Last week, at the launch of “Memoir of Penang Han Xingites,” I was sitting inside the lecture hall of Han Chiang University College of Communication, listening to Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow sharing his relationship with the media.

Chow mentioned that he typically received plenty of invitations each day, and his assistant would help filter the many invitations and arrange his routines, with the only exception of this one, which he insisted to attend personally.

Sure enough this could have stemmed from his strong passion for the journalistic profession.

Chow used to work for the now-defunct English daily Echo for a little more than a year, before he joined politics. He therefore knows very well the hardships and challenges media workers have to go through.

He also said he felt a powerful sense of satisfaction and achievement seeing his articles published on the newspaper.

Mentioning about the media while delivering his speech, Chow’s eyes instantaneously brightened up, especially when he said he had never sued a single journalist throughout his four-decade political career. You could almost see his overflowing pride and insistence!

If my fate classmate Voo Kum Cheong, former Kwong Wah Yit Poh editor-in-chief were still around, he could have been sitting in the same lecture hall now, overcome with a mixed bag of feelings.

While many things have now become history, to us media practitioners, only those who are in this line will get to feel profoundly our unbending defense of press freedom and adherence to bottomlines and principles.

I can still remember how Kum Cheong was overcome with emotion when he shared with me his experiences at a Penang hotel years ago, especially when it came to how he was humiliated and forced to tender his apology. His anger and frustration totally consumed me.

Both Kum Cheong and I were “Han Xingites,” an acronym for journalists from Han Chiang’s journalism school, a pioneer in Malaysia’s Chinese journalism education offering regular journalism diploma courses for the country’s Chinese language media.

Han Chiang’s journalism school was founded by Penang Han Chiang High School’s principal Sung See Yew and Teacher Lim Keng Hun in 1978.

From its establishment until its cessation in 1988, the school had organized a total of 10 classes, producing more than 200 journalists for the country’s Chinese language media.

However, not all graduates ended up in the media or broadcasting industry, and indeed some dropped out halfway to start their media careers early. Of course, there were others who later quit the industry to go into business or some other sectors.

Over the past 47 years, the school’s graduates have been working as reporters, editors, advertising executives and in other key positions in the local Chinese media industry. Some have since been promoted to editors-in-chief, executive chief editors, deputy chief editors, reporting chiefs, advertising directors, general managers, deputy general managers, regional managers, advertising managers and chief librarians, among other senior positions.

Among them five have been promoted to editors-in-chief, including me, Chong Tien Siong (formerly Ming Pao and Nanyang Siang Pau editor-in-chief, Lim Hooi Hia (Feminine magazine), the late Voo Kum Cheong (Kwong Wah Yit Poh), and Chan Aun Kuang (formerly Nanyang Siang Pau and now Sin Chew Daily editor-in-chief).

Of the more than 200 graduates, about 190 have since been involved in the media and broadcasting industry, but only 21 remain active to this day.

In three years’ time, Han Xing will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2028, and I wonder how many will still serve in this line by then.

As a matter of fact, it has been anticipated that the era of Han Xing will officially draw to a close in another five to 10 years’ time!

Among the 21 who are still serving in this industry today, including me, are Chan Aun Kuang (Sin Chew Daily editor-in-chief), Hwn Yaul Len (Sin Chew Daily executive chief editor), Lai Wee Meng (China Press deputy chief editor), Teoh Yee Seong (Kwong Wah Yit Poh deputy chief editor), Tham Chhoi Fong (China Press deputy chief editor), Yong Yit Sing (Sin Chew Daily deputy editorial chief), Yeow Thge Lee (China Press executive editor), Saw Bee See (Kwong Wah Yit Poh deputy news editor), Liang Koi Looi (China Press assistant editorial chief), Ng Poh Chin (Kwong Wah Yit Poh advertising director), Tan Teik Chuan (Guang Ming Daily advertising director), Teh Weng Cheng (head of Sin Chew Daily’s commercial supplement department), Lau Sow Toh (Sin Chew Daily senior editor), Kh’ng Teng Hai (Guang Ming Daily feature reporter), Fong Siew Lin (Guang Ming Daily senior advertising executive), Ng Lay Tat (Kwang Wah Yit Poh advertising executive), Lee Chee Hoon (Guang Ming Daily advertising executive), Heng Long Meng (Sin Chew Media advertising sales executive), Ong Phaik Lay (Sin Chew Media advertising sales executive), and Wang Yu Ping (Sin Chew Media advertising sales executive).

“Memoir of Penang Han Xingites” registers not only the collective memories of the 10 classes of Han Xing graduates, but also our participation in and contribution towards the development of Malaysia’s Chinese press history.

It relates the stories of a bygone era, as well as the legacy left behind by founder Lim Keng Hun.

I still can remember on that particular day in October 1985, when a classmate Ong Hui Eng and I took the overnight train to KL to attend an interview at Shin Min Daily News in order to secure the job offers, before we could even manage to get our diplomas or attend our convocation.

This was because the reporter post was intensely competitive back in those days.

I remember when I stepped into Shin Min Daily News meeting room for interview, I found myself face-to-face with a total of seven interviewers sitting in front of me, including the then editor-in-chief, deputy chief editor, news editor, editorial chief, reporting chief, head of accident reporting section and the HR manager. This shows how serious the press company was treating its recruitment exercise.

And outside the meeting room, there were another dozen of job seekers waiting for their turns, but in the end, only four secured the job offers, including Wang and I, both Han Xing graduates.

So, my journalistic career started in 1985 with Shin Min Daily News. Five years later, I joined Sin Chew Daily to continue with my journalistic career that has since lasted a full four decades!

It’s the Han Chiang journalism school that has opened up a window of opportunities for me, allowing me to stay on in this career that I have since developed a strong passion for, and that has remarkably enriched my life!