By Mohamad Letfee Ahmad
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- "To be honest, this is the first time I'm being interviewed for a whole one hour," confessed veteran newsman Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar, fresh from being conferred the 'Tokoh Wartawan Negara' or National Journalist Award 2018 by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI).
He said this to the host of Bernama News Channel's 'Ruang Bicara' programme in which he appeared as a guest recently.
When he was at the peak of his career, the former Media Prima Bhd chairman had barely any time to entertain requests for interviews but the irony of it all was that when he hosted television shows like RTM TV1's 'Isu Semasa' and 'Debat Perdana' and TV3's ' Soal Rakyat', he used to hurl a barrage of tough questions at his guests.
Throughout his illustrious career, Johan had interviewed three prime ministers, including Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and nearly all the Cabinet ministers from Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's era to date, as well as most of the Members of Parliament from 2005 onwards and leaders from other fields.
This writer himself had the opportunity to interview Johan twice over a 21-year period. The first time was in 1996 when Johan was the editor-in-chief of Utusan Malaysia group and the second, in 2017.
The first interview revolved around the local film industry and was featured in RTM's 'Rentak Karya' programme. The second interview took place just after Johan tabled a working paper at a Cultural Congress pre-event organised by the International Islamic University Malaysia.
That epitomises Johan, whose inclination for cultural, literary, media and corporate matters earned him the 12th 'Tokoh Wartawan Negara' award at the MPI-Petronas Malaysian Journalism Awards 2018 on April 26.
FOUNDATION FOR LANGUAGE
Looking at Johan's involvement in literary pursuits and journalism, one is reminded of a few literarians who started off as journalists.
The most well-known among them was Abdul Rahim Kajai, who is regarded as the father of Malay literature and whose name has been immortalised in the MPI-Petronas Malaysian Journalism Awards' highest award, the prestigious Kajai Award.
Also in the journalist-literarian list are eminent personalities, most of whom built the foundation of their writing skills whilst working for 'Utusan Melayu'. Among them are three National Literary laureates, Keris Mas, Datuk Usman Awang and Datuk Seri A. Samad Said
Today, 66-year-old Johan is on a par with the above luminaries, as well as other prominent journalist-literarians such as Ahmad Boestamam, Ilias Zaidi, Zahari Affandi, Khatijah Hashim and Zaharah Nawawi.
Although Johan's novels, titled 'Warna Tinta' (1976), 'Genta Rasa' (1977) and 'Laguku Untukmu' (1979) are rarely mentioned by literary critics, his works are ample proof of his fiction writing prowess.
He is also a theatre playwright, having written scripts for contemporary theatre productions such 'Angin Kering', 'Kotaku Oh Kotaku' and 'Sang Puteri', with his latest effort being the script for 'Pokok' which was staged at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) and directed by U-Wei Shaari.
CORE STRENGTH
Johan said those involved in both genres (journalism and literature) were able to leverage their exceptional language skills to give a new dimension to the world of journalism.
His own competency was clearly reflected in the columns that he wrote for various newspapers, including the New Straits Times, 'Berita Harian' and The Star.
As a writer, Johan always regards himself as a pragmatist when it comes to the question of language.
His firm principles on the issue of language must have started to take shape after he joined DBP in 1977, where he served as language planning officer and later as head of its magazine division which published several magazines such as 'Dewan Bahasa' and 'Dewan Sastera'.
Several years later, after he resigned as Utusan Malaysia group editor-in-chief and returned to DBP as chairman of its Board of Governors, he continued with his linguistic pursuits but this time on a wider scale.
Declaring that he is not a theorist, he said he always placed language as the core strength of any field of writing, be it literary, journalism or report-writing.
"I often give examples of novels and other published works that sometimes set aside grammar rules and such things. The use of haphazard language and unsuitable words is common in the world of journalism.
"When I come across a lengthy sentence of 25 to 30 words in a news report, I start wondering which is the subject and which is the predicate. A language is beautiful when it is used correctly, so in journalism, the emphasis should be on its correct use," he said.
MALAYSIAN MEDIA COUNCIL
Commenting on media freedom, Johan said while press freedom was essential, one has to be realistic as well.
He said there was no such thing as absolute freedom in any country and even media owners would feel the urge to exercise some form of control over the press.
"Although we must have the confidence to create an ecosystem that allows the media to be free, this process will remain the idealism of media practitioners and also the government," he said.
The issue of press freedom is the basis for the setting up of the proposed Malaysian Media Council, which was mooted a few decades ago.
Media practitioners are hoping that the government would expedite the establishment of the council, which will serve as a self-regulatory body, and the abolition of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
Johan said the setting up of such a council should be made the agenda of the media industry without any interference by the government.
If it is driven by the government, it will give rise to suspicion that the government wants to control the media, he added.
TRANSFORMATION OF BUSINESS MODEL
Johan also urged industry players to relook their business model if they want to survive in the midst of the emergence of the new media.
In recent years, many media outlets -- both print and electronic media -- have been forced to let go of some of their staff through the Voluntary Separation Scheme and Mutual Separation Scheme as the organisations could no longer cope with their rising operational costs and decreasing sales revenue.
"In the last three years or so, we saw a drastic and dramatic change in the context of their business model.
"Media companies should adapt to the changes that are taking place. They have to change the way they present their content, which includes news. To enable news to compete with entertainment and social media content, the way news is presented should be transformed to make it entertaining (to readers or viewers)," added Johan.
Translated by Rema Nambiar
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