GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA: A newspaper vendor was robbed and slashed several times with parangs while delivering newspapers in Solok Tembaga 2 in Seri Delima here.

D. Arokiasamy, 52, was attacked by a gang of four men at 6.30am yesterday.

The assailants, on two motorcycles, robbed him of RM500 and his handphone.

They however, returned his wallet and identity card after Arokiasamy pleaded with them.

Arokiasamy was sent to the Penang Hospital and is in stable condition.

Three fingers on his left hand were also fractured in the attack.

Seri Delima assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer said a policeman told him at the hospital that three robbery cases were reported in his constituency on the same day.

?Two other hawkers were robbed by the same gang. We are appealing to Penang police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Ayub Yaacob to increase police patrols in Seri Delima and other constituencies as newspaper vendors and hawkers are easy targets for robbers,? he said in a press conference yesterday.

Penang News Vendors and Book Sellers Association president P. Krishnan said the newspaper vendors were afraid to deliver newspapers early in the morning.

?We used to start delivering newspapers from as early as 3.30am, but now we may have to consider delivering it in the late morning. We hope our customers will bear with us if we have to deliver papers at about 9am,? he said.

Krishnan, whose association has 218 members working as part-time and full-time vendors on the island, requested newspaper publishers to allow vendors to pay by credit card in the early morning.

Citing The Star as an example, he said the method was more convenient as they no longer had to carry a lot of cash with them.

North Malaya Newspaper Distri?butors Association chairman Tan Keng Tong said there had been more than 10 similar robberies over the six months, with most of the cases reported in the town area.