obituary Reading the obituaries on Samad Ismail, who died at the age of 84 on Sept 4, in all their hagiographic monotony - that he was a great journalist, the guru of journalism, an unwavering nationalist, an exponent of literature for the raising of social consciousness - did little more than suggest that if he had an impact, it would be difficult to infer that from the paeans.

Temberang (Malay for boastfulness, puffery), Samad would have sneered at the stuff written about him. Not that the obituaries played up the myth and missed the man; something of the sort was bound to happen if only because only he could have written the great book about his life.