A Responsibility to Society and Self

It’s not always all work and no play, as Cheong Suk-Wai found out when she covered KL nightlife recently in the good company of popular malaysian actors (L-R) Naa Murad, Cheong Suk-Wai, Joanna Bessey and Maya Abdullah.

Monday, 9 February 2004, Singapore.

‘Hi, Suk-Wai. It is good to meet you finally after having spoken on the telephone over the last few weeks.’

‘Thanks for profiling me in your column, Rajan. Tell me, how is law practice right now? How is it practising on your own?’ This was how some parts of my lunch interview with Singapore Press Holdings’ (‘SPH’) journalist Cheong Suk-Wai went. I became the subject of the interview. Later, she revealed to me that it was stressful being at the other side of the interview table. A good friend of Suk- Wai’s whom I had profiled in one of my earlier columns had suggested Suk-Wai for this column.

‘I practised construction litigation in Khattar Wong & Partners after I graduated from the National University of Singapore. During those days, construction litigation was not a popular area of practice. Law practice and my subsequent legal career in Jurong Town Corporation gave me a good grounding in life. Law taught me how to listen with empathy.’

At the age of 13, Suk-Wai was then living in Sungai Petani in the state of Kedah in Malaysia. She grew up and studied in this small town, with her parents. One day, she told her father that she wanted to be a reporter when she grew up. Her father scoffed at the idea and replied that women do not go into such careers. ‘I would still be living in Sungai Petani and may have been a clerk if not for the opportunity of the Asean Scholarship offered by the Singapore government to me.’ The scholarship gave Suk-Wai an opportunity to travel to Singapore, live here and study for her GCE ‘A’ levels and finally become a law graduate. She is grateful to the Singapore government and praises Singapore for its efficiency where ‘things work’.

‘You have spent a good part of your life in Singapore. What is the difference between a Singaporean and a Malaysian?’ Suk-Wai pondered this question carefully. I was just too happy to pose this question which I have been giving thought to whenever I am in the company of my Malaysian friends in Kuala Lumpur and it was satisfying to ask this question to a journalist.

‘Both individuals have different priorities. A Singaporean has a serious approach towards life and we are conditioned to perform and only stop after reaching the top position. Malaysians adopt a “cando” attitude and they learn to live with what they have. There is a certain buoyancy within them. Producing excellent results gives a Singaporean an opportunity to fulfil all his material needs. Does this endless craving for material wants make us stop enjoying the savoury aspects of life in Singapore?’

For the last five years, I have been giving serious consideration to Suk-Wai’s question. I appreciate the positive attributes of my being a Singaporean and living in Singapore. I note the state of my mind when I cross the Causeway and enter Malaysia or board a flight at Changi Airport. I feel relieved and happier. Malaysians are laid-back, friendly, warm, funny and light-hearted. I appreciate their strong family values and their willingness to spend time with their friends and loved ones. They choose to savour life. Some years ago, at a Christmas party in a friend’s home in Seremban, I found out that some of their guests had travelled two hours from their home in Kuala Lumpur to attend the Christmas party. I complain when I have to travel to Woodlands to visit my very close schoolmate!

‘I have been working in SPH for four and a half years now. I used to write for the Life! Section of the Straits Times and I am now a member of the Senior Writers’ Group and I write for the Commentary/ Analysis column of the Straits Times. As a writer, I propose stories. I continuously strive to improve my writing, especially the organisation of ideas. I tend to gather too much information. I read to pick up different approaches and views. My favourite writers are Pico Iyer whom I admire for his stand for humanity, Dominique Lapierre and the infamous New York Times journalist, Rick Bragg.

’ I remember Suk-Wai for her Slice of Life column in the Straits Times where she profiled individuals who are overcoming various adversities in their lives. ‘I felt hope and saw the energy in Singaporeans when I was interviewing people for the column. My first and last motivation as a journalist is my reader. As the former editor of Life!, Richard Lim said, journalists articulate for the inarticulate. Relationship with communication is important. The duties I owe to my readers are accuracy, accountability and responsibility.’ During my contact with Suk-Wai, I could feel her foreboding sense of social consciousness and responsibility to herself and to the people around her.

Suk-Wai wrote the National Day Supplement in 2002 which focused on racial relations in Singapore. She must have been concerned about the response to her writing. Senior Minister Lee wrote an e-mail to her boss complimenting the supplement.

‘The Singapore reader seems to enjoy sensational writing rather than serious quality writing. He blames everything on the media. Good writing is about putting in words the world as you understand it. Good writing cannot be taught. A good writer is someone who is very curious and very interested. He must like people a lot. He doesn’t write more but he reads more. That’s the best way to learn, absorbing the myriad styles and expressions of the world’s great writers.’

‘When SARS hit Singapore last year, I was just beginning my annual vacation. My mother forbade me to return home as my dad was in fragile health then. I was scared and did not even leave my home much during the two weeks. When I got back to work, I was given a brief to write about the SARS situation in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. I had to face the very thing I feared.’ Suk-Wai was the first journalist to return to Tan Tock Seng Hospital in early May 2003 after SPH lifted its ban on journalists visiting the hospital. She later became a frequent visitor to the hospital during the SARS crisis. Suk-Wai shared with me the very personal and poignant journey she took when she wrote about the story of one of the victims who received the most unwanted limelight during the SARS crisis. I was requested not to write about what Suk- Wai shared with me. I was honoured to hear and feel the turmoil that she underwent — exercising care and sensitivity towards the patient, weighed by the duty to the nation who was not sympathetic to this SARS victim and who at the same time deserved to know the truth of the matter. At the background of this mammoth responsibility, Suk-Wai had to live with her own emotions of fear and anguish. I looked at her. No words or even emotions could describe those particular moments of her sharing. I was delighted to hear that the story of her story is now public knowledge after she won ‘Feature of the Year’ award for it at the SPH Awards Ceremony on 10 February 2004. When I spoke to her on the telephone after the Awards Ceremony, she shared with me that this was the second time she had won the Feature of the Year Award after 2002. The bigger win, however, was when the SARS victim bravely and kindly shared her story with her through her counsellor in Tan Tock Seng.

‘Journalists do not enjoy good social status in Singapore. We are bearers of unpalatable truths and we are not popular.’ A friend whom she had been close with did not have a positive response to her choice of career. ‘The job does not offer a dull moment. Every day is different. It is hard work looking out for angles for stories. I have been on several overseas assignments such as the coverage of the Italian Grand Prix 2001 and the Sydney Olympics. Singapore is regarded as a minnow by foreigners at overseas events. A Singaporean journalist must be prepared to charm and jostle his way through the phalanx of the public relations people at these events to get the interviews and stories.’

‘Being a journalist is a 24/7 job. I am always fighting for time and a good rest is rare. I enjoy theatre, musical directing and writing songs, which I indulged in at university. I cherish the thought of being a published full-time writer. What’s my dream? My friends would not believe this is coming from me — to be a housewife.’

Suk-Wai is now based in Kuala Lumpur to cover the forthcoming General Elections in Malaysia. ‘I would be nearer my parents and hopefully I can spend more of my weekends at home in Sungai Petani.’

Rajan Chettiar
Rajan Chettiar &Co
E-mail: rajanchettiar@pacific.net.sg