Sayed Kamaluddin: Demise of a legendary journalist

Mostafa Jamal Majumder

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

The demise of Sayed Kamaluddin, editor of weekly Holiday, marks the departure of another legend in the arena of journalism in Bangladesh. He breathed his last while undergoing treatment at a hospital in capital Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon for kidney complications. He was 85.

Sayed Kamaluddin

Sayed Kamaluddin began his career with the Daily Azad in 1961. He served the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha and came into prominence as the correspondent of the Far Eastern Economic Review with which he remained associated untill the closure of the Hong Kong-based newsmagazine in 2004. He worked as correspondent of The Bangladesh Times in Hong Kong for sometime in the second half of the seventies. 

Kamaluddin joined the BBC World Service as a Dhaka correspondent in 1974 before joining Agence France-Presse, the French news agency.

He worked as a correspondent for The Financial Times, London, the Economist, London, and the Economist Intelligence Unit in addition to the FEER job.

He also worked for the Iranian Radio and Television, and the Voice of America in Hong Kong.

Kamaluddin served as the minister, press at the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington, DC. After returning from Washington in 2004, he wrote for the Financial Express, the New Age, the Holiday, and the Economic and Business Review of Dawn, Pakistan. He was also the editor of the now defunct weekly Friday.

He was the chairman of the Forum of Environmental Journalists of Bangladesh and it was during his tenure as chairman that a handbook of environmental journalism written for ESCAP by Prof Sharon Friedman of the Pennsylvania University, USA, was translated into Bangla. 

Sayed Kamaluddin was a gentleman and self-respecting journalist. A former general secretary of the Jatiya Press Club, he took active interest in its affairs as long as he remained full-time in the profession.

I came into close contact him when he was the editor of the Friday and the chairman of FEJB. He used to drive his own car to go to news and social events.

Sayed Kamaluddin used have intimate relationships with famous journalists of yesteryears - Holiday editor Enayetullah Khan, AP Dhaka Bureau Chief Hasan Sayeed, Reuters Dhaka Bureau chief Atiqul Alam, AFP Bureau chief Golam Tahaboor, BBC Correspondent Ataus Samad and UPI Correspondent Alamgir Mohiuddin. He was in good touch with SM Ali and lent support to him when the latter launched The Daily Star in Dhaka. He accorded a reception in honour of Daniel Nelson, former editor of the Gemini news agency and the Panos feature service, London, who helped with the production of the paper during its formative months.

He was a senior member of Overseas Correspondents Association of Bangladesh (OCAB).

Sayed Kamaluddin used to be in the mailing list of the Press Information Department (PID) untill such time as a Principal Information Officer (PIO) dropped those journalists representing weeklies or feature services from that list in the second half of the nineties. Untill that time all OCAB members used to receive PID handouts, invitation letters and daily newspaper, radio and television monitoring reports prepared by the Bangladesh Betar, at their designated addresses.

He used to have rapport with big institutions of journalists and journalism in Asia including the Press Foundation of Asia, based in Manila, the Philippines.

Sayed Kamaluddin tried to keep the candle of Holiday lighted after the death of its founder Enayetullah Khan on 10 November 2005. But the untimely death in Covid-19 of AUM Fakhruddin, his chief lieutenant there, tremendously weakened his efforts to hold banner of fearless journalism high.

The demise of Sayed Kamaluddin cast a pall of gloom in the journalist community of Bangladesh. The example of courage, honesty, integrity and truthfulness set by him in the profession would inspire the fellow journalists for a long time to come. May God grant him a peaceful life in heaven. 

(The writer is editor, GreenWatch Dhaka )