Former Utusan Malaysia chief editor Zainuddin Maidin has criticised the newspaper for refusing to report on Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's speech last night.

"I am shocked that the speech, which was critical of (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak) was not published by Utusan .

"Thus am I wrong for looking (for the news in) Malaysiakini , The Star and Malaysian Insider ?" wrote Zainuddin on Twitter today.

Zainuddin was referring to Muhyiddin's speech at the closing ceremony of the Cheras Umno division annual general meeting last night.

Among others, Muhyiddin said the 1MDB controversy has led to negative perceptions towards Umno and predicted that should elections be called soon, Umno would lose .

He added that he had advised Najib multiple times on how to handle the crisis, including vacating his position as chair of 1MDB's advisory board, but was ignored.

He also voiced support for calls to make public the National Audit Department's interim report on its 1MDB probe.

Advice for Utusan

Utusan was the only major newspaper to not publish any mention of the Muhyiddin's speech.

Muhyiddin's speech has elicited heavy criticisms from pro-Umno blog MyKMU.net , which published an article urging him to step down if he could not agree with Najib.

Commenting on this article, Zainuddin said that it would have had more of an impact had it come from Utusan .

"A pro-Umno blog urged Muhyiddin to step down if he can't agree with Najib and stating that Umno would lose. It would have been better if Utusan said it," said Zainuddin.

Zainuddin was Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd chief editor between 1982 to 1992. He was appointed a senator in 1998 and then information minister in 2006.