By Wan Norshira binti Wan Mohd Ghazali
GOMBAK, 28 July 2019 – The Ministry of Education will work with Al-Jazeera to train Malaysian journalists and students as part of their collaborative work, Minister of Education, Dr. Maszlee Malik announced on Friday (26 April) night.
Speaking at the opening of Malaysian Journalist Night 2019, Dr. Maszlee said that his visit to Al-Jazeera in Doha recently has led to new endeavours that will provide internship programme to those in the Malaysian journalism industry in an effort to create a strategic partnership with the independent news organisation.
“So far, Doha based Al-Jazeera will collaborate with the Ministry of Education to provide training to media students from UiTM and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM),” Dr Mazslee explained.
He also said that the Ministry of Education will be offering scholarships to journalists to pursue their university education.
The Education Minister further added, “Journalists must take this opportunity and aim to pursue their studies locally and abroad.”
“We are inviting interested journalists to pursue their studies in journalism at postgraduate level. And the good news is we have allocated scholarships for this programme,” Dr. Maszlee said.
Dr. Maszlee wrapped up his speech envisioning Malaysian journalists to set footprints in international media organisations, namely Al-Jazeera, CNN and New York Times through the right networks and exposures.
The night also witnessed award presentations to journalists as a recognition of their dedication and talents.
Notably, Malaysia’s most coveted journalism prize, the Kajai award, was given to Kosmo’s journalists, Ahmad Mustaqim bin Zulkifli and Luqman Ridhwan Mohamed Nor on their special reporting on plastic pollution in Malaysia. The winner was selected on the assessment of highest impact reporting and best reporting respectively.
The Kajai award comes with a cash prize of RM30,000, certificate and trophy.
The Malaysian Journalist Night 2019 is an annual event organised collaboratively by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) that gathered Malaysian journalists, Ministry’s officers, non-governmental organisations, and sponsors to celebrate recipients of the awards.***