In the Spotlight: Awg. Muaz Al Rashid

Would you like to be on t.v as a presenter? Awg. Muaz Al Rashid is a local presenter on RTB. Read about what it's like to be on t.v.

T: Tell us about yourself. 

MAR: I am Muaz Al Rashid, otherwise known as "Muaz Roslan" on RTB News. I graduated just recently (class of 2009) with a degree in TESL. Currently just working under RTB, reading the English news for both TV and radio.

My hobbies include almost everything that is art-related; from the traditional arts of painting and sketching; to the cultural arts of theatre and dance. Also at the moment, I'm addicted to health and fitness. I was an aero-dance instructor for Fitness Zone before and now I am a free-lance instructor, I get invited for many sporting events.

Some say I'm quite the workaholic, 'cause I just could not stay put, I like to move around and do something - preferably something productive. :P


T:  How did you become a presenter for RTB?

MAR: I've always been interested in the world of media ever since I was a kid. Ever since I could remember, I've always wondered how it feels to be in front of a camera, and often, I would open a magazine or a newspaper and read it aloud in a "presenter"-ish or "newscaster"-like voice. But what stopped me was my extremely low self-esteem. So instead of directly being under the limelight, I stood by it; just to get a glimpse of what it feels like - I appeared as guests for quite a number of shows.

But my best-friend, Zayn Sabri (Pelangi FM DJ and host of Paspot 2 Fame) saw talent in me and kind of kept bugging me to try out presenting. Eventually I garnered enough confidence to step into the RTB news audition. I tried my best in the audition and eventually got picked for the job, despite the fact that I thought I messed up my final audition.


T:  Do you have to do any research before you go on TV to present?

MAR: For news particularly, we are encouraged to always be up-to-date with the current news situation, not just locally but also internationally. So I always  tune in to the BBC news and main news bulletins whenever I'm in the car, or  read the daily papers every morning. This is so that we know the progress of some stories - particularly the international news stories that tend to link or progress day after day.

And listening to international news segments helps a lot with pronunciations of foreign names - which can be extremely difficult (not to mention "tongue-tying") because not even the internet has enough sources for foreign names pronunciations.

Other than that, one of the main misconceptions of TV news is that, just because my news segment goes live at 10, people think, I'd only have to go to work by 9:30pm. We actually have to be at work about 2 hours prior to being on air - this provides us enough time to check all our scripts - pronunciation, grammar, titles, etc - with our editors.

T: Have you come across any interesting topic while working on RTB?

MAR: With news, particularly the international ones - the stories never really fail to interest me.

But there are two stories that really got to me throughout my 2 years working with RTB:

1. I found out that my great-grandfather actually has a mosque! I didn't know anything about it. I was checking my script this one night and I was reading this one particular story about a mosque congregation at a particular mosque in Kg. Ayer. I was very suprised to find out that the mosque was named after my great-grandfather.

2. I was a presenter for a show called "Fenomena"; the show discusses natural disasters and social ills that are happening in our country. The show received quite a positive response because some of the topics included are seen as a taboo in a lot of societies; such as incestuous relationships, rape, homosexuals, black magic and corruption cases.

During one of the shoots, I came to the set, and there was a boy, and I asked the assistant who the boy was, and her response was "victim", and I asked "victim of what?", and she answered "sexual abuse". I was very overwhelmed and held back tears when I was interviewing the boy regarding his traumatic experience.

This is what I love, about the world of media, it opens your eyes to a lot of things that you never really thought of, and almost every day is a clear opportunity to learn something new.

T:  Do you have any advice for youngsters out there who wish to follow your footsteps?

MAR: My main advice is to work on your self-esteem and self-confidence; because these were the things that pulled me back. And working in the media; particularly television and radio - you are the object of many criticisms, thus, you need a very thick skin to go through. I've had people telling me how dreadful my presenting is - and it hasn't stopped. But you should know this: "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".

However,  at the same time, you musn't completely neglect criticisms because amongst all the nasty ones, there are possibly the ones that are right and  make you a better presenter. So you should learn not to take criticisms too personal, and to know how to turn them into something more constructive.

If you think you have the talent - pursue it - you only live once. If people tell you that you're not fit for it - learn, if you have enough passion to do what you want to do, nothing should stop you from achieving it.

SMRREADS thanks Muaz Al Rashid for his interesting entry on being a presenter on RTB. This entry concludes our "In the Spotlight" series and we hope that SMR readers have enjoyed the posts. SMRREADS thanks all the personalities who have contributed to our project.