30/03/2026
Terima kasih di atas tulisan yang amat bermakna ini.
Salam hormat dari kami. Antara nama besar pelopor kewartawanan musik di Malaysia.
Rhythm of The Third World (ROTTW) hingga kini masih dikenal di kalangan penggiat serta peminat industri musik tempatan.
Diterajui oleh ‘Abang Rom’ atau ‘Papa Rom’ di kalangan generasi muda, ROTTW turut mengangkat nama ramai penulis yang menyumbang dalam penerbitan majalah serta versi atas talian (online).
Versi cetak ROTTW terbit selama dua dekad bermula 1996 hingga 2016, meliputi pelbagai isu berkaitan dunia musik tempatan dan antarabangsa - ulasan konsert, album, wawancara - selain menyokong penganjuran acara-acara tahunan.
PS: Kami kongsikan petikan wawancara Malaysiakini bersama ‘Abang Rom’ yang diterbitkan pada 8 September, 2024.
Port Dickson native Abang Rom, as he’s fondly known, took a circuitous route to a career in publishing.
“I was the oldest of seven children and the oldest grandchild as well. I was supposed to be a medical doctor, and in 1974, I went to Universiti Malaya (UM). Then I discovered myself and flunked. Then I went to science, and again, I flunked.
“I was in a band called Bomb. We never recorded but we backed the upcoming Sudirman in 1975. I remember our drummer Yaakob Ahmad walked around campus barefoot all the time.
“The cartoonist Lat was also frequenting the UM scene although he was already in New Straits Times at the time,” the 70-year-old (now 72) told Malaysiakini.
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“The first issue of ROTTW was priced at RM4 and came out in June 1996. It was erratic at first but then became monthly until 2016. To me all the while, it had a purpose but not truly a commercial one.
“This was not a magazine about gossip but about music. In those days, some Malay media kacau (harassed) those boys like nobody’s business. I have a personal desire that people must benefit from what I do.
“My best interviewees were Steve Howe, the guitarist of Yes who could not stop talking. I also spoke to Ace Frehley of Kiss and jazz guitarist Steve Khan who liked me so much that he gave me 12 of his albums.
“I scolded Red Hot Chilli Peppers for their lousy sound in Singapore in 2000. I also met Metallica’s James Hetfield, but didn’t like him much,” he recalled with a laugh.
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