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ANN pays tribute to founding editor
Asia News Network editors paid tribute to Felix Soh, former deputy editor of Singaporeâs The Straits Times, who died of pneumonia on Sunday
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sia News Network editors paid tribute to Felix Soh, former deputy editor of Singapore's The Straits Times, who died of pneumonia on Sunday. He was 63.
Soh started out as a sub-editor and went on to hold various positions including news editor and foreign editor at ST.
His passion for news especially on the region where he comes from is evident in his involvement with ANN, where he was among the founding editors. ANN, established in 1999, has grown to be the world's largest news alliance with 22 member media in 19 Asian countries.
The veteran newspaperman, who retired last November, suffered from motor neuron disease, which causes nerve cells to gradually break down and die.
'Work was his life. He worked 365 days. Even if he was at home, he would be preparing for work. For him, work would come first and I accepted it,' said his wife Genevieve Soh.
Soh's journalistic career spanned more than 30 years. His most recent role was digital media editor of Singapore Press Holdings's (SPH) Digital Division.
He also taught journalism at the Nanyang Technological University's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.
Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of the SPH's English/Malay/Tamil Media Group described Soh as a 'multi-talented editor and journalist'.
'He had a sharp nose for news, was great at layout and design, brought his creative flair to everything he did and took to digital media like a duck to water. And he had boundless energy,' he said.
ST editor Warren Fernandez added: 'Felix was a titan of the ST newsroom, and indeed journalism in Singapore. He was instrumental in building up ST's network of overseas bureaus and Asian coverage. He was dedicated to his job, often the last to leave the newsroom and the first to arrive the next morning.'
Fernandez cited Soh's dedication to ANN, saying 'he was passionate about this effort and personally drove it. When he was ill and about to retire, he asked me to help him keep this going and build on it. We will.'
Ravindra Kumar, editor and managing director of The Statesman, who has been friends with Soh for 25 years recalled: 'I have not met a journalist who knew Asia better than Felix Soh. Others might know parts of Asia better, but no one I have met had better overall understanding of the complex dynamics of east, southeast or south Asia or why the plates of discord between countries and sub-regions occasionally crash to shake up our world.'
'The reason for this is that instinctively Felix was a great newsman, a journalist who understood just how much history - or background - a news story needed, how it had to be packaged and presented and what would hold a reader's interest. His focus never wavered because he always had clarity about the page - and in his later years, the web page - he wanted the world to see.
Kumar said Soh understood the need for such networks like ANN and the need for Asia to be presented to the world through Asian eyes.
'I remember a session at a forum in China where we were co-panellists and some Western journalists questioned the idea of ANN. Felix ruthlessly demolished our interrogators calling them scribes "parachuted" into Asian trouble spots who claimed to understand a story better than those who had lived with it,' Kumar recalled.
He added that Soh was not just one of ANN's founders, but also one of its strongest pillars. 'Asia and Asian journalism is poorer with his passing. '
Pana Janviroj, ANN executive director, said Soh has helped shape policies and strategies of the alliance. He also willingly shared his expertise with individual members who sought him for advice, including the redesign of The Jakarta Post and editorial development of Vietnam News.
'We will remember him as an editor with deep sense of Asia and its dynamism. He has insight into how Asians think and do. He didn't just have vision and ideas but also assisted several members of Asia News Network to improve their respective newspaper designs over the years. He will be sorely missed by friends and newsrooms around Asia,' Janviroj said.
Janviroj first invited The Straits Times to join ANN more than 16 years ago.
'Felix had been instrumental' in building the ANN network. I really appreciate what he did for the Post and ANN. I know that many of us in ANN will miss him,' said Riyadi Suparno, managing editor of The Jakarta Post.
The Star Malaysia's former editor-in-chief Ng Poh Tip described Soh as a 'very dear ANN colleague'.
'I remember the early days when we were a close-knit group because there were just a few of us pioneers, all determined to make ANN succeed. Felix was never short of ideas. You could always rely on him to be among those to propose a course of action, to accept responsibilities and to offer his help to the smaller member-newspapers,' Ng said.
'I admired his passion for wanting to be in the forefront of new and often fast-changing, and even daunting, developments in the media industry. The Felix I knew never feared to learn and was ever-ready to pass on his knowledge. He was a true professional. His passing away will be a great loss to ANN,' she added.
Suthichai Yoon, chairman of Nation Group Thailand and a founding editor of ANN said: 'I will always remember him as a great friend and a super professional in journalism. He was always up there in the frontline of new trends in journalism. ANN has lost a friend supporter, a true friend and a real believer in the power of ANN as the voice of Asia. Rest in peace.'
Thomas Stehling, former director of Konrad Adenauer Media Programme for Asia, also paid tribute to Soh: 'Many happy memories! I hope, the next ANN generation will understand and appreciate the vision and professionalism that was driving Felix and the founding members of our network. It needed personalities like him, not journalistic bureaucrats, to form a media cooperation unprecedented in the history of Asia.' Stehling had helped set up ANN 16 years ago.
One of Stehling's successors, Werner vom Busch, said Soh was 'a great journalist, an innovative spirit, And, last but not least, a reliable friend. May he rest in peace.'
-- With a report from The Straits Times
