1990

» On January 1, the Company ceased the listing of its shares on the Stock Exchange of Singapore.

» On September 12, Renong Berhad bought over NSTP from Fleet Group Sdn Bhd, resulting in several corporate changes.

» Datuk Mohd Desa Pachi resigned as director and retired as the Chief Executive Officer of the NSTP.

» Datuk Halim Saad was appointed Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer on June 1.

» Datuk Nik Ibrahim was appointed Acting Managing Director in December.

1991

» NTSP’s Library On-line was initiated as an on-line reference service containing full-text newspaper stories and information on companies, personalities and countries.

» Khalid Ahmad was appointed Managing Director of NSTP on January 16 to replace Dato’ Nik Ibrahim Kamil who resigned on January 7.

» Datuk Halim Saad relinquished his position as Chief Executive Officer of NSTP.

» Bisofware Sdn Bhd (BSB), which was granted pioneer status, officially started its operation on February 1.

» On March 25, Berita Harian Sdn Bhd launched Harian Metro, the country’s first afternoon Bahasa Malaysia paper.

» On June 30, NSTP’s subsidiary company, Pitisan Sdn Bhd completed the disposal of its entire 43 % shares in Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3) to Renong Berhad.

» Sri Pena, NSTP’s Training Centre at Port Dickson was officially opened to the Group’s employees on December 7.

1992

» The inauguration of the new extension of Balai Berita, Bangsar by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed on Jan 21.

» On February 22, the NST National Environment Education project was launched by Education Minister Datuk Amar Dr. Sulaiman Daud.

» NSTP On-line text-based data from NSTP Group of newspapers was made available to journalists to replace manual press clippings. NSTP’s Library On-line (LOL) provided access to all of the group’s newspapers.

» On June 16, Computimes Unit of the New Straits Times Sdn Bhd was incorporated as a separate team under the name IT Publications Sdn Bhd (ITP). Its main activities were extended to include the Group’s interest in information technology publications and other related activities.

» Financial Publications Sdn Bhd changed its name to Business Times (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. The Registrar of Companies approved the change on July 9.

» Shin Min Daily News (M) Sdn Bhd changed its name to Shin Min Publishing (M) Sdn Bhd on August 10.

» A major corporate restructuring exercise was carried out on Berita Information Systems Sdn Bhd in August. The restructuring yielded several newly incorporated companies namely New Straits Times Technology Sdn Bhd, Bistech Sdn Bhd, Open Solution Sdn Bhd and Asia Pacific Encore Sdn Bhd.

1993

» NSTP On-line was made available for subscription by members of the public in February. Subscribers in the Klang Valley could access the system through direct dial-up to NSTP, while outside the Klang Valley access was through direct dial-up or Telekom Malaysia’s Maypac service. Simultaneously the Company launched wholesaling of NSTP on-line service to international syndicated wire services, Reuters, Lexis-Nexis, AP, AFP, FT/CWN, Factiva, Datatime, Nikkei, Knight Rider, UPS and World Sources Online. This became the main revenue for NSTP On-line.

» Mohd Noor Mutalib was appointed Managing Director of NSTP to replace Khalid Ahmad on February 4.

» Four members of senior management operating under Realmild Sdn Bhd staged a management buyout which later resulted in MRCB taking over NSTP and STMB (TV3) from Renong Berhad. The buyout exercise was completed on June 25.

» Datuk Halim Saad resigned as Executive Vice-Chairman of NSTP on June 30.

» The home decor magazine, Anjung Seri was introduced in October.

1994

» NSTP launched the Belum Conservation Fund for the conservation of the Belum forest.

» The pagination for Shin Min Daily News was reduced in view of high staff turnover. In addition, publication of Sunday Zhoukan, Shin Min Youth and Entertainment Special were stopped. The Management began steps to wind down the operations of this subsidiary.

» NSTP acquired 60 % equity interest in Times Mirror Sdn Bhd in September, in order to venture into a golf publication and related activities.

» Computimes Shopper Malaysia was launched in November by IT Publications Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary company of NSTP.

» Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd launched Dataniaga, a monthly Malay medium magazine focusing on entrepreneurship and business.

1995

» NST celebrated its 150 years of anniversary with a Hot Air Balloon Festival.

» Citra, a weekly Malay news magazine was launched in February.

» The Business Times became the first publication in NSTP Group to output fully paginated editorial pages – text, pictures, graphics and colour separated directly to negatives in February.

» On February 28, NSTP entered into a joint-venture agreement with Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad, Rimbunan Hijau Estate Sdn Bhd and R.H. Development Corporation Sdn Bhd to co-operate with each other for the purpose of operating a paper mill in Malaysia for production of newsprint (Malaysian Newsprint Industry).

» On June 24, official launching of NSTP On-line, Malaysia first on-line newspaper archival and information services.

» On August 19, Metro Ahad was officially launched and the first issue hit the streets the following day.

» On November 27, NSTP entered into a Sale and Purchase agreement with Kumpulan Guthrie to purchase 35 acres of industrial land at Bukit Jelutong Industrial Park.

1996

» Johor radio station, Best 104 appointed NSTP its official marketing agency. Advertisers who want to buy air time at Best 104 must go through NSTP.

» PC Magazine Malaysia was launched in March.

» On March 19, NSTP acquired 66 % shares in Asia Pacific Risk Management Sdn Bhd.

» On April 18, NSTP acquired 25 % shares in Business Day Co. Ltd, incorporated in Thailand.

» A comic book called BIP! was published by Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd (BP) in September.

1997

» OPEN Solutions Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Straits Times Technology Sdn Bhd was appointed by American firm Triteal Corp as its partner in Malaysia to distribute the full range of products from TriTeal including the TriTeal Enterprise Desktop (TED), WinTED and NTED. TED is the first CDE product implementaion widely available on multiple Unix operations systems, while WinTED is a PC interoperability feature that allows users to access both Microsoft Windows and TED (Unix) applications. NTED, on the other hand, is the only Windows-to-Unix interoperability solution that gives point and click access from a Unix desktop to applications that run natively on Microsoft Windows NT.

» A wholly owned subsidiary company - Prosakti Sdn Bhd (PROSAKTI), a healthcare company was established in October.

» In November, NSTP and Sistem Television Malaysia Berhad (TV) organised a fund, called “Riang Ria Satu Sen” to collect a small donation from the citizens. The donation was used to buy tickets to the Commonwealth Games for underprivileged children, the disabled and athletes of the past.

1998

» On April 1, NSTP granted Employees’ Share Option Scheme (ESOS) to all eligible employees of the Company and its subsidiaries.

» NSTP entered into a Sale of Shares Agreement and Supplement Agreement with Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange on July 22 and December 18 respectively to dispose of the entire 22.2 % equity interest in KLOFFE Capital Sdn Bhd.

» On September 10, NSTP launched its interactive online news services, NSTP Interactive (NSTPi), which was accessible via the World Wide Web. NSTPi went live on the Internet on October 1997 in conjunction with the Budget 1998 announcement.

» The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd’s ventured into outdoor advertising under NST Outdoor Sdn Bhd.

» Datuk A. Kadir Jasin was appointed NSTP’s Group Editor-In-Chief in July. Ahmad Talib was appointed Group Editor of the New Straits Times Sdn Bhd, while Datuk Ahmad Rejal Arbee became Group Editor of Berita Harian Sdn Bhd to replace Datuk Ahmad Nazri Abdullah.

1999

» On April 7, NSTP together with Malaysia Youth Council (MBM), Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd and Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad set up the Kosovo Action Fund to help Kosovo refugees.

» On May 19, NSTP disposed of the entire 70 % equity interest in AMAL Assurance Berhad. The sale transaction was completed on 30 August and accordingly AMAL Assurance Bhd ceased to be a subsidiary of the Company.

» The KBA press upgrade programme for Senai Regional Printing Plant (RPP) was completed in May.

» Mohd Noor Mutalib resigned as Managing Director of NSTP on July 26 and was replaced by Faiz Ishak.

» Klang Valley printing operations were relocated from Bangsar to Balai Berita Shah Alam. Four KBA Commanders were operational at Balai Berita Shah Alam.

» The KBA presslines in Balai Berita Prai were commissioned in December.

2000

» On January 18, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Maidin was appointed Executive Vice-chairman of NSTP.

» On February 1, NSTP e-Media Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of NSTP was incorporated to manage the operations and marketing of NSTP on-line news archive services and on-line products to subscribers.

» On April 22, official opening of Balai Berita Senai in Johor. Balai Berita Senai is the first of The New Straits Times Press Group’s four printing plants to be equipped with the new machineries – The Koenig & Bauer Albert (KBA) Commander printing press and Idab Wamac mailroom system. The KBA Commander is capable of a greater number of colour page positions. Its maximum capacity is 80,000 copies per hour. Idab Wamac mailroom system is a sophisticated material handling system, which can automatically insert the preprinted products into the newspaper during printing.

» Tan Sri Dato’ Abdullah Ahmad was appointed Executive Director of NSTP on May 2.

» On June 1, A. Kadir Jasin resigned as NSTP Group Editor-in-Chief.

» On June 28, NSTP entered into a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement with Alaf Positif Sdn Bhd to dispose of its entire 100 % equity stake in Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd. On 9 October 2000, the Company completed the disposal of Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd to Alaf Positif Sdn Bhd.

» August 30, NSTP formed a joint venture with two companies to enter the out-of-home advertising industry in Malaysia. The two companies were More Communications Asia Pte Ltd (MCA) and Clear Channel International Ltd (CCI). Together they ventured into the business of managing, selling and maintaining outdoor advertisements on street furniture, billboards and transit advertising.

2001

» In February, the regional printing plant in Ajil, Terengganu was commissioned to replace the NSTP printing plant in Dungun, Terengganu.

» In March, Tera Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd was appointed to supply and install the GN3 publishing system and TARK archiving system to The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd. The GN3 publishing system will replace the current Atex publishing system, whereas the TARK system will replace the current BRS/Search-full text retrieval system as well as archive images.

» Tan Sri Dato’ Abdullah bin Ahmad was appointed Group Editor-In-Chief of NSTP on August 29.

» On September 3, Business Times became the first of NSTP’s newspapers to be published using the GN3 publishing system.

» On September 10, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Maidin resigned as Executive Vice-chairman of NSTP.

» October 1, New Straits Times Sdn Bhd and Berita Harian Sdn Bhd launched the “Buy N Fly” card as a co-branding exercise with Malaysia Airlines Golden Boutique. Known as the New Straits Times BuyFly card and Berita Harian BuyFly card, they formed an innovative loyalty branding programme exclusively for the newspapers’ readers. On July 16, 2002, Malaysia Airlines announced that “Buy N Fly” Programme had ceased operations.

» On October 27, Harian Metro and Metro Ahad were published for the first time using the GN3 publishing system.

» Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) on October 8, announced a proposed divesting of its media subsidiaries Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3) and The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd under a company called Profitune.

» In November, NST Outdoor Sdn Bhd (NSTO) acquired Media Master Industries (M) Sdn Bhd for RM2 million. NSTP said the acquisition would enable NSTO to have an inventory of outdoor panels that are very much in demand due to their strategic locations. Media Master is the owner of eight outdoor advertising sites in Kuala Lumpur.

» In December, The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pitisan Sdn Bhd, entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement for the sale by Pitisan of 140 million ordinary shares of Commerce Asset-Holdings Bhd (CAHB) to the Employees Provident Fund Board (EPF).

» In December, NSTP announced the closure of its bureaus in London, New York and Jakarta.

2002

» The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, partnering with Enterprising Asia Sdn Bhd launched the NST Appointments Online website on January 24. The website (www.nstappointments.com.my) would be a one-stop human resource portal, merging various job-related services already available on-line. The website is hyperlinked to NSTP’s website at emedia.com.my.

» On March 14, Berita Harian was published using the GN3 publishing system.

» In April, The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd completed the disposal of its 140 million shares in Commerce Asset-Holding Berhad (CAHB) for RM910 million to the Employees Provident Fund. The disposal is a step taken by NSTP to enable it to focus on its publishing newspapers business.

» In May, the New Straits Times won the Superbrand Awards 2002 Trophy in the media category in a prestigious selection process to honour top local and foreign brands in the country. New Straits Times was among 80 other brand names selected by the Malaysian Superbrands Council based on criteria such as market dominance, longevity, goodwill, customer loyalty and overall market acceptance.

» On June 1, the Business Times was incorporated into the New Straits Times to give added value to readers of both publications.

» On June 12, NST Outdoor Sdn Bhd was awarded an exclusive contract, a 10-year contract, worth nearly RM 50 million to develop transit advertising space at the Kuala Lumpur City Air Terminal in Brickfields and in KLIA Express trains.

» On June 16, Malay Mail was published using the GN3 publishing system.

» In August , Idab Wamac International AB (Idab Wamac) ceased to be a subsidiary company of NSTP.

» On October 6, Profitune Bhd changed its name to Media Prima Berhad.

»On October 17.The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd group was named as the overall winner, while its staff won four of the 17 awards presented at the ICI-CCM Environmental Journalism Award (EJA) 2001/2002.

» In October, NSTP through Pitisan Sdn Bhd (Pitisan), entered into a share sale agreement with Sine Systems Sdn Bhd to sell its 100 per cent stake in Prosakti Sdn Bhd for RM1 million. Sine Systems had paid 10 per cent of the purchase consideration of RM100,000 to Pitisan and the balance would be paid on the completion date.

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