IN MEMORIUM : Mr SOO EWE JIN as a Beloved Friend of ASIAN BEACON
I t would be presumptuous , even if it were possible , to summarise the many eulogies that have been expressed in honour of the late Mr Soo Ewe Jin ( 57 ) in The Star and online and at his two wake services ( Nov . 20 & 21 ) and at his funeral ( Nov . 22 ). Besides his beloved wife Angeline and two sons Kevin and Timothy , within the week alone , there were dozens others testifying to him as being " A mentor and tower of strength to many ", and to the " tears and cheers .. ( this ) selfless journalist " had brought to so many . The glowing tributes came from no less than his immediate " bosses ": Star Media Group MD and CEO Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai , Editor-in-Chief Datuk Leanne Goh , and COO June H . L . Wong , and former Chief Editor Datuk Wong Sulong and fellow journalist Subramaniam Harihar . Besides the loyal readers of his famous column , Sunday Starters and those he had counselled and impacted are also the well-known Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye and Pola Singh who suggested a " Soo Ewe Jin Foundation " to continue his " legacy of kindness ".
It would be lacking in gratitude if we at ASIAN BEACON do not also honour Ewe Jin for his friendship to us and for his legacy of the importance and spirituality of " small " acts and " small " people . The more especially in a world which chases after the materialism and the physicality of " big-ness " that have led to so much greed and corruption , although God has His time and place for " big-ness " too . His legacy also includes fortitude and gratitude to God in the face of pain and suffering .
He walked his talk as a Christian . Although we aspired to be a national magazine that has survived for close to half a century to be the only Christian magazine in the country , we are not " big " like The Star ! Yet he befriended a number of us , helped us as distributor and supporter , and contributed some articles , and led for us a couple of
BY REV . LOH SOON CHOY
memorable Asian Beacon Christian Writers ' Seminars – even roping in Wong Chun Wai ( then not a Datuk yet ) to help ! He even told our then Chairman , Mr Teoh Cheng Hock , he would be happy to be our Editor if he lost his job at The Star ! These were the sentiments I was privileged to share at his wake service on behalf of Mr Teoh and our new Chairman Mr Tan Yoke Tee who could not come to the wake in time .
I also recalled how , with so much on his plate as a care-giver to Angeline herself at one time and as father to two growing boys , we could still meet up in the course of his errands for him to pass me , for distribution , his and Angeline ' s book " Face to Face with Cancer " ( both the English and Chinese versions ). And his Emmanuel Methodist Church ' s Anniversary souvenir book of testimonies produced and edited under his leadership . Such meetings were no longer possible nor necessary with the relapse of his cancer . That he could help me to distribute AB and even some Bible Society materials , spoke volumes about his humility and servanthood . So positive was his attitude to life that he even considered briefly doing part-time a Masters in Ministry programme in a
local seminary !
He must be the only Malaysian journalist to have a byline in Israel ' s leading newspaper , Yedioth Ahronoth as June Wong ( then The Star Group Chief Editor ) recalled . For when we had an unprecedented disaster in the disappearance of MH 370 , the Israeli paper ' s foreign editor asked for her permission to reprint Ewe Jin ' s Sunday Starters that was headlined “ Let us be united in hope and love ". The Israeli paper wanted a positive authentic Malaysian voice amidst all the negative voices then . Talk of the power of the written word and of unintended ( here positive ) consequences !
May the Lord Himself raise up many such humble servants of God and selfless " towers of strength " in Soo Ewe Jin ' s place for His Glory !
ASIAN BEACON 48 # 1 December 2016 - January 2017 5