KUCHING, Ask James Ritchie what he had gone through in his life as a journalist and he would be ever willing to share. Being hurt and unintentionally hurting others were “par for the course”.
His nearly 50 years of experience as a journalist have taught him a lot not only about the profession but also life as a whole, achieving numerous successes in his career but not without toiling through ‘dirt’ and difficulties.
‘Some days you got praises for your works. Some days you got scolded. At the end, you had to do your work and when you do it, sometimes you hurt someone but not intentionally. Just doing your job,’ he told Bernama recently.
In the course of the job, he admitted that mistakes would always happen and no journalist is spared but should continue to learn.
‘When you make mistakes, you learn from the mistakes. Telling ourselves, I must be better than that. I must be prepared next time,’ he said.
Soon to be 74, James started his career in the 1970s as a crime reporter with The New Straits Times in
Kuala Lumpur, where he had the chance to rub shoulders with other big names in one of the country’s leading broadsheet then.
They include Datuk Mohd Nor Khalid who was with Berita Harian and eventually became a well-known cartoonist known as Lat, as well as Najib Abdul Rahman, the son of Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Hashim, Malaysia’s third Inspector-General of Police who was assassinated in 1974.
‘Friends called me Serpico at that time as I always tried to be the first at the scene and I always am for many times,’ said James, referring to the character played by Al-Pacino in a 1970s hit movie that also carries the character’s name.
Covering high-profile cases, stories that he wrote had ranged from the raid of the Japanese Red Army on the American Embassy at the AIA building in Kuala Lumpur, the capture of ‘Master of Disguise’ Lai See Kiaw as well as the terror created by Wong Swee Chin, or infamously known as Botak Chin.
‘Despite being busy with my work as a crime reporter, I still had time to be active in sport
s where I played for Selangor and Malaysian rugby. I played for the Cobra as wing three quarter,’ said the septuagenarian who also loves bodybuilding and singing.
Although he was born in Penang, James has made Sarawak his home ever since his family moved to the state in the 1960s after his father, Datuk Seri John Ritchie, became Sarawak Commissioner of Police.
After practising his trade in Kuala Lumpur for about a decade, New Straits Times decided to make James their first representative in Sarawak in the 1980s, marking a new chapter in his career that had brought him to the length and breadth of this Land of Hornbills.
He was also in the thick of the moment when Sarawak’s politics was in crisis back in 1987 where the State Chief Minister then, the late Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud’s leadership was challenged by a group of politicians who went against him.
Yet Taib made a cunning move to call for a snap state election in the same year to defeat the group and the situation had inspired James to come up with his f
irst book entitled ‘Abdul Taib – A Gentleman’s Victory.’
Accomplishing his first book at the age of 37 seemingly became another contagious beginning for him as he went on to produce 43 more titles, including one on a Swiss environmentalist, Bruno Manser, who lived with the Penans in Sarawak which was published in 1994. ‘I’ll be launching my 45th book this May 21,’ said James.
Telling stories for James is not just about what is happening at the current time but of many things that occurred in the past that were not told or understood completely.
‘I’m more of a chronicler now. A journalist still, but I still feel that there are still a lot to write about the past that a lot of people don’t know,’ he told Bernama.
His years of perfecting his writing skills and millions of words that he had wrote throughout his journalism career had contributed a lot to his ability to produce almost the same number of books as his years of experience.
To him, every writing that he had made was very much due to putting his wh
ole heart and commitment to present a good story and palatable to the readers.
When cornered with a question whether a trained journalist or a born journalist is better, he replied: ‘Nahhh… a hard knocked journalist would be good and could be the best.’
Today, his writing career reached another mark when he was named as one of the two recipients of the National Journalists’ Day (HAWANA) 2024 Award and for this latest achievement, he felt indeed grateful for the recognition given.
‘All I can say is I feel grateful for being given this award. It is indeed very meaningful,’ he added.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency
