KUCHING, May 26 — Nearly 1,000 local and international media practitioners were feted at a dinner reception hosted by the Yang Dipertua Negeri of Sarawak Tun Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar at a hotel here tonight.

Earlier, Wan Junaidi and his wife, Toh Puan Fauziah Mohd Sanusi, were received by Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg and his wife, Puan Sri Juma’ani Tuanku Bujang, were also in attendance.

Also present were the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) chairman, Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, its chief executive officer, Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin, and editor-in-chief Arul Rajoo Durar Raj.

The event was in conjunction with the Sarawak Media Conference (SMeC) 2024 as part of the National Journalists’ Day 2024 (Hawana 2024) celebration.

Themed ‘Etika Teras Kewartawanan Mapan,’ the three-day event kicked off yesterday, and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will officiate the celebration’s highlight tomorrow.

Besides the local media fraternity, Hawana 2024 is attended by media practitioners from Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Brunei, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, China, South Korea, Qatar, and France.

This year’s celebration is the fourth edition since its introduction in 2018, which was held in Kuala Lumpur. Melaka and Perak hosted the event in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

To appreciate the contributions and services of media practitioners, May 29 every year has been gazetted as Hawana since 2018.

The largest gathering of Malaysian journalists is being organised by the Communications Ministry in collaboration with the Sarawak state government, with Bernama being the implementing agency. — Bernama