SALAM AIDILFITRI 2008/1429

SALAM SYAWAL 1429 KEPADA

SEMUA PELAYAR BLOG

YANG BERAGAMA ISLAM

DI MANA SAHAJA

ANDA BERADA.

MAAF ZAHIR BATIN

DARPADA KAMI SEKELUARGA

TIMELY MOVE TO GET SAMAD ISMAIL PRESS FOUNDATION MOVING

A 1971 photograph, showing a young A. samad Said (striped shirt and now Dato')presiding over a team of sub-editors at Berita Harian editorial office, Balai Berita.

2008/09/29

Plan to set up A. Samad Ismail Press Foundation
BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, MON:

The Press Forum of Asia (PFA) is planning to set up the A. Samad Ismail Press Foundation and Academy in honour of the late Tan Sri Abdul Samad Ismail, the doyen of Malaysian journalism.

PFA’s representative Datuk Ahmad Abdul Talib said the body, among others, would study the achievement and direction of the media industry todate and the impact on society and government.

“The study will be carried out by PFA members, media industry leaders and organisations,” he told a news conference on the setting up of the foundation and academy, here today.

He also said that PFA needed the cooperation from media organisations to put in place a strong structure for the proposed organisation.

Ahmad said that through the A. Samad Ismail Press Foundation and Academy, serving journalists would be able to widen their knowledge on the ever-changing and challenging industry.

“The academy will also conduct short-term courses on current issues,” he said, adding that members of the media could share their views and ideas on the foundation by contacting him through email at “ahmad@ahmadtalib.org” or

“ahmadt51@gmail.com”. Abdul Samad or better known as “Pak Samad”, the national journalism laureate and freedom fighter, died on Sept 4 at the age of 84.

He began his journalism career as a reporter with Utusan Melayu in 1940, and is synonymous with the history of the profession in the country. (NST Online 29 Sept 08)

Comment
Timely indeed. There are abled journalists, ex-journalists and academicians who will support the move. Presumably the Malaysian Press Institute should also initiate such move.I, for one, was lucky enough to have served under him in late 1971. He was the Editor of Berita Harian, with A. Samad Said as the Chief Sub and second-in-command. And then there were Shukor Harun, Mali, Salim Kajai, Chew and Shukor Rahman, working together around a horse shoe-shaped table.

I could not help but remember how journalist Zainuddin Bendahara came knocking at my door in Taman Universiti, Petaling Jaya, one evening, conveying Samad Ismalil's message requesting me to see him the next for an interview. This was in return to my phone call to the editor a few days back, requesting for an interview for a position as a reporter with Berita Harian.

BAGAIMANA KALAU IPT WUJUDKAN FAKULTI KEWARTAWANAN?!!

Pak Samad seperti yang diabadikan Utusan Malaysia

Tubuh kursi pengajian kewartawanan

Oleh A. MURAD MERICAN

SAYA merujuk kepada cadangan mewujudkan Kursi A. Samad Ismail untuk pengajian kewartawanan di universiti tempatan (Utusan Malaysia 15 September). Kursi sebegitu sepatutnya telah lama wujud di Malaysia, memandangkan dimensi kritikal yang dimainkan oleh para wartawan dan penulis Melayu dalam sejarah negara dan pembinaan identiti Melayu.

Beberapa tahun lalu, satu kertas kerja dibentangkan mencadangkan sebuah pusat dan menubuhkan kursi pengajian kewartawanan di salah sebuah sekolah kewartawanan terawal di Malaysia, yang terletak di Lembah Kelang, tetapi ia tidak mendapat sambutan oleh ahli fakulti dan para pentadbir universiti di situ.

Persuratkhabaran Melayu adalah sebuah institusi utama dalam sejarah dan persejarahan negara. Ia juga merupakan warisan bangsa.

Selain dari Kursi Pengajian Kewartawanan A. Samad Ismail, dua lagi tokoh dalam sejarah negara juga jangan kita lupakan dalam hal ini - Abdullah Munsyi dan Syed Syaikh al-Hady.

Mereka juga perlu dilihat sebagai wartawan, penulis dan advokat kepada perjuangan, perubahan dan kemerdekaan budi dan jiwa Melayu.


Bakat Pak Samad dalam bidang masakan

Abdullah Munsyi, walaupun meninggal dunia pada tahun 1854, 22 tahun sebelum akhbar Jawi Peranakan diterbitkan di Singapura, merupakan pengamal genre itu yang terawal.

Abdullah menerokai penulisan esei dan kewartawanan Melayu. Kini debat dan pendapat Melayu kian pupus ditelan oleh kesempitan ideologi dan pemikiran.

Saya percaya kehebatan pendapat dan ekspresi kewartawanan Melayu yang ada bukan hanya pada A. Samad Ismail, tetapi juga pada Abdullah Munsyi dan Syed Shaikh al-Hady dapat manfaatkan melalui penubuhan kursi pengajian kewartawanan di sekolah-sekolah kewartawanan di Malaysia.

Usia persuratkhabaran Melayu kini ialah 132 tahun, dan usia sekolah-sekolah kewartawanan di universiti di negara ini menjangkau hampir 40 tahun, dengan pengambilan kumpulan pertama seramai 16 orang pelajar yang bermula kursus kewartawanan mereka di Universiti Sains Malaysia pada bulan Jun 1971.

Ini diikuti program kewartawanan peringkat universiti di Institut Teknologi MARA yang bermula pada bulan Julai 1972 di Petaling Jaya.

Selama itu, pendidikan kewartawanan di Malaysia tidak banyak berubah dari segi penumpuan kepada teknik penulisan dan penerbitan. Kewartawanan Melayu tidak dikaji dan diajar secara khusus. Malah, kewartawanan diajar tanpa konteks dan korpus.

Kajian sejarah persuratkhabaran Melayu tidak mendapat sambutan di sekolah-sekolah kewartawanan kerana ia tidak dianggap satu bidang yang sahih - ia dianggap tidak dapat menghasilkan apa-apa kemahiran dari segi teknik penulisan, pengeluaran dan penerbitan.

Banyak kajian sosiologi dan sejarah persuratkhabaran Melayu dilakukan oleh jabatan-jabatan sejarah dan sosiologi, dan jabatan pengajian Melayu.

Sudah tiba masanya sekolah-sekolah kewartawanan di Malaysia mendekati kewartawanan dan persuratkhabaran dari sudut sejarah, sosiologi, antropologi, linguistik dan bidang-bidang lain dalam mencari teori, nilai dan kaedah dalam konteks dan pengalaman identiti dan negara bangsa.


Cara Berfikir Pak Saamad

Itulah yang dapat kita garap daripada penulisan dan perjuangan A. Samad Ismail, Syed Syaikh al-Hady dan Abdullah Munsyi. Penubuhan kursi pengajian kewartawanan bukan hanya membolehkan kita mengingati etos dan sejarah persuratkhabaran dan kewartawanan Melayu khasnya dan Malaysia amnya.

Ia juga membolehkan satu transformasi dalam bidang pengajian kewartawanan itu sendiri dalam melihat kewartawanan bukan sahaja sebagai teknik penulisan dan penerbitan, tetapi juga sebagai kaedah dan jelmaan falsafah dan pemikiran, pembentukan ekspresi bahasa dan budaya, dan jalinan politik dan perubahan.(Utusan Malaysia Online 18 Sept. 08)

Komen:
Di samping Allahyarham Tan Sri A. Samad Ismail, bidang kewartawann perlu turut mengiktiraf jasa tokoh wartawan terdahulu. Di samping Abdullah Munsyi dan Syed Sheikh Al-Hadi turut diIKTIRAF jasanya ialah Abdul Rahim Kajai, mentor A. Samad Ismail sendiri, Yuaof Ishak, bekas Presiden Singapua dan Abdul Aziz Ishak, bekas Menteri Pertanian (adik-beradik),Tan Sri A. Samad Idris, Pak Melan Abdullah, dan Pak Sako. Ada pula Keris Mas dan Usman Awang, yang bertugas si Utusan Melayu sebelum berhijrah ke Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Ada pula yang masih aktif hari ini seperti Dato' Mazlan Nordin, Tan Sri Azhari Taib, dan Dato' A. Samad Said (walaupun tumpunan khusus kepada dunia sastera). Dalam kalangan wanita, ada pula peranan yang dimainkan Tan Sri Aishah Ghani, Adibah Amin, Puan Azah Aziz,Khadijah Hashim dan Zaharah Nawawi, sekadar menyebut beberapa nama.


Tan Sri Aishah Ghani, bekas wartawan yang pada hari ini aktif dalam politik


Puan Azah Aziz, tokoh budaya yang juga bekas wartawan

Semua ini menyebabkan "kita" terpanggil untuk bukan setakaat Kerusi Kewartawnan tetapi jauh lebih besar, seperti mewujudkan Fakulti Kewaratawanan yang serba lengkap. Pada hari ini ia mungkin telah wujud tetapi belum sempurna sebagai sebuah fakulti yang mampu menyediakan bidang-bidang yang menawarkan ilmu komunikasi dan kewartawanan secara menyeluruh dan bersifat holistik.

Di negara jiran, Indonesia,misalnya, Universitas Padjajaran Bandung, telah mewujudkan Fakulti Ilmu Komunikasi (sebelumnya dikenali dengan Fakulti Publisistik) sejak tahun 1957 lagi. Pada awalnya tiga jabatan diadakan, iaitu Jurusan Kewartawanan, Jurusan Penerangan dan Jurusan Public Relations. Ramai pelajar Malaysia telah menjadi alumni faklti bekenaan, antaranya termasuklah Dato' Seri Dr. Sulaiman Mohamad (Bekas Timbalan Menteri Kesihatan, Prof. Dr. Bukhary Ismail (UITM), Ismail Hamzah (bekas Pengurus Besar Aset KTMB), dan Razali Aziz (bekas Pengarah Penerangan NegeriPahang).

Barangkali Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi boleh memikirkan cadangan ini dengan kerjaama Malaysian Press Institute, yang kini diterajui Dato' Chamil Wariya. UITM, UKM atau Universiti Malaya boleh dijadikan institusi pengajian tinggi yang mempelepori fakulti ini. Untuk berkongsi pengalaman institusi pelopor ini bolehlah mendapatkan kerjasama daripa UNPAD Bandung atau Universitas Indonesia (hanya ada jabatan sahaja), atau untuk lebih "glamour" kunjungi berkongsi pengalaman diadakan di universiti-universiti terkemuka yang ada menawarkan fakulti dalam bidang kewrtawanan ini di Amerika Syarikat, United Kingdom atau Jerman.

Sekarang ini pun telah wujud kerjasama kebudayaan antara UKM dengan UNPAD atau kerjasama saintifik (keilmuan) dalam bidang sebaran am antara UM dengan UNPAD.

TOKOH ADAT PERPATEH NORHALIM IBRAHIM BERPULANG MENEMUI PENCIPTANYA

Norhalim Ibrahim (kanan ) bersama Datu-datuk adat di Chengkau sewaktu penggambaran episod Jejak Bahasa DBP-TV3 tahun 2001


Norhalim berkisah tentang perlantikan Undang Rembau yg pertama dalam kolum "Sembang-Sembang yang disiarkan dalam Utusan Zaman

Curator Muzium Adat Jelebu meninggal

REMBAU 5 Sept. - Pakar rujuk adat dan budaya negeri, Profesor Norhalim Ibrahim, 64, meninggal dunia akibat sakit jantung di Hospital Pakar Seremban, petang semalam.
Allahyarham yang juga Kurator Muzium Adat di Kuala Klawang, Jelebu menghembuskan nafas terakhir pada pukul 5.45 petang.
Menurut adiknya, Norzali Ibrahim, 57, abangnya telah dimasukkan ke hospital itu sejak 26 Ogos lalu kerana sakit yang dihidapinya.
Bekas pensyarah Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) itu adalah juga anggota Jawatankuasa Penyelidikan Budaya Negeri Sembilan.

Buku Glosari Adat Negeri Sembilan tulisan Norhalim Ibrahim, tajaan Perbadanan Perputakaan Negeri Sembilan.

Allahyarham juga dianggap tokoh sejarah, adat, budaya dan warisan Negeri Sembilan kerana banyak menghasilkan buku, artikel dan sebagainya.
Di samping itu Allahyarham juga banyak menyumbang artikel kepada akhbar Utusan Malaysia melalui ruangan Adat Perpatih yang diwujudkan setahun lalu.
''Beliau merupakan pakar rujuk adat dan sentiasa mahu memartabatkan adat serta budaya negeri ini kepada umum. Allahyarham adalah penyelidik kental dalam adat perpatih," kata Ketua Biro Utusan Malaysia Seremban, Ainol Amriz Ismail.
Antara orang kenamaan yang menziarahi jenazah Allahyarham ialah Undang Luak Rembau, Datuk Lela Maharaja Datuk Muhamad Sharif Othman dan Tunku Besar Tampin, Tunku Syed Razman Tunku Syed Idrus.
Sementara itu, Pengarah Muzium Negeri, Shamsuddin Ahmad berkata, Allahyarham banyak menghasilkan buku mengenai sejarah adat dan budaya Negeri Sembilan.
''Allahyarham adalah seorang yang tidak lokek memberi ilmu, pandangan dan sentiasa bersedia bekerjasama untuk membuat penyelidikan mengenai sejarah, adat dan budaya Negeri Sembilan," katanya.
Penghulu Luak Ulu Muar, Datuk Seri Maharaja Khalid Bongek pula berkata, sumbangan besar Allahyarham ialah membuat penyelidikan terutama mengenai Adat Perpatih dan sejarah Negeri Sembilan.
''Kali terakhir saya berjumpa Allahyarham ialah semasa beliau membentang kertas kerjanya bertajuk Institusi Beraja di Negeri Sembilan di Dewan Merdeka, Rembau pada 29 Jun lepas," katanya.

Buku "Negeri Yang Sembilan" mendapat kritikan positif daripada Tan Sri Prof. Khoo Kay Kim dan Prof. Dato' Shamsul Amri Baharuddin (UKM).
Allahyarham meninggalkan seorang isteri, Aiani Sudin, 40-an dan lima anak serta empat orang cucu.
Jenazah Allahyarham dibawa pulang ke rumah ibunya di Kampung Mulia, di sini, dan dikebumikan di tanah Perkuburan Islam Pekan Rembau sebelum solat Jumaat. (Utusan Malaysia, 6 eptember 2008).

Komen:
Seorang tokoh budaya dan mantan pensyarah Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)yang gigih menggali sejarah silam tentang Adat Perpatih. Saya amat mengagumi semangatnya untuk mengetengahkan sistem adat ini tanpa prejudis sejarah.fakta adat dan sejarahnya dengan menyisihkan mitos seboleh mungkin menjadi pegangannya ketika menulis. Bebarapa buah buku adat dihasilkannya, terutama dengan Fajar Bakti, antaranya "Negeri Yang Sembilan", Sejarah Linggi" dan "Perkahwinan Adat". Masih segar dalam ingatan bantuannya kepada program Jejak Bahasa DBP-TV3 di Negeri Sembilan. Beliau pakar rujuk untuk episod Negeri Sembilan untuk bidang adat dan perkahwinan. Beliau dibantu seorang lagi budayawan Abd. Latiff Rahman di Lubok China untuk penggambaran kehidupan komuniti Orang Asli di Bukit Kendong pada tahun 2001.

Norhalim adalah dari suku Batu Hampar, Rembau yang menurut sejarahnya menjadi tempat tinggal Datuk Leteh, yang datang dari Minagkabau untuk menjaga orang Minang di rantau Minang ini.

Buku terakhirnya ialah "Glosari Adat di Negeri Sembilan" yang diterbitkan pada tahun 2002, tajaan Jabatan Perpustakaan Negeri Sembilan.

IN MEMORIUM: TAN SRI A. SAMAD ISMAIL (1924 - 2008)

Pak Samad's story as appeared in one of the Utusan weekly Jawi paper, Utusan Zaman in mid-1990's.


A book on Pak Samad by A. Karim Abdullah of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

2008/09/05

Obituary - Tan Sri A. Samad Ismail (1924-2008): The thinking man’s editor
By : Balan Moses

TAN Sri A. Samad Ismail, or Pak Samad to the many who knew him as journalist, nationalist, social historian and raconteur, was a man who lived his life the way he wanted to. No one could tell the man — nay, some would say legend — what he should do, say, or heaven forbid, write. Irrepressible to the point of being deemed insufferable by those who did not enjoy his wry sense of humour or colourful language that brought out the blushes in the uninitiated, he was his own man — and he never let anyone forget that.

There was many a time when the New Straits Times newsroom would resound to a loud guffaw that would reverberate within the walls for seconds, journalists there smiling knowingly to acknowledge that Pak Samad was in the house. There he was: wiry with a full head of hair above a wide forehead and a lean and hungry look perpetually on his face except when he joked and a huge but fleeting grin broke out.
The thick and wide glasses, which often hid a penetrating stare, gave him an academic air which quickly went up in smoke when the ribald jokes began.

As smoke trailed from the ubiquitous cigarette which he dragged on hard when charged, one knew that he was deep in thought. Of whether his rumination was about the affairs of the newsroom or the next colourful joke, no one knew.Despite the semblance of jocularity, he was dead serious when it came to journalism and he never let anyone, especially journalists, forget it.

It was just that journalism was ingrained in the man who attained iconic status over the years among journalists and media watchers nationwide and around the world. rguably the best bilingual journalist Malaysia ever produced and a Ramon Magsaysay awardwinner for journalism, he could charm the boots off readers with classy prose of such depth none could ever forget. Such was the style of the boy from Kampung Melayu, Singapore, who strode through different newsrooms from the 1940s to the early years of the 21st century, making his mark in every place.

The 1920s and 1930s left an indelible mark on his persona: there was a certain softness towards the underclass, the downtrodden and the underprivileged which refused to let him go. His affection for those sidelined to the periphery of society was part of the man, but the surface had to be scratched to see it. It certainly showed in his writing over the years. It was this love for the poor and neglected that would be used against him in later years by those in authority who did not want Pak Samad near the powers-that-be who had his ear.

It was also this singular element that took the Tokoh Wartawan Negara, an award he received in later years, to great heights in journalism. Starting 67 years ago as a 17-year-old in the Japanese Occupation-run Berita Malai, he never looked back as he became editor of the war-time newspaper as a 21-year-old, a senior Utusan Melayu staffer by 30, Berita Harian editor at 34 and finally managing editor and deputy editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times Group at 49. Even after retirement, there was no keeping him down.

He returned to the New Straits Times as editorial adviser in 1981, no less vitriolic. (Between 1976 and 1981, he was detained under the Internal Security Act for an alleged plot to garner Malay support for the Communist Party of Malaya.) He left in 1987, only to be re-appointed in 2000 as editorial adviser, with little having changed with the old man of journalism.

Few on the newsdesk can forget how he would come into the office a little after 7am daily and start work on his trusty old typewriter (he never learnt to use the computer). The first pages to leave his desk would be about followups to stories in the morning newspaper, ending with story ideas that reporters could work on. And that was the measure of the man: hard-working, a peoplewatcher and a journalist who was never satisfied with average writing from himself or others.

These were traits finely etched on his persona from his heady days as a cub reporter on the staff of the Utusan Melayu just before World War 2. The British after the war knew they had trouble on their hands in the form of the young Samad who already had a following, and jailed him briefly in 1946.But Samad was not to be restrained, the episode merely leading to closer ties with Malay nationalists and another dalliance with incarceration which saw him in jail for two years from 1951.

On his release in 1953, he returned to the Utusan Melayu but politics proved far too attractive for the nationalist who yearned for a nation without the manacles of colonialism.He became a founding father of the People’s Action Party along with Lee Kuan Yew who, in later years, would almost sever ties with his erstwhile friend and compatriot. Samad came back to Malaya where he worked with Berita Harian and was later to figure largely in the creation of the New Straits Times, out of the Singapore-based Straits Times.

But a part of his heart remained always in the southern island which contributed much to his worldview. Acerbic in English and Bahasa Malaysia, his critique of life and contemporary themes as Malaysians knew them drew as many bouquets as they did brickbats.In later years, time may have robbed him of many things but not the acuity that was second nature to Pak Samad. In hospital in his last days, he struggled to speak when visitors came but though his mouth may have been bound by illness they knew his spirit was free as it always had been. Admittedly, he was reduced to a shadow of the man that his family, friends and colleagues had known but to them, nothing had changed.

He was still a giant who had always been larger than life. (NST Online, 5 September 2008)

Comment
My mentor in journalism has finally made his last journey, today 5 September 2008. I had the privelege of working under him in late 1971 and early 1972, after being successfully recruited as a cadet reporter with Berita Harian. He was the Editor then, with A.Samad Said the chief-sub.
Innalilah iwainna ilaii raji'un. Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas rohnya.Amin!

PAK SAMAD: SEMOGA CEPAT SIHAT DENGAN DOA IRINGAN

Pak Samad Ismail (gambar Utusan Malaysia)
Buah pinggang Pak Samad semakin lemah - anak
04/09/2008 1:34pm


KUALA LUMPUR 4 Sept - Keadaan kesihatan Tokoh Kewartawanan Negara Tan Sri Abdul Samad Ismail semakin merosot hari ini, dengan buah pinggangnya kini sangat lemah, kata anaknya, Nuraina.

“Keadaannya tidak bagus langsung, walaupun mesin dialisis sudah dipasang ia tidak menunjukkan perubahan malah doktor memberitahu buah pinggang ayah sangat lemah ketika ini dan hari ini doktor akan melakukan dialisis lagi untuk melihat perkembangan seterusnya, “ katanya ketika dihubungi Bernama.

Abdul Samad, 84, yang lebih dikenali sebagai Pak Samad, dimasukkan ke Unit Rawatan Rapi (ICU) Pusat Perubatan Pantai pada 25 Ogos lepas akibat jangkitan paru-paru.

Keadaan kesihatan beliau menunjukkan kemajuan pada peringkat awal sebelum kembali tenat sejak Sabtu lepas setelah masalah jangkitan paru-parunya merebak ke organ lain. — Bernama (Petikan Utusan Malaysia Online)

Komen:
Semoga bekas bos saya ini (ketika menjadi wartawan tahun 1970 di Berita Harian), dapat segera sembuh menjelang lebaran yang bakal tiba tiga minggu lagi. Dengan iringan doa daripada kami anak-anak buahnya.