If you ever listened to a live radio broadcasts on frequency 105.8 LiteFM Jakarta and/or on a live streaming every Monday morning at 07.00-08.00 at Western Indonesia Time, then you would immediately notice a distinctive and firm voice on an interaction program in Bahasa Indonesia what so-called "Postcards from Melbourne". It usually discussed the up-to-date news topics both in Indonesia and abroad guided by LiteFM's announcer, Ariel Brown.
So, whose voice was that? Yes, he was Nuim Mahmud Khaiyath. He was a senior journalist at Radio Australia on Indonesian language programs (RASI), who is residing in Melbourne, Australia. It is likely that not only is he very familiar with the Indonesian audience in Australia, but also with the Indonesian listeners in Indonesia of course!
Nuim Khaiyath was not only a journalist but also a phenomenal person. He still has a unique nickname given by the mostly radio listeners in Indonesia, i.e "Kamus Berjalan" (a walking dictionary) since he has very broad knowledge and insights, and has a remarkable memory about everything.
If you ask him all the players of PSMS Medan (football team association from Medan, Indonesia) in the 50s, he still memorise and then he would say it in order immediately. Furthermore, when he was asked about the incidents that occurred long time ago or about the old data related to any topics, then again he could answer it very well.
Besides, although he has been living abroad for years, he never forgot his national and/or local languages, its accents, and its idioms. He is still able to sing the "Melayu songs", the songs that are originally from Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia where he was born and raised.
In my opinion, many things could be taken as lessons learnt from him. His concern about Indonesia and its future is no doubt any more even though he is not living in his country. Yet, he always emphasises his assertiveness in order to tell the truths.
I was glad that I was able to have a chance to meet him directly face to face and gathered on a discussion session exclusively when attending his book launched in Jakarta. He has published his book titled "Dunia di Mata Nuim Khaiyath" (The World on Nuim Khaiyath's Perspectives).
The book contains the collection of materials from a radio program called "Perspective" broadcast by him on Radio Australia (ABC), especially when he communicated his luminous ideas and spread the truth as much as he could respectively regarding the current events in Indonesia.
The last thing, there is a point that I still remember very well from him. When an audience asked him what make him stay motivated to work persistently since working at Radio Australia until today (ABC Media just celebrated his 85th birthday in 2017), then he answered that choose a job and work on something that you really enjoy, and do it with your deep dedication. To these days, he truly has inspired many people.*
Note: To know more about Nuim Khaiyath, you can read it here (Bahasa Indonesia)