First issue of Utusan Melayu (1939–1970) is published

Although the 1930s was regarded as the golden age of Malay journalism,^[1] all the major Malay newspapers of the decade were financed and controlled by non-Malays.^[2] The first Malay newspaper with Malay ownership appeared only in the late 1930s, when the first issue of the Utusan Melayu (“Malay Mail”) was published on 29 May 1939.^[3]

In 1938, around 20 members of the Singapore Malay Union met in the house of Daud bin Mohd Shah to discuss the possibility of publishing a Malay newspaper that would be solely owned, financed and staffed by Malays.^[4] Yusof Ishak, a former journalist with the Arab-owned Malay newspaper, Warta Malaya (“The Malaya Times”), was tasked with exploring the feasibility of such an endeavour.^[5]

Yusof, who later became Singapore’s first Malayan-born Yang di-Pertuan Negara (“Head of State”) and subsequently president when Singapore gained independence on 9 August 1965, immediately approached his former colleague at Warta Malaya, Abdul Rahim Kajai, to be the editor of the proposed newspaper.^[6] Rahim, dubbed the father of Malay journalism, agreed to manage the proposed newspaper, and Yusof then began seeking the financial support required to set up the newspaper’s publishing company.^[7] Utusan Melayu Press Ltd was subsequently registered on 15 June 1938 with an initial capital of $2,000.^[8] However, Yusof still needed to raise $10,500 within three months so as to “comply with company regulations”.^[9]

To raise the required sum, Yusof and his colleague, Haji Embok Suloh (also spelt as Amboh Sooloh), spent many weeks trying to sell the new company’s shares in villages and towns in and around Singapore.^[10] In line with its aim of becoming a Malay newspaper solely owned and financed by Malays, the company’s prospectus declared that “only Malays are entitled to be shareholders in the Company, that no shares shall be allotted to or registered in the name of any person who is not a Malay, and no shares registered in the name of a Malay shareholder may be held in trust for or be in any way under the control of a person who is not a Malay”.^[11] Some 400 Malays, many of them taxi drivers, hawkers and farmers, would eventually buy shares in the company. However, the capital raised from the selling of shares was insufficient to meet the required sum; hence, Daud and Embok had to make personal contributions of more than $8,000.^[12]

In early 1939, Yusof purchased a Jawi typewriter from Hong Kong and a printing press from England, and rented a three-storey building at 64 Queen Street to serve as the company’s office.^[13] On 29 May 1939, the first issue of Utusan Melayu rolled off the press as the first Malay newspaper owned by Malays.^[14]

Written in the Jawi script, the Utusan was a newspaper that championed Malay rights to the extent of being “strongly chauvinistic on the Malay behalf”.^[15] As stated in the newspaper’s first issue, it aimed to be a newspaper that served the bangsa (“nation”/“race”), agama (“religion”) and watan (“country”/“birthplace”).^[16] Its articles were particularly concerned with the economic welfare and education of the Malays, but it was more careful with political matters and was only slightly progressive on matters related to Islam.^[17]

After a few months, the newspaper’s initial daily print run of 1,000 copies fell to a low of 600 copies.^[18] However, it gradually recovered from the initial setback and, by late 1939, was back to selling around 1,000 copies daily.^[19] By 1941, the Utusan had established itself as the “champion of the true sons of the soil” with a daily circulation of around 1,800 copies.^[20]  The newspaper subsequently expanded its business by publishing a monthly Jawi journal Mastika (“Gem”) on 1 June 1941,  and a  weekly Romanised  Malay  newspaper, Utusan Zaman (“Contemporary Herald”), on 1 August  1947.^[21]

During the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945), the Utusan became one of the official organs of the Japanese military administration.^[22] It was renamed Berita Malai (“The Malaya News”) and  published  mainly Japanese propaganda.^[23]

The newspaper was republished as Utusan Melayu on 10 September 1945, five days after the British returned to Singapore.^[24] Unfortunately, its original premises on Queen Street were destroyed during the war, and the newspaper’s office then shifted to 185 Cecil Street.^[25]

The Utusan was brought under the control of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) during the 1950s. UMNO had been established in 1946 to protest against the formation of the Malayan Union partly because of the newspaper’s proposal for the establishment of a Malay congress that would unite the various Malay organisations in Malaya.^[26] Both parties were at loggerheads when the Federation of Malaya was established two years later in 1948. The Utusan, which had supported the establishment of a republic, was very critical of UMNO’s “hasty” acceptance of the federation to the point where it was perceived as an “enemy of UMNO”.^[27]

In 1956, the Utusan decided to move its operations to Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. New shares were issued to cover the cost of setting up a new office in Kuala Lumpur. Most of the new shares were subsequently bought by UMNO, allowing it to take control of the newspaper as the biggest shareholder. The move to Kuala Lumpur took place in early 1958, and the Singapore office then operated as a branch office.^[28]

In 1959, Yusof resigned from the Utusan after selling all his shares to Tunku Abdul Rahman, then the prime minister of Malaya and president of UMNO. Two years later, UMNO appointed its former information officer, Ibrahim Fikri, as the newspaper’s chief editor and managing director.^[29] Ibrahim’s appointment sparked a three-month strike by some 135 Utusan employees, including around 20 in Singapore.Even though the aim of the strike was to protest against UMNO’s control of the newspaper, it ultimately convinced UMNO to further tighten its control over the newspaper.^[30]

On 21 February 1970, the Utusan decided to close its Singapore office and suspend the sales of its newspapers in Singapore. The decision was made after the Singapore government stopped granting permits to the company for the circulation of its newspapers in Singapore. The new permits were required because the Utusan Melayu Press Ltd had been reconstituted as the Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd.^[31] Moreover, the newspaper had not complied with regulations that required it to print and publish in Singapore a separate Singapore edition of the newspaper.^[32] At the time, it was printing the Singapore edition in Kuala Lumpur.^[33] With this decision, the Utusan’s operations in Singapore came to a close.

References
1. Jeman Sulaiman. (1988, November 7). The rise of Malay newspapers. The Straits Times, p. 6. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
2. Roff, W. R. (1994). The origins of Malay nationalism (p. 174). Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. Call no.: RSING 320.54 ROF.
3. The Straits Times, 7 Nov 1988, p. 6; Roff, 1994, p. 176; Tan, Y. S., & Soh, Y. P. (1994). The development of Singapore’s modern media industry (pp. 20–21). Singapore: Times Academic Press. Call no.: RSING 338.4730223 TAN.
[Utusan Melayu should not be confused with another Malay newspaper, Utusan Malayu, which was in publication from 1907 to 1921.]
4. Roff, 1994, p. 174; Nik Ahmad bin Haji Nik Hassan. (1963, May). The Malay press. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 36, no. 1 (201), 63. Retrieved December 3, 2014, from JSTOR.
5. Nik Ahmad, 1953, p. 63; Zainuddin Maidin. (2013). Di depan api di belakang duri: Kisah sejarah Utusan Melayu [“Fire at the front, thorns at the rear”: The history of Utusan Melayu] (p. 12). Kuala Lumpur: Utusan Publications & Distributors Sdn Bhd. Call no.: Malay 079.595 ZAI.
6. Zainuddin, 2013, p. 18.
7. Roff, 1994, p. 175; The Straits Times, 7 Nov 1988, p. 6.
8. Roff, 1994, p. 175; Zainuddin, 2013, p. 16.
9. Roff, 1994, p. 175.
10. Roff, 1994, p. 175; Zainuddin, 2013, p. 16.
11. Zainuddin, 2013, p. 16.
12. Roff, 1994, p. 176.
13. Roff, 1994, p. 176; Zainuddin, 2013, p. 20.
14. The Straits Times, 7 Nov 1988, p. 6; Tan & Soh, 1994, p. 21.
15. The Straits Times, 7 Nov 1988, p. 6; Roff, 1994, p. 177.
16. Zainuddin, 2013, p. 22; Nik Ahmad, 1963, p. 65.
17. Roff, 1994, pp. 176–177.
18. Tan & Soh, 1994, p. 21.
19. Roff, 1994, p. 177.
20. Tan & Soh, 1994, p. 21.
21. Nik Ahmad, May 1963, p. 68; Zainuddin, 2013, p. 33; Romanised Malay paper. (1947, July 31). The Straits Times, p. 5. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
22. Nik Ahmad, May 1963, p. 69.
23. Zainuddin, 2013, pp. 35–37.
24. Nik Ahmad, May 1963, p. 71.
25. Zainuddin, 2013, p. 37.
26. Zainuddin, 2013, pp. 52–53.
27. Zainuddin, 2013, pp. 48–49, 58.
28. Zainuddin, 2013, pp. 96–97.
29. Zainuddin, 2013, pp. 94, 96.
30. Zainuddin, 2013, pp. 106–107, 121–122.
31. Utusan decides to suspend sales of its papers in S’pore. (1970, February 22). The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
32. Singapore printing permits: Utusan explains. (1970, February 24). The Straits Times, p. 13. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
33. The Straits Times, 22 Feb 1970, p. 4.