GOMBAK: Prominent writer and former New Straits Times associate editor Rehman Rashid has suffered a heart attack and is currently being treated at the Selayang Hospital.
His brother Rafique Rashid, 59, said he was told that Rehman, 62, was cycling somewhere in Rawang when he had a heart attack.
"At 1.30pm, my mother received a phone call saying that Rehman is at Selayang Hospital's emergency ward.
"We then rushed to the hospital from my mother's place in Hulu Langat," he said when met at the hospital today.
Rafique said Rehman is currently being stabilised before he can receive further treatments.
"He did not have any other health conditions except for a fever that he recovered from recently.
"Other than that, he was at the peak of his health," Rafique revealed.
Born in Taiping, Perak in 1955, Rehman studied at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar and received a degree in Marine Biology at University College Swansea, Wales.
He became a journalist in 1981 after working with the Fisheries Research Institute in Penang and Universiti Putra Malaysia's fisheries and marine science faculty.
The man was with NST for seven years as an associate editor and columnist, before he joined Asiaweek in Hong Kong as a senior writer.
He also served at the Bermuda Business magazine before completing his book 'A Malaysian Journey' in 1993.
Rehman was also the Malaysian Press Institute's Journalist of the Year for 1985, and Bermuda's Print Journalist of the Year for 1991.
The veteran journalist is also the author of three other books: 'Pangkor: Treasure of the Straits' (1990), 'Small Town' (2016) and 'Peninsula: A Story of Malaysia' (2016).