Veteran Singaporean journalist Seah Chiang Nee dies

Veteran Singaporean journalist Seah Chiang Nee, one of the world’s longest surviving heart transplant patients, has died. He was 76.

Seah passed away on Sunday morning (15 Jan). He is survived by his wife Patricia Wong, 69, and his only son Seah Pei Kwang, 38.

Wong told Yahoo Singapore that her husband had been in and out of hospital since July. He had been suffering from shingles and then diarrhea.

“He was always in the fighting spirit, in his careeer and his personal life. He was very passionate. Journalism is in his blood,” said Wong.

In a storied career spanning more than five decades, Seah got his start in 1960 as a Singapore-based correspondent for international news agency Reuters. In his decade with Reuters, he covered the Vietnam War for 40 months.

In 1970, Seah became Malaysian bureau chief of the now-defunct Singapore Herald. He also worked in Thailand and Hong Kong before being appointed foreign editor at The Straits Times.

He went on to become chief editor of now-defunct afternoon tabloid Singapore Monitor (1982-85), which veteran journalist P. N. Balji described as both “the high point and the low point of his career”.

Balji recalled that Singapore Monitor had been established as a rival to The Straits Times, as the government felt that it needed competition to improve. However, as it took a long time for Singapore Monitor to start operations, then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew intervened.

Balji, who was then-editor of The New Nation, explained, “Lee arranged a deal whereby Singapore Monitor would take over the New Nation market and take over all the marketing contracts for the year but come out under the banner of New Nation.

“I think that must have been quite a blow for him.”

In 1985, Seah underwent a heart transplant in Sydney. He went on to become Singapore’s longest-surviving heart transplant patient. I

In later years, the drugs Seah had to take to prevent his body from rejecting the new heart damaged his kidneys and contributed to his health problems.

Glowing tributes

In 1986, Seah began writing for Malaysian newspaper The Star. His column “Insight Down South”, a weekly analysis of news events in Singapore, ran until 2014.

From 2000, Seah also ran a current affairs website www.littlespeck.com, whose columns were often reproduced on Yahoo Singapore in 2011 and 2012.

Since the news of his passing, former colleagues have paid glowing tribute to him. Balji recalled, “As a person, he was very gentle. He was not boastful, even though he had been a war correspondent.”

In a Facebook note, former journalist Suresh Nair also described him as “the biggest-hearted editor I’ve ever worked with”.

“I was privileged as a rookie journalist to work with him at (the now defunct) The Singapore Monitor in the early 1980s, where he was the big boss to start a morning newspaper to rival The Straits Times. He was, in a nutshell, humble to the core and very approachable even to the office boys.”

Seah’s former colleague Ismail Kassim also wrote on Facebook, “For over 40 years I have known him, and have always found him trustworthy, and a great friend and colleague.”

Seah’s widow Patricia Wong said she was heartened by the tributes to her husband, “I feel contented that people knew what he did and appreciate what he did.”

Seah’s wake will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday at Singapore Casket at 131 Lavender St, Singapore.