Morgan Chua

Morgan Chua
蔡興順
Chua in 2011
Personal details
Born Chua Heng Soon Morgan
(1949-05-03)3 May 1949
Singapore, Colony of Singapore
Died March 22, 2018(2018-03-22) (aged 68)
Resting place Mandai Crematorium
Citizenship Singaporean
Nationality Singaporean
Mother Lily Teo Wah Sek (Mother)
Father Henry Chua Peng Yam (Father)
Signature

Morgan Chua Heng Soon (Chinese: 蔡興順) (3 May 1949 – 22 March 2018) was a Singaporean political cartoonist. He was born in the Year of the Bull and the month of Taurus, his signature mascot.

Chua was known for his astute and biting political cartoons. He was described as "Review's Unsparing Brushman" by the South China Morning Post in March 14, 1976 issue and by Asia Week as the "Legendary Cartoonist of Singapore".

Early life

Chua was born at Byrne’s Maternity Clinic in Singapore on May 3, 1949. He is the eldest of seven children (five younger sisters and a younger brother) born to Henry Chua Peng Yam, an Electrical and Sanitary Contractor, and his wife, Lily Teo Wah Sek. He spent his childhood in 350-B, Geylang Lorong 18, Singapore.

Describing his childhood, Chua mentioned he often draw animated strips with rolled paper to entertain his sisters, brother and the children in our neighborhood. Many believed these strips were good enough for entrance to the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in Singapore.

Chua was educated in Presbyterian Boys’ School and he joined the 5th Singapore Company of Boys’ Brigade.

National Pioneer

Chua belongs to the first batch of young men to be called up for the national service in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1967. His drawings were first published by the Pioneer[1] (National Pioneer in the early days), a magazine published by SAF which provides news on army matters relating to Singapore. The cover of first issue is in plain text and a photo, and Chua's illustrations was published in the second and sequence issues.

He came to realization that he could use cartoon to represent people’s voices and worked voluntarily for the National Pioneer. "I will always serve my people and my country", Chua said.

Career

The Singapore Herald

D-Day of The Singapore Herald (May 28, 1971 issue)

Chua began working for the newly established daily The Singapore Herald in 1970 as the chief editorial artist, joined by Lionel Rajapaksa and Gopal Chandradas. In 1971, the government closed the paper, alleging foreign financed plots, “Black Operations”. The paper was critical of then prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew[2][3] who was offended by Chua’s cartoon of Lee on a tank threatening to crush a baby representing press freedoms that reportedly caused the newspaper's shutdown.

Far Eastern Economic Review

Chua moved to Hong Kong, to the newly established weekly, The Asian. Derek Davis, the editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) had taken notice of Chua from his days in Singapore. So after travelling and working in Europe for 3.5 months, in late 1972 he began to do cartoons for the FEER. This led to him being hired as its first art director on December 1, 1972, at the age of 23. His work in this period included images of leaders such as Prince Sihanouk, Tun Razak, Indira Gandhi and Lee Kuan Yew.

The FEER enjoyed almost two decades of rapid growth. Iconic covers include Chua's image of Li Ka-shing as "Superman Li", and Margaret Thatcher leading the surrender. In 1981, Chua received a letter from Li Ka-shing for FEER's "Superman Li" cover. According to Chua, his inspiration for this cover was partly influenced by his son.[4]

Tiananmen incident

Morgan took a sabbatical from the FEER in 1988-89 to travel the Silk Road and other parts of China in early 1989. That happened to coincide with the Tiananmen Square protests on June 4, 1989, and Chua was so shocked by this event that he draw more than 100 cartoons of the massacre and was later published in his book Tiananmen in the same year.

Martial art

While in Hong Kong, Chua has mastered the martial art, Wing Chun in the early 1970s. Chua was trained by one of Bruce Lee's instructors, believed to be Wong Shun Leung.

Retirement

Back to Singapore

Returning to FEER, he remained there until changing circumstance at the publication combined with a desire to return closer to his Singaporean roots. He returned to Singapore in 1999 and spent the most of the next 20 years between Singapore and Tanjung Pinang, Bintan, an island in Indonesia just across the straits from Singapore where it was close enough to the city.

As a semi-retiree enjoying life, he accepted the limitations of cartooning in Singapore and became acceptable to the leaders, including doing a book of cartoons of Lee Kuan Yew which was, he said, to "show the humane side” of the leader". In a short span of 20 years back in Singapore, he has closely worked with publishers, inspired many young cartoonists and illustrators and has published a few books of cartoons, particular to Singaporean.

In 2011, he received a complimentary letters from Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong for his work on Lee's late wife, Madam Kwa Geok Choo — In Memory of Kwa Geok Choo (1921-2010), which according to Chua "is even better than the Cultural Medallion award".[3]

Illustrations for BBC

The illustrations of Zhou Yong-kang by Chua for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was published on June 13, 2015[5]. Zhou was convicted of bribery, abuse of power and the intentional disclosure of state secrets by the Intermediate Court. Zhou was said to have taken 129 million yuan (over $20 million) in bribes.

Death

Chua was hard at work right up to the time he was down with Pleural effusion. He died on Thursday, 22 March 2018, aged 68, after he was hospitalized in a hospital in Bintan, Indonesia.[2][3][6][7] and in a coma from which he never recovered. Chua was accompanied by his son and returned to Singapore on March 23, 2018.

Chua is now rested in Mandai Columbarium and his plaque is engraved with his signature mascot, a Taurus Bull, and quotes about his artwork.

Selected works

  • Ying & Yang (1975) — A cartoon series from Far Eastern Economic Review
  • Yum Char's Travels: A Voyage to Gnokgonh (1976)
  • Hong Kong Book of Records (1979) — A book compiling Hong Kong's unusual history with Morgan's cartoons
  • Tiananmen (1989) — A cartoon series depicting the June 4 massacre
  • My Singapore (2000)
  • My Singapore (2008) — Updated edition with new cartoons
  • 50 Years Ago (2009)
  • Chronicle of Singapore (2009) — Illustrated pages about the future of Singapore[8]
  • Divercity Singapore – A Cartoon History Of Immigration (2010)
  • In Memory of Kwa Geok Choo (1921-2010) (2011) — A cartoon series about the late wife of Mr Lee Kuan Yew
  • L.K.Y: Political Cartoons (2014) — A compilation of LKY's sketches over the years, showing the human side of LKY
  • Tiananmen 25th Anniversary Edition (2014) — New cover with revised content
  • Robert Chua: TV50 Golden Years The Hong Kong Story (2018)

Chua illustrated former president S. R. Nathan's 50 Stories From My Life.

References

  1. ↑ "PIONEER - Home". www.mindef.gov.sg. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  2. 1 2 Ng, Huiwen (24 March 2018). "Veteran political cartoonist Morgan Chua dies at 68". The Straits Times. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Belmont Lay, Martino Tan, Joshua Lee (22 March 2018). "S'porean political cartoonist Morgan Chua passes away at 68". mothership.sg. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  4. ↑ "「李超人」原創漫畫家病逝 帶出感人父子情". Apple Daily 蘋果日報. Retrieved 2018-06-17.
  5. ↑ "周永康漫画：中共"大老虎"的没落结局". BBC News 中文 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  6. ↑ "Morgan Chua". singaporecomics.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  7. ↑ "Morgan Chua interview". singaporecomix.sg. 19 August 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "Chronicle Of Singapore (50 Years Of Headline News) 1959 - 2009". YouTube. 26 May 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
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