Rehman Rashid

Rehman Rashid (born 1955) is a prominent Malaysian journalist and writer.

Personal life and career

Born in Taiping, Perak, Rehman's father is of Arab-Indian stock while his mother is Tamil-Eurasian parentage . He studied in the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, before pursuing a degree in Marine Biology at University College Swansea in Wales. He was well known at University for writing folk songs and performing them at every opportunity.

Rehman became a journalist in 1981. Prior to this, he worked with the Fisheries Research Institute in Penang and as a research associate with the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science of Universiti Putra Malaysia.

After seven years as Leader Writer and columnist with the New Straits Times, Malaysia's leading English language daily, he joined Asiaweek magazine in Hong Kong as a Senior Writer. From there, he left for a year in Bermuda, as a Senior Writer with the Bermuda Business magazine, before returning home to Malaysia to complete "A Malaysian Journey", his first book after divorcing his first wife, a Malaysian born Chinese lawyer.

He was the Malaysian Press Institute's Journalist of the Year for 1985, and Bermuda's Print Journalist of the Year for 1991.

Rehman currently lives in Bangsar, Malaysia after divorcing his second wife, a dental surgeon.