Tan Sri Dato’ Hj. Mazlan Nordin, 1993-2012

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. He was a recipient of the Asean Award conferred by the Asean Culture and Information Committee in 1987, Exemplary Journalist by the Malaysian Malay Journalist Association in 1996 and the Tokoh Wartawan Malaysia in 2001. He was UKM PhD Honorary degree awardee and was UKM’s guest writer twice, for about four years, first in 2004 and later in 2010. Mazlan had served as Chairman of the Malaysian Press Institute for 15 years (1987-1996) and Chairman of Aidcom from 1993 and had also served as Chairman of the Press foundation of Asia from 2002.