Syed Mohammad Ali (9 December 1928 – 17 October 1993) was a Bengali journalist and editor. Ali began his career in
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
. He became an editor for several newspapers in East Asia, including ''
The Bangkok Post
The ''Bangkok Post'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is published in broadsheet and digital formats. The first issue was sold on 1 August 1946. It had four pages and cost one baht, a considerable amount ...
'' in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, the ''
Hong Kong Standard
''The Standard'' is an English-language free newspaper in Hong Kong with a daily circulation of 200,450 in 2012. It was formerly called the ''Hongkong Standard'' and changed to ''HKiMail'' during the Internet boom but partially reverted to '' ...
'' in
British Hong Kong
Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...
and ''The New Nation'' in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. Ali also worked for
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
. In 1991, Ali founded ''
The Daily Star'' in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
during the country's democratic transition.
Family
Ali was born into a
Bengali Muslim
Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...
family from the
District of Sylhet in the
Assam Province
Assam Province was a province of British India, created in 1912 by the partition of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Province.
Its capital was in Shillong.
The Assam territory was first separated from Bengal in 1874 as the 'North-East Frontier' n ...
of the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
. He traced his paternal descent from Shah Ahmed Mutawakkil, a local holy man and a
Syed of Taraf, though apparently unrelated to Taraf's ruling
Syed dynasty. Ali's father was Syed Mostafa Ali, a civil servant employed by the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
in Assam Province. His uncles were the writers
Syed Mujtaba Ali
Syed Mujtaba Ali ( bn, সৈয়দ মুজতবা আলী; 13 September 1904 – 11 February 1974) was a Bengali writer, journalist, travel enthusiast, academic, scholar and linguist. He lived in Bangladesh, India, Germany, Afghanistan ...
and
Syed Murtaza Ali
Syed Murtaza Ali (1 July 1902 – 9 August 1981) was a Bangladeshi writer. He was the elder brother of writer and linguist Syed Mujtaba Ali. He is noted for his works relating to the histories of Chittagong, Sylhet and Jaintia.
Background and e ...
.
His other siblings were
Syed Muazzem Ali, a diplomat; Syed Shaukat Ally (1934–2021), a service-holder and Fowzia Ally, an academic. The Ali family hails from the
Sylhet region
The 1947 Sylhet referendum was held in the Sylhet District of the Assam Province of British India to decide whether the district would remain in Undivided Assam and therefore within the post-independence Dominion of India, or leave Assam for E ...
of Bangladesh.
Career
Ali's journalistic career spanned 44 years.
He started his career as a reporter for ''The Pakistan Observer'', the largest circulated English-language daily in East Pakistan (which became ''
The Bangladesh Observer
''The Bangladesh Observer'', founded by Hamidul Huq Choudhury in 1949, was the oldest, continuously published English-language daily newspaper in Bangladesh until it ceased publication in June 2010.
History
Since its inception as ''The Pakist ...
'' in 1971).
Ali was the Managing Editor of ''The Bangkok Post'' between 1966 and 1970.
Later, he served as roving foreign editor of the Singaporean newspaper ''The New Nation''. He became the Managing Editor of the ''Hong Kong Standard'' under British rule in Hong Kong.
Ali was also an international bureaucrat. He joined the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
and worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). During the 1980s, Ali and fellow UNESCO colleague
Mahfuz Anam
Mahfuz (or Mohammed) (Harari language, Harari: መሕፉዝ, ar, محفوظ; died July 1517) was a Harari people, Harari Garad, Emir of Harar and Governor of Zeila in the Adal Sultanate.
Life and reign
Mahfuz led raids into the provinces of Et ...
conceived the creation of a newspaper in their native country of Bangladesh.
Ali and Anam founded ''The Daily Star'' in Bangladesh during the transition from presidential government to
parliamentary democracy
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
in 1991. The period also law
liberal economic reforms. The newspaper became influential for its editorials which touched on sensitive political topics. The newspaper emerged as the country's largest circulated English-language daily. Ali and Anam interviewed key political figures, including erstwhile
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
Sheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Prime Minister ...
.
Ali also became the chairman of the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB).
Ali served as Editor of ''The Daily Star'' until his death in 1993. In 1995, the government of
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Khaleda Zia
Khaleda Zia (; born Khaleda Khanam Putul in 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Ba ...
posthumously awarded Bangladesh's highest civilian honour on Ali.
Awards
*
Independence Day Award
The Independence Day Award ( bn, স্বাধীনতা পদক), also termed Independence Award ( bn, স্বাধীনতা পুরস্কার), Swadhinata Padak, and Swadhinata Puroskar, is the highest state award given by t ...
, 1995
References
1928 births
1993 deaths
People from Moulvibazar District
Bangladeshi journalists
University of Dhaka alumni
Recipients of the Independence Day Award
20th-century journalists
20th-century Bengalis
Bangladeshi people of Arab descent
{{Bangladesh-bio-stub