SM Ali’s 93rd birth anniversary

Today is the 93rd birth anniversary of Syed Mohammad Ali, founder editor-publisher of The Daily Star and a luminary in journalism of Bangladesh.

SM Ali made his way up from a cub reporter to one of the country's most brilliant editors in a career spanning 44 years. He also led the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB) as its chairman.

Educated in Kolkata, Dhaka and London, he was one of the few Asian journalists who stood out in regional journalism.

Ali was born in a well-known family in Sylhet in 1928. He was the eldest son of the late Syed Mustafa Ali, an official of the Assam Civil Service and nephew of famous littérateur Syed Mujtaba Ali.

He died in 1993 at a Bangkok hospital at the age of 65.

Ali started off as a reporter with the Pakistan Observer while he was a student at Dhaka University. He went on to hold important positions in various publications in Pakistan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

He was the managing director of The Hong Kong Standard and The Bangkok Post.

He joined the Press Foundation of Asia as its executive director in the 1970s. In the mid-80s, he became Unesco's regional communications adviser for Asia and the Pacific, based in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Ali returned home in 1989 and had a brief stint with the Bangladesh Observer as editor.

He co-founded The Daily Star in 1991 and worked tirelessly to establish it as a leading national daily. He injected a new life in the moribund English language journalism of the period.

SM Ali was always keen to share his professional experiences with young aspirants who wanted to make a career in journalism.

He is respected by all as the most successful Bangladeshi journalist at the regional and international level.