Rehman Rashid (24 October 1955 – 3 June 2017) was a prominent

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

Personal life and career

Rehman is of mixed ethnicity of Eurasian and Indian Muslim. Born in

Taiping __NOTOC__ Taiping, Tai-p’ing, or Tai Ping most often refers to: Chinese history * Princess Taiping (died 713), Tang dynasty princess * Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), civil war in southern China ** Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), the re ...

, Perak, Rehman studied in the

Malay College Kuala Kangsar The Malay College Kuala Kangsar (abbreviated MCKK; ; ) is a premier residential school in Malaysia. It is an elite all-boys and all- Malay school in the royal town of Kuala Kangsar, Perak. It is sometimes dubbed "the Eton College of the East". ...

, before pursuing a degree in Marine Biology at University College Swansea in Wales. He was well known at University for writing folk songs and performing them at every opportunity. Rehman became a journalist in 1981. Prior to this, he worked with the Fisheries Research Institute in Penang and as a research associate with the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science of

Universiti Putra Malaysia University of Putra Malaysia ( Malay: ''Universiti Putra Malaysia''), abbreviated as UPM, is a Malaysian public research university located in Serdang, Selangor. Formerly it was named Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Agricultural University o ...

. After seven years as Leader Writer and columnist with the '' New Straits Times'', Malaysia's leading English-language daily, he joined

Asiaweek ''Asiaweek'' was an English-language news magazine focusing on Asia, published weekly by Asiaweek Limited, a subsidiary of Time Inc. Based in Hong Kong, it was established in 1975, and ceased publication with its 7 December 2001 issue due to a ...

magazine in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

as a Senior Writer. From there, he left for a year in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

, as a Senior Writer with the Bermuda Business magazine, before returning home to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

to complete the book ''A Malaysian Journey''. He was the Malaysian Press Institute's Journalist of the Year for 1985, and Bermuda's Print Journalist of the Year for 1991. He suffered a heart attack in January 2017 and was hospitalized at the Selayang Hospital. On 3 June 2017 he died at age 62.

References

1955 births 2017 deaths People from Taiping, Perak Malaysian journalists Malaysian people of Indian descent International Writing Program alumni {{Malaysia-writer-stub