Just for fun, I spent the past weekend hunting down old Malaysia Hari Ini videos that I once co-hosted and compiling them into a playlist. I must have hosted a couple of hundred episodes of Malaysia’s No. 1 morning show, but the funny thing is -- I don’t actually have any proper archive of them. No hard drive. No personal collection. Nothing “for kenangan sake”.
It was a different time back in the 2010s. Not everything was easily recordable, and although Media Prima had an internal system where we could watch all programmes on demand, I never made it a habit to save even the “big” episodes. And tonton -- the portal I co-launched -- didn’t keep full episodes of MHI back then either.
So here I am today, scrolling through videos uploaded by random people on YouTube. Nostalgic? Definitely. Fun? Absolutely. But also a bit shocking because the videos made me go, “Eh, I interviewed THAT person?” or “I actually did THAT on the show??”
I’ve always credited myself with having a pretty good memory. While I may not be able to list every single person I interviewed throughout my media career (and trust me, it was A LOT), I usually remember the moment when I come across an article or video. But I guess age is catching up (haha), because quite a few memories have slipped through the cracks.
Case in point: I have absolutely no recollection of interviewing our current Deputy Prime Minister II, YAB Datuk Amar Fadillah Yusof, back when he was a deputy minister.
I mean, I clearly remember interviewing most of the politicians who came on MHI -- including the other DPM, Zahid Hamidi, as well as KJ, Ahmad Maslan, Mukhriz Mahathir etc -- but this particular interview? Zero memory.
But that’s the beauty of being on MHI. We got to meet and talk to people from all walks of life: politicians, celebrities, trend-setters, business icons, cute kids with big stories, and ordinary Malaysians with extraordinary experiences. It kept us on our toes -- we had to stay updated, stay sharp, and constantly refine our interviewing game because every day brought someone new.
So go ahead and check out some of these interesting interviews that I can hardly remember doing! There are dancers, martial artists, lawyers, bands -- the works!
