KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — The prime minister was attempting a “poorly-disguised bailout” of Utusan Malaysia by urging government agencies and firms to increase advertising support for the Umno mouthpiece, DAP’s Tony Pua said today.

Pointing to the government’s decision to raise fuel prices to the public by 20 sen a litre earlier this month to address a chronic budget deficit, Pua (picture) said it was now encouraging “wasteful spending” in the form of more federal advertising with the Umno-owned newspaper

He further said the prime minister’s call showed that the Umno-owned, Malay-language daily is no longer “commercially viable” and that Datuk Seri Najib Razak was making “a desperate call to rescue its racist and extremist mouthpiece”.

“The blatant call by the prime minister himself for government agencies and companies to increase advertising in Utusan Malaysia is a poorly-disguised bail-out attempt using tax-payers’ monies,” Pua said in a statement.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP alleged that Najib, who is also Umno president, was creating a conflict of interest and abusing his power as the prime minister to call for government support for the party paper.

Najib yesterday said he realised that newspaper companies cannot rely solely on circulation to stay in business, and that advertising is needed to keep the news company afloat.

“I hope all government agencies, GLCs and private companies, especially those owned by Bumiputera, will show their support by giving more advertisements to Utusan.

“Only this can help keep Utusan on track,” he said at the official opening of the Umno-owned Malay daily’s new headquarters off Jalan Chan Sow Lin.

Today, Pua said the PM’s remarks exposed him as a “pretend-reformer” who was willing to renege on promises when the interests of Umno-Barisan Nasional “as well as their cronies” are at stake.