BY ALLAN JAY & NATASHA JEE
KUCHING: Former Sarawak Tribune editor Valentine Tawie Salok has passed on.
The 71-year-old was found dead in a rented room at Metrocity here.
The discovery was made after another tenant detected foul smell coming from the room and alerted the police.
Kuching police chief ACP Alexson Naga Chabu confirmed the case when contacted today.
“A police team was dispatched to the scene to recover the victim’s body from the room and took it to the hospital for further action,” he said briefly, adding that an official statement will be issued soon.
Valentine was a pioneering figure in Iban journalism. He started the Berita Iban at Utusan Borneo in 2006 and became its pioneer editor before serving as news editor at The Borneo Post in 2009.
In 2011, he joined Sarawak Tribune as an editor, while continuing to contribute Iban articles to Utusan Sarawak.
His work also earned him numerous accolades, including first prize in the Iban News Writing category for five consecutive years from 2012 to 2016.
Valentine retired from the Sarawak Tribune two years ago but remained active as a columnist and contributor.
In 2022, he published his first English-language book, Longhouse to City, a collection of articles from his long-running Sarawak Tribune column As I See It.
Beyond journalism, he was known as an Elvis Presley impersonator and driving force behind the Elvis Presley Fan Club of Sarawak (EPFCS).
He performed across Malaysia, including Sabah, and abroad in Brunei and Manila. Despite fewer engagements in recent years, he continued to sing Elvis classics — a passion he had nurtured since 1969.
Valentine was also active in the Iban music scene. In 2008, under the leadership of the late Tan Sri Celestine Ujang, he served as publicity chief of the Dayak Artistes and Musicians Association (DAMA), a role he continued when Datuk Snowdan Lawan took over in 2010.
For his contributions to journalism and community service, he was awarded the Ahli Bintang Kenyalang (ABK) by then Sarawak Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in October 2016.
