KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 — It’s a sweet comeback to the mainstream industry for Kuching-born singer Amir Jahari after he was crowned the winner of the 38th Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL38).

The local annual pop music competition which took place last night at Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil saw Amir taking home the grand prize of RM100,000 along with trophies for his song Hasrat, which was composed and written by himself.

Hasrat made waves upon its release on February 20, 2023. It was the soundtrack for last year’s box-office hit Imaginur which starred local actors Beto Kusyairy and Diana Danielle, who made a special appearance on stage during Amir’s heartfelt performance.

The 32-year-old also dedicated his performance last night in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

"Hasrat is their voice which has fallen on deaf ears.

"Although there’s been overwhelming support for Palestine, the war is still ongoing.

"For me, this is an important issue that needs to be highlighted and my solidarity is with all the people of Palestine,” he said.

Meanwhile, Aisha Retno’s Sutera managed to snag second place to take home a RM50,000 cash prize. The singer was also awarded the Best Performance based on fans’ votes last night to take home an additional RM12,000 cash prize.

Avant garde singer Aina Abdul, through her song Jangan Mati Rasa Itu, came in third, to bag a RM30,000 cash prize, while also snatching up Best Vocal along with the Popular Singer awards.

AJL has been around since 1986 making it one of Malaysia’s oldest song competitions which gives recognition to the year’s best songs, composers, lyricists and vocalists based on the weekly chart show Muzik-Muzik.

A total of 12 songs went head to head at the AJL38 which included performances from top local talents such as Ernie Zakri, Ziana Zain, Marsha Milan Londoh and Masdo.

With this year’s theme of Muzikaverse, the show was hosted by Sherry Alhadad and Alif Satar.

The show also featured performances from Shiela Amzah, Vanessa Reynauld, Ella, Datuk Zainalabidin and Dayang Nurfaizah.