Of wet blankets and sour grapes

Republished from New Straits Times, Dec 30, 2022,
with the author’s permission. Read the original here.

By Yong Soo Heong

IN THE aftermath of the bruising 15th General Election, two items are not short of supply under the current rainy weather — wet blankets and sour grapes.

Wet blankets are a common sight when floodwaters rise quickly to inundate homes. And sour and tangy grapes may sometimes be found among the many varieties flooding our market thanks to this year's bumper harvests in Australia and New Zealand.

A wet blanket can also refer to someone who spoils the enjoyment of others in a celebration, or someone who dampens other people’s joy.

This expression started around the 1870s, when cooks at that time kept wet blankets in the kitchen to smother out fires that were accidentally started.

It’s derived from one of the many fables by ancient Greek storyteller Aesop entitled “The Fox and the Grapes”.

In the story, a thirsty fox sees a bunch of plump juicy grapes hanging high from a vine, but fails in all its attempts to get hold of it.

Feeling dejected, the fox walks away without ever tasting the grapes while trying hard to convince himself by muttering: “I am sure they are sour.” The moral of the fable is, it is easy to despise what you cannot get.

As I examined these two expressions, they are against an intriguing backdrop of a few politicians from the same fold, who poured scorn on the ability (or the lack of it) of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to steer the country towards a better future.

Strangely, these “has-beens” had lost badly in the recent polls besides having their election deposits forfeited, a stark indication of how badly they performed. They have little locus standi, and their time has passed, so to speak.

These “Doubting Thomases” said they had no confidence in Anwar's leadership and that the latter was only good in mouthing populist statements.

While the current government had stated it’s untrue that it could not be criticised, and constructive criticisms were always welcomed, it's certainly not open season for detractors to simply pour cold water on the administration without strong basis.

It’s now 2022 going on to 2023, and not 1981 or 1998. To borrow a line from John Lennon and Yoko Ono — give peace a chance — and do give this newly-stitched government a chance.

Anwar’s cabinet is hardly a month old, and even much less for the second echelon of deputy ministers. It’s heart-warming that some of them had even taken the lead for quick wins in a matter of days for the people’s benefit.

The government’s apparatus is not just Anwar’s alone. He has many competent people around him who want to prove the sceptics wrong.

That said, Anwar has to be strong enough to face the world each day and also weak enough to admit that he cannot do everything alone.

Anwar has proven his mettle by reaffirming the confidence of support for him on Dec 19. It spoke volumes of his skilful behind-the-scene manoeuvrings.

His true friends have made their support felt in times of need when others seemed to have vanished.

The South China Morning Post, which tracks Malaysia’s political developments closely, ran an uplifting editorial recently with the headline: “Anwar is the right leader to put Malaysia back on the right track”.

It opined that the outcome of the electoral impasse could be positive for the country, which now has a multiracial government led by a prime minister with Islamic credentials when it comes to fending off extremists.

The SCMP said despite intense distractions of coalition politics and potential racial agitation by the opposition, Malaysia is poised for greater stability and economic development!

Give the government some latitude first. We can scrutinise its scorecard when it hits the 100-day mark. In the meantime, let’s not upset the apple cart without rhyme or reason.

• Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.

Being useful, relevant and productive during Covid

 By Lim Siang Jin

DURING the early days of the pandemic, there was a lot of confusion and, like many others displaced from their routines, I was disoriented. To keep myself rooted in reality, I decided I should do things that are useful, relevant and productive. But what? These are motherhood ideas that meant nothing without any translation into actual practices. I began to get my bearings after a month or two, so during the Covid years I did three things, apart from keeping myself physically and mentally fit:

• Completion of editorial projects. With the large amounts of free time I had, I decided to complete the following:
• WPS Beacon Issue No 2: For our first issue, we had more than 30 pieces. By the start of 2020, we only had a handful for the second issue. I decided to add a series on the games we played as children to bulk up the issue 
• Being brave and angry – IOCU 1982-83: Articles published by the Regional Office for the Asia-Pacific of the International Organisation of Consumers Union (IOCU). Due to the  probability of being sued for libel (we were critical of transnationals like Nestle and Ciba-Geigy), I have decided not to publish these material but keep them in my private records. 
• “Four cheers for the backroom”: An article detailing four out of the ordinary events related to The Edge production team (to be published later)

• Covid-19 and beyond: There was a dearth of reliable information on Covid-19 in the early months. I thought if I could collate and disseminate material from reliable sources, I would be able to assist friends and other professionals in journalism, academia and think tanks in their work. I recalled that in 1982-83, when I was with IOCU, we published a monthly news digest called Consumer Currents. These days, with the internet, a “CC” would take a very different form. Every entry of the Covid-19 and beyond website has (a) labels to facilitate search (b) a brief excerpt of the story with its source and a link to it and (c) date and place of origin. I approached Seng Sun and Guan Khim to help out initially but it was impossible to co-ordinate so we gave up after a few weeks. I carried on alone. Eventually, the project from March 2020 to November 2021 garnered a collection of over 1,900 pieces. I am quite proud especially to collect most of the pieces from writers like:
• Amar Singh
• Arundhati Roy
• Pulitzer Prize winner Ed Yong
• Jeyakumar Devaraj
• Jomo Kwame Sundaram
• P Gunasegaram
• Tomas Pueyo

Also labelled were journals like BMJ, The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine. An array of topics was included, like misinformation, neoliberalism, equitable access and vaccination implementation. Please click on the names or terms to view the collections.

• Restart my art: I managed to start painting seriously again in 2020 after a break of 30 years. This year I held a solo exhibition at APW in Bangsar from Oct 21-30. Read here (The Edge) and here (The Malay Mail). Articles were also carried in theSun, New Straits Times, Mashable and Says. I am very thankful to my many media friends for their support. For the project, I also started a website, www.limsiangjin.art.

Bickering Over Durian, June 2022, acrylic, ink and pencil on paper, 30in H x 22.3in W

A friend indeed: Vincent Lim Ewe Tee, 1953-2022

By Lim Siang Jin

EWE TEE was my class monitor in Standard IC, Westlands Primary School, in 1960. We got on quite well and have been very good friends ever since. He lived a few roads from my home so it was very convenient to meet and play. And play we did! Like all other innocent and curious youngsters our age.

At his place, No 19 Birch Road, I remember going up to his room to spend time; it opened to a small verandah facing Gurney Drive. The bungalow was on the land where the 24-storey Sunrise@Gurney stands. Aunty, his mum, was a caring soul. She made sure I had enough to eat and drink while we played. I also remember his soft-spoken dad with a very kind face. He would drop me back home once in a while in their light-coloured car, probably a Hillman Minx. Uncle unfortunately passed away when we were at a tender age.

The Gurney Drive beach front in the 1930s.
Source: Aliran

The centre of activities, from 1964 onwards, was our area —  at the junction-enclave of Gurney Drive and Cantonment Road. Ewe Tee was part of our “gang” there. About 20-strong, we engaged in various formal games — badminton, football, rounders, table tennis, etc, many adapted to the environment we found ourselves. We also followed the annual calendar of state-wide youth activities involving marbles, kites, tops and cards. 

Numerically, we were big enough to play chiak bak, mata chat and kham bak chieu – so they became part of our repertoire of activities, many a time with creative variations, like hide-and-seek in the dark of the night (read more about these games here). And I would never forget how we stood under the scorching sun at the mouth of the big drain that ran the length of Cantonment Road — to catch measly catfish and chwee chiam (mini swordfish). The four acres we had access to, plus the beachfront, was a haven for children growing up. 

Ewe Tee was a good story teller too. Two of them remain etched in my memory. The first was his 1963 description of how he and his tent-mates probably encountered the lantern lady at Jubilee Camp, replete with details like a light moving outside their tent and raincoat dripping with red liquid the next day. My guess is that it was one of the scout masters making sure the boys remained in their tents! The second, in 1965, was an animated account of the second encounter between Cassius Clay (aka Muhammad Ali) and Sonny Liston, where the latter was KOed in the first round with a controversial “phantom punch”. The former had used a secretly-learnt karate chop, Ewe Tee insisted.

Ewe Tee, a school prefect at Westlands Primary School in 1965, was seated next to the form
teacher, Mr Teoh Chye Teik. For the caption and more photos of that year, click here 

In 2018, I asked if he remembered them. He chuckled and said no. Such are the strange ways our memories work.

I remember there was some healthy rivalry between us too. In 1965, both of us were appointed scout patrol leaders. We had to name our patrols after animals. I decided on the cobra saying it was versatile with a strong ability to protect itself, and attack if necessary. After some thought, Ewe Tee decided on the mongoose, telling me it was deft enough to defeat the cobra. I refused to believe that then, however in later years I found out that the mongoose indeed won up to 80 per cent of its encounters with the snake. 

Come Job Week, we would go jobbing together, going door-to-door to do odd jobs and collect money for the scouting movement. Focussed on the vicinity of Birch Road and places near the school, we learnt a fair bit about the places and its people — from the scrooge who squeezed the most out of his or her one dollar to the generous who gave us two and hot drinks to boot, and sent us off without lifting a finger.

Our friendship extended into Free School. Every school day in 1967-68, we would go to school together with Ooi Teong Siew and Ooi Peng Huat. Driven by Ah Eu, the family driver, every journey was filled with hilarity, usually derived from harmless pranks and disturbing girls along the way.

From the WPS Camaraderie page, 23 Feb 2018:
Farewell lunch for Ewe Tee (left) at Oriental
Pavilion Restaurant, Jaya 33, Petaling Jaya.
Click here for more

We lost touch for a number of years after PFS and caught up again in the late 1980s when he moved back to Penang with his lovely wife Kym. At the time, he was running a personal tour guide business and their son, Matthew, was born in our home state. In 1997, they moved back to England. After that we stayed in touch close enough for me and my family to visit his home in north London in the early 2000s.

He was very proud of and loved his family deeply. He spoke highly of his wife Kym, a Londoner who teaches children with special needs. Ewe Tee once said I could learn a thing or two from her if I ever wanted to do anything in the area. I was then exploring the possibility of coaching people to care for the aged. Matthew, their son, did very well in his studies scoring first class honours in mechanical engineering from the University of Nottingham and is now working in consulting for a technology company in London. It was very clear from our conversations that he was the apple of his eye. 

In the last 15 years or so, Ewe Tee would come back frequently to visit his mum, sisters Dawn and Grace, and close relatives. We caught up each time he came back and our friendship deepened further. 

During my last visit to London in 2018, knowing I would be alone, he meticulously advised me about the Oyster Card, places to avoid (“because you might get mugged”), the London Tube app, etc. I had wished to visit Kings Place, office of The Guardian newspaper, so he, Kym and I decided to meet there. After that we took a double decker down to Soho where we visited Liberty London and had dinner at The Real Greek. The day before I left, he came to Central London again and we spent many hours talking at a pub in Queensway. All these made my trip so much more memorable.

At the Real Greek restaurant, Soho, London, in April 2018, with Kym and Matthew

That was not to be the last time I met him. In late 2019, his mother passed away in Subang Jaya. He and Kym came back. Seng Oo and I, among others, met them at the funeral. Little did I know then it would be the last time I saw him in person.

During the Covid outbreak we spoke now and then, dwelling mainly on subject matters we agreed on and avoiding areas of contention — our political views had diverged over the years but that, we felt, should not come in the way of our friendship. My last series of contact with him was in end-August 2022, a week before his diagnosis. We shared our new-found interests. In the summer, the first in three years that was not snarled by Covid, he took a liking to lawn-bowling and had engaged in it many times a week, making new friends. On my part, I told him about my upcoming art exhibition, hoping he would be able to make it back in time. He mentioned he was looking forward to coming back to see his sisters in November-December 2022 after three long years.

That he would fall sick and pass away in three short months came as a complete shock to me. RIP Ewe Tee. We will miss you.

Let’s hope unity govt lasts the distance as people are tired of political manoeuvring

Republished from New Straits Times, Dec 5, 2022,
with the author’s permission. Read the original here.

By Yong Soo Heong

MALAYSIANS have suddenly become good at maths, especially when it concerns the numbers 222, 111, 81, 73, 30, 23, eight and zero.

You hear that “this doesn’t add up”, “they cannot be put together”, “what if there is a need to subtract when someone pulls out?” and “how long do you think these numbers will hold?”

We’re not talking about a simple maths test. The stakes are higher.

It’s about whether the unity government can last the distance of about 1,825 days as some sore losers may pull the rug out from under it.

Let’s also hope that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim can prove his support in Parliament on Dec 19.

It’s also important for Anwar to prove his mettle after his ministers have been firmed up. Then they will have to hit the ground running to save the country.

It won’t be easy for the office-bearers but they have to accept that hard work will be the order of the day.

Too much time has been expended on politicking since February 2020 when the government fell.

Since then, nothing much has happened, save for financial aid for the people, allowing people to prematurely withdraw their savings from a provident fund, and stemming the spread of Covid-19.

People’s welfare must be given priority.

We’re lagging behind Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

Anwar hit the nail on the head when, on the campaign trail, he said he would prioritise revitalising the economy.

He and his team have to ensure the people’s wellbeing.

It’s about giving them access to reasonably priced quality food, healthcare and well-paying jobs.

Anwar set the right tone when he met heads of government departments two days after his swearing-in. The rallying of his troops is key to creating a mental revolution among civil servants to work hard for the government.

• Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.

Mighty Bee

By Yong Soo Heong

NG BOON BEE was already a big name in the badminton world and synonymous with Tan Yee Khan when I was trying to make a mark in the sport in the late 1960s. Their successful partnership with relentless and powerful smashes was always imprinted in  my mind.

Somehow, I didn’t make it into ‘Big Time’ because of two primary reasons: my  journalism career got in my way (which is a good thing as I look back to those years)  and my belief that I could be a good player if I had perfected my strokes well enough.

Childhood friends Ng Boon Bee (right) and Tan Yee Khan in a buoyant mood
when they last met at Pangkor in mid 2022 – Tan Yee Khan pic reproduced
from FMT with permission

On this second point, how silly and mistaken I was. The game of badminton necessitates one to have match experience in order to excel as no one player is the same. I fault myself for not listening to my dad in this department. No point crying over spilt milk now, as they say.

Back to Boon Bee. One day at the tender age of 16-going-on-17 in 1971, I found myself in the company of the great man himself and his doubles partner, Punch Gunalan, in Ipoh. I was sent to compete in the Perak Open as the then President and Honorary Secretary of the Penang BA, the late Mr Gan Chin Huat and the late Mr Tan Lee Sin, had always wanted to give young players all the exposure to prove themselves.

Somehow, I lost in the early rounds to better opponents. I wasn’t tenacious enough or out of depth, to be frank. But my legs were already wobbly when I saw the two badminton luminaries listed down to play in the same tournament! I told myself how could I stand a chance when these two greats were around!

In between matches, I “bumped” into them at the Perak government chalet along Jalan Tambun where we were accommodated. I was with some of my senior team-mates from Penang who apparently knew Boon Bee and Punch better, when we saw the pair  resting in one of the rooms.

I too made a beeline to see what these two greats had to say as they had months earlier returned triumphantly with the coveted All-England men’s doubles title, beating Rudy Hartono and the late Indra Gunawan (who later went on to coach the Malaysian  team).

I peered from the door. Punch was munching on an apple while Boon Bee was relaxing on the bed. We made small talk. Can’t remember what we spoke as it was more my senior team-mates who did most of the talking while I was just a wallflower in the company of our country’s badminton kingpins. It was a scene I can never forget.

Back in those days when there was no “live” television to follow important badminton matches, Radio Malaysia was the only source of exciting sporting action. I would often  preen my ears to “live” radio commentaries and follow the blow-by-blow accounts on  Radio Malaysia.

Datuk Ng Boon Bee: Jumping into the air
was always an SOP – BAM Facebook pic

Radio Malaysia’s then sports presenter supremo, R. Jeyanathan, was often drumming  it into me with his trademark commentaries. I still remember his colorful description  which would sound like this: “Boon Bee leaps into the air and smashes, but it is well taken by Indonesia’s Indra Gunawan.

“Boon Bee springs into the air again and smashes but Hartono defends it well. Yee Khan smashes this time, and the shot is returned fast and furious.

“Wow! Boon Bee leaps up and chops the shot into the middle of the court. It catches  the Indonesians off-guard and yes!…Malaysia marches forward with another point.”

Boon Bee jumping into the air was always an SOP…standard operating procedure. That was his trademark as he possessed strong muscles in his thighs, which sometimes, to me, looked like that of a powerful frog.

That was why Boon Bee, an ex-pupil of St Michael’s Institution, Ipoh, could excel in  many sports because he could either outrun his opponents or be speedy about things.

He was even a prolific footballer representing Malaysia in the Merdeka Football tournaments in 1958 and again in 1959 when Malaysia were champions. This was the  premier tournament in Asia from the late 1950s to the late 1970s.

N. Thanabalan, an international footballer, recalls: “I had the privilege of playing  alongside Boon Bee for our employers, the National Electricity Board. He was a very  good teammate who was jovial and very highly motivated.”

Boon Bee was a very talented sportsman, who also excelled in athletics, rugby, and even tennis at state level.

But it was badminton that propelled him into the world stage and got him the most headlines and accolades.

During his prime in the mid-1960s till the early 1970s, he would travel in a quartet with his doubles partner Yee Khan, Yew Cheng Hoe and Tan Aik Huang as they took on the world.

Boon Bee and Yee Khan developed into a formidable pair, raking in title after title wherever they competed.

Yee Khan, who was devastated by the recent death of his doubles partner, said they had built up a formidable combination to be the best men’s doubles pair in the world  at one time because of their attitude towards the game.

They had one simple strategy or game plan: always analyzing their opponents game,  whether in defeat or victory.

“Whenever we won or lost, we would discuss how we could improve our game and tactics. We would always discuss before the game on what went wrong or what went right the day before. That was how we adapted well to each other by forging a good  understanding on what we should be doing and what we should not do when on the  court.”

On how he came to form a triumphant partnership with Boon Bee, Yee Khan says: “I was in Form 4 when I started playing together with Boon Bee. I was from Yuk Choy, a  Chinese school, but was subsequently enrolled at St Michael’s Institution where the then Brother Director Pius Kelly asked me to team up with Boon Bee. From there, it was the start of our successful partnership.”

Between 1960 and 1969, both Boon Bee and Yee Khan won some 20 prestigious titles together, including the All-England, US Open, Canadian Open, Denmark Open,  Singapore Open, Malaysian Open, Asian Championships, Asian Games and the  South-East Asia Peninsula Games.

The pair’s highest distinction was the Malaysian victory in the Thomas Cup in 1967,  gained in the teeth of a hostile crowd in Jakarta which was disruptive in behaviour  aimed at heading off a Malaysian triumph that Yee Khan’s and Boon Bee’s exploits in the doubles guaranteed.

The victorious Malaysian 1967 Thomas Cup team (from left) Yew Cheng Hoe, Tan Aik Huang,
Teh Kew San, BAM president Mohd Khir Johari, Ng Boon Bee, Tan Yee Khan and Billy Ng
– Tan Yee Khan pic reproduced from FMT with permission

Boon Bee, together with Yee Khan, starred with captain Teh Kew San, Tan Aik Huang, Yew Cheng Hoe and Billy Ng in the team that brought home the prestigious trophy in that series.

The Thomas Cup triumph was the capstone of a decade of distinction for the doubles pair.

Cheng Hoe recalls: “He earned my respect as our leader for he was a warm, caring and friendly person. It was always good to talk to him. He  would often ask about our well-being during our tours. With him around, it was like family.”

Sylvia Ng, Malaysia’s number one women’s shuttler at one time, also remembers Boon Bee as a friendly person. He proved to be an adaptable partner when he and Sylvia  teamed up to capture the 1970 Asian Games mixed-doubles title.

“We got on very well. Boon Bee was always easy to talk to,” she said. ”I shall definitely  miss him.”

Both Cheng Hoe and Sylvia agreed that it was Boon Bee’s physical adaptability to emerge as one of Malaysia’s greatest sportsmen as he subsequently found success with the late Gunalan after his regular partner Yee Khan retired from competitive badminton because of a serious head injury. This was after Yee Khan had a fall while jogging during training for the Rangoon (now Yangon) SEAP Games in 1969.

One of Boon Bee’s best performances was with Gunalan in the 1971 All-England final when they defeated Indonesia’s top pair of Rudy Hartono/Indra Gunawan. They also  won the Bangkok Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, both in  1970.

“He was without a doubt not only a great player but the best doubles player during my time,” said Rudy Hartono, the seven-time All England singles champion in Jakarta.

“Rest in eternal peace my dear friend. Bless you.”

Fast forward to late 2019, I was in the company of ex-Uber Cupper Sylvia, former Thomas Cupper Saw Swee Leong and former Asian junior champion, the late Tan Aik  Mong. We were on a road trip to look for Boon Bee in Ipoh as Aik Mong said he had lost contact with him for quite a while.

We managed to track him down after going through several phone numbers. It was finally via Boon Bee’s wife, Tong Ee Cheng’s handphone! We met for coffee in a shopping mall. It was a great reunion among those big-time shuttlers and they reminisced about the good old times. Their camaraderieship was something to behold.

When Swee Leong volunteered to say that I was playing competitive badminton with him as well as the likes of James Selvaraj, Phua Ah Hua and Razif Sidek back in the 1970s, Boon Bee let out a bewildered response: “You must be joking!”

And that came from the man whom I held in awe. I can’t fault him for his sharp reaction or observation for I have ballooned into a 150kg sumo wrestler’s frame.

• This story, originally published in mysportsflame.com, is republished with the permission of the author. Read the original here. Read more about the writer here.

Noel Tan Inn Su (1954-2022)

Noel Tan was our schoolmate at Westlands Primary in Standard 6 Red in 1965. He later went on to Penang Free School. We will expand on this obituary later, when we get more information. 
 

Do not let the Fourth Estate's work go to waste

Republished from New Straits Times, May 27, 2022,
with the author’s permission. Read the original here.

By Yong Soo Heong

THE ROLE of the media as well as challenges and opportunities facing it have often been debated to the point of almost ad nauseam.

But here's a new twist: how about challenges and opportunities under Industrial Revolution 4.0?

And that's the topic to be expounded at the National Media Forum organised by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) in Melaka on Sunday.

The event is held in conjunction with the launch of the National Journalists Day, or Hari Wartawan Nasional, 2022, or better known by its acronym, HAWANA 2022, by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The importance of the media cannot be overstated here in that it serves society by providing investigative reports, debates, discussions, background analysis and topical news stories.

The media informs as well as entertains, there’s no doubt about that.

For Datuk Hussamuddin Yaacub, the Chairman of Kumpulan Karangkraf, which publishes the Sinar Harian newspaper, he sees the staging of HAWANA as a significant step towards bringing back the original principles of journalism in terms of its professionalism, pride, authoritativeness and integrity against what he terms as a slide in journalistic principles through chequebook journalism.

Hence, there's much that the media forum can dwell upon given that MPI has invited several senior editors from newspapers and news portals, top news executives, academics and seasoned veteran journalists to air their thoughts.

Perhaps there should be much to chew on against the backdrop of dwindling newspaper subscriptions and diminishing advertisements among print publications, increase in online advertisements by tech giants, onslaught of news from online news aggregators linked to tech giants and independent news outfits, propensity of consumers to rely on free offerings from news aggregators, proliferation of fake and slanted online news, security of tenure for journalists and challenges in multi-tasking in today’s fast-paced journalism world.

In a world that’s plagued by tremendous cynicism as a result of widespread corruption and scandals, it’s pertinent that watchdog journalism be supported with greater gusto and hailed as an important step towards making public officials, businesspeople and others to be more accountable.

By being the Fourth Estate after the executive branches of the government, legislature and judiciary, the media has a major responsibility to the masses.

This is especially so in publicising issues that have a direct or indirect impact on society and subsequently demanding responses from public officials or parties implicated in the matter.

Given that the prime minister has seen fit to be present and accord a special day for journalists, it is hoped that he'll highlight the far-reaching roles that they play in mirroring the nation's consciousness, achievements or even setbacks.

In this regard, it would be very helpful if he could direct the attention of government servants to issues and complaints frequently raised by the public through news organisations, and to act on them almost immediately.

For example, in the area of the environment alone, we’ve been treated to a never-ending barrage of issues involving river pollution, air pollution and water supply disruptions due to contamination, illegal construction of dwellings and factories, forest degradation, reduction in forest habitats for endangered animal species, poor enforcement at all levels and the ineptness of certain agencies or ministries, to name a few, and they don’t seem to end.

When is the prime minister going to wield the big stick and ensure that government officials don’t just mouth motherhood statements that lead to nowhere in resolving pressing issues?

It’s crucial that he sets the seal for the government apparatus to pay greater heed to the Key Happiness Outcome of the people as their wellbeing will determine the success of his much-touted “Keluarga Malaysia”.

Otherwise, the painstaking work of journalists will go to waste and be akin to the Malay proverbs of “bagai hujan jatuh ke pasir (like rain falling on sand)” or “seperti anjing menyalak bukit (like dogs barking at hills)”.

• Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.

Some need to learn empathy for good of country

Republished from New Straits Times, Apr 26, 2022,
with the author’s permission. Read the original here

By Yong Soo Heong

THE NINTH month of the Islamic calendar is also a special time for me because of several reasons.

Besides being invited to buka puasa events where I get to meet long-lost friends and acquaintances (and occasionally being the only non-Muslim at the table, I am also tasked to “guard the food” while my mates go for maghrib prayers!), it also allows me to reflect on the significance of empathy for those who are less-fortunate.

Fasting during Ramadan, I believe, helps to instil compassion for the poor, who may have much difficulty in putting food on the table.

My Muslim friends tell me, the last 10 nights of Ramadan are considered to be the best of the year. Of the 10, Lailatul Qadr is the holiest, where prayers are recited throughout the night.

One of the interesting activities for me during Ramadan is to help well-meaning friends like Fuzi Hanim Omar, a tireless 70-something “lady warrior”, whose tagline is “Building Bridges of Goodwill”.

Fuzi Hanim, who has been described as someone embodying the spirit of Merdeka with her work promoting inter-ethnic cohesiveness among underprivileged children, had often involved me in her Fuzi Magic “charity cluster”, where she would send food, clothes and money to orphanages and people in the B40 group.

Her volunteers will bring some festive cheer to the under-privileged in the Kayu Ara and Damansara Damai areas in Selangor by distributing satay and roti jala, as well as duit raya. They even provided aid to an orphanage in Kuala Lipis, Pahang.

Some startling facts emerge from these places casually referred to as orphanages, which we should reflect and ponder.

Many of the children are not really orphans but abandoned children. An orphan is one where he or she is deprived by death of one or usually both parents, but the parents of these children are still alive but divorced.

I’m told that these “orphanages” teeming with abandoned children are beginning to change their names to care centres (pusat jagaan).  

While cherishing people like Fuzi Hanim, I am also distracted by some disturbing news of the actions of some people just because they bask in the glory of wealth, titles and power.

I was dumbfounded when a wife of a Datuk was bound over for five years on a good behaviour bond of RM20,000 after she changed her plea and pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt.

She had allegedly used a kitchen knife, a clothes hanger, a steel mop and an umbrella to cause multiple injuries to her maid’s head, hands, legs and internal organs.

Then, there is the case of a Tan Sri who didn’t pay his maid for 12 years until the latter reported it to the Indonesian embassy. These are just a few of the untold antics of the privileged class!

I commend the Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono, and his officers for actively protecting Indonesians here. This is what real diplomats do whenever their citizens ask for help, not strut about at cocktail parties.

And we had better beware because Indonesia has stated that it’s not keen to send its citizens to work in countries where labour abuses go unpunished.

One maid recruitment association chief even said Malaysia may have to look elsewhere after this. Look elsewhere to continue our abuses?

Already, some Malaysian exporters have found difficulty in getting their products into developed countries because of their human rights track record. Have we still not learnt our lesson?

It’s a time for self-reflection, especially during this special month — you live in palatial homes, drive luxury cars, tote designer handbags and yet mistreat workers while still yearning for roti canai and teh tarik at 10 sen each in the 21st century? Come on. Get real.

• Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.

 

Establish citizens’ assemblies to hold politicians accountable

Republished from New Straits Times, Apr 9, 2022,
with the author’s permission. Read the original here.

By Yong Soo Heong

EVER SINCE Malaysia experienced a short-lived political renaissance in May 2018 only to be thwarted by the so-called Sheraton Move by self-serving politicians of every shade in February 2020, our country has been gripped by constant politicking.

The dismal reality from such manoeuvres has been that we’ve not been reaping the benefits of modernity while some of our neighbours who used to lag behind have overtaken us. We’ve been largely held back by narrow-minded policies that befuddle the mind of every right-thinking Malaysian.

And, no thanks to the Covid-19 virus that hit us since early 2020 and is still stifling our society in one way or the other.

Yes, the Ukraine crisis may have lifted crude oil and crude palm oil revenues sky high, but we're still a long way off from being that Asian Tiger we’re supposed to be. And, all that because many in the echelons of power seem to think that they know what's best for the country.

We now hear politicians pressing for the 15th GE to be held soon, the reasons being it's opportune to do so due to recent events in Melaka and Johor; any lingering delay may not be advantageous to some key players; time is ripe to court the naivety of voters who just turned 18; political opponents are in disarray and new alliances could be forged.

But, many in the political gamesmanship seem to be brimming with confidence on how to bring that winning formula for themselves and their hangers-on. I’m not so sure what they've in mind in terms of wealth-creation for the people because I've not heard much about this except that they want to return to power.

And, in the last two years, one of the key words that’s been bandied about was bantuan or aid, as if the country is enveloped by poor and hapless people. Nothing much about how to get citizens to earn better incomes, move up the economic ladder or businesses to take giant leaps forward.

Therefore, we often find ourselves in a dilemma.

Who do we vote for? Who could be trusted? Which politicians will not abandon their righteous cause? These are tough questions to answer.

What do we do to prevent ourselves from being “scammed” by sweet-talking politicians who come dressed in their all-white attire (perhaps to reflect purity in their souls and persona) or travel in some battered and spartan vehicle to show solidarity for the M40s and B40s?

Do remember that a winning ticket for a politician is a passport to a life-time of financial sustenance as they get pensions even serving for just one term!

And, we don’t even know what our lives are going to be in the next five years and beyond! So, guard that vote jealously and choose only those who can work for us!

I’ve been thinking about how to make those victorious politicians accountable for their actions or inaction (those whom we rarely see after they’ve won). We ought to institutionalise a proper feedback channel like a citizens' assembly to air our thoughts to lawmakers.

The deliberative democracy model that's being practised in the Ostbelgien German-speaking region of eastern Belgium is worth adopting so that we won't be fooled once every five years.

Also known as sortition, it’s an ancient practice of randomly selecting citizens to participate in legislative citizen assemblies to voice out their thoughts and suggestions.

Under this form of deliberative democracy, deliberation will be central to decision-making as it adopts elements of consensus decision-making and majority rule for problem-solving. These assemblies can provide the necessary checks and balances on politicians.

Naysayers may say why adopt a Western idea or it  won't work in Malaysia without proper funding or administrative support. Funding? That’s the least of our problems. It’s the will to make things work that's key. Financing could come from the Election Commission, Parliament or State Assemblies.

These assemblies could meet a few times annually and select people from all strata to avoid a potential middle class or upper class domination syndrome. The idea is to have a truly representative and deliberative democracy. It’s also about moving Malaysia forward.

• Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.

Boosting Penang's musical heritage as an attraction

Republished from New Straits Times, Mar 9, 2022,
with the author’s permission. Read the original here.

By Yong Soo Heong

ON THE fourth floor of Komtar Complex in downtown George Town, Penang, lies a cultural oasis that showcases various “gems” related to the state’s pre-eminence in the performing arts and broadcasting industries.

Unfortunately, its prominence is masked by stores selling computer peripherals, fried chicken and souvenir knick-knacks before visitors can locate an escalator that takes them to this extraordinary place. 

Known as the Penang House of Music (PHoM), it’s a jewel in the crown among local music aficionados who care about Penang's musical heritage, and a labour of love by its founder, Paul Augustin, a self-taught 62-year-old Eurasian musician from the state, now a musical “historian”, curator, researcher and archivist.

The “house” promotes Penang as the motherland of musicians in the country. It came into being on Nov 21, 2016 under the Penang Musical Heritage Project in line with the state government's aim and vision to establish a heritage and creative arts city.

It traces facets of Penang’s musical journey from the 1900s when the British colonials held sway, Japanese Occupation in early 1940s, return of the colonials in the mid-1940s, the halcyon days of pre-Independence, the glory days of the Swinging Sixties right up to the Buoyant Seventies.

Of course, no presentation would be complete without its most revered star, P. Ramlee.

The legendary actor-singer (along with his heart-throb, Saloma) holds a special place among many better-known Penang-born or raised entertainers like Ahmad Daud, Ahmad Nawab, Zainal Alam, Rubia Lubis, Jimmy Boyle, Ooi Eow Jin, Albert Yeoh, Richard Hoon, Lee Yee and David Arumugam, to name a few.

PHoM also captures the journey of how the local populace entertained themselves in the past, how the different local communities celebrated their festivals with music and performances thrown in, including Penang's famed song, dance and tongue-in-cheek satirical routine — the boria.

Special mention must be made of the presence of a radio studio where visitors can briefly be deejays and record audio presentations for keepsakes and a diorama of a coffee shop in the 1960s complete with a jukebox and a Rediffusion audio box.

It wouldn’t be out of place to say that a fair number of the exhibits mirrored what people usually saw in 1960s, when Paul himself grew up with a host of top-notch musicians, as well as pursuits like requesting their favourite songs to be played on the airwaves.

Also on display are the then immensely popular magazines like Movie News and Majallah Filem that highlighted soon-to-be screened films and sizzling celebrity gossip.

Two exhibits stood out: one, a cubicle where you could listen to golden oldies by pressing a song list on a tiny computer screen at the side; the other, a modern audio-visual screen depicting the Chinese “wayang” puppet shows where the costumes could “change” at will with every movement of the viewer's hand!

Moving forward and thinking aloud, a more strategic location befitting its strategic role could be the old Penang City Council building near the Esplanade, or the rather neglected AIA Building in Lebuh Bishop or one of the bungalows belonging to Penang Institute in the leafy suburbs of Jalan Brown.

The first two locations would add lustre to the touristy attractions in downtown George Town and augment PHoM’s foot-traffic.

The suggestion to be in Penang Institute's serene environs, besides its ample space for exhibits and visitors, is also to complement the latter's research into what makes Penang tick since PHoM had also ventured into research, documenting and digitalising its collection.

PHoM’s archival efforts reflect Paul's mission about building Penang’s (and subsequently Malaysia's) musical repository for posterity to benefit future generations.

Such noble endeavours could also complement the work done by local universities as PHoM’s treasure trove is constantly sought after by researchers on the state’s illustrious local musical journey.

It all depends on how the powers-that-be in Penang aspire to boost PHoM as a musical heritage attraction while the “house” also sifts through an increasing storehouse of valuable documents and artefacts to augment the state's contributions to Malaysia’s “musical treasures”.

• Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.

There must be better explanation for fatal cases

Republished from New Straits Times, Jan 21, 2022,
with the author’s permission. Read the original here.

By Yong Soo Heong

“UNREASONABLE haste is the direct road to error” was a quote that came to mind when I read that some clear-minded thinkers in our local medical fraternity were cautioning against the rollout of a second booster shot under the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme.

That quote belonged to 17th century French playwright Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known by his stage name Moliere, as he expounded the virtues of deliberation before acting in haste.

The New Straits Times had cited several people well-versed in medical science that Malaysia ought to study all relevant data on the efficacy of the booster shot, which has yet to reach the arms of many.

I subscribe to that view as many cases unpleasant to the ears had surfaced of late with regard to casualties after getting the booster shot, elegantly classified as Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI).

There has to be greater clarity as I believe all authorised Covid-19 vaccines must have the highest degree of efficacy and safety.

What if the lines of safety are blurred because we've not undertaken a serious study ourselves and had blindly kept in step with the Joneses?

Datuk Dr N.K.S. Tharmaseelan, a former Malaysian Medical Association president, said more data was needed and even the World Health Organisation (WHO) had yet to endorse a global rollout of booster shots.

WHO says: “Safe and effective vaccines are a game-changing tool: but for the foreseeable future we must continue wearing masks, cleaning our hands, ensuring good ventilation indoors, physical distancing and avoiding crowds.

“Being vaccinated does not mean that we can throw caution to the wind and put ourselves and others at risk, particularly because research is still ongoing into how much vaccines protect not only against disease but also against infection and transmission.”

We’ve to probe deeper, especially our own environment. As things stand, 26 million or close to 80 per cent of our population had received the first dose and 25.6 million or 79.6 per cent had taken the second. Nearly 30 per cent or 9.7 million had the third dose.

I'm drawn to morbidity or mortality cases following the third dosage.

There have been several high-profile cases of late. The usual culprit is often blamed on heart attacks. As easy as that? Clarity on how these fatal cases came about is sorely lacking.

Now we have been alerted to another high-profile case involving the father of a state-level religious figure. The authorities told us that the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency is investigating after the religious official revealed that his father vomited, became weaker and even had a stroke after the third dose.

Why is this so when medicines are supposed to fortify one's body? Perhaps as a layman I wouldn't know why.

I’m just asking like any normal person why a trip to the clinic or hospital has to end like that. Someone must explain convincingly.

While we’e bent on achieving herd immunity, I suppose not everyone can be corralled into that herd. Although there's compensation from a fund for extended AEFI cases between RM50,000 and RM500,000, no amount of money will placate the loss of a dear one.

I support the proposal by Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar, chairman of the Volunteers for Community Engagement and Empowerment for Covid-19, who called for the formation of an independent technical committee to address vaccine hesitancy.

There’s still 20 per cent of the population who have yet to be jabbed and another 70 per cent to go for the booster.

Amidst all these, I’m terribly amused by a recent father and son conversation. Daddy told his son that he was better off getting Covid-19. His son was non-plussed at the sudden remark.

His dad then said he had at least a fighting chance of staying in conversation and be alive for three weeks or so in combating the virus before he succumbs. And, if he is lucky, he will get to stay alive.

But with the booster shot, it may boost his chances of meeting his Maker faster! It’s a sobering matter we’ve to consider seriously.

• Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.

Sara and the Towkay

Manicasothy Saravanamuttu was a Ceylonese who arrived in Penang to become the editor of the Straits Echo newspaper in 1931. He lived an extraordinary life and suffered the Japanese Occupation of Penang personally. His experiences during the War years and beyond were documented in his memoir, The Sara Saga, which was originally published by Cathay Printers in 1970. I recall that the former Chief Reporter of Straits Echo in the 1970s, G Ratnam, used to mention a lot about Saravanamuttu. The out-of-print book was reprinted by Areca Books in 2010 and it can still be purchased from the Areca Books website. Price is only RM40, which I consider to be very good value for a precious re-print.

I can't remember when I purchased a copy of this book: it could have been soon after the reprint became available but like many other books I own, they normally ended up in the cupboard unread until I really have a use for them. So it was with The Sara Saga. Recently, I brought it out for some air because I had to refer to the chapters on the Japanese occupancy of Penang, this year being the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Penang.

There's also a chapter on Penang's personalities, another area of history that continues to intrigue me. Turning to page 78, my attention was immediately rivetted to the picture of Towkay Yeap Chor Ee and Malcolm MacDonald. Now recently, Yeap Chor Ee had been a subject of interest to me as he was the founder of Ban Hin Lee Bank. 

I thought that I had already known quite a bit about him from public records, private conversations and also from the book, The King's Chinese, which was authored by one of the Towkay's great-granddaughters, Daryl Yeap. However, I discovered that Saravanamuttu's memoir also contained some details of Yeap Chor Ee's generosity that was unknown to me earlier. It was this generosity which made Yeap Chor Ee so well-known in Penang even decades after his death in 1952. 

Below, I reproduce an excerpt from the Saravanamuttu memoir that dealt with Yeap Chor Ee. But overall, The Sara Saga is a most interesting book on many important periods of Penang's past and a must for any student of local history to own. Click here to visit the Areca Books website.

Perhaps the most outstanding Chinese in Penang in those days was Towkay Yeap Chor Ee, who came to Penang as a penniless orphan at the age of 18. He was in his fifties when I arrived in Penang, and he was already the richest man in the settlement. His wealth was acquired by hard work, thrift and a fair share of good luck.

He first started with a small shop in Prangin Road, which was stocked with goods on consignment supplied through the good office of the compradore of one of the leading British importing houses of Penang. Young Yeap Chor Ee kept the accounts scrupulously and settled with his patron without fail at the end of each month. In this manner he built up a small capital. At that time Caledonia Estate in Province Wellesley was a sugarcane plantation and produced crude sugar. Yeap Chor Ee purchased stocks of this crude sugar and sent them to the refineries of the famous Java Sugar King, Oei Tjiong Ham, at Sourabaya, and sold the refined sugar in Penang at a substantial profit.

The story is told that Oei, sensing that the young man in Penang was likely to become a rival to him, did not submit the bills for the refining for an extended period. But Yeap Chor Ee, with that strict honesty which was an integral part of his make-up, deposited the cost of refining from the profits of his sales in the bank instead of, as in the accepted manner, reinvesting it to make more profit and thereby run the risk of losing it. Thus, the Sugar King suddenly presented a bill for some $2 million, expecting to find the young Penang businessman unable to pay and thereby take over his business. To his surprise, the full bill was promptly settled. Oei Tjiong Ham at once came to Penang to call on this remarkable young businessman and a friendship was established which culminated in two of his daughters marrying two of Yeap Chor Ee's sons. Another justification of the old adage: "Honesty is the best policy"!

Then came the rubber boom of the 1910s in which Yeap Chor Ee speculated with outstanding success and was soon acknowledged as one of the leading businessmen in Penang. He acquired considerable property following the old Chinese belief that land was the safest investment and was justified when after his death some of his lands fetched over a thousand times what he had paid for them.

He showed his faith in the future of Penang by putting up the magnificent Ban Hin Lee Bank building during the days of the "Great Slump" in the early 1930s. Another notable action of his in those days was when the tin price hit the bottom. He continued to buy on the falling market and at one time held as much as 2,000 tons of tin in his godown. When the price of tin began to rise after hitting the bottom at £170, he sold in small parcels at a time. It is said that he cleared nearly $2 million on this transaction alone.

Till the time of his death Towkay Yeap Chor Ee could not speak English and I remember when, in recognition for his donation of $10,000 to the Silver Jubilee Fund, I tried to secure for him naturalisation papers as a British subject but failed owing to his lack of knowledge of English. By that time, he had established his own bank and was one of the largest property owners in Penang.

My first contact with him was in 1932, soon after the Japanese invaded China. Some of his jealous business rivals started a story that he was a Taiwanese (native of Taiwan or Formosa, which was then under Japanese rule) and there was a movement to boycott his business. As editor of the local paper I was invited to call on him and when I went to his bank he threw his Chinese passport at me. It showed that he was born in Fukien Province. Taiwan was part of Fukien Province before the Japanese took it over and this was made the basis for the false report.

I asked Towkay Yeap to give me his passport, made a block of the page giving his place of birth and printed the picture in the Straits Echo the next day without any further comment. Many Chinese thought that, in the accepted Chinese custom, I had received a handsome present for doing this but I did it merely as a piece of truthful reporting. I think it was this that won me his confidence and he used to consult me often after that whenever he was in doubt over a public matter.

Later I was able to persuade him to give a donation of $100,000, which he later increased to $250,000, for the Chinese section of the library of the University of Malaya in Singapore, now renamed the Singapore University, a proposal that was attractive to him as a non-English speaking Chinese.

The story behind this donation bears repeating. The Resident Commissioner of Penang, i.e. the Head of Administration, was Arthur Aston, an Oxford contemporary of mine and a typical old colonial type. When the appeal for donations to the proposed University in Singapore came out in 1948 Aston sent for Towkay Yeap and blandly suggested he should give a donation of a million dollars! (Incidentally, one of his sons, Dato Yeap Hock Hoe, later donated a million dollars to the Penang University College). When Towkay Yeap made a counter offer of $10,000, Aston was very rude to him and told him he was not going to carry all his millions with him to his grave; all he would get was a stone over his head. Now to speak of his death to an old Chinese (Yeap Chor Ee was over 70 at the time) is considered very bad luck.

The old man sent for me and told me the story. I was very angry and offered to go and scold Aston. His reaction was typical of the old Malayan Chinese. He said, "Don't do that. He may get annoyed, but you can tell him that I was very hurt." Then he went on to say that the biggest donation for the University so far was $50,000 by Lee Kong Chian, a Singapore millionaire, and he was willing to cap it with a donation of $75,000. On the spur of the moment I replied, "Towkay, 10,000, 50,000 and 75,000 are all five figures. Why not be the first to give a six-figure donation?" The old man twigged it at once and readily consented. Remembering his lack of knowledge of English, I suggested that he should specify his donation be utilised for books for the Chinese section of the University Library and a plaque placed to perpetuate his name. This pleased him immensely. So I went over Aston's head and made the offer direct to Malcolm MacDonald, who was Chairman of the Donations Committee. The latter came down to Penang to accept the cheque personally from Towkay Yeap. And I made Aston sanction the grant of a private burial ground for Towkay Yeap and his family, which could be done only for outstanding public service, When he died in 1952, he was buried on this plot on a hill in his Green Lane Estate from where he could look down on the bank he established.

• Quah Seng Sun is one of three people who manage this WPS blogsite. Read more about him here.

The Japanese invasion of Malaya, 1941

In December 1941, the darkest days in Penang's history unfolded. Days after the Japanese military had begun their invasion of Malaya through Kota Bharu, there was widespread mayhem and destruction in George Town when Japanese bombs were dropped amidst simultaneous heavy machine-gun fire on the local population. 

I guess we shall never know today what happened to Westlands School during the war - the people who could remember that period may be too old or no longer around - but in 1965 when my friends in this blog were in the final year of our primary school education there, it was only 20 years since the Japanese surrendered control of the land back to the British. Although we boys missed the trauma of the war years, our parents did not. They went through much suffering, and life in the 1950s and 1960s was still difficult enough for most of them. And while it impacted us as young boys, we ourselves didn't know better due to our own childhood ignorance. In our own ways though, we remained resourceful. Left to our devices, we fell back on traditional children's games to entertain ourselves.

These are the five stories I wrote elsewhere to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Malaya in 1941.

80th anniversary (1): Japanese invasion

Today, 08 December 2021, marks the 80th anniversary of a very significant event in Malaysia's history. At 00:30 (that is, 30 minutes past midnight) on the eighth of December 1941, Japan launched their offensive on the Malayan peninsula. This was the beginning of almost four full years of hellish dark days of the Japanese Occupation from 19 December 1941 till their surrender on 02 September 1945. Earlier, they had sailed from southern Indo-China and their fleet of warships dropped anchor 3km from the coast of Kota Bharu.  Read more here.

80th anniversary (2): The bombing of George Town

Previously, I had related how George Town had awoken on 08 December 1941 to the first sounds of Japanese enemy aircraft flying over the town. Three days later on the 11th of December 1941, terror rained down on the inhabitants of George Town. Terror in the shape of bullets and bombs. It was truly a rain of terror. Not yet a reign of terror, no, it had yet to begin, but literally, a rain of terror. Without warning, the Japanese aircraft dropped their bombs and trained their machineguns on the people who congregated in the Chinese quarter of the Beach Street area. Read more here.

80th anniversary (3): Silent evacuation

On the 13th of December 1941, the first of four quiet evacuations of the British from Penang soil took place. Although not apparent at that time, these evacuations also signalled that the British Empire itself could be unravelling in South-east Asia. Never mind that Britain came back to administer Malaya after Japan had surrendered in Penang on 02 September 1945, it was never to be the same again. The seeds of nationalism planted, a movement for Independence and self-governance began taking root. Read more here.

80th anniversary (4): White flag

Eighty years ago on the 16th of December 1941, the Japanese military invaded Malaya and bombed Penang. It is quite safe to say that many families in Penang, if not all, were affected by the atrocities. I know that mine were displaced. On my maternal side, my grandparents fled to the hills, the chau huan that I had mentioned in Part 2. My paternal grandparents probably did the same too and they never really recovered after the Occupation was over. My father continued with his education at Penang Free School after the War but because of the pressing economic circumstances, he had to quit within the year to find work and support the family (at that time, comprising his parents and a sister.) Such sacrifices were not uncommon as the local population tried everything to rebuild. Read more here.

80th anniversary (5): From the Japanese perspective

At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th of December 1941, the first Japanese troops landed on Penang island. This was a result of Penang surrendering after nine days of continuous bombardment by Japanese enemy aircraft and the quiet evacuation of the British military garrison and European civilians. With the island now totally defenceless, it fell upon the local civilians to fly the white flag to signify Penang's surrender to the Japanese military. In today's 80th anniversary story, the last of my five-part commemoration of the sad occasion, I shall reproduce two stories from The Syonan Shinbum newspaper. Read more here.

© Quah Seng Sun

Joan Baez and William’s tour de force at 22

Unique story on the back page of
The Malay Mail, Oct 19, 1979

By Lim Siang Jin

ONE DAY in October 1979, something unheard of happened at The Malay Mail. The back page lead, always the domain of sport, was stripped. In its place was a story, “GLORY B! This was something”. It was a memorable day for most of us at the production desk, seeing our irrepressible editor, Chua Huck Cheng, make another innovative and inspiring move.

As for the writer, the person who put this “critique” together, he lived one of the wildest dreams any young reporter could have. William de Cruz was 22 when Joan Baez came to town for her only concert in Southeast Asia. Dubbed the Lady with the Flowers, she had become world renowned and, around that particular time, she was also campaigning for the “boat people”, refugees from Kampuchea. What made chasing this story even more dramatic was that Baez had only one night in Kuala Lumpur in her ultra-tight schedule; she was due to fly off to Anambas Islands (Indonesia) the next morning at 8am.

Like many other enthusiastic professionals, William was there at the get-go, attending a press conference at the Subang International Airport, connecting well with Baez and making himself conspicuously known — so much so that at their next contact, at the backstage right after the concert, she gave him a peck on the cheek and a bunch of flowers. That would have been a heaven-sent for an ordinary fan. But it was not nearly quite adequate for a journalist sensing a gigantic scoop looming before him.

Joan Baez: “Disarming feminine charisma”
Source: Wikimedia Commons, 1973

Getting to the story proved to be a bit tricky though. After some niceties at the backstage, all requests for an interview were turned down, albeit politely. There would not be a post-concert party either. The principal rep of the organisers, Jack D’Silva of the Red Cross, even quipped “with tongue in both cheeks” that he would be going to a girlie joint.

Baez was then packed off into a car which headed away for her hotel. William’s deep desire for a scoop, however, couldn’t be satiated. He told me recently: “About an hour later, the journalist in me couldn’t rest. I happened to know at which hotel she was staying. I went there [The KL Regent], walked up to the reception with the flowers Baez had given me. I handed them over to the concierge, and said: ‘Please give these to Joan Baez. I know she’s staying here’.”

William then took a seat in some far off corner. It was late at night and the lobby was relatively empty. With him were Helen Heng and Sheila Natarajan, our colleagues at The Mail who had gone for the concert with him. Ardent professionals themselves, they realised this was William’s moment to relish and remember, and left all the initiative to him. 

Soon after, the scheme started to play out. “I watched the concierge, flowers in hand, take the lift, which only stopped at one floor, and came back to ground level. After a respectable wait, the three of us caught the lift, as discreetly as possible, and I hit the button for the floor the concierge got off at.”

At the floor, they headed for the only suite and rapped on the door. Anne, one of Baez’s assistants, opened it and William said: “If Joan Baez is staying here, please tell her the guy who sent up the flowers is at her door.” Anne excused herself and went back in.

“When the door opened again, there she was — Joan Baez herself,” said an excited William. He recounted that she greeted him like an Indian would, palms held together at her chest, followed by “Come in, Sahib”. Scanning the room, they could see that Baez was having her midnight supper of eggs Benedict and a glass of wine. Jack D’Silva was there too, sipping on a scotch. “I knew it would be you,” he remarked, to which William retorted: “Pretty exclusive girlie joint.”

They were let in for a two-minute chat but it stretched to many more, thanks also to Baez’s kind heartedness and obvious recognition of William’s sincerity, perseverance and knowledge of music — he is a musician and songwriter himself schooled in the respected tradition of buskers and gig performers of the 1960s. The full write-up of the interview, including references to Dylan, her campaign for refugees, etc, can be read here.

I was at the desk at 4.30am when an exhausted William submitted the story to Huck Cheng. Along with me and other colleagues, our editor had also attended Baez’s solo concert at Dewan Universiti Canselor. As the early hours wore on, I sensed something special was being done to the story. I cannot remember who was tasked with subbing it, however, at the paste-up floor, I saw the unusual headline on the back page.

William deserved this very special treatment. He enriched and contextualised our experience of the night and made it so much more meaningful. The words he wrote speak for themselves: 

Hers [Baez’s] was not the long ways of the Streets of London, or the cries of Anak or even the grandiose hopes of Bringing In The Ship — hers was the voice of a generation gone by; one that had thrived on the essence of the Bob Dylans, the Pete Seegers, the Woody Guthries… Four and twenty ears ago, they had only their guitars. Today, she still sticks to hers while others have found an easier way out. 

Particularly, that was the feeling she radiated last night — in her simple midnight blue embroidered caftan, her 75-year-old Martin guitar, a pocketful of songs written so long ago they still apply today, and a disarming feminine charisma that brimmed with character and humanity. 

Bit by bit, the person in Baez kept creeping out — the mother, the lover, the sensitive, the forlorn, the human — and the songs spoke for her. As she sang The Weary Mothers Of The World Shall Rest, one felt almost palpably the experiences of the war-torn and the dislocated. It was powerful idiom delivered with the fondness of the feeling of care. But even for them she had her own ray of hope: “We may never be the poor, for no one owns us anymore...” 

And, yes, she had her less-than-reverential remembrance of Dylan in her rendition of his Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word — complete with her instantly recognisable mimicry of the slur and scraggly diction of the one-time high priest of youth.

Not one song escaped the injection of the message she wanted to put across — not The Beatles' Yesterday, not The Night That Drove Old Dixie Down, not Diamonds And Rust. They all had the Baez interpretation, the Baez cause — sung as if they were meant to be sung that way. No one noticed the greying hair; no one noticed the overpowering voice; no one noticed the absence of a back-up group. It was, simply Joan Chandos Baez, 38, singing her cause.

William enthused that the concert, which 3,000 attended, rivalled “the most mammoth of rock happenings… even if not in number, diminishing the electric parodies of the Today Era with the simplicity of yesterday's flower revolution.” Read his story in full here.

The making of GLORY B!, the story, was a special act in the play of Malaysian entertainment journalism, an interplay among its three protagonists: a passionate and driven writer, an open-minded editor who gave the story what it deserved notwithstanding the age and lack of seniority of the author and, most of all, a star brimming with warmth who, amidst “her unbelievably tight time schedule”, opened her heart to a near stranger.

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1. William and I have been great friends since 1980-81, when I was seconded to head the entertainment desk of The Malay Mail while the section editor went on long leave. He and the other team members, like Aishah Ali and Lim Kim Bee, persuaded me to do a weekly series on veteran musicians in Malaysia. It ran for about two months and covered, among others, Frankie Cheah, Ahmad Nawab, Alfonso Soliano, Ooi Eow Jin, DJ Dave and Saloma. It was a memorable exercise, especially for me because I got to know the stories behind these music greats.
2. From then until now, there have been many milestones in his life. The following are two major ones: 
• Becoming the founding president of Global Bersih, leading and co-ordinating its activities from Sydney with a deeply-committed group of Malaysians from the diaspora. William gave me a short account at first but decided to expand it to give a better picture of “The Road to Global Bersih”.  It is certainly a story that needs telling. Read here. 
• 
  Writing Love is the Pill, “the biggest story of my life”, after his encounter with cancer. William’s experience with the disease was nothing short of dramatic, as can be read in his introduction to the blog-book or “blook”. Called “Gifts are for giving”, his comments to lend context to his project can be read here. He had been thinking about writing this “book of thanksgiving” for some time after his recovery. It was during an outing to Kuala Selangor with me and another friend in early 2019 that he finally made a firm commitment to do it. Our pictures from that trip are carried here.

• Lim Siang Jin is one of three people who manage this WPS blogsite. Read more about him here.