Malaysia mourns the death of former Information Minister Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, who, just yesterday, was transferred to an intensive care unit in the Serdang Hospital hours before he breathed his last.
Zainuddin, who spent a great many years carving his name in the business of news delivery, served as chief editor of Utusan Malaysia, the oldest Malay language newspaper there is in the country.
Fondly referred to as Mamak Maidin by those closest to him, Zainuddin, who graduated in 1969 with a diploma in journalism from the Berlin Journalism Institute, was awarded the Professional Journalist Fellowship award by the University of Michigan in the United States (US) owing to his illustrious career as a newsman.
He was appointed member of the Dewan Negara in 1998 before assuming the role of Parliamentary Secretary of the Information Ministry in 2001.
Zainuddin went on to serve the Dewan Negara for a second term in February 2001 before being appointed Deputy Information Minister the year after.
In 2004, he partook in the general election against PKR’s Saiful Izham Ramli and won the Merbok parliamentary seat with a 15,445 majority.
Zainuddin will be missed dearly by Malaysians and will fondly be remembered as the fiercest media critic ever in Malaysia’s 54-year history since independence.
I offer my deepest condolences to his next of kin and hope that they will find comfort knowing that his spirit lives on in the hearts of all Malaysians irrespective of our political affiliations and (or) aspirations.
Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
