Tuesday June 24, 2008

Hussamuddin, the new power broker

Comment by KARIM RASLAN

Sinar Harian confounds conventional wisdom. Its rapid growth proves that the Internet is not necessarily set to supersede the print media yet.

DATUK Hussamuddin Yaacub, the 53-year-old Kota Baru-born group managing director and publisher of Karangkraf, is a straight-talking businessman with a passion for his industry.

“I was born in the back of a bookshop. You could say I’ve been vertically integrating ever since: all I’ve done since I left Universiti Kebangsaan with my Economics degree is focus on books, magazines, publishing and printing!” he declares.

He’s also – though he’d hate to admit it – Malaysia’s least known power-broker: a man whose influence comes from the ground up.

Most of his magazine titles such as the women’s weekly Mingguan Wanita, which sells over 160,000 copies, are aimed at Malay housewives.

This has given him an intimate understanding of the community, its spending power, consumer preferences, likes and dislikes.

Having conquered the Malay household he’s now embarked on the most ambitious venture of his business career – the rapid national rollout of his predominantly East Coast daily newspaper Sinar Harian.

Hussamuddin's rise to the top has been driven by a combination of business acumen and sheer hard work.

As fellow Kelantanese and Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamad says: “Hussamuddin is a rare Malay entrepreneur who has made it in life with very little government help. Sinar is influential in shaping Malay views across all income levels.”

Unnoticed and underestimated for decades by the Kuala Lumpur elite who’ve tended to focus on the highly politicised broadsheets, the Karangkraf boss is injecting a badly-needed dose of relevance, commercial sense and community-mindedness into the world of Malay language publishing.

At the same time – and this despite Sinar’s tabloid size – he’s also rejected the sleazy and obsessive focus on minor celebrities, entertainment-world gossip and crime.

In spite of the overwhelming Malay ethos of his company, Hussamuddin’s approach to race relations is equally refreshing and robust: “If we want to overcome racial problems we need to focus on delivering basic needs irrespective of race. Sinar is totally committed to achieving this. We have a lot of non-Malay readers.”

Abdul Jalil Ali, its editor, claims an estimated daily circulation of 150,000 copies. “We could tell from our magazine sales that there was substantial pent-up demand on the East coast. We took the plunge and launched in Kelantan back in July 2006. We’ve expanded state by state since then.

“We’re currently the leading Malay language daily on the East Coast and the number two in Selangor with 55,000 copies a day. We’ve achieved 150,000 in terms of circulation before even launching into the Perak, North and Johor markets, which we’re targeting for later this year.”

The paper’s format is fresh and innovative. If the Pakatan Rakyat is politics at its most grassroots and ‘merakyat’ then Sinar Harian with its ‘Cakna’ (or caring) community focus is its media equivalent.

Hussamuddin explains: “We use fresh local grads and train them up. We have a journalist in every district, and they really interact with the local community, championing their interests.

“Each journalist gets a Perodua Kancil car, a PDA and a camera. I have adapted the AirAsia maxim for Sinar: ‘Now everyone can be in the news!”

Sinar maintains separate front covers for each state edition as well as a pull-out that features localised reporting on a district-by-district basis, with the journalist’s picture and handphone number printed on the top of each page.

In Selangor alone, there is at least a page every day for each of the following districts: Sepang, Kuala Langat, Hulu Langat, Kuala Selangor, Sabak Bernam and Klang. There are a further 12 pages set aside for the Klang valley dubbed ‘Sentral’.

Noor Azam Shairi, a former Utusan journalist, explains: “The regional pages are Sinar’s strength. The readers have a real sense of ownership. People make the news, not just the Government. Many newspapers seem to have forgotten this.”

Hussamuddin is an ambitious entrepreneur with an astute sense of timing: “When we first started, we saw ourselves just as a supplementary newspaper. Now, with the changing economic situation we reckon we’ll become the only newspaper that many people will buy.

“Our political neutrality is also important. Malaysians want transparency and this trend towards greater openness is unstoppable. It doesn’t matter who takes over. The Pandora’s Box is open.”

Certainly the political coverage is even-handed. On Monday last week, Sinar featured Pakatan Rakyat politicians Teresa Kok, Dr Xavier Jayakumar, Azmin Ali, and Salahudin Ayub and Umno presidential hopeful Tengku Razaleigh on its front page.

“At the same time there is a stinging commentary attacking the excesses of some of Pakatan Rakyat’s newly elected representatives from writers such as Aisar Yee Abdullah.

“Umno maverick and former Johor strong-man, Ruhanie Ahmad is also a contributor.”

Still, the DAP’s Teresa Kok is very appreciative of the new newspaper, saying: “Sinar is also important as it’s helped us to break racial barriers among the rakyat. The paper has given DAP elected reps equal opportunity and coverage in terms of our local activities.”

Not surprisingly, Hussamuddin has also been at the receiving end of the Government’s heavy-handedness. Nearly 20 years ago, he endured the painful experience of seeing a dynamic Watan being wrested from his control.

Similarly, 10 years thereafter, during the height of the Reformasi era, his weekly newspaper, Eksklusif became a media sensation with sales fast approaching 300,000 only to have its licence renewal rejected in 2000.

Hussamuddin is more upbeat now: “We are a very fair newspaper and will work with whoever is in government. Still, we value our independence and because of that, all our financing is internally generated.

“In three years’ time I am confident we will be the country’s largest Malay language newspaper.

“Of course, the Government controls newspaper licences. However, I would argue that the public now wants more openness, and the authorities are unlikely to take a backward step.

“Besides, surely it’s more beneficial for the Government to have a newspaper like ours around. Sinar Harian has tremendous support from the grass-roots.”

Indeed March 8 has been an important catalyst for Sinar’s growth. The surprise results on the west coast and the mainstream media’s continued disregard for the Pakatan state governments (coupled with their boycott of Utusan Malaysia) means that many readers want more information about their state leaders and representatives – information that they can now find in Sinar’s copious local coverage.

This trend would seem to suggest that their expansion into Perak, Kedah and Penang could well be an enormous commercial success.

Sinar Harian confounds conventional wisdom. The newspaper’s rapid growth proves that the Internet is not necessarily set to supersede the print media.

Moreover, Hussamuddin’s intense focus on his readers’ everyday concerns has imbued Sinar with a high degree of credibility and integrity, which in turn delivers substantial commercial returns. In the post March 8 scenario, Malaysians have become ever more demanding and questioning.

They expect nothing less from the newspapers they read.

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