Yasmin Ahmad


Today I read of the death of a Malaysian filmmaker I had never heard of before.

Her name was Yasmin Ahmad. She made a very short (3 minute) very touching film not long ago, to be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mJ9BBXQ7d8

She was not too popular among the rulers of Malaysia; and the older I get the more I am inclined to think that anyone unpopular with rulers anywhere is probably a good sort.

Her death reminded me of John Donne’s meditation:

No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.

It is 50 years or more since I first read that. It still moves me – as does the death of Yasmin Ahmad, whom I never knew or even heard of before, and who died at only 51.

About the Author

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.

He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.

Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.

He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.

2 Comments

  1. Chui

    Oh Drayton, I lived in that country a long time ago. The commentary still bites. Not many Malays are as courageous, while Chinese are still as racist as they are. It's a tale of lost opportunities and misplaced envy.

  2. Chui

    Oh Drayton, I lived in that country a long time ago. The commentary still bites. Not many Malays are as courageous, while Chinese are still as racist as they are. It's a tale of lost opportunities and misplaced envy.

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