Farewell Sayed Kamal Kamaluddin, and thank you

Sayed Kamal Uddin.Editor Holiday

Sir Frank Peters

Someone witty like Irish playwright Oscar Wilde once said: ‘We never regret the things we do in life, it’s the things we don’t do’. And that’s certainly is true in the case of veteran journalist Sayed Kamal Kamaluddin, who left us on Tuesday when his father called him home.

Sayed (85) was quietly spoken, with a heart of gold, and one of the most respected doyens in Bangladesh media. You’d have to look extremely hard for someone to say a bad word about him and even then I doubt if you would be successful in your mission.

Sayed was a rare live and let live type of guy who upheld the tolerance of Voltaire’s immortal words: “I wholly disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it."

I’ve had the honour and pleasure of speaking with him many times, but only meeting with him a few times over dinner. It always delighted me being in his company and exchanging positive notes on the wellbeing of Bangladesh and the media industry. That’s what old dogs of newsprint do when they get together, especially those who get high on the smell of the presses as each edition shoots out under the steel rollers. The Internet is no match.

The closure of Holiday, which he had affectionately and professionally nurtured for years, struck him a devastating blow, but he never gave up hope it would one day return to the newsstands and claim its rightful place among the best of the best newspapers there ever were.

Weekly Holiday was one of the most highly respected newspapers ever produced in Bangladesh and carried the enviable reputation of whatever you read within in covers, you could believe.

Fortunately, while the world is seemingly turning on its axis overseas with fake news – even, unexpectedly, at the traditional highest level – there are still some reputable publications akin to Holiday about in Bangladesh.  Misleading reports on Covid-19 helped sort the wheat from the chaff.

Sadly, Sayed is no longer here to offer protection and advance truth and justice for the benefit of the nation, but his spirit will forever live. While I deeply mourn his death, but know death is the inheritance of us all, I’m so pleased to learn he passed on to a better world peacefully and not in pain. Thank you Kamal for being the consummate gentleman you were. Heaven is honoured by your presence.