Datuk Datuk (or its variant Dato or Datu) is a Malay title commonly used in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as a traditional title by Minangkabau people in West Sumatra, Indonesia. The title of the wife of Datuk is Datin. Origin The oldest ...

Ahirudin bin Attan, (born 20 December 1961) also known as Rocky Bru, is a Malaysian blogger, journalist and former editor of several

New Straits Times Press The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad (NSTP) is a Malaysian conglomerate of publishing companies, owned by Media Prima. The NSTP publishes several newspapers, including the ''New Straits Times'', ''Berita Harian'' and ''Harian Metro''. Hi ...

(NSTP) publications, including the '' Business Times'', ''

The Malay Mail ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' and '' The Sunday Mail''. He currently runs a blog, dubbed Rocky's Bru, and resides in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Journalism

Ahirudin's first foray into journalism was as a journalist for the ''Business Times'' in 1985, after graduating from Institut Teknologi MARA (now

Universiti Teknologi MARA The MARA Technological University (Malay: ''Universiti Teknologi MARA''; Jawi: اونيۏرسيتي تيكنولوڬي مارا; abbr. UiTM) is a public university based primarily in Shah Alam, Selangor. It was established to help rural Mal ...

or UiTM). In 1992, he served as the group's London correspondent and furthered his studies in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in 1993, taking up a course in Advanced Journalism. Ahirudin was appointed Editor of the ''Business Times'' in 1997 and remained so until he was appointed Acting Editor of ''

'' on 16 October 2001. He was further reappointed as the Executive Editor of both the ''Malay Mail'' and ''Sunday Mail'' on 1 May 2004, following a restructuring in the paper's news desk. On 13 February 2006, Ahirudin resigned from his editorial position as the newspaper was revamped to cater to younger readerships. Ahirudin further departed from the New Straits Times Press in May 2006, amid speculation that included a "run-in with the present head honchos in the organization." Ahirudin has worked with the NSTP for 21 years. Ahirudin was the President of the National Press Club from 2003 to 31 March 2007, succeeded by Mokhtar Hussain, his brother, and remains as its adviser until March 2009. He is also an Editorial Consultant, and columnist.

Blogging

In May 2006, Ahirudin started Rocky's Bru, a

Blogger.com Blogger is an American online content management system founded in 1999 which enables multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. Pyra Labs developed it before being acquired by Google in 2003. Google hosts the blogs, which can be accessed thr ...

-based blog centred primarily on journalism, mass media and politics. Ahirudin's blog has garnered sufficient attention by the NSTP that it was blocked from NSTP offices and branches nationwide within two weeks after the blog was formed, and has prompted the group to launch a lawsuit against him, alongside blogger

Jeff Ooi Ooi Chuan Aun (; born 2 November 1955), better known as Jeff Ooi, is a Malaysian people, Malaysian Information technology, IT consultant, blogger, photographer and politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jelutong (federal c ...

, on 11 January 2007, for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

. As of March 2008, the suit is in progress. On 6 April 2007, Ahirudin was appointed the President of the National Bloggers Alliance, a newly formed group aimed at protecting the rights of Malaysian bloggers and promoting responsible blogging.

Jeff Ooi

Ahirudin has developed a relatively healthy friendship with

. However, Ahirudin has stated in a press conference on 23 January 2007 that he has previous engaged Ooi in a "healthy" exchange of words:

"There was name calling (by the blog readers), oiused his blog space to criticise and I used my column in the '' ewSunday Times'' to respond. Had it gone on and on it would've been a healthy debate."

Personal life

Ahirudin was born in Lubok Cina,

Melaka Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has bee ...

. He is a father of three children, a son and two daughters. One of his children is Ahirine, who is also follow his footsteps as a media practitioner as well as an actress.

References

External links

Rocky's Bru
Ahirudin Attan's blog. {{DEFAULTSORT:Attan, Ahirudin 1961 births Living people Malaysian people of Malay descent Malaysian bloggers Malaysian editors Malaysian journalists Universiti Teknologi MARA alumni People from Malacca