Obituary: Khairul Bashar, AJA member

Khairul Bashar, Asia Journalist Association (AJA) member since its inception.

Mass Communication expert and noted journalist Prof Khairul Bashar passed away on 26 December (Saturday) night at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

He was 78. He was suffering from severe lung disease. He left behind his wife, a son and two daughters.

His body was taken to his home town Bangladesh capital Dhaka by air and he was buried there on 29 December.

Khairul Bashar was the professor of Mass Communication Department at Selangor University of Malaysia. He was also the Executive Director of the Kuala Lumpur-based Asian Institute of Development Communication (Aidcom) since 1986. During his 30-years association with Aidcom he worked relentlessly to uphold the spirit of the freedom of press.

He obtained Master degree in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina, USA and also worked as a journalist with a number of newspapers in Bangladesh including daily Morning News, daily Sangbad and daily Ittehad during 1960s. Later, after independence of Bangladesh in 1971 he joined the Unesco as a senior official and worked for this organization at different places including Paris, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Nairobi for more than 10 years. Afterwards he established the Aidcom in Kuala Lumpur in 1986 and was with it until his last day. He was the editor of reputed international magazine ‘Journal for Development Communication (JDC)’ published from Malaysia. He was Secretary General of Manila-based Press Foundation of Asia (PFA) during 2000-2005.

Khairul Bashar used to write columns regularly in the Malaysian daily, The Sun.

He was associated with Asia Journalist Association (AJA) since its birth and attended a number of AJA programs as keynote speaker and resource person.