Kuala Lumpur, Apr 21 : Radio Televisyen Malaysia's (RTM) Chinese and Indian viewers of Tamil origin are all riled up over the retiming of the Mandarin and Tamil news slots.

The MCA claimed the change of the Mandarin news time slot from 8 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. on TV2 would not benefit Chinese viewers, while a PPP leader Senator T. Murugiah also cited the same over the rescheduling of Tamil @ 2 news from its original 7.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. beginning on Monday.

MCA spokesman Lee Wei Keat yesterday questioned the Information, Communications, Arts and Culture Ministry's motive in changing the time.

He said the revised time slot would inconvenience viewers and eventually affect the ratings and image of the RTM, The Star reported.

"The ministry should revert the Mandarin news time slot to its previous prime time of 8 p. m.," he said.

Starting yesterday, the 30-minute Mandarin news is aired at 6.30 p. m. and noon daily on TV2, as opposed to the previous time slot of 8 p. m. on TV1.

"Many viewers will not be able to catch the news from 6.30pm to 7pm as they would either be travelling home from work or busy preparing dinner for families," said Lee who is also MCA Information and Communications Bureau chairman.

In Ipoh, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Senator T. Murugiah said many Indian workers complained that they could not catch the programme, called Tamil @ 2, because it was being aired too early.

"Those working in Kuala Lumpur, especially, would be caught in traffic jams. They could not make it back in time for the news," he said after opening a motivational seminar for Indian students at SMK Sungai Pari here yesterday. (ANI)