By C C Pung
Justice of Peace
THE title, if I must translate it, is “the news media scene of Sabah”.
It’s an effort by a group of my old news friends in Sabah.
Journalists are, with few exceptions, poor if not broke.
Therefore, this book, released July 2025, was produced under the auspices of the Kota Kinabalu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Indistry.
Except for a piece of my own recollection strung together in English, everything else therein was in Chinese.
This is because the idea for the book was linked to the Kota Kinabalu Journalist Association the majority of whose members are from the Chinese language media.
I’m a founder member of KKJA who happened to be among English-language journalists with a decent command of Chinese.
You can say I have the same feathers with a lot of those advancing the book idea.
I thought my piece was going to be translated. I’m glad it didn’t happen.
Translation risks adulterating the rawness.
From recollections by Datuk Tiong Tang Hua and his wife who founded the Asia Times in the 1970s, to Veteran editor Chan Kang Yuen’s memories of his 18-month ISA-like detention during the era of the Sabah Alliance government (1963-1976), the book is a treasure trove of times elapsed.
Lee Shaw Yun, present-day Sin Chew Jih Pih Sabah editor wrote about the reporting on the rampant ‘frogging’ culture of Sabah politics.
Sibu-born Ms Lorna Lau (now retired) recalled the ‘buckets of sweat and tears’ she shed wearing as a Sabah correspondent for various Chinese newspapers in Malaysia.
The editors also compiled a history of Sabah newspapers starting with the launch of the English-language The Herald in 1883, the the first Chinese newspaper, Oversea Chinese Daily News in then Jesseltin in 1936. OCDN, whose sister paper is the Daily Express, is still in publication today.
Kudos!. The calendar also recorded the founding of the Borneo Mail in 1988.
I was the founding editor. That paper was where I got into a tangle with the notorious Printing Presses and Publications Act.
I had to resign. Like the Sword of Damacles, the charge I faced is still hanging over my neck.
In a way, this is a collective memoir of the dozens of journalists I’ve worked with and associated with since I became a media person from the 70s.
Much has changed. A number of them has passed on.
It’s been a good ride.
The publisher gave me a few free copies. If you like one please let me know.
