Past Chairmen

Datuk A. Kadir Jasin was born on August 23, 1947 in Kampung Tanah Merah, Pendang, Kedah. He won a Colombo Plan scholarship in 1971 to study journalism at the Wellington Polytechnic, New Zealand, and in 1977, the Berlin Senate scholarship to attend the Advanced Journalism Course at the Berlin International Institute of Journalism. He joined the national news agency, Bernama, in 1969 and in 1976, he moved to The New Straits Times Press Group as one of the pioneering staff of Business Times. He went on to become Associated Editor of Business Times, Group Editor of Berita Harian, Group Editor of the New Straits Times and finally Group Editor-in-Chief of The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd until 31 May 2000.

Datuk Seri Azman held various posts in Bernama in a career spanning 37 years before his retirement in June 2008 as the general manager, a post to which he was appointed in March 2007. The Sarawakian began his career with Bernama as a cadet reporter at the Bernama Sarawak Bureau in 1971 and was promoted to head the Bernama Sabah Bureau in 1982. Azman was promoted to various editorial positions before he rose to become the editor-in-chief in 2004. He was appointed Bernama editorial advisor until September 2009. He was also the advisor to BernamaTV from July 2008 to April 2010.

Zainon Ahmad was a veteran journalist of Malaysia. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Sun of Malaysia. Later he voluntarily opted for the post of Political Editor of the same paper. Until his death (26 March 2013), he was also the chairman of the Asian Institute for Development Communication (Aidcom). Zainon was bestowed the Media Personality Award in 2010 in Malaysia. He was also honoured for his contribution to the development of communication and journalism in Malaysia and South East Asia. In recognition of the legacy, Aidcom has set up a Media Resource Centre, 'Zainon Ahmad Media Resource Centre' at Unisel which was declared opened on 4 December 2013.

Tan Sri Mazlan dedicated himself to journalism for 62 years until he passed away on 22 March 2012 at the age of 86. Born in Tanjung Malim Perak, he studied at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar but his studies was interrupted by the war. In 1950, he joined Utusan Melayu in Singapore as a reporter and worked for two years with the Malay Service of the Voice of America in New York until 1953 when he rejoined Utusan in Singapore. He joined Berita Harian in 1956 and was made the first Editor-in-Chief of Bernama in 1971. He returned to Utusan as the Group's Editor-in-chief in 1973 and was promoted as its Managing Director, serving until 1986. He was a prolific writer writing the 'Awang Selamat' column in Mingguan Malaysia, a column in Asiaweek, Personally Speaking in The New Straits Times, a fortnightly column in the Sun.