Datuk A. Kadir Jasin was born on 23rd August 1947 in Kampung Tanah Merah, Pendang, Kedah. He was the second child in a family of eight. He started his early education at the Malay School at Pendang, his secondary education at the St. Michael School and the Sultan Abdul Hamid College, finishing at the Ibrahim Secondary School, Sungai Petani, Kedah.

In 1971, he won a Colombo Plan scholarship to study journalism at the Wellington Polytechnic, New Zealand. A few years later, that is in 1977, he was sent to the Berlin International Institute of Journalism to study a course in Advance Journalism.

Career

• Served as a journalist at BERNAMA, at the Penang, Kedah and Perlis branch (1969)
  
• Later served at the BERNAMA headquarters, in the Economics Section
  
• Served in The New Straits Times (M) Sdn. Bhd., in the Time Division (13th August 1976)
  
• Assistant Group Editor for Berita Harian newspaper (1984)
  
• Group Editor of The New Straits Times, The New Sunday Times, Business Times, The Malay Mail, The Sunday Mail and all magazines published in English
  
• Group Editor-in-Chief at The New Straits Times, in charge of all publications in Malay as well as in English Language (1988)
  
• Board of Trustee, Press Foundation of Asia, Manila
  
• Member, Malaysian Business Council
  
• Council Member, Asia-Australia Institute, University of New South Wales
  
• Member, National Information Technology Council (NITC)
  
• Board Member of the Council of the Institute of Understanding Islam, Malaysia (IKIM)
  
• Member, National Unity Consultative Council

On May 31st, 2000, after serving 25 years in the field of journalism, he decided to retire. In the course of his illustrative career, he has received a number of awards and letters of appreciation from within as well as from outside the country. In 1995, he was awarded the title Dato' by HM the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. In 1988, he received the 'Honorary Doctorate of Letters' from Science University of Malaysia (USM) to commemorate his immense contribution in the field of journalism and also for his success in producing the book called OTHER THOTS. In 1978, Datuk A. Kadir Jasin received the award of EDITOR OF THE YEAR for Asia from Mitsubishi Press Foundation. Now, his life came around one complete circle with the appointment as the Chairman of BERNAMA (National Press Organisation of Malaysia), where he first started his career in journalism.