Sin Chew Daily was founded on 15 January 1929, by
Aw Boon Par and
Aw Boon Haw, founder of the
Tiger Balm in
Singapore, which was then a part of the
Straits Settlements. The newspaper formed a part of the Star Amalgamated Newspaper formed by these two philanthropists. The newspaper was suspended between 1942 and 1945 during the
Japanese occupation of Malaya and
Singapore. A
Kuala Lumpur office was established in 1950. Even after the
secession of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965,
Sin Chew Daily initially still operated with its headquarters in Singapore under the management of descendant of the Aw brothers. In order to expedite the printing process, in 1966,
Sin Chew Daily built a new plant located at its present head office premises in
Petaling Jaya. With the setting up of this new plant, other departments such as the news desk, editorial, production and circulation were started. After separation, the Petaling Jaya operation increasingly became independent from the head office in Singapore. Following the directives from the Malaysian government on restraining foreigners from controlling the press, the Aw family transferred their ownership of
Sin Chew Daily to Lim Kheng Kim in 1982. In 1987,
Sin Chew Daily sank into deep financial trouble, and a receiver was appointed over the company. On 27 October 1987, the publication licence of
Sin Chew Daily was suspended under
Operasi Lalang, one of the most drastic clampdowns on civil dissent launched by the government. Tiong Hiew King, an entrepreneur from Sarawak, acquired
Sin Chew Daily in 1988. After five months 11 days,
Sin Chew Daily resumed publication on 8 April 1988. In the early 1990s,
Sin Chew Daily emerged as the best-selling Chinese newspaper, beating
Nanyang Siang Pau, the leading Chinese newspaper then.
Merger of parent companies On 29 January 2007, the merger of Sin Chew Media Corporation, Hong Kong Ming Pao Enterprise Corporation and Nanyang Press Holdings was announced. On 27 June 2009, MCIL clinched the National Mergers and Acquisitions Award 2009 for The Most Innovative Deal of the Year. == Editorial stance ==