As I write this, the nation celebrates the 50^th year of the demise of an icon.  In 2021, I wrote an essay titled “P Ramlee: The Getaran of the Modern Malay Hikayat Lives on.”  But this does not seem to be of Malay journalism or whatever that journalism can relate to the nation’s past or present. The rhetoric goes on, without commitment. But P. Ramlee certainly was aware of the power of the press. In the decade of the 1950s,  as narrated by Sasterawan Negara Abdullah Hussein, his biographer,  the maestro established the Penerbitan P. Ramlee, publishing the perodical Gelanggang Filem. Between 1951 and 1961, Abdullah was a journalist for the magazine, writing on P. Ramlee.

One was later published in Pulau Pinang in 1966 titled Gagak di Rimba. Is journalism the gagak di rimba in the Malaysian historical, intellectual and political landscape? The rhetoric in recent times certainly says so. And the absence on any commitment to the journalism of the past, the luminaries who forged the nation since the 1830s if we take Abdullah Munsyi as the first journalist in Malaysia is glaring. True, we have the Tokoh Wartawan Negara Award, and the Kajai Awards.  And we have mentioned many-many times in speeches the contributions of those in the likes of Syed Shaikh al-Hadi, Za’ba, Pak Sako and A. Samad Ismail. 

The journalism of the past if different from today’s social media, they, including journalist would say.  Those were the days of the newspapers. But who reads newspapers today, there is citizen journalism and the social media, it is technology and speed. Even when today’s journalists talk of journalism, as we have seen over the media in the weeks before and throughout the end of HAWANA 2023, the National Journalists’ Day celebration, not a single practitioner of the profession uttered the words ‘views’, ‘opinion’ ‘commentary’, ‘The leader’ or the essay as integral to the profession. All would focus on news, or news coverage in the online sense and social media.  What have we lost?

Simply put, and this is a simplistic way of saying it – journalism is in the business of news and views. No member of the profession, interviewed on their profession, over the decades as far as I remember, ever mentioned ‘views.’ There also seems to be a misplaced concern for the online and social media. Journalism is manifested in all platforms – print, digital, etc. This has been for almost 200 years of its existence in Malaysia. To remind ourselves, journalism is not only through newspapers. And journalism not only centres on the news genre, but various news subgenres; and various opinion genres, ranging from leader writing, to commentaries, criticisms, columns and essays.

To ignore the Malay journalism in the first half of the last century is to marginalize the forging of the modern nation of Malaysia. Without journalists, newspapers and periodicals, there cannot be social, intellectual and political solidarity. The luminaries of Malay journalism must be appropriated, like officially declaring them as pejuang wartawan negara. Post 1970 journalism in Malaysia in a continuation of the genesis of Malay and Malay-language journalism. Journalism in Malaysia in the new millennium with all its portals appear to pretend to be autonomous from previous periods in the nation’s history. This is a fallacy.

There is no culture of cultaviating the past of journalism for the future. The national institutions must recontexrtualize and revitalize Malay journalism as the basis of Malaysian journalism. Among the steps to take are as follows: (1) establish Chairs on Journalism in the universities; (2) declare former journalists and editors as ‘Pejuang Nasional’ and (3) name/rename major roads in each town; and other institutions   after a journalist/newspaper editor. There is a ‘Jalan Zaaba in Seremban,  Lorong Zaaba in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, and Lorong Zaaba in Tanjong Malim, situated at the end of the town.  His name should be immortalized more prominently in Tanjung Malim for that was where, at the Maktab Perguruan Sultan Idris, from the mid 1920s, he developed and established his views intergral to Malay intellectual, cultural and political life. Zaaba wrote for periodicals like Pengasoh (1917 – ), Utusan Melayu (1939 – ) and Lembaga Melayu (1914-31).

The following are names of journalists and editors/persons associated with the Bahasa Melayu Press before 1942, adapted from William R. Roff’s Bibliography of Malay and Arabic Periodicals published in the Straits Settlements and Peninsular Malay States 1876-1941 (London: Oxford University Press,1972).

Abbas Mohd Taha, Haji	Fadlullah Suhaimi	Mohd. Eunos Abdullah
Abdul Aziz, Haji	Faraz Talib, Sayyid	Mohd. Eunos Raja Haji Ahmad, Raja
Abdul Aziz Hassani	Ghulam Kadar	Mohd, Ghazali Mohd. Arifin
Abdul Aziz bin Shaykh Rahmat, Haji	Al-Habshi, Abdullah Abdul Rahman	Mohd. Hashim Yunus
Abdul Ghani Abdullah	Al-Hadi, Sayyid Alwi Sayyid Shaykh	Mohd. Hassan Riau
Abdul Ghani Haji Hassan, Haji	Al-Hadi, Sayyid Shaykh Ahmad	Mohd. Husain Rafi’e, Shaykh
Abdul Ghani Mohd. Kassim	Hamed, Sayyid M.A.M.A.K. Chisty	Mohd. Hussein Abdul Rashid
Abdul Ghani Tahir	Harun Shah	Mohd. Idrus Haji Suleiman
Abdul Hamid Fadzil al-Muari, Haji	Hasan Abdullah	Mohd. Isa Abdullah
Abdul Hamid HassanAbdul Hamid Markam	Hashim al-Ruji	Mohd. Ismail Abdul Kadir
Abdul Hamid Miskin	Hassan Haji Abdul Manan	Mohd. Johari Anang
Abdul Hamid Mohd.	Hassan Hajab, Shaykh	Mohd. Kassim, M.
Abdul Hamid Haji Mohd.	Hassa Mohd.	Mohd. Kassim Bakry, Haji
Abdul Hamid Haji Taha	Hassan Haji Omar	Mohd. Haji Mohd. Said, Haji (Dato’ Bentara Jaya)
Abdul Hassan  Burhan, Sayyid	Hassan Shahab, Sayyid	Mohd. Noh al-Azahari
Abdul Kadir Setia Raja, Haji	Husin Baba	Mohd. Noor Faiz, Haji
Adbul Kadir Ahmad (Abdul Kadir Adabi)	Ibni Hassan	Mohd. Noor Haji Mohd. Ismail al-Khalidi, Haji
Abdul Kadir b. Mohd. B. Yahya, Sayyid	Ibrahim Akibi, Haji	Mohd. Noordin Haji Ali
Abdul Karim Ismail	Ibrahim Aman, Haji	Mohd. Nur Abdul Rahman
Abdul Latif Hamidi	Ibrahim Haji Ya’akub	Mohd. Nur Ibrahim
Abdul Latiph Haji Abdul Majid, Haji	Ishak Lutfi Omar	Mohd. Nurdin Taja Deli, Raja
Abdul Majid Sabil	Ishak Haji Mohd, Haji	Mohd. Omar Haji Bakar
Abdul Majid Zainuddin, Haji	Ismail Haji Ali	Mohd. Rahman Ansari, Hafiz
Abdul Rahim Kajai	Ismail H.M. Said	Mohd. Rakawi Yusop
Abdul Rahman Abu Bakar, Shaykh	Ismail Ja’afar	Mohd. Rashid Haji Mustafa, Haji
Abdul Rahman Daud	Ismail Pekerma Tengku Pekerma Raja, Tengku	Mohd. Sa’ad Haji Muda (Sa’ad Shukri)
Abdul Rahman Jamaluddin	Ismaon Mohd. Yunus	Mohd. Said, Haji
Abdul Rahman Haji Kassim, Haji	Ja’afar Abdul Rahman	Mohd. Said Ali alMalakawi
Abdul Rahman al-Yobi	Ja’afar Jaji Mohd. Taib, Haji	Mohd. Said Dada Mohyiddin, Munshi
Abdul Wahab Abdul Rahman	Jamaluddin, A.M.	Mohd. Said Haji Awang, Haji
Abdul Wahab Abdullah	Jilani, Sayyid A.W.	Mohd. Salleh Alwi
Abdul Wahab Zain	al-Juneid,  Sayyid Abdullah Omar	Mohd. Samin Taib
Abdullah Jaafar	Al-Juneid, Sayyid Mohd.	Mohd. Shahid Haji Abdullah
Abdullah Mahi	Jusoh Abdullah	Mohd. Sharif Dayah
Abdullah Mohd. Taib	Kadar Sahib, S.P.S.K.	Mohd Haji Sulang
Ahmad Haji Abdul Rahman	Kamal-ud-Din, Kwaja	Mohd. Tahir Jalaluddin, Shaykh
Ahmad, Tengku Temenggong (Johore)	Karamah Baladran, Shaykh	Mohd. Taib Haji Mohd. Hashim
Ahmad Boestamam	Kassim Salleh	Mohd. Taib Mohd. Saman, Haji
Ahmad Dahlan Langkat, Haji	Mahmud Abdul Kadir al-Hindi	Mohd. Tamim Sutan Deman
Ahmad Hussain Dahlan, Sayyid	Mahmud Ahmad	Mohd. Yaacob Baginda
Ahmad Isa Banjari	Mahmud Haji Wan Daud, Haji Wan	Mohd. Yaakub Raja Bilah, Haji
Ahmad Ismail	Mahmud Khatib Haji Mohd. Said	Mohd. Yasin Ma’amur
Ahmad Nawawi Mohd. Ali	Mansor Raja Abdul Kadir, Raja	Mohd. Yunus Abdul Hamid
Ahmad Noor Abdul Shukor	Marican, K. Sultan	Mohd. Yunus Ahmad, Raja
Ahmad Nur Abdul Shukur	Mohd. Dato’ Muda	Mohd. Yusop Salleh
Ahmad bin Shaykh  (Sayyid)	Mohd. Abdul Aleem Saheb Siddiqi al-Qadiri, Maulana Shah	Mohd. Yusup Kechil
Ahmad bin Haji Taib	Mohd Adnan Mohd Arifin	Mohd. Yusup Abu Bakar
Albar, Sayyid Alwi Omar	Mohd. Agil Yahya, Sayyid	Mohd. Yusup Kechik
Ali al-Zahari, Sayyid	Mohd. Ali, Maulvi	Mohd. Zain Haji Ibrahim
Ali, Munshi N.M.	Mohd. Ali Abduh	Nasir, Tengku Sayyid
Alsagoff, Sayyid Hussein Ali	Mohd. Ali Ahmad al-Johari	Noh Ali, Haji
Alsagoff, Sayyid Mohd Zain	Mohd. Ali Ghulam al-Hindi, Munshi	Noh Ali Bafdzal
Alsagoff, S.A.O.	Mohd. Ali Harun al-Hindi	Noordin Sulong
Alsagoff, Sayyid Taha Abu Bakar	Mohd. Ali Mohd. al-Rawi	Omar Khan
Alwi Abdul Kadir al-Hindi	Mohd. Alias	Onn Ja’afar
Aminah Abdul Jalil	Mohd Che’ Ambi	Osman Raja Ja’afar, Raja
Anang, K.	Mohd. Amin	Othman Ali, Megat
Anda Haji Abdul Jama’, Haji	Mohd. Amin Nayan	Othman Hassan
Ariffin Haji Alias	Mohd. Amin Taib	Othman Kalam
Ashaari Mohd. Isa	Mohd. Arad Haji Ali, Haji	Othman Mohd. Akib
al-Attas, Sayyid Abdullah	Mohd. Arifin Ishak	Othman Mohd. Ali
al-Attas, Sayyid Zin Hasan	Mohd. Asa’ad Haji Muda (Sa’ad Shukri)	Othman Mohd. Noor, Raja
Ba Faqih, Sayyid Ahmad Omar	Mohd. Awi Anang	Othman Haji Mohd, Said, Haji
Bahanan Yusop	Mohd. Damih Ibrahim	Othman Shaykh, Sayyid
Daharoz, A.K.	Mohd. Daud Abdul Ghani, Haji	Suleiman Ahmad
Daud Suleiman	Mohd. Daud Haji Mohd. Salleh	Yusoff Ishak
Dibab Haji Mohd. Salleh	Mohd. Dom Hassan	Zin Suleiman, Hajah

These names should be formally honoured and recognized and  inscribed in the list of Pejuang Kewartawanan Negara.

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