(Latest pix: Abdul Rahman receiving a souvenir from visiting Vice Minister of State Council Information Office of China, Dong Yunhu (left) at Wisma Bernama on July 6)
KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- A former Editor-in-Chief of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), Datuk Abdul Rahman Sulaiman, has been appointed as the new Chairman of the agency effective Feb 1.
He takes over from Datuk Seri Mohd Annuar Zaini whose term as the ninth Bernama Chairman ended on Jan 31, this year, according to the Bernama management today.
The appointment of Abdul Rahman, 64, has received the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin to lead the 13- member Bernama Board of Governors.
He had headed the Bernama Editorial Department from 1989 until 1995. His last post in the government service was as the Director of Communications in the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's Department from August 2001 until March 2010.
He was also the Director of Communications in the Prime Minister's Department from March 2009 until recently.
Abdul Rahman is married to Datin Maznah Adam and the couple has two sons and a daughter.
He was conferred the Panglima Jasa Negara (PJN) which carries the title Datuk in 2007.
Born on May 26, 1946 in Parit Buntar, Perak, Abdul Rahman received his early education at Sekolah Umum Parit Tok Ngah and the Methodist Secondary School in Parit Buntar.
He joined Bernama in 1971 as a senior journalist after beginning his career in journalism at Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) as a broadcast journalist in 1966.
In 1973 he went for further studies at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and obtained the Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in communications in 1976, and upon returning to Bernama, he was posted to Bangkok and the agency's correspondent for Thailand and Indo-China until 1978.
He had held numerous positions in the news agency including as the Johor Bureau Head, and Executive Editor of the General News Service before being appointed Editor-in-Chief in 1989.
In 1995, he opted for early retirement to contest in the general election as the Barisan Nasional candidate for the Parit Buntar parliamentary constituency where he beat Idris Abdul Rauf from Parti Semangat 46.
--BERNAMA
