COMMENT | The Mandela of Malayan journalism
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COMMENT | More than anyone else in Malaysia and Singapore, Said Zahari’s name must surely be immortalised as symbolising the struggle for press freedom. The defining moment was, of course, the
Utusan Melayu strike of 1961, when he led his colleagues to resist the newspaper’s takeover by interests tied to Umno, the ruling party then and now.
The strike was remarkable for many reasons; two deserve special mention. First, it involved Malay workers unlike most labour struggles historically associated with ethnic Chinese and Indian workers.
Second, the strike was not primarily over workers’ welfare, but instead tried to resist the takeover and transformation of the previously independent Malay-language newspaper into a ruling party tool.
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