Letter to Editor
EARLIER this year, FocusM had a news item about a news outfit with two portals that was late in paying its December salaries to the point that the staff were going to down tools.
Fast forward a few weeks, and we now have another company that has left its staff in the lurch with not a word about their December 2022 salary – and we are already in the month of February!
What makes it worse in a way is that the few staff the portal still has left have not been told of its ultimate status, whether it wants to continue or if it will close down.
But in the meantime, the person who set it up 12 years ago keeps a high-profile presence via a social media platform with photos and videos of him and his partner on overseas holidays in the last four or five months.
This is hardly what you would expect from someone who apparently says he cannot afford to keep his portal going. Incidentally, he is also linked to the news site mentioned in your earlier report.
Word was that the news portal had a good time during its first five or six years, paying above-market salaries and simply employing people who it didn’t really need. The money initially came from parties linked to Putrajaya and subsequently from companies whose CEOs were friendly to the portal owner.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country early in 2020, the portal decided to slash salaries and suspend all allowances and other additional payments for extra work, but salaries continued to be paid within the stipulated regulatory schedule – until the November 2022 salary.
While times are tough, all the staff ask is that the owner pay what is owed for December 2022, as well as inform them of the portal’s future status – and, once again, to honour his legal obligations to his employees.
Surely this is not too much to ask from someone who has a high profile among the press fraternity. – Feb 2, 2023
Individual press watchdog
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
