THE Utusan Melayu Malaysia Veterans’ Club (KVUM) today called on the media organisation’s new management to safeguard the well-being of 862 people who were let go when the company ceased operations on October 9.

KVUM president Khalid Yunus said Aurora Mulia Sdn Bhd must prioritise the salaries and arrears of staff, including those who opted for the voluntary separation scheme last year, as well as travel and medical claims, and gratuity payments that have yet to be settled.

“We also ask that the interim liquidator appointed, UHY Advisory (KL) Sdn Bhd, act in a responsible manner by allowing the workers, who will be represented by the Utusan branches of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and National Union of Newspaper Workers, to be present to monitor the sale of the company’s assets for the purpose of paying off debts, to mitigate any form of impropriety,” he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

He said the club urges the Human Resources Ministry to determine whether the company had acted in accordance with the Employment Act 1955 and related laws.

Last week, Utusan Melayu executive chairman Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir, in an internal memo, said the company would close on October 9, with staff’s last day of service to be on October 30.

It was reported that NUJ’s Utusan branch said the company’s headquarters in Jalan Chan Sow Lin had been seized, and the liquidator had given employees two days to clear their desks.

The management has agreed to pay staff’s salaries for September and October, with the payment of July and August wages made on October 4. A briefing involving employees and the liquidator will be held on October 30.

Former Utusan Melayu group chief editor Johan Jaafar had said the decision to shutter the company was not the best solution. – Bernama, October 14, 2019.