UMNO-owned Utusan Malaysia has claimed that Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali is unwise in his attempt to come between the Selangor sultan and the civil servants, two days Azmin blocked subscriptions to the newspaper within the state government.

In an op ed, columnist Awang Selamat said Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian were the two newspapers that most faithfully published the sultan’s thoughts and exhortations for the sake of the state, country, and constitution.

“These two media institutions protect and honour the royal institution of the Selangor sultanate which is loved and revered. 

“Do Azmin and DAP want to see the sultan of Selangor distant from the  rakyat,” it said.

Two days ago, Selangor ordered all state agencies and government-linked corporations to immediately cancel their subscriptions to Berita Harian and all publications by the Utusan group.

State secretary Mohd Amin Ahmad Ahya had signed off on the order in a circular dated June 12, 2008 but it was found that there were some government departments and agencies that were still subscribed to the said newspapers.

Umno owns the Utusan group which publishes Utusan Malaysia, Kosmo and a range of magazines.

The Media Prima Group is the owner of the NSTP group which publishes Berita Harian, Harian Metro, New Straits Times and TV stations TV3, NTV 7 and 8TV.

Awang Selamat also said he was not surprised by Selangor’s actions, saying he undertood them to be reprisal for the newspapers’ reports on the PKR-led government’s backward governance of the state. – November 12, 2017.