

Abdullah promised integrity and moderation. MCA paused its internal fighting, while Barisan Nasional prepared to ask voters across the country to judge these new faces.

Next: "Why did Barisan Nasional win so decisively in 2004? Almost the whole map turned blue." The newspaper deal had left its questions unanswered, but voters first handed the new government an astonishingly large cheque for reform.