1963 was a
significant year for the country, broadcasting and yours truly.
Six years
after “Merdeka” (independent) on 31 August 1957 we were on the verge of
formation of a greater Federation of Malaysia on 16 September. Ten weeks later
on 7 November, I changed career to be a broadcaster in Radio Malaysia, and 7
weeks after that the new broadcasting media arrived in the country with the
launching of Television Malaysia, initially for the folk around the Federal
Capital Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding Kelang Valley beginning 28 December
1963.
I have never
dreamt of being a broadcaster but a friend tipped me to apply for the post of
“Temporary Broadcasting (BA2)” in the Malay Broadcast of Radio Malaysia. After
a stringent script and voice tests I was offered the job with an attractive remuneration
of $550 basic which was a lot of money then. Initially the job was to write
scripts for the documentary and magazine programme, most of which entailed
either translating or adapting from the original English script into Malay.
This was before I was given the task of writing my own scripts and producing
the programme. It was a while later that I was allowed to go on the air after
several trials by my bosses. It was formidable to be allowed to be on the air,
a no mean feat for a rookie.
It was a
busy time for the new Radio Department as it was entrusted with the task of
being the national radio broadcaster for the new Federation of Malaysia with
its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur at the Federal House building. From a mere
feeder station it has grown up to be a full fledge radio broadcaster of 18
hours daily for its anchor, the Malay Service. The role of Malay as the
national language was enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
At the same
time across town at Dewan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Ampang, The Department of
Television was being prepared for its launching for the Kelang Valley area on
28 December 1963. There was not much fanfare as broadcasting was small those
days. The role and the impact of the broadcasting media as a mean of national
unity were down-played. It was the newspapers which was also small in numbers
that trumpeted the coming of the new media sporadically in brief. Television
sets were snapped up like hot “goring pisang” in the shops as the TV
broadcasters were testing their signals for sometimes. I didn’t have much time
to get excited over the affairs as I was busy being tied up to my new chores at
the office and studios but I updated myself with its progress.
Malaysia
could be considered among the earliest country in the world to introduced
television (TV) broadcast. In fact it
was only after World War II that TV was officially introduced in many countries
in the west as well as Japan. The German introduced live broadcast of the
opening ceremony of the Berlin Olympics in 1936 to reinforce its position as a
great country. It failed to utilise the medium as a propaganda tool due to the
failure of its sporting team on the field of competition, as the American team
was dominating most of the events. Excitement was in the air with its
introduction. Thanks to the progressive minded Prime Minister Tengku Abdul
Rahman for its introduction and using the medium as a window to see the world.
Tengku realised the impact of the media as he was a witness to its beginning in
UK while he was a student there.
TV Malaysia
was launched in a grand ceremony in the afternoon of 28 December 1963 by the
Prime Minister Tengku Abdul Rahman Putra at the Dewan Tuanku Abdul Rahman which
has been turned into a TV Studio due to lack of space at the complex. The
ceremony was carried live by Channel 5 for the Kelang Valley area with a
promise of expansion to cover the whole of the west coast of the Peninsular.
I came to
know some of the 8 pioneer producers when they frequented the Federal House
canteen, their former food hunting ground when they were staff of Department of
Radio before opting to the new media. I was introduced to Dato’ Abdullah
Muhamad, Tan Sri Ahmad Merican, Hashim Amir Hamzah, Thomas Mathews and Low Hing
Boon. Then there were Hyacinth Leo and Richard Job from my student days.
I came to
know the late Dato’ Aziz Wok who was my senior at Anderson School, Ipoh. He
took me as his production announcer for his “Kuiz” programme. He also
introduced me to the “sub-title” department enabling me to earn some extra
pocket money. Of course I obtained my boss and the JPA’s permission. That was
my initial encounter with TV’s work.
Then Dato’
Rahim Razali came back after completing his study in Australia in 1964. He was
sought after by Dato’ Abdullah Mohamad, the senior Sports Producer. He spent a
lot of time at my apartment making me more familiar with TV work. After my
confirmation as a permanent a Radio Malaysia, I was sent to take charge of the
Malay broadcast of the Northern Region based in Penang in January 1966. It was
not the end of my relationship with TV work. There were many national events
being held in the North which was carried live by TV Malaysia. As they were
short of experienced personnel to anchor and commentate on the events, I was
selected for the role.
After the 13
May 1969 incident, more events were taking place outside Kuala Lumpur
especially in the North. I had my hands full, including commentating Football
Malaysia Cup Final at the Penang City Stadium that year to ease the pressure of
security at the Federal Capital.
Both
Departments of Radio and TV were merged after the incident under the new
Department of Broadcasting (Radio-TV Malaysia, RTM), a catalyst to the
reorganisation of the Department. A new broadcasting complex was being built
and made ready to function at Bukit Putra, known as Angkasapuri. TV was the
first to move to its permanent home. The Programme work-force was compartmentalised
to specialise functions such as Public Affairs, Drama, Entertainment, beside
the existing News and Current Affairs Department, and the other coordinating
units in TV and Radio. The broadcast was geared towards national unity, muhibah
and national resilience, with the introduction of the New Economic Policy.
The 13 May
incident has a big impact on my career. More events outside Kuala Lumpur were
highlighted as TV expanded its broadcast throughout the Peninsular as well as
to Sabah and Sarawak. Pressure of work increased for us in the Regions. I was
to double up as “stand uppers” for reports from the North. It was exciting time
for a young broadcaster. The Director of Public Affairs programme, Dato’
Sulaiman Alias was quite impressed with my performance and requested for my
transfer to KL, to support his division. In February 1972 I reported for duty
in KL. Initially I was with Radio when the whole operation moved to the
spanking new Wisma Radio in Angkasapuri in mid 1972. I was later appointed the
supervisor of the Radio Public Affairs department, which included Sports under
its wing. Being a new department it was a daunting task building landmarks as
the broadcasting hours were getting longer each day, besides spotting new
talents. To complicate matters, I was asked to double up as TV anchor person
and commentator. I took the responsibility in my stride enjoying the work.
In 1974 I
was transferred to Suara Malaysia, the overseas broadcast component of RTM
better known as the Voice of Malaysia (VOM), when the no 2 man (Programme
Organiser) Manaf Abdullah suddenly passed away. Besides being deputy to the
Head, En Idris Shah, former BBC Malay Broadcaster, I also double-up taking
charge of the Indonesian language broadcast which has long broadcasting hours
in the morning, afternoon and evening. It was “cultural shock” for me, so used
to busy working pace, now enduring multi-tasking at leisurely steps. I didn’t
allow that to upset me. With the longer free hour, En Idris allowed me to
anchor and commentate for TV programmes and coverage, besides reading the main
news over Rangkaian Nasional Radio. At the end of it not many outside the
broadcasting sphere realised I was a staff of VOM, taking for granted I was on
the payroll of TV Malaysia.
When it come
to “coverage” of important national events including sports, I was quite happy
to be on the spot to do TV work and at the same time communicate with my staff
of VOM updating them with the latest. It was a convenient arrangement.
At times
doing work for TV entailed travelling overseas, taking me away from office. I
did a lot of travelling overseas for TV coverage. I appreciate the trust the
department had on me, and gave my best effort for a performance well done.
Among the
sports coverage I have done was 2nd World Cup Hockey Tournament in
Holland in 1973, 10th Commonwealth Games New Zealand, 1974, Montreal
1976 Olympics, Tehran Asian Games1978, 1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina and the
SEA Games series in Jakarta, Thailand and the Philippines.
In 1980 I
was transferred to Head the Public Affairs Division of RTM, inclusive of Radio
and TV. Besides revamping the division, the Director-General Dato Abdullah
Mohamad asked me to present a paper for the establishment of a Sports Division
in RTM. The JPA and the Treasury were positive in their response and the Sports
Division of RTM came into existence on 1st January 1982. I was
appointed its pioneer Head. It was a daunting task at that time as TV broadcast
and production underwent changes in its equipments and methods of work with the
advent of the latest development. Film was suddenly becoming obsolete and
videos were invading in a big way with lighter equipments and smaller size
video tapes and equipments. The 2 inch VTR was no longer in use by the big boys
of broadcasting internationally. In later years it became obsolete with the
advent of the computer and chips.
To
complicate matters, the privatisation policy was in full swing, creeping into
broadcasting with the introduction of TV3 at that time. The new kid on the
block wanted to be known as the “sports channel” by hi-jacking the broadcasting
rights of 1984 Los Angeles Olympics at a price 20 fold higher than agreed upon
with RTM. They were yet to on the air and their trial broadcast was only for
the Kelang Valley area. There was uproar among sports fan outside KL area. TV3
has got no choice but to extend the rights to RTM.
The last minute
stance made the coverage of the LA Olympic 1984 a difficult one for RTM, and
yours truly in particular as the Head of the newly created department in RTM.
Our satellite booking was haphazard as we scourge for the left over. As for the
events to be covered RTM chose to allow TV3 to have the first option, as we
knew the preliminaries and the qualifying round in the earlier part of the
Olympics made no difference in the interest of the audience. RTM manage to hold
its ground with the limited access to the satellite signal. At the end of the
day the press report by the media, especially the Malay Mail, an ally of TV3 at
that time, was in our favour. That set the trend of cooperation and
understanding in coverage between both stations.
My location
of operations shifted from Wisma Radio to Angkasapuri when I headed the Public
Affairs broadcast. Two of the most affected areas in TV when the usage of film
was reduced were the Film Department and the TV Archive Library, both are big
in size of staff and equipments. They were being displaced and had to adapt to
the new development. Suddenly the film operation became redundant. The
cameramen had to be trained in the usage of video cameras. The editors found
themselves with strange new machines. So was the other sector associated with
production such as lighting, sound etc. The bulky 2 inch tape and the large
spool of film are now reduced in size with the advent of video in the library.
The film and the 2 inch video materials now had to be hurriedly transferred to
the new video tapes. The most badly affected area of the film department was
the Laboratory which now became “jumut” (redundant). The chemical used to develop
the film were no longer in used and the staff had to be trained to a new
“operation”. We had a cultural shock as they could not be absorbed into other
Departments such as Filem Negara as it is also affected with the recent
development.
The development
was rapid when we suddenly we found we are going into the “digital” age where
bulky equipments are no longer in fashion. A roomful of film and video can now
be placed in tiny chips. The mobile phones output was now accepted as broadcast
quality when international broadcasters were using them for their news reports.
Revolution was taking over the broadcasting world with the advent of computer
and IT in a big way.
As the Head
of the newly created Sports department RTM I found the operation was dragging
behind with limited budget shared with the Public Affairs. It was then decided
by the Finance Division of the Ministry of Information and the Treasury to
operate the “Akaun Amanah Tajaan” AAT (Sponsorship Trust Account) for the
Sports broadcasts, which was getting good support from the big sponsors. I was
one of the three signatories appointed to operate the account. AAT reduced “red
tapes” in the operation. The operation of the AAT was later expanded to include
the Drama and Entertainment broadcasts which was quite popular with the
sponsors and the audience. Much later AAT also took in the Engineering Division
under its wing for urgent equipments which was newly introduced in the market,
not under purview of the normal budget. Technical development of equipments was
expanding fast.
At the same
time there were changes in the status of staff graduating from Institute
Teknologi MARA (iTM). The JPA recognised the status of their Diploma as a
Degree as the status of their institution was upgraded to University Institut
Teknologi MARA, UiTM. This solved the intake of Producers whose entry
qualification was a degree. Many of the staff with UiTM qualification opted to
be Producers as positions in the other sectors were limited.
As this was
also the time of stream-lining the civil service in term of salary structure,
RTM was also involved. Some staff was placed in areas quite new to their work
experience, where they have to undergo a refresher or coordinating courses. To
many it opens the door for promotion to hire grades. To some this became sort
of a problem as they have to serve in places outside Kuala Lumpur where
vacancies had to be filled. I felt the standard of broadcasting in RTM’s radio
and TV was slightly affected, as the staff involved were trying hard to grasp
with the situation on their own.
It was
during this period too I was promoted to the position of Deputy Director of TV
taking charge of local production. I had my hands full of RTM’s in house
production. The privatise programmes were placed under the Privatised Programme
Committee chaired by the Director TV but at times it was led by higher level
officers, including the Deputy Director General (Programme). I don’t have a
role in that Committee.
The
privatised dramas theme evolved around family affairs and the triangle
intrigued between lovers. RTM decided to enhance its religious programme via
its in-house productions. With the assistance of the Federal Territory
Religious Department our Religious Section ventured into the production of
“Yang Arif”, marriage guidance, based on true court cases. It was well received
by the audience and the production went into its third season. It was well
handled by its producer Ngani Annuar.
RTM also
carried live signal of the Pilgrimage in the Holy Land during the Haj season.
Due to lack of anchor person from among the religious personality then, Ustaz
Osman Fauzi and yours truly played the role at the initial programme. RTM also
carried the Tarawikh live during Ramadan from Mekah. With my experience in
Sports coverage, I had a busy time coordinating the satellite booking until our
Religious Section was able to manage it. As for local presentation we started
the nightly Tadarus during Ramadan. I find getting the religious programmes on
the air over RTM was a big challenge. We had to find ways to make the “nasyid”
competition and programme well received by the audience especially the young.
Today “nasyid” music is standing tall on its own.
As the new
private station was expanding its operation, RTM was faced with competition
affecting its commercials income from the new broadcaster. It was during this
period that decision was made to privatise the Commercial operation under
“G-Team”. The commercial income did improve tremendously under the new
operation over the two TV networks TV1 and TV2.
Suddenly in
1992 I find myself heading RTM’s Sarawak Region operation as its Director based
in the state capital, Kuching. It has a small TV outfit, mainly covering the
news happening in the state. It also contributed to the cultural, social,
economic and development life in the state. RTM service in Sarawak was mainly
radio based in Kuching, Sibu, Miri, Limbang, Sri Aman and Kapit. It was while I
was in Sarawak, the Chief Minister, Pehin Tan Sri Taib Mahmud, who is a great
fan of the legendary P.Ramlee, came out with a proposal of starting a bi-annual
competition of P.Ramlee’s presentation (Pertandingan Lagu-Lagu P.Ramee).
Earlier he had suggested talent spotting among the young with the competition
“Bintang Kechil” which was being held a few years earlier and supported
strongly by the young. The P.Ramlee competition was launched in 1993.
1993 was
significant for the country as we celebrated the 30th year of
formation of Malaysia. Kuching was selected to be the centre of celebration. We
really had our hands full in the coverage of the Annual Parade at the Padang
Merdeka.
To be
station in Sarawak was a respite in my lengthy career in broadcasting. Suddenly,
again I found myself being transferred to Kuala Lumpur to end my career, as
Director of Training at the then IPTAR. It was a brief stay of 2 months, when I
was shockingly transferred to be the Director of Television, taking charge of
TV1 and TV2. I didn’t know the reason for the sudden switch of jobs. I took it
in my stride, and off I went immediately as demanded.
I was guided
by the transfer letter signed by the KSU, Dato’ Zawawi Mahmuddin, with a page
of appendix of duty specification to be performed. The original duty of the
Director TV was restored, mainly the procurement of programmes including that
of the “privatised”. The position now would chair the Purchasing as well as the
Evaluation Committees which was taken away for sometime by officer of higher
positions, leaving the Director of TV with implementing the daily schedule only.
With that situation I later found myself operating without guidance from my
seniors.
My initial
action on taking over the post was to stream-line the payment to the
privatisation producers, the artistes and those taking part in the programmes.
The target was 3 weeks after transmission the cheque should be in their hands.
The Financial Clerks had been instructed to go through all the files to rectify
the position. Within 6 weeks we were able to streamline the situation. Payments
were made within the 3 weeks target.
At the same
time the other sectors were taken care. The Evaluation as well as the
Procurement Committees was streamlined and updated. Work went on smoothly and
the usual complain were minimised to zero. That gave me plenty of time to visit
the staff at their operation centres and settled their problem immediately.
At the
Ministry’s coordination meeting the Minister Tan Sri Mohamad Rahmat was
complaining for the lack of talent spotting in the entertainment sector. The
Director-General did not have an answer to that but I decided on my own to run
a mini singing competition in the ever popular weekly “Hiburan Minggu Ini” to
be called “Bintang HMI” as additional to the programme on a small scale. When
the preliminary was completed the quarter final was getting a fair share of
publicity in the media with the ever popular rival programme of the private
station. There was much talk about the quality of the competitors. The Final of
the 1994 edition was won by the talented Nora who later became a star in her
own right.
The Bintang
HMI was continued in 1995 getting greater attention from the entertainment
industry. This time the Final produced an icon in youngster Siti Norhaliza. I
retired in 1996 and the Bintang HMI continued for the last time with another
star being born from Sarawak.
I have not
been an active and serious contributer broadcaster as far as Entertainment and
Drama sector is concern. I learn production on religious programme seriously
and try to contribute considerably for its holistic value. In a nutshell
whatever I have done for these sectors I consider that as a personal
contribution to the development of country’s broadcasting industry.
On the 50th
anniversary of television existence in Malaysia, may I convey my humble
greeting and congratulate the industry for its success. I am humbly obliged to
be given the chance to contribute in a small way while serving its pioneer,
Radio-Television Malaysia RTM for 32 years. May it climb to greater height with
the coming of the Digital Age while celebrating the industry’s Golden Jubilee.
