UMNO-owned Malay-language daily Utusan Malaysia is considering a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) as part of its restructuring exercise, the Star Online reported.

It quoted Utusan’s group managing director, Mohd Noordin Abbas, as saying that the daily could not “escape the reality”.

Noordin said it was a fact that the scheme was necessary for Utusan’s future, apart from the newspaper’s overall cost-cutting measures.

“This is to prevent future situations where the company suffers losses of millions each month,” he reportedly said at the paper’s annual general meeting yesterday.

Noordin said the move would help the daily “rebuild from scratch”.

Star Online also quoted Utusan chief editor Abdul Aziz Ishak as saying that the company’s VSS move came late, when other media companies had already adopted cost-cutting measures in recent times.

Abdul said Utusan was “overly concerned with its staff welfare”, but the situation now demanded that the daily take a measure it “may not have considered before”.

It was previously reported that the top management of Kumpulan Utusan Melayu had informed staff that a major restructuring was coming.

Utusan had often been slammed for its anti-Pakatan Harapan articles before the May 9 polls and inflammatory stories that stoked fear and discord, especially among the Malays and Muslims.

Earlier this week, two of its former editors, Zainuddin Maidin and Johan Jaaffar, said Utusan was one of the factors that contributed to the dismal performance by Umno and Barisan Nasional in GE14.

Umno has a stake in Utusan Malaysia. – June 7, 2018.