Najwa Shihab (born 16 September 1977) is an Indonesian

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

of mixed

Bugis The Bugis people, also known as Buginese, are an Austronesian ethnic groupthe most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassarese and Torajan), in the south-western province of Sula ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

descent. She is the second daughter of former Minister of Religious Affairs in the Cabinet of Development VII Quraish Shihab and a niece of former Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab.

Early life

Shihab attended Jakarta High School No. 7 until 1996. During her time there, she was selected to join the

American Field Service AFS Intercultural Programs (or AFS, originally the American Field Service) is an international youth exchange organization. It consists of over 50 independent, not-for-profit organizations, each with its own network of volunteers, professional ...

program where she got to stay in the United States for a year. Upon leaving high school, she started her law degree at

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia (UI; ) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Dutch East Indies when UI was established) ...

Career

She started her journalistic career at

RCTI RCTI (abbreviated from ''Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia'') is an Indonesian free-to-air television broadcaster. It is best known for its soap operas, celebrity bulletins, news, and sports programmes. It was first launched in 1989, origi ...

in 1999 before joining the then recently established Metro TV in 2000. In the immediate aftermath of the

2004 tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scient ...

, Shihab was flown to

Aceh Aceh ( , ; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ; Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Old Spelling: ''Atjeh'') is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capit ...

to file stories. There she witnessed the destruction caused by the tsunami alongside the decomposing bodies found all over the streets. Her reports and the interview with government officials raised her profile. She also received an award from the Indonesian Journalists Association for her reports. In 2008 Shihab received an Australian Leadership Awards scholarship to study media law at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. After more than a decade at Metro TV, she quit the news channel in August 2017 and founded a news startup called Narasi TV in 2018. In 2022, Shihab portrayed Nani Wijaya, the first Sri Asih in '' Sri Asih'', who was portrayed by Mimi Mariani in 1954.

''Mata Najwa''

Shihab started hosting her own talkshow ''Mata Najwa'' on Metro TV on 25 November 2009. It aired every Wednesday at 8 pm WIB to 9.30 pm WIB. Some of her guests included former presidents Habibie and

Megawati Soekarnoputri Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004 and the eighth vice president under President Abdurrahman Wahid from 1999 to 2001. ...

, former vice presidents

Boediono Boediono (Perfected Spelling System, EYD: Budiono, pronounced ; born 25 February 1943) is an Indonesian politician and economist who served as the 11th Vice President of Indonesia, vice president of Indonesia from 2009 to 2014. He became vice pr ...

and

Jusuf Kalla Muhammad Jusuf Kalla (; born 15 May 1942), commonly referred to by his initials JK, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who served as the 10th and 12th vice president of Indonesia, the only vice president in Indonesian history to serve tw ...

as well as then

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

governor

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), often known mononymously as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician, engineer, and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic ...

. Her show ended on 23 August 2017 on Metro TV as she decided to quit the channel. She and ''Mata Najwa'' returned to television but on a different channel,

Trans7 PT Duta Visual Nusantara Tivi Tujuh (previously PT Duta Visual Nusantara), operating as Trans7 or TRANS7 in all caps (stylized TRɅNS, 7, pronounced ''Trans Tujuh'' in Indonesian, formerly known as TV7) is an Indonesian free-to-air television b ...

, on 10 January 2018.

Terawan interview

In October 2020, Shihab was reported to the police by United Jokowi Volunteers chairperson Silvia Devi Soembarto for her stunt interviewing an empty guest chair where Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto was supposed to fill on 28 September 2020 edition of ''Mata Najwa''. Through her Instagram account, Shihab stated that her interview was intentional so that public officials, especially Terawan who has been missing in action, would explain their policies in handling the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and that the explanation does not necessarily have to be made on her show. The empty chair interview was a first in Indonesia and Shihab deemed her action as still a form of journalism as it has been done by journalists in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

as well.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shihab, Najwa Indonesian television presenters Indonesian women television presenters University of Indonesia alumni Indonesian people of Egyptian descent Indonesian people of Saudi Arabian descent Indonesian people of Yemeni descent Hashemite people Bugis people Living people 1977 births People from Makassar Melbourne Law School alumni 20th-century Indonesian women journalists 20th-century Indonesian journalists 21st-century Indonesian women journalists 21st-century Indonesian journalists