PN Balji will not be the only journalist who wants to tell his story about witnessing professionally and personally the dramatic changes in Singapore during the crucial 1960s to the present. Like Cheong Yip Seng’s OB Markers: My Straits Times Story, Balji’s own book, Reluctant Editor, offered fascinating insights into life in local media functioning under the watchful eyes of an authoritarian government. Woon Ta Ho’s Transition: The Story of PN Balji is another such contribution. There are others in the pipeline. I am in the midst of finishing my own version.
Transition is an immensely readable book. It is by a veteran media person in conversation with another veteran media person. It passes the first and most vital test of whether the normal reader can immediately relate to what’s being said. No couching of words or intention. It asks simple and pointed questions: “Getting into trouble with the authorities – was that something that was always on your mind?” Woh! This is definitely not a self-indulgent closed group academic treatise that few people care about. It is about real-life situations, of real-life people with real-life issues.
Tai Ho, in fact, has a gift of coming up with unforgettable nuggets, as illustrated by these few paragraphs in Transition:
“Gangsta Sista, meet my friend, Tai Ho.” Balji is a regular at the coffeeshop (in Clover Way) and knows practically everyone here, and he has a colourful nickname for every waitress. He seems especially close to the two waitresses who are now jostling for his attention. “She has seen the doctor and it’s not good news. Her arteries are blocked.” I repeat in English (to Balji) what she has just said. Gangsta Sista postures, her big body reacts awkwardly, the bashfulness of a young girl.
Balji seems concerned but distracted, he waves at another waitress at the back. “Mama-san!” he calls out playfully. Gangsta Sista looks around and walks back to the counter, ignoring the other waitress. Tense. One can cut the air of rivalry between the two waitresses with a knife. “They don’t get along,” Balji said, looking away from the waitresses. “It’s sad. They work in the same place but refuse to talk to each other. Each will come to me and complain about the other.”
It doesn’t surprise me that he is friendly to the employees of the coffeeshop. In all the years that I have known him – coming up to 20 – Balji has always gravitated to the support staff or those who form the lower strata of the workforce: interns, tea ladies, secretaries, drivers and foreign workers.”
Indeed, any journalist worth his salt in SPH had to be good friends with not just the secretaries and drivers. He would find his job a million times easier and more interesting if he knew all the camera men, security guards, librarians, salesmen and production people by name. I think Balji had a great advantage there. Most people knew him. New Nation and The New Paper were big on soccer. These were the Kallang Roar years. And it helped tremendously that Balji’s brother, Sivaji, was the Singapore national team coach. Or was it an advantage? Find out what he had to say in Transition.
I have more to tell about Balji but not here. Just to titillate you, find out what he called me on the inside title page of an autographed Reluctant Editor, one of 50 that Kumaran Pillai, publisher of TheIndependent.Sg, bought to distribute to friends, colleagues and contacts.
Balji has described Peter Lim, Cheong Yip Seng and Leslie Fong as the three giants of his generation of newsmen. As someone who continues to blaze the trail for others, beyond his years with SPH and MediaCorp, with Transition: The Story of PN Balji now out, he can no longer claim to be reluctant. He has chosen to make a difference. So, kudos – to him and Woon Tai Ho.
Transition: The Story of PN Balji by Woon Tai Ho and published by Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) will be launched on Saturday May 21, 2022. Time: 3 to 5pm. Venue: Epigram Coffee Bookshop at the Singapore Art Museum @Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 39 Keppel Road.
Tan Bah Bah, consulting editor of TheIndependent.Sg, is a former senior leader writer with The Straits Times. He was also managing editor of a local magazine publishing company.