KUALA LUMPUR: The National Journalists' Day (Hawana) 2024 celebration, which concluded in Kuching yesterday, served as a platform to celebrate the contributions of industry players who play a key role in shaping an informed society, deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said.
She said some 1,000 media practitioners, representatives from local journalists' associations and delegates from Asean countries attended the event.
In a Facebook post today, Teo said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had also presented a donation from the Tabung Kasih@Hawana fund to Chia Kan Nyuk, a journalist from See Hua Daily News who has served for 31 years and has been battling cancer since July 2023.
"To date, 100 media practitioners have received assistance through this fund," she said.
When officiating the highlight of the celebration yesterday, Anwar announced an additional allocation of RM1 million for Tabung Kasih@Hawana for next year.
Tabung Kasih@Hawana was established in conjunction with the Hawana 2023 celebration to support journalists and media personnel, both active and retired, who are ill or in need of assistance.
Hawana 2024, themed "Etika Teras Kewartawanan Mapan", took place over three days from last Saturday.
It is the largest gathering of journalists in Malaysia and was held in Sarawak for the first time.
The event was organised by the Communications Ministry in collaboration with the Sarawak government, with the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) acting as the implementing agency.
About 1,000 guests comprising media practitioners from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Timor Leste, China, South Korea, Qatar, France and Kuwait gathered in Kuching for the three-day celebration to partake in various programmes.
May 29 has been gazetted as National Journalists' Day, in conjunction with the publication of the maiden edition of Utusan Melayu on May 29, 1939, to celebrate the contributions of media practitioners.– BERNAMA
