The Rakyat Post Is Back But Its Former Editorial Team Has No Idea Who’s Behind It
The online news portal announced its shutdown on 29 February 2016.
By Samantha Khor — 16 Mar 2016, 01:08 PM
On 29 February, online news portal The Rakyat Post announced that they have ceased operations, adding that they will be undergoing restructuring and looking into solving their funding issues in the coming months
However, a mere ten days later, the portal appeared to have made a comeback as they started posting stories on the website and Facebook page again on 10 March
The Rakyat Post also posted a note on Facebook to thank readers for their support, saying that it made them feel "voluntarily obligated" to keep writing stories. Readers were also urged to contribute proposals to help increase funds.
Here's the kicker - the reboot efforts have nothing to do with The Rakyat Post's former editorial team! In fact, those who have not resigned were actually forced to go on annual leave when the shutdown was announced.
In a statement released on 10 March, the portal's former editorial team said, "It has come to the knowledge of the former editorial team of The Rakyat Post (made up of staff members who have resigned as well as those who are still employed, but are on forced annual leave) that the news portal's website and Facebook page have become active again today, March 10, 2016.
"We would like to point out that following the statement issued by the news portal's management on Feb 29, 2016 on the shut down of The Rakyat Post, the former editorial team was not consulted on the rebooting of its operations today."
Neither are they part of the "new" The Rakyat Post, as neither of them have been contacted by the management since the shutdown, despite continuous efforts to demand their owed salaries
"The former editorial team would also like to stress that we are not part of the new The Rakyat Post, as we have yet to be paid the salaries owed to us, for January and February.
"Those who did not resign were considered to have been constructively dismissed when the management announced on Feb 29, 2016 that it had to shut down in order to undergo a restructuring exercise and to resolve its funding issues.
"Some 70 staff of The Rakyat Post have been affected by the shutdown in which they were denied their wages for two months. No communication from the management has been received by these former staff members following the announcement of the shutdown.
"We would therefore like to reiterate that we are not part of the 'new' The Rakyat Post and stress that we shall continue to demand for our salaries."
They also reiterated that they did not provide consent for the FB post requesting proposals to increase funding for the portal, adding that they have lodged complaints against the management with relevant government organisations
The former editorial team of The Rakyat Post had lodged a complaint with EPF over the company's failure to pay their owed salaries.
Image via Property Guru"On another matter, we learned of a Facebook posting on The Rakyat Post's page asking for proposals from the public on ways to increase funding. We stress that we did not consent to this and we played no part in this message.
"On the shutdown, this has affected staff of the online news portal, including several others from the marketing, graphics and other departments of the companies under the Legion Media Group which presides over the management of The Rakyat Post.
"Complaints have been filed by those affected with the Labour Department as well as the Industrial Relations Department. Apart from that, **complaints have also been lodged with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for the company's failure in remitting said payment.
"The Rakyat Post was operating under the banner of the Legion Media Group, managed by Netnion Technology Sdn Bhd initially, and later transferred to another company under the same banner Wespacom Sdn Bhd."