"Nowadays, people work for a status and popularity, but Rosihan worked for the sake of the nation."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Arief Rahman, a prominent educator and good friend of Rosihan Anwar, considered the latter as a national educator and teacher, apart from being a noted journalist.
"The issues that he was following closely, are cultural values and democratization, where the freedom of expression is well guaranteed by the state," Arief Rahman said here Thursday, when paying a homage to the late Rosihan Anwar.
Despite his old age, Rosihan was very active and often attended seminars and discussions.
"Nowadays, people work for a status and popularity, but Rosihan worked for the sake of the nation," he said.
"We lost a press figure concurrently educator," Arief said.
Among those paying homage to the late Rosihan were President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Boediono, and Alwi Sihab, Dahlan Iskan and Ishadi SK.
Rosihan died on Thursday at around 8.15 am loal time at Metropolitan Media Center (MMC), Jakarta.
Ilham Bintang, secretary of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI)`S Honorary Council, said Rosihan Anwar felt week when his daughter was feeding him.
"His family later brought Rosihan Anwar to MMC Jakarta," Ilham Bintang said.
When they arrived at the hospital, the doctor declared Rosihan had died.
Rosihan had a bypass surgery at Harapan Kita cardiac hospital in Jakarta on March 24, 2011.
After being hospitalized for 20 days at the hospital, Rosihan was allowed to return home as outpatient.
Rosihan Anwar was born on May 10, 1922, in Kubang Nan Dua, Solok, West Sumatra.
He debuted his journalism career at Indonesian Raya daily in 1943 after graduating from AMS-A II in Yogyakarta in 1942.
His last position was chairman of the PWI`s Honorary Council since 1983.
(Uu.O001/HAJM/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
