Straits Echo

THIS IS quite a well-known picture, a three-storey building that once housed the venerated Straits Echo Press newspaper. I have no idea when the newspaper located its operations here but very long ago, it used to operate from a shophouse in Beach Street. In the 1960s, I do remember seeing the building at this spot – the corner of Penang Road and Dato Koyah Road – but never in my wildest dreams then could I foresee that one day in the 1970s, I would have this newspaper as my first employer, albeit only for a short six-month stint.

I said venerated because where the Press was concerned, this English language daily was the pride of Penang. Often, it carried news that the more national-level The Straits Times, with its headquarters in Singapore, was unable to report first-hand. Before the Second World War, The Straits Times occasionally had to rely on re-printing news that had earlier appeared in the Straits Echo. Thus in a way, the latter, despite its regional coverage, was seen as an ultimate source of authority for news about Penang.

Like The Straits Times, the Straits Echo newspaper was a broadsheet which was a large format and somewhat unwieldy to hold. To keep up with the times, but more to challenge The Star newspaper which hit the streets in 1971, the Straits Echo transformed into a tabloid in the 1970s. With it came a new name, The National Echo, and blue was adopted as its colour for the masthead in contrast to The Star’s red. The competition with The Star was keen and at one stage, an evening edition – the so-called street edition – of the newspaper was introduced so that readers could read that day’s news on the same day. Later, The National Echo opened an office in Kuala Lumpur and shifted its centre of operations there. Unfortunately, it could not compete with the likes of New Straits Times, The Malay Mail and The Star, and The National Echo folded in 1986.

When I worked there in the 1970s, the newspaper was owned by someone named KK Liew. The editor was a Eurasian named Wilson de Souza while the senior editors were Cheah Cheong Lin and Sunny Tan. The chief reporter was a very loud man named G Ratnam. Among my peers were people like Kee Thuan Chye, Ung Mah Pheng, Ong Thean Seang and Ooi Kee Beng. The last named is now the Executive Director of Penang Institute.

© Quah Seng Sun

Updates and add-ons:

Lim Siang Jin: 

• My great grandfather, Lim Cheng How, used to manage the company that owned the Straits Echo. This is from my grandfather’s memoirs: “Attached to the Criterion Press, Ltd, former proprietors of the Straits Echo, the premises of which were at Nos 226 and 228 Beach Street, presumably as an assistant, my father rose to the appointment of manager with, I believe, a salary of $100/- pm which was then considered excellent pay having regard to the fact that the cost of living was cheap”.
• In the mid-1980s, the late Soo Ewe Jin (later one of the Deputy Executive Editors of The Star)  and I were approached to come up with a plan to revive The National Echo, perhaps take it back to Penang and focus on news from the north again. We were both working for ISIS Malaysia then. Both from Penang, we were quite excited about the project, however, nothing came out of it.

Tribute to Soo Ewe Jin by a fellow journalist

This tribute is published in the above handbook. See notes below
for more information on the Soo Ewe Jin Scholarship Award.

By Lim Siang Jin 

EWE JIN had been a dear friend since 1979 when he joined The Malay Mail a few months after I did. We got on very well quickly even though a six-year age difference separated us. He was 20 and I, 26. Being similarly from Penang and Penang Free School helped to bolster the friendship that lasted 37 years.

A bit insecure then, but well-read, and full of ideas and initiative, he was quickly recognised as a strong potential to move up the ranks. His early skills as a writer and sub-editor had been honed at the now-defunct The Straits Echo. However, his interest in communications, journalism in particular, was a life-long one. Few children in our days, for example, read the newspapers every day. Few of us, on our own, developed an interest in current affairs. He did, and it showed in his work.    

We spoke a lot during those years at The Mail — about work, how to deal with life, and just about anything else that came to mind. His insecurity started to disappear later when he found the two rocks of his life: God and his wife, Angeline Lim. After Ewe Jin and Angie met, I observed a special glow in them and thought they had found a perfect match. Their faith in Christ became the bedrock upon which their lives together was built.

There were times, I thought, that the decisions Ewe Jin made could put them in financial straits. However, each time I advised him to take the path of greater “security”, he would tell me God would provide, and He did! What flowed from his faith to him and his family were gushes of abundance, not so much in material terms but the stuff of everyone’s life dreams — loving family[1] and friends, welcome acts of generosity and the reciprocity of others, respect and admiration as an example and mentor, very focussed missions in life, and a deep sense of reason and compassion.

I could always count on Ewe Jin for help at various stages of my own development: At The Malay Mail, I started to read his mannerisms. Whenever something was amiss, he would come over, with a face slightly twisted and a “tsk, tsk” at the tip of his tongue, to tell me or one of the other approachable seniors.[2]  After we revamped Malaysian Business from a monthly to a bimonthly in 1984, he was still at The Malay Mail. He would volunteer to sub and write part-time for us whenever we were short-handed — which was very often. The late Shaik Osman, the editor then, was very grateful for his help.  

This book is a compilation of
one of the best-read columns
in The Sunday Star. See Note [3]
below for more info.

In 1985, I decided to exit the NST Group and take up Dr Noordin Sopiee’s offer to join the publications unit of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia. “Doc” favoured communicators in his team because they are trained to be doers as well as thinkers. 

As ISIS started to play a bigger part in national affairs, I thought Ewe Jin would be a great asset to our team. At ISIS, our publications team, at various times, included the late Salim Abdul Rahim Kajai (former editor of Berita Harian, fondly known as Pak Salim), the late Chew Lay See (former journalist from The Malay Mail) and Dorothy Teoh (from The Star who later became editor-in-chief of The Edge). Knowing the team he was to work with and the aspirations of the organisation, Ewe Jin decided to join us.

As expected, he injected news and human interest into our work, most notably interviewing celebrities who passed through ISIS. He spoke, for example, to Oscar-winning Killing Fields actor Haing S Ngor who was later shot dead in Los Angeles in 1996. 

Little known to others, during our ISIS days and in the early 1990s, Ewe Jin and I (with Tan Boon Kean on two occasions) were approached by people to initiate or revamp a number of publishing projects. One was to try to revive The Straits Echo. Another was to start a political weekly with the support of people like Tan Chee Khoon. The third was to start a business weekly. The first two didn’t get past a few meetings. The third resulted in the formation of The Edge.

In 1992, after I had left ISIS, Tong Kooi Ong wanted to start a weekly newspaper expressly to provide more information on the capital markets in Malaysia. This would help in their development. Three of us, Boon Kean, Ewe Jin and myself, were tasked to produce a concept paper. Boon Kean drew up the business plan while Ewe Jin and I worked on the editorial processes, production and design.

When the time came to present the paper, Ewe Jin, with a full-time job then, declined to join us. Ipso facto, he was not offered a directorship of The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd when we started. However, when the The Edge was launched in September 1994, I managed to persuade Angie and Ewe Jin to join us. He spent two years with us, and at the time he left, he was our Executive Editor.

Ewe Jin subsequently joined The Star. On reflection, it was one of his best moves. It was there that he managed to find his true calling — to be confidante of the likes of Wong Chun Wai and Wong Sulong, both of whom have high regard for him; to meet and cultivate the friendship of people of influence; to continue to counsel the younger journalists; and to write a column that would be widely-read and highly-impactful.[3] It was also The Star that provided for him not only in his early years there but also in his times of greatest need — throughout his entire journey with cancer.

To be struck with cancer at 40 was a big blow to him. On reflection again, and bearing in mind acutely the pain and suffering he and his family went through, I think his life’s mission was galvanised by this disease. It was his Cross to bear and he bore it with bravery without losing sight of the need to serve with compassion — setting an example for the rest of us on how to suffer yet cherish life; sharing his journey (via a book that was published six times)[4] so that others, sufferers and care-givers, can draw inspiration from it; and loving life for the small things it offers. It is the life of a true Christian.

• This tribute is published in “A handbook for recipients of the Soo Ewe Jin Scholarship Award”. According to The Star, April 7, 2017: “With [Angeline] Lim serving as benefactor, the Soo Ewe Jin (SEJ) Scholarship has been set up under the umbrella of the Star Education Fund and the Yayasan Universiti Sains Malaysia. It will sponsor one undergraduate every year pursuing a Bachelor in Communications (Journalism) degree at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), which is renowned for producing top-notch journalists. A Trust Deed for setting up the scholarship was signed by Star Media Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, USM Vice Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Asma Ismail and Lim at Menara Star” on Friday, April 7, 2017.

[1] The Soos, Ewe Jin and Angie, are blessed with two children, Kevin and Timothy. Kevin, born 1987, is doing his doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He is married to Evelyn Yarzebinski. Tim, born 1990, has a Master of Arts from Macquarie University in Sydney. He works at an advertising agency in Kuala Lumpur.

[2] The approachable seniors included KC Boey (chief sub-editor then, who later became editor of The Malay Mail and Malaysian Business before leaving for Australia), Chua Bok Chye (assistant chief sub-editor) and Monica Moey (senior sub-editor). He was, at that time, terrified of The Mail’s fierce editor Chua Huck Cheng. They have since become quite close.

[3] His column, “Sunday Starters”, has been published in a book, Soo Ewe Jin: Sunday Starters: Reflections on Life, paperback, 360 pages, Star Media Group, 2015.

[4] Soo Ewe Jin & Angeline Lim: Face-to-face with cancer: Four journeys… God always present, paperback, 97 pages, published by the authors, 2012 (sixth edition). 12,000 copies of the book have been printed since April 1999, when Ewe Jin first discovered he had nasal cancer. In this difficult journey that took 17 years, he encountered the disease four times. First diagnosed and treated in 1999, he later found a malignant lump in his lymph nodes in 2006 and suffered from a relapse of nose cancer in March 2011. Ewe Jin’s final confrontation with the disease was in 2015-16. He passed away on November 17, 2016.

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

Review child protection strategies

The Star, Jun 3, 2016

I REFER to your news article regarding the closure of a private children’s welfare home “More safeguards for children” (The Star, June 1). I applaud such a news story as it serves as a reminder to the fact that our children are often failed by the country and its agencies.

Over the years, much has been said and publicised by your newspaper, concerned NGOs and some government agencies, of the duty and collective responsibility we all share towards the safeguarding of children. 

Yet, despite widespread knowledge in this particular case the private welfare home was closed, not because of its failure to protect, but because of its administrative failure in obtaining a licence. 

Within our own backyard, we also appear oblivious of serial paedophiles preying in countries like ours. I refer of course to the widely reported news of a Richard Huckle who was found guilty of over 71 child abuse charges on children from impoverished backgrounds, over 10 years. 

He had reportedly carried out such abuse in Malaysia too. 

The government needs to commission a thorough review of all aspects of child protection strategies to date and enforce greater multi-agency robustness in monitoring abuse so that our children can stand a better chance of being protected. 

The writer understands that there is a long-standing draft Bill to regulate the social work profession, with provisions to establish a comprehensive licensing system for welfare establishments. This covers worker suitability, fitness of the provider and buildings.  

If implemented and rigorously enforced, the Act will go a long way to ensuring the minimum safeguards. 

• Jim Lim, Penang (Letter to The Star, June 3, 2016). Read more about him here.

Safeguarding our children’s future

The Star, Jul 3, 2013

I REFER to the report “12 years too light for child molester” (The Star. June 29). 

While this reaction holds true and legitimate for many, the longer term concern must surely be this. What do you do with such individuals when they are eventually released? 

The only way, besides the capital punishment response, is a real and true life sentence. 

But, in reality, such individuals will serve their sentence and eventually be released.

Putting aside the wider professional and philosophical debates surrounding the “punishment versus rehabilitation” axis or the efficacy of “spent offences” in sentencing legal wisdom, how do you ensure that such individuals, when released back into society are unlikely to harm children again? Or, be absolutely sure that they are not in similar situations where children are exposed to great risk again?

In short, should the examples given not prompt one to ask that the Government to seriously consider the establishment of a “sex offenders’ register”?

This way, any person with a conviction for a sexual offence/s will be included on the register and where conditions of residence, activity compliance conditions could be imposed following their release.

At least, such a provision, expertly managed by “a single authoritative agency” and supported by the range of relevant multi-agencies will go a long way to reassuring the public of the government’s determination to develop a wider safe-guarding infrastructure for children. 

• Jim Lim Teik Wah, Penang (The Star, Jul 3, 2013). Read more about him here.

Replace large orphanages with smaller residential homes

The Star, Nov 28, 2012

I REFER to the report “NGO: More boys being sexually abused at orphanage” (The Star, Nov 23) concerning the alleged sexual abuse of three boys at a government-run home in Durian Daun, Malacca.

This was followed by “Welfare group wants quick probe of sexual abuse at home” (The Star, Nov 27) where the Malaysian Welfare and Social Organisation’s (Perbak) president,  Muhammad Khairul Hafiz, justifiably expressed concern at the apparent lack of urgency by the police’s Specialist Unit in the investigation of the matter.

It is rather ironic that such concerns were reported just during the week of a regional conference on “Child Protection” organised by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry with Unicef.

Although it was impressively hosted and well attended by delegates from Asean countries, the event was hardly reported in the mainstream press, when the proceedings actually concerned matters of universal public interest. 

During the three-day (Nov 20-22) exchange of ideas, there were optimism expressed and expectations raised in the light of such serious allegations. 

The ministry would do well to investigate speedily and with determination if not rigour, either bringing the perpetrators to book or ensuring proper emotional and organisational “closure” for the sake of all connected with this institution. 

The boys have shown incredible courage by their brave disclosures and if the authorities cannot respond speedily to their pleas for help, who can? In the interim, the home itself must shoulder its duty and responsibility to its vulnerable residents and immediately suspend staff concerned so as to enable an investigation to begin properly. 

Hopefully, it will have done so by now, without compromising the employment status of the staff concerned.

The ministry should, besides strengthening its own enforcement capabilities, examine its now archaic institutions for children across the country with a view to phasing them out.

Homes of such huge occupancy are restrained to offer “institutional care”, which resemble the Victorian-Dickensonian era and which has outlived its effectiveness in offering shelter or personal care, personal growth and development for many of those unfortunate and often unwanted children in our modern society.

Instead, community-based foster care and smaller residential regimes are, in my opinion, the preferred options.

• Jim Lim Teik Wah, Penang (Letter to The Star, Nov 28, 2012). Read more about him here.

We need inclusive initiatives

Your Say, The Star, Oct 14, 2012

THE RECENT initiatives proposed by a group of disabled individuals to the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), as reported in Pressing Issues for the Disabled (Wheel Power, Living, Sept 27) by Anthony Thanasayan, are both modest and reasonable. They address the assistance desired, directed to the individual as well as other structural issues which will go a long way towards making Malaysian society more inclusive.

It is a shame when the government’s much applauded “transformation” initiatives which seek to improve and enhance our standard of living take scant account of the needs of sections of our society who, through little fault of their own, are/become disadvantaged. Disabled people are not asking for special treatment, but for a mature society to accommodate their needs so as to facilitate their fuller participation in society.

As Thanasayan rightly points out, the government needs to spell out how it will care for people with disabilities, or at the very least, in my view, come out with measures to support care-givers and individuals and organisations who provide such support and care. 1Malaysia must therefore go beyond rhetoric in the eyes of all sections of the community, including people living with disabilities.

• Jim Lim, Penang (Letter to The Star, Oct 14, 2012). Read more about him here.

Providing solace via the Quo Vadis Trust

Story by Loh Foon Fong,
The Star, Aug 16, 2004

In this article in The Star (Aug 16, 2004), Jimmy Lim Teik Wah spoke about how those suffering from mental health disorders in London are given the chance to return to society through care and counselling given by Quo Vadis Trust, a charity organisation run by a him.

AT THE homes provided by Quo Vadis Trust, a mental health charity organisation in South London, persons who are not able to cope well with daily living as a result of stress disorders and mental health problems, are given a chance to live on their own in the community. They need not be confined to a mental institution.

At the homes, the support staff workers oversee the needs of the residents. Those who need counselling are counselled. Others who have difficulty caring for themselves are taught basic independence skills, such as personal health care, budgeting, cooking and cleaning. For those on medication, the support workers ensure that they take their pills while community psychiatric nurses and social workers monitor them.

The workers also accompany residents to hospitals, health clinics, social work offices, and social security and housing offices. For those not living in the homes but on their own, there will be a team of key support workers who conduct weekly visits.

All these efforts encourage residents to establish a level of independence and responsibility compatible with their abilities and circumstances.

“The often-debilitating symptoms experienced by people with mental health difficulties mean that many are unable to perform personal and household tasks. With support from staff, many find their burden and pain much easier to live with, and they cope well with life,” says Jim Lim, part-time chief executive officer of Quo Vadis Trust.

“This improves the quality of life of residents in that they can live independently in non-institutional settings,” says Lim who rescued the homes two years ago from being closed by Britain’s Charity Commission.

The mental distress that the residents suffer from can be due to genetic or external factors such as severe depression due to personal tragedies, irreversible damage or injury, excessive drug use, neurological disease, poverty, homelessness and discrimination.

The homes provide individual living space, communal and recreational areas that facilitate social interaction, cooking and laundry facilities that promote self-care and after-care support services for former residents.

Depending on their needs, the clients can be supervised on a 24- or 12-hour basis and based on individual progress, residents will be able to move on to more appropriate independent accommodation.

The homes do not take psychotic cases involving people who lose touch with reality, but only those suffering from neurosis, says Lim, a qualified psychiatric nurse who holds a masters in criminology and social policy.

The 18-bed Cherry Tree Lodge, the largest of the homes, receives ready-to-be-discharged patients from acute hospitals (acting as a short-term respite) and undertakes important therapeutic work outside of a hospital/clinical setting. This enables continuing assessment of a patient’s response to his/her treatment, says Lim.

The home also serves as a back up to overfull hospitals in emergency cases, often as a short-term half-way house and sometimes, for up to 12 months while waiting for permanent housing, he says.

Steve Bullock, the Mayor of Lewisham, officially opened the lodge in November last year [2003].

The other homes, the Bishops Lodge, Coach House, Elmwood Lodge, Wortley Lodge, Adelaide Lodge, Queens Hall, Portland Lodge and Brockley Lodge also provide similar services.

“These homes serve as half-way houses for people who do recover from their illness fully as well as permanent homes for those who cannot cope on their own”, says Lim.

From 48 people in March 2002 when Lim went in as an interim manager, the homes now cater to over 100 people. Quo Vadis Trust provides its services through the resources of Housing Benefits and Supporting People grant (from April 2003).

“All funding is from state and central government and our methods of service delivery are under regular monitoring by the commissioning agencies,” says Lim.

Lim works three days a week at Quo Vadis Trust. He provides support and guidance to the unit managers who oversee support staff running the administration, financial control, marketing, training, interagency liaison, strategic planning and business development.

He often visits the houses to meet up with staff members and residents and attends the Board of Trustees meeting once a month.

“It is most rewarding to see residents improve and return to their normal lives. We have two young men who recovered from mental illness so effectively that they are now holding jobs. They came back to the homes to become volunteers and buddies to some of the tenants, a scheme I set up a year ago. They would give their time and help organise social activities. It‘s nice to know that you can make a difference at this level,” he says.

He adds he is amazed by the staff members at the homes who are generally very enthusiastic about their work and that helps a lot in contributing to the progress of the residents.

It is a challenge for him to continuously motivate these people who are often not recognised or well rewarded for their work while making sure that the facilities continue to be useful to users as a resource which affords them safety, security. independence and dignity, says Lim.

Penang-born Lim, 51, left for Britain after completing Form 5 in 1972 to pursue psychiatric nurse training. He took up a diploma in social work in 1975 and completed it in 1977.

“I left Malaysia because I felt that Malaysia at that tune could not accommodate my interest and passion in the social sciences and the critical issues relating to society in general,” he says.

He worked as a social worker in London and a few years later completed an MA in criminology/social policy. He then served in the public sector as social work manager covering health, juvenile justice and residential planning and rose to be the Director of Social Services in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (East End of London) in 1997.

A couple of years later, he became an independent management consultant. Besides serving in the Quo Vadis Trust, Lim as also the director of Mann Weaver Drew, a specialist a public sector management consultancy group and a partner and co-owner of two companies providing specialist children’s services to local authorities.

Lim is an external assessor for a number of institutions for the qualifying diploma in social work. He sits as a lay member of the Care Standards Tribunal (Care Standards Act 2000). He is also involved in London's Chinese community and helped set up London’s first Chinese Advice Centre in 1982. He also works with the blacks and other minority ethnic communities on civil liberties and sensitive cultural issues.

Lim lives with his British wife Josephine and two teenage children in Stoke Newington, north London. He is still a Malaysian and visits his family members regularly. Read more about him here.