Journalism world bids farewell to Salleh Majid
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Mohd Salleh Abdul Majid, former president of the then Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur (BSKL) (now Bursa Malaysia) who died today of rectal cancer and kidney failure, was a man who was never stingy in giving his frank views on current economic issues plaguing the country and the world.
Al Fatihah. Semoga Allah SWT menempatkannya bersama orang-orang soleh.
Business and economic news journalists will surely miss a prominent economic figure who made sure that he did not lag behind on current economic developments despite leaving the share market world for nearly nine years ago.
Salleh, 62, was appointed BSKL president in 1996 and retired in 2003.
Salleh was often sought after for interviews by the media on economic and financial issues such as the annual budget, share market and related
developments unravelling in the domestic and global financial circles.
An honorary member of the Linguistic Association, Salleh had his own column in several local newspapers to express his views on current economic matters.
Besides former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Salleh was also among vocal economic figures who advocated gold purchase as a viable alternative investment.
"There is no country in the world whose currency is not exposed to fluctuations in the gold value, including our country, at the height of the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis during which our ringgit was constantly attacked by rogue speculators.
"Attacks on our currency were so intense that the ringgit value dwindled to as low as RM4.50 to a US dollar. World currencies then were no longer backed by gold value and countries like the United States could print as much money as possible to their whims and fancies," he was quoted as saying in one of his newspaper columns.
Widely admired for his "no-holds-barred views" and held in high esteem by journalists, Salleh, better known as "Salleh Majid", had always encouraged and promoted two-way sharing of views, prompting journalists to be on the alert to be questioned by him.
Salleh, who preferred to interact with journalists on informal basis during interviews, would always cross-check with the journalists on whether they understood what was he talking about.
Salleh, who graduated with a Master's in Business Administration from Northern Illinois University in the United States in 1971, started his working
career as a lecturer in the School of Business Management at the then Mara Institute of Technology.
After serving in the civil service for about six years, Salleh joined the private sector as the manager of Udasaha Management Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the then Urban Development Authority (UDA).
Former Bernama general manager and editor-in-chief Datuk Seri Azman Ujang said Salleh and his friends in a finance consultancy company were working to forward a proposal to the government to establish an Islamic Stock Exchange in Malaysia. - Bernama
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