Former Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak has been appointed as the new Chairman at Free Malaysia Today (FMT). The online news portal has also appointed Azeem Abu Bakar as its Managing Director and Dorairaj Nadason as the Managing Editor. According to FMT, the new appointments will steer the company to the next level of growth.
Al-Ishsal was previously appointed as the chairman of the MCMC by former Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh from 1st October 2018. However, his two year appointment had ended abruptly in 2020 after the change in administration.
During his tenure at the MCMC, he oversaw the planning and deployment of the National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP) as well as the initial plan to rollout 5G by Q3 2020. Malaysia’s commercial 5G deployment is currently postponed by at least 2 years. He was succeeded by Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek.
The new FMT Chairman holds a Bachelor of Management (Honours) from University Sains Malaysia and was also a Japan Airlines summer scholarship beneficiary at Sophia University in Tokyo.
Al-Ishsal has 29 years of experience in various industry sectors and had served as the Group CEO at Pos Malaysia Berhad before joining the MCMC. Some of his past appointments include Chief Digital Officer at McCann Erickson Worldgroup, CEO of Baraka Telecom, Senior VP of Marketing & Products at Malaysia Airlines, Group Head Ancillary Income of AirAsia and a trainer and consultant for Airbus Group.
Azeem Abu Bakar is a BSc (Hons) degree holder in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics (LSE) and has co-founded a media analytics and open-source intelligence company in London. Prior to his appointment as the Managing Director at FMT, Azeem was formerly with UEM Group and UEM Sunrise Bhd for 8 years and was the special officer to the managing director with oversight on business development, finance and strategic planning.
Dorairaj Nadason was formerly with The Star for 40 years. Started as a journalist, he came out through the ranks to be the production editor and eventually he was promoted as the executive editor in 2012. Dorairaj has a fortnightly column “WhyNot” in TheStar and some of his coverage included major sports events such as the World Cup, Olympics, World Athletics championships and Formula 1. He has also overseen Sarawak state and general elections.
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