AJA member Nasir Yusoff passes away

作者: Habib Toumi on 30 May , 2022.
类别: All
标签: Malaysia, Nasir Yusoff

Nasir Yusoff (2019)

By Habib Toumi

BAHRAIN: I last spoke with Nasir Yusoff on May 4. He was in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia, and I was in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

He told me about how happy he was to be reunited with his extended family in their root village about 1,400 kilometers from the capital Kuala Lumpur.

It is on his return to Kuala Lumpur that he collapsed at the airport after complaining of a fatigue and shortness of breath. He was 62.

Nasir retired from his work as manager editor at Bernama News Agency on March 7, 2020, and he told me then that he was happy to have more time to spend with the family.

I met Nasir in June 2014 during his visit to Bahrain where he represented Bernama at the OANA meeting. He was having dinner when I interrupted him to introduce myself. He invited me to sit down. Five minutes into our conversation, I asked if Bernama and Bahrain News Agency (BNA) could sign a cooperation agreement, and without the slightest hesitation, he said “Yes”!

That was the fastest agreement that I have ever witnessed. It was made possible because Nasir was a man of action. Within 48 hours, the MoU was signed and the Malaysian ambassador was at the ceremony.

Nasir and I kept in touch and our paths crossed again when we met in June 2015 in Malaysia. I was tied with a group traveling across Malaysia, but he and I managed to meet. He was a gracious host and, as it was Ramadan, we had iftar (breaking the fast) together and shared memorable times. On another day, he took me to Bernama offices where I had a good chat with journalists.

We later met in Saudi Arabia where he was attending a media forum and I drove across the causeway linking Bahrain with Saudi Arabia to see him. Again, good times as we went out and he bought Saudi dates and sweets to take back to his family and friends.

Nasir attending the second AJA Zoom meeting in July 2020

We met in Seoul in March 2019 and our talks ranged from personal matters to political developments in Malaysia and the status of Mahathir Mohamad amid the political crisis then sweeping the country.

Our last face-to-face meeting was in September 2019 again in Korea for four days of conversations and happy memories, including a visit to Hope, a privately-run prison at Yeosu.

Wherever we met and went, I loved talking with Nasir whose vast experience as a journalist empowered him with impressive aptitudes to analyze situations rationally and to share views without the negative influences and effects of passion.

Nasir who joined Bernama in 1983 believed in journalism as a mission more than as a profession, and he always worked on instilling that feeling into the younger generations in Malaysia.

He believed strongly in the Asia Journalists Association (AJA) as the world’s window on Asia and wanted to contribute to chartering its future amid the various challenges facing journalists.

He hailed AJA’s rich diversification and was confident that its future could be bright thanks to its members. He saluted Lee Sang-ki’s commitment and dedication and stressed the need to support him. The “Plus 60” should always provide guidance and care, he often said.
Nasir also called for a positive balance between the experience and knowledge of the “older” members and the ambitions and aspirations of the “younger” ones.

He wanted to share several ideas, but his shaky health and increasingly poor eyesight had prevented him from attending all the AJA Zoom meetings. His eye doctor asked him not to use computers and to send messages, he relied on his daughters to assist him.

Nasir called for keeping AJA above all forms of conflicts by avoiding partisan politics and nationalist ideas. he believed firmly in cooperation and coordination among journalists and in giving Asia a louder voice across the world. When he was posted in Jakarta, he played a major role in strengthening ties between journalists in Malaysia and Indonesia.