History

1845

» On July 15, the first issue of The Straits Times and Singapore Journal of Commerce was published by Robert Carr Woods, editor and sole proprietor.It was priced at 10 sen, with a weekly circulation (every Tuesday) of less than 200 copies and printed at No. 7, Commercial Square, Singapore.

1858

» The Straits Times and Singapore Journal of Commerce was renamed the Daily Times and became an afternoon daily.

1860

» Woods sold the newspaper, the printing and the book-binding plant to W.Wynter & Company.

1861

» In August, master mariner, John Cameron became Editor of the Daily Times.

1881

» Alexander Duff became Editor.

1883 - 1888

» The Daily Times reverted to its original name : The Straits Times.

» After the death of Alexandar Duff in 1883, the paper was produced by a sub-editor, G.H. Westlake, under the direction of an editorial committee of subscribers. A succession of editors followed: John Marshall, T.C. Cargill and Mr Adams.

» In October, Arnot Reid was appointed Editor.

1897

» The Straits Times produced three supplements in colour, the first in any Malayan newspapers.

1900

» On May 30, Straits Times became a private limited company.

» In October, Edward Alexander Morphy was appointed Editor.

1905

» The first Straits Times Annual was launched.

1906

» On May 29, The Straits Times reduced its price from 15 cents to 10 cents.

» Thomas H. Reid was appointed Editor.

1908 - 1926

» Alexander William Still became Editor.

» The Straits Times earned a reputation as "The Thunderer of the East", with a daily circulation of 5,000 copies.

1926 - 1928

» The paper went through a difficult phase with a succession of editors. First was Major F.R. Foran, then Wentworth Lewis and followed by Herbert Welhem.

1928

» Helbert Welhem was appointed London representative.

» George William Seabridge became the new owner, enlivened The Straits Times layout, with the use of pictures and larger headlines. He increased the size to a regular 24 pages, and improved the coverage of world news, features, sports and advertisements, traditional market reports and shipping. Pictures,cartoons and caricatures were also introduced.

1931

» On December 20, The Sunday Times, was launched. Circulation was 10,000.

1932

» On October 1, The Straits Times launched its own eight-page morning tabloid, the Singapore Daily News. Lasted only four months.

1933

» On February 18, the Singapore Daily News announced it was to merge with the Free Press.

1935

» The Straits Times Annual was revived and published regularly up to the Pacific War.

1937

» The Straits Times became the first newspaper in the Far East to print colour advertisements on newspaper rotary machines.

1938

» The Straits Times' cover price was cut by half to 5 cents to match competitor, Malay Tribune's price. There led to an increase to 15,000 in circulation.

1942

» Arthur Wilson acted as Editor of The Straits Times when Singapore fell to the Japanese during World War II.

» Last broadsheet edition printed on February 12. Printing stopped due to Japanese (WWII) advancing towards the heart of Singapore.

» On February 13, The Straits Times was reduced to a small single-sided sheet, distributed free by members of staff or left at ARP (air-raid precautions) stations.

1945

» On September 7, the first postwar issue of The Straits Times was published.

» On September 13, The Straits Times a special four-page issue, complete with the first postwar pictures, was devoted to the formal surrender in Singapore of Japanese troops in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.

» In December, The Straits Times was enlarged to an unorthodox shape, approximately 17 inches square.

1947

» George Peet was appointed Editor.

1951

» Allington Kennard & Max Schofield became Associate Editors.

1956

» General Manager Bill Simmons introduced a Malayanisation policy, to turn top editorial posts to local journalists. Leslie Hoffman, a Eurasian, became the first local Editor-in-Chief, with Lee Siew Yee as deputy.

» Record-breaking daily circulation of more than 50,000. Sunday circulation was over 67,000.

» The first Malaya edition of The Straits Times printed at Robson House, Pudu Road, after the Company acquired The Malay Mail from J.H.M. Robson.

1969

» On May 15, government of Malaysia suspended all Malaysian newspapers including the Straits Times for four days due to May 13 riots but The Straits Times Singapore edition continued to publish news sent by teleprinter from Kuala Lumpur.

1970

» Lee Siew Yee was appointed Editor-in-Chief.

1973

» The Straits Times switched to a 10-column format.

1974

» On August 13, The Straits Times changed its name to the New Straits Times.

» Cartoonist Lat started drawing cartoon series "Scenes from Malaysian Life" in the editorial page of the New Straits Times.

1981

» The New Straits Times won the first place in the developing world press in 1980 for its news and editorial coverage of global population issues.

» Noordin Sopiee became Group Editor of NST. On May 1, Tan Sri Lee Siew Yee became Editorial Director.

1982

» The New Straits Times won a world award for the best reproduction quality and was judged the best newspaper in the world for colour reproduction quality. The New Straits Times beat hundreds of other newspapers from the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Africa, Australia and Asia.

» On November 1, Abdul Samad Ismail was appointed NST Editorial Adviser.

1984

» Dr Munir Abdul Majid became Group Editor of NST.

1985

» On Jan 6, NST Newspaper in Education (NIE) was launched.

1986

» P.C.Shivadas became the Group Editor of NSTSB.

» In April, the 'International Penang Bridge Run' was launched.

» On November 4, NST launched its northern edition for Penang, Perak, Kedah and Perlis.

» On January 2, Computimes was launched as a weekly computer pullout of the New Straits Times.

1987

» The New Straits Times won the first place for "The Run For Money Kodak Newspaper Colour Reproduction' contest in the "large offset" category.

» On August 11, the southern edition of NST was introduced, followed by the eastern edition on October 17.The paper also started its Business & Finance section on December 15.

1988

» On April 9, Abdul Kadir Jasin became the Group Editor of the NSTSB.

1991

» The revamp of the New Straits Times on March 4, led to the "birth" of City Extra - an unparalleled source of local news, especially those covering local authorities such as Kuala Lumpur City Hall and the district councils of Petaling Jaya, Ampang Jaya and Gombak, among others. City Extra also provided weekly comments on public issues, including columns such as PJ Pavements, City Sidewalks, Uptown Downtown, Klang Heartbeat and Seremban Views.

» In September 23, the Appointments section was introduced.

1992

» On February 22,The NST National Environment Education project was launched.

1995

» On February 28, Management Times was introduced as a separate pullout but later merged with New Straits Times. The last separate issue of Management Times was published on February 24, 1998.

» On July 15, NST celebrated its 150th anniversary with a Hot Air Balloon Festival. This was followed by a family day celebration at the Sunway Lagoon, Petaling Jaya.

1996

» On July, NST's acting Business Editor Zainul Arifin Mohd Isa became the first correspondent in New York. This is the NST's second foreign office after London which was opened in 1928.

» On August, Youth Quake, a weekly newspaper for youngsters produced by the New Straits Times was launched.

» City Extra was renamed Times Extra

1998

» On January 3, Youth Quake was merged with New Straits Times , and appeared in the Life and Times section every Friday.

» On July 19, Abdul Kadir Jasin was appointed NSTP Group Editor-in-Chief and Ahmad Abdul Talib was appointed Group Editor of NSTSB.

1999

» Business Computing was launched on August 4 and was published every first Wednesday of the month.

» In October, Travel Times, a 16-page tabloid-sized pullout was launched. Travel Times is a weekly pullout published by the New Straits Times every Wednesday.

» On November 1, New Straits Times was revamped, offering a four section product with more colour pages. In addition to masthead change, the paper now comes in five distinct easy-to-navigate sections. Besides the main paper, there were "Business & Sport" section, "Life & Times", "Life Is" and "City" ( replacing Times Extra).

2000

» Launching of the 'Johor-Singapore 2nd Link Bridge Run 2000', an annual NST event.

» NSTP Group Editor-in Chief, Datuk A. Kadir Jasin resigned in June.

» In October, Travel Times publication, the weekly tabloid-sized pullout distributed with the New Straits Times every Wednesday, was given a new look in conjunction with its first anniversary.The new look with the tagline "Your Companion For Malaysian Vacations" was officially launched.

2001

» In March, Business Computing was published every first and third Wednesday of the month.

» In April, Property Times, a new pullout in New Straits Times was launched in conjunction with the Home Ownership Campaign 2001.

» In May, launching of the 'NST Million Ringgit Charity Duck Race Kuala Lumpur 2001'.

» On May 15, Education pullout was launched and published every Tuesday. This pullout however, was replaced by two new pullouts, NST Primary Plus, which was launched on November 6 and the NST Next Step, which was launched on November 7.

» In August, New Straits Times launched a website on Education : http://nie.nst.com.my.

» In August, Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad was appointed NSTP Group Editor-in-Chief.

» On September 17, New Straits Times sectionalised into 5 different sections : Main Paper, Business, World, Sports, Life & Times.

2002

» On January 1, City pullout was renamed City Life and distributed only with NST2* (Klang Valley region).

» Starting from January, Business Computing was published every first Wednesday of the month.

» 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, Business Times was incorporated into New Straits Times, combining the best in business reporting with New Straits Times daily offering of local and world news.

2003

» On March 12, the New Straits Times’ Cars, Bikes and Trucks Awards honoured those who have made a mark in the motoring industry. The first-time event aims to recognise players and products in the motoring industry and their efforts to meet the discerning demands of the Malaysian motoring public.

» On June 24, The New Straits Times was awarded the top prize for entertainment journalism (film) by the National Film Corporation Malaysia (Finas).

» On August 8, The first issue of EPLplus was published. The EPLplus was published free with the Friday copy of the New Straits Times, focusing on the English Premier League and the European League.

» On August 10,, the New Straits Times pullout, EPLplus, was launched in a grand celebration of sports fun-fare and entertainment through a street party along Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar.

» On September 3, the New Straits Times was named the paper with the best coverage of occupational safety and health issues. The award was organised by the Malaysian Society of Occupational Safety and Health (MSOSH) with the co-operation of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

» On December 24, the New Straits Times received award for “Best Consumer Organisation” at (Negri Sembilan) State Consumer Council Media Awards Night 2003.

2004

» On May 1, for the first time in New Straits Times 158-year history, it had appointed two women to top editorial positions. Veteran journalist Hardev Kaur was appointed Group Editor of the newspaper and Datin Rose Ismail the Deputy Group Editor. While Datuk Ahmad A. Talib was re-designated to Group General Manager, Communications and Editorial Marketing.

» On August 9, a number of pages immediately after page 1 were put under a new section named “Prime News”. This section is devoted to the most important and compelling news in Malaysia and the rest of the world, including business and sports news.

» On August 16, City Life ceased to be a separate pullout. City stories from this date were slotted into other sections of the NST.

» On August 23, 2004, the country’s oldest newspaper, the New Straits Times, became the first national English daily to be available in digital format. The project is a smart partnership between NSTP and TM Net Sdn Bhd and it has been made possible with TM Net’s web application “TMNet e-browse’.

» On September 1, the New Straits Times was published in two different formats, broadsheet as well as tabloid. An initial 50,000 copies of the tabloid-sized version hit the streets in the Klang Valley on this date. The Life and Times section is published in tabloid size using Salmon coloured newsprints. Primary Plus and Next Step pullouts are incorporated to Look and Learn. The following new pullouts were introduced: Style file every Monday; Body and Soul every Tuesday; Look and Learn every Wednesday; Youth Quake every Thursday; Just Chill every Friday; and Centre Stage every Saturday.

» On September 7, Take a break (travel guide) was changed from a quarterly to a weekly publication. It is now in tabloid size and is incorporated with the Travel Times, appearing every Tuesday in the New Straits Times.

» On October 1, the New Straits Times compact was available nationwide.

» In November 10, the New Straits Times launched “NST’s 12-week Word Puzzle Contest” with six Peugeot 1.6Xs as prizes.

» On December 22, 2004, NST won the coveted National Excellent OSH Award 2004. The award was to recognise organisations which had given priority and importance to Occupational, Safety and Health (OSH).

2005

» On January 1, Salehuddin Othman became Group Editor of NSTSB, replacing Hardev Kaur who retires in January.

» On January 26, the last issue of Look & Learn pullout was published.

» On January 27, Youth Quake ended its run after eight-and-a-half years and four hundred and forty-two (442) issues. A new section incorporated in the main paper, called Youth and Pop Culture would now run stories on youths.

» On January 31, Education Minister Datuk Sri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein launched the Pullouts - Didik, Minda Pelajar, and Skor (published by Berita Harian), to be distributed free in the New Straits Times, at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Melati, Kuala Lumpur.

» On January 31, Didik came free with the New Straits Times.

» On January 31, Didik came free with the New Straits Times.

» On February 1, Minda Pelajar came free with the New Straits Times.

» On February 2, Skor came free with the New Straits Times.

» On February 28, Superbrands International awarded New Straits Times the “Superbrands Award”. Superbrands International is a worldwide arbiter of branding.

» On April 16, After 160 years, the New Straits Times ceased publishing their broadsheet versions, signalling the end of an era for the country's oldest newspaper group. The last issue of the broadsheet version of the New Straits Times was on April 16.

» On April 18, the New Straits Times printed in the new compact version - half the size of the broadsheet. At the same time, NST introduced a new masthead.

» On July 3, a symbolic launch of the “print homepage” by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali during the Ipoh International Run at Dataran Bandaraya. Ipoh City Council, in its efforts to interact with ratepayers, will have a special section in the New Straits Times and Berita Harian for them to air their views. The public can give their feedback, proposals and complaints to the council and it will respond accordingly in the two newspapers. The first page will appear in the New Straits Times on Monday, followed by the first Monday of every month in the New Straits Times and Berita Harian alternatively.

» On August 8, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched the Maybank-NSTP Perwira Drive 2005. The drive raises money for the Armed Forces Welfare Fund to assist injured servicemen, those still serving and retired, and the families of those who perished in the line of fire.

» On August 15, Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein officially launched the New Straits Times’ School Sponsorship Programme. Under the programme, the NST will work with the ministry to supply the newspapers to schools.

» On August 23, the New Straits Times’ Cars, Bikes & Trucks’ Car of the Year 2005 Awards has two categories renamed in line with trends in the European car industry. The “Compact Car” category has been renamed “Super Minis”, while the “Small Cars” category is replaced by “Sub-Compact Cars”.

» On August 29, the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad Merdeka Photo Exhibition called “Road to Nationhood” at the Bangsar Shopping Complex.

» On September 1, launching of the New Straits Times Kiosk at Bintang Terrace, Lot 10 shopping centre by The New Straits Times Press chief executive officer Syed Faisal Albar. It was another milestone for the New Straits Times with the opening of Malaysia’s first free newspaper-reading kiosk in the Bukit Bintang shopping area.

» On September 15, for the second time in three years, the New Straits Times has won the Superbrands International Award, proving that the 160-year-old newspaper continues to be close to the hearts of Malaysians.

» On October 28, the “Back to Tradition” photo exhibition which takes viewers on a journey through time, showcasing Malaysia’s rich cultural diversity at festive times, is being held at a highway rest area. Jointly organised by The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd and PLUS Expressway Bhd, it features photographs of Hari Raya and Deepavali celebrations dating from the late 1940s.

» On December 16, Malaysian Idol finalist Nicolette Palikat better known as Nikki, officially started her three-day and two-night stay at the New Straits Times Kiosk in front of Lot 10 in Bukit Bintang. It is part of the “Nikki@The New Straits Times Kiosk” programme organised by Artistes United Records to launch her debut album, Maharani.

» On December 30, “Your Say”, the New Straits Times new mobile interactive service was launched today. It allows the handphone-totting public to interact better with the NST, including being the ears and eyes of the newspaper. For a start, the NST is offering two services that allow handphone users, especially those with the 3G service, to send views or tips of potential news items via the SMS/MMS2EDITOR and CITIZEN REPORTER services respectively.

» On December 31, Nicol David is the New Straits Times Malaysian of the Year 2005. She was duly anointed the World No. 1 woman’s squash player, having singularly and methodically defeated her heavyweight on-court rivals. Her feat was translated into mass popularity, as reflected in the NST SMS contest before Christmas to find out who would be the Malaysian of the Year 2005.

2006

» On March 20, New Straits Times turned seamless, where all the main sections of the paper are coalesced into one solid package. From today, Prime News, World News, Business Times, Life & Times and Sport will come in one continuous flow. Computimes pullout is renamed Tech & U.

» On April 3, a four-month English Made Easy programme featuring the New Straits Times was launched. The programme, involves the use of the NST as a teaching and learning tool.

» On July 14, the New Straits Times is embracing a whole new level of interactivity with its readers with the launch of MoNSTer, its very own blogging portal. And giving it voice are some of the best known bloggers in the country, including Paul Tan and Sultan Muzaffar, whose own websites attract thousands of visitors.

» On December 1, Deputy group editor Syed Nadzri Syed Harun appointed group editor designate.

» On December 31, Brendan Pereira’s term of service as group editor of the New Straits Times ends.

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