KUALA LUMPUR: A contest or programme should be organised in the name of the late Datuk Ahmad A. Talib to commemorate his service in journalism and humanity, proposed Datuk A. Kadir Jasin.
Kadir, a Tokoh Wartawan Negara (National Journalism Laureate Award winner) and comrade of Ahmad Talib since entering the field of journalism, said with the programme, the journalistic community if not the community at large could get to know him better.
Kadir, a former chairman of Bernama, said he got to know him when they joined Bernama as cadet reporters in 1969 and 1972, respectively.
“He was an interesting person, and as I recall, if there was something which I could differentiate Ahmad Talib from the other journalists, including myself, is about him championing journalism and humanity.
“He was also known as a good person who did not get angry, during my time with him in the New Straits Times, journalists whom I had reprimanded would always go to him,” he said.
A. Kadir shared his memories after a tahlil prayer for the veteran journalist organised by Bernama and joined by close friends and comrades of Ahmad Talib at Wisma Bernama, here today.
Also present were former Bernama Supervisory Council member and former Media Prima Bhd chairman Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar, former Bernama chairmen Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Sulaiman and Datuk Seri Azman Ujang as well as Bernama acting chief executive officer and editor-in-chief, Datuk Mokhtar Hussain.
Ahmad, fondly known as ‘Tok Mat’, or Ahmad Talib among his friends, died at the age of 69 at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (PPUM) here on May 26 after battling liver cancer.
He had held the post of Berita Harian assistant editor, New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd (NSTP) group editor, NSTP group general manager (Communications and Editorial Marketing) as well as executive director of NSTP and Media Prima Bhd.
Meanwhile, Johan who is 2018 Tokoh Wartawan Negara, said he knew Ahmad Talib for about 30 years and described him as a man of many colours.
“Even with multicolours, we are unable to catch an image of the real Ahmad Talib, I believe that is Ahmad Talib, his uniqueness is because he is almost an enigma because nobody really knows who Ahmad Talib is, not even his closest friend.
“I knew him for 30 years but sometimes it is difficult to read him but he is a good friend in good and bad times,” he said.
Also sharing his memories was Mokhtar, who described Ahmad as a brother and a leader to young journalists, this apart from being a person who has deep concerns on humanitarian matters.
“He was active in Yayasan Salam, in times of major floods, he would always ask how can we help journalists, so a fund was proposed,” he added. - Bernama
