Hail the Bernama heroes…

Seventeen Bernama personnel, who covered the armed intrusion in Lahad Datu, Sabah earlier this year,  brought glory to the agency when they received the Pingat Kedaulatan Negara (PKN) or National Sovereignty Medal  from  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in Putrajaya Friday.

They were among 227 media practioners who were honoured with the medal  at a ceremony held in conjunction with a breaking of fast at Seri Perdana, the official residence of the prime minister.

In his speech before the breaking-of-fast,  Datuk Seri Najib said the government decided to award the medal because the media practitioners sent to cover the intrusion in Lahad Datu and Semporna were exposed to a high risk.

"An important factor is the channelling of accurate and authentic information by the media to the people,” he said.

Datuk Seri Najib noted that  articles in the print, electronic and social media had united Malaysians and kindled in them the spirit of nationalism. This resulted in many Malaysians making contributions which swelled the Lahad Datu Fund.

Communication and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek and Deputy Home Minister Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar attended the event.

Also present were Bernama Chairman Datuk Abdul Rahman Sulaiman; Bernama General Manager Datuk Yong Soo Heong and Bernama Editor-in-Chief Datuk Zulkefli Salleh as well as the chief editors of other media organisations.

More than 1,000 media practitioners attended the event.

The Information Department had set-up a media centre  at Felda Residence Sahabat in Lahad Datu between Feb 15 and April 15 this year to facilitate media  coverage of the intrusion.

 On March 5, security forces comprising Malaysian Armed Forces and Royal Malaysia Police personnel launched the Op Daulat offensive to fight off the intrusion through a Blue Ocean strategy after three weeks of negotiations failed.

The offensive resulted in 68 terrorists killed and 173 people detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 and 443 others held for various other offences.

Eight policemen and two soldiers were killed in the incident.