MINA AND UTUSAN MALAYSIA AIM TO EXCHANGE JOURNALISTIC VISITS
This was revealed by MINA Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Syarif Hidayat during a visit to the Head Office of Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad, a big Malaysian newspaper and magazine publishing group company in Chan Sow Lin road, Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday afternoon.
Syarif Hidayat, who was accompanied by Special Assistant of MINA General Manager, Ali Farkhan Tsani, in a meeting with Zulkefli Hamzah, Assistant Editor (Malay: Penolong Pengarang) of Utusan Malaysia, proposed the news exchange cooperation and exchange of journalists visits to each other country .
Assistant Editor of Utusan Malaysia, Zulkefli Hamzah who was accompanied by Editorial Manager (Malay: Pengurus Jabatan Pengarang) , S. Agil S. Jaafar, enthusiastically welcomed the possibilities of cooperation in the news exchange and the exchange of journalists visit to each other country.
“We will try to achieve this cooperation to strengthen mutual news coverage of Malaysia and Indonesia,” said Zulkefli, who was also accompanied by the other Editorial staffs of Utusan Malaysia consisting of Suffian Abu Bakar , Mohd Saiful Mohd Sahak and Puan Zuarida Mohyin .
According to Zulkefli, in the initial stages, the Utusan Malaysia will prepare its reporters probably from Religion Editorial section for the possibility of a visit to Jakarta and hold a special news feature coverage of the Pondok Pesantren Al-Fatah Group in Indonesia, the Islamic boarding schools that provide most of man power resources for Mi’raj Islamic News Agency.
Fair and objective news on Islamic world
“We want the mass media in Indonesia and Malaysia to strengthen each other in spreading the objective and fair news reports and information from the Islamic world based on Islam that is rahmatan lil alamin (blessings for the whole universe and its contents),” Syarif explained .
According to him, MINA, which has a network of reporters in the Middle East, especially in Palestine, Egypt, Sudan and Yemen, distribute the news reports directly from the Middle East region to its readers and media partners.
Meanwhile, according to Suffian Abu Bakar, one of Utusan Malaysia editor, his newspaper will send Islamic news from Malaysia to MINA and is ready to send its reporters to Jakarta to hold a special coverage of Al-Fatah Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia and receive MINA journalists to hold a joint news coverage in Malaysia.
Both media have their respective comparative advantages to complement each other, MINA with the website address en.mirajnews.com publishes news reports online in three languages (Indonesian, Arabic and English) with journalists in the Middle East region and some provinces in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Utusan Malaysia, with an online address www.utusan.com.my is the largest and oldest newspaper in Malaysia, supported by approximately 900 personnels, with a circulation of 200 thousand copies spread throughout Malaysia.
According to Suffian Abu Bakar, who deals with the Editorial column, feature articles on Islamic religion got major attention in the media, especially for the Friday overall coverage of Islam.
He added, Utusan Malaysia published daily in addition to print media, also online media, tabloid Kosmo (cosmopolitan), also publishes special media in Arabic Malay (Jawi), themes of social, cultural, religious and current issues of the Malays in Southeast Asia, coordinated by it editor Mohd Kamil Yusuff .
Since its establishment in 1938, the Group has progressed and consolidated itself into a multiple media conglomerate of the 21st century.
Today, the Group’s diverse expansion is still synergistic with its traditional core activities. With over ten companies under its wings, the Utusan Group is engaged in four major business concerns namely publishing, printing, advertising and online services.
In a recent poll survey conducted on Malaysian publications by AC Nielson, the Group’s two key newspapers, Utusan Malaysia and Mingguan Malaysia, as well as its top four magazines namely Mastika, Mangga, URTV and Wanita, have consistently achieved and maintained the highest circulations and readerships.
Utusan now operates its printing activities from its printing plants situated in Bangi, Prai, Kuala Terengganu and Johor Bharu.
In 1997, the Group made its entry into the world of multimedia with the launched of Utusan Malaysia On-Line, Malaysia’s first on-line newspaper in full text and visuals.
More details on history, business activities and corporate information is available at Utusan Group website.
MINA
The Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) is a newly established news agency based in Jakarta that presents news, information on events in the Muslim countries as well as the latest information about Muslim ummah in the world.
MINA was officially launched by House Speaker Marzuki Alie on December 18, 2012 in Jakata, and witnessed by Director General of Information and Public Diplomacy Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdurrahman M. Fachir, several ambassadors, community leaders, and the mass media..
Vision: It is continuing prophetic treatise in conveying the message of Islam which is Rahmatan lil ‘alamin (blessing for the whole world and its contents) to invite people to worship Allah through the Islamic media information.
MINA Mission includes producing the news reports in an honest, fair and balanced ways as well as distributing accurate information about the Muslim Ummah in particular and world in general; Creating and distributing news reports and articles about building and defending the Islamic image of “Rahmatan lil ‘alamin.” and Supporting the struggle for the liberation of Al-Aqsa and the independence of Palestine from the Zionist Israelis occupation through accurate news reporting.
MINA general manager is concurrently Imaamul Muslimin, Muhyiddin Hamidy, who previously sat for more than 30 years at the top level management of ANTARA, The National News Agency of Indonesia as General Secretary. He is also accompanied by some senior journalists from ANTARA as a consultant and editors.
Mi’raj News Agency is an international news organization that broadcasts in three languages (Indonesian, English, Arabic). MINA has provincial bureaus in West Java, Central Java, Lampung, Jambi, North Sumatra, West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan as well as some overseas correspondents, covering: Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Palestine, Yemen and Japan.
MINA in its news reporting is always trying to constantly update news and information around the clock on national, regional and international levels objectively and accurately.
In the context of Indonesian news reporting, MINA is trying to present news and information about Indonesian development progress and events in Indonesia objectively to the international communities through English and Arabic news services. (T/E01/IR)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
