Taking to Facebook, Mustapha said he had been informed that staff affected by the closures of the two plants – in Ajil, Terengganu, and Senai, Johor – would be given a choice to either move to the printing plants in Prai, Penang, or Shah Alam, Selangor, or resign.

“I believe the closure of the two plants are steps by the company to avoid incurring further losses, brought about by dwindling newspaper sales and advertisement revenue.”

Besides English daily NST, the New Straits Times Press (NSTP), which is owned by Media Prima Berhad, also publishes Berita Harian and Malay tabloid Harian Metro.

A recent Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) report showed that newspaper sales in Malaysia last year went down, compared with the numbers recorded the previous two years.

It also showed that the digital media use recorded an increase of 148 per cent.

As for NST, ABC records showed that newspaper sales went down by more than 30 per cent in 2014.

Mustapha urged NSTP to “come clean” on the reason behind its poor performance, and hoped that the company would earnestly study the reason behind the fall.

“I believe the company knows very well about what is causing the fall in its product. You cannot deny the truth any longer and you don’t have the time for it.”

Mustapha, who spent 26 years in NST, resigned in May.

He had also previously questioned the journalism ethics practised by the pro-Umno paper.