PAK SAMAD

UiTM Introduces 'Pak Samad' Chair

SHAH ALAM, Aug 10 (Bernama) -- Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) on Tuesday introduced A. Samad Ismail Chair under the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies (FCMS) to improve the knowledge of Malaysian communication and media studies at international level.

The Chair is also created with the aim of recognising the contributions of literary, Malay journalism and media in the struggle for independence as well as in the mind and personality development of the people.

UiTM vice-chancellor Datuk Prof Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar said FCMS was chosen by the Higher Education Ministry to manage the Chair based on several factors including the fact that it was the first university faculty in Malaysia to specialise in communications and media studies.

Besides, he said most of the editors in the current media organizations were UiTM graduates and some even had the privilege to learn directly from the late Tan Sri A. Samad Ismail, or better known as Pak Samad, when he worked as a part-time lecturer in the faculty, back in the 1970s.

Dr Sahol said many literary researches could be conducted, especially on the life of the country's most prominent journalist who helped inscribe Malaysia's history since the British and Japanese occupations, to the post-independence era.

Dr Sahol said research could also be conducted on new media like blogs, which clearly posed a threat to the print media, to the extent of causing the number of newspaper readers worldwide to decline, and newspaper companies to close shop.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah who attended the launch said the Chair was the first in local universities to be named after a journalist.

He said the Chair would also uplift the status of the research on Pak Samad to the regional level as he was not only a well-known figure in Malaysia, but also in Indonesia and Singapore.

SOURCE by BERNAMA