The UNESCO-Bernama link...

Not many know about the link between UNESCO and Bernama.

Even Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was amazed when told today UNESCO was instrumental in the formation of Bernama.

The UN agency had conducted a preliminary study in 1962 on whether there was a need for the country to have its own news agency.

Subsequently in 1966, UNESCO sent an international news agency expert D.J.Dallas to Malaysia to help draw up detailed plans for the news agency and advise on its implementation.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin, who is Education Minister, was informed of these facts when he visited the Bernama booth, set up along with many others, in conjunction with Malaysia UNESCO Day 2013 celebration at the Proclamation of Independence Square in Melaka.

“Bernama is a UNESCO success story…from just a news agency it has now transformed into a multi-platform media organization that includes TV and radio,” Deputy Editor-in Chief for International News Service Ahmad Zukiman Zain told Tan Sri Muhyiddin.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin and Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Wira Idris Haron then had a photo taken on the red carpet with the backdrop of Bernama and  UNESCO logos with the words “Hari UNESCO Malaysia 2013”.

The Deputy Prime Minister later launched the four-day celebration. Present was director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Jakarta, Prof Hubert Gijzen.
It was stated that the establishment of Bernama as the Malaysian national news agency took its root from a meeting of national news agencies convened by UNESCO in Bangkok in December 1961.

The Federation of Malaya, which sent a representative to the meeting, had requested UNESCO to assist in the formation of a national news agency.

The UNESCO expert, Dallas served for two years under UNESCO’s wing and for a further year on direct contract with Bernama.

His report had served as a blueprint to Bernama’s establishment through an Act of Parliament in 1967. The Bernama Act incorporating the agency’s objectives adopted the UNESCO’s definition of a news agency.

Its preamble stated that Bernama shall “at all times observe and respect the principles of the Federal Constitution relating to freedom of speech and expression and any laws made thereunder and be guided by the declaration of the United Nations Conference on Freedom of Information of 1948”.

Bernama started operations on May 20, 1968, launching a service in both Bahasa Malaysia and English from a government bungalow, not far from its present headquarters at Jalan Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur.

Bernama is an active member of the 44-strong Organisation of Asia Pacific News Agencies (OANA) which was founded in 1961 at the Bangkok meeting held under the auspices of UNESCO.

At the 15^th OANA General Assembly in Moscow in September 2013, Bernama was re-elected to the OANA Executive Board for another three-year term until 2016.