coolreads # Behind the Stories

Behind the Stories

Author: Lilian Tan

Publisher: The Edge Communication Sdn Bhd

ISBN: 9789672642275

Behind the Stories (BTS) is a collection of anecdotes and recollections by the pioneers on how The Edge was first published - from its conception to the recruitment of core staff, and the trials and tribulations it went through the past 30 years. It offers readers a candid and revealing insight on the business publication that has survived the odds when it first hit the street in September, 1994. And the remarkable journey it had taken to become a business publication that has earned the respect from both the corporate and public sectors.

The book gives a blow-by-blow account on how the idea of starting a business publication came about through a meeting between The Edge owner, Tan Sri Tong Kooi Ong and Pauline Almeida, head of investment research at Tong's Philo Peregrine Securities office in UBN Tower in Kuala Lumpur. This was during the super bull run of 1990 -1993 when the KLSC Composite Index jumped from 562.28 points at the end of 1989 to a high of 1,332 points. And Pauline told Tong the time was right to launch a business weekly to cater to the corporate elite with independent coverage of issues and analyses. That meeting started the ball rolling and soon, Tan Boon Kean (BK Tan) and former journalist, Lim Siang Jin were recruited to do a feasibility study for a financial newspaper by Tong. Eventually, Siang Jin handled the production and design of the weekly while BK took on the business side. The rest, as they said, is Edge history.

Lilian gives a detailed narrative of how the pioneers were recruited to form the first batch of editorial and production staff to the eventual evolution of The Edge to what it is today.

The first editor-in-chief of The Edge was Chan Tham Seng before Tong got Dato Ho Kay Tat to take over two years later.

Kay Tat made some changes to the editorial content to make The Edge more edgier and avant garde. Even former PM Mahathir Mohamad once called the publication, “the cutting edge”.

Among the interesting chapters is Sun Rises & Set, focusing on the reasons behind the on-off-on and off merger of The Edge and The Sun and how the union of the two publications took on the leader at the time, Star Publication and making inroads in both editorial and marketing. Readers get a glimpse of the boardroom drama between Tong and Tan Sri Vincent Tan, of Berjaya Corporation, who owns The Sun.

The chapter on Shocks & Disruption features the aftermath of the 1MDB expose coverage and the three-month suspension of The Edge and The Financial Daily that followed, and 1MDB, The Edge and I by Tong  offers readers a rare glimpse of the people and events behind the scenes or news that made the headlines.

There is also a segment in the book that features the first person account by the various heads of departments of The Edge and one by theSun’s former managing editor, Chong Cheng Hai, of their takes and experiences working in their respective posts. The book ends with two pieces, one by Kathy Fong who was appointed editor-in-chief in 2021 and another by Kay Tat on his experience working at The Edge and also on the publication's future.

The book is illustrated with photographs in black and white and a segment with coloured photos of the staff. The 344-page BTS retailed at RM80 should make interesting reading to those who want to know more about the challenges faced by journalists working in local publications and how they need to navigate the rough sea of politics, besides pandering to the needs of the readers and the marketing people.

It also gives readers a retrospective view of the political scene over the past 30 years.

Despite the negative predictions by the naysayers when The Edge was first launched that it would not survive beyond six months, it is still a force to be reckoned with 30 years later.

The success of The Edge indicates that newspapers must be managed and run by astute former journalists, not people from other professions, like accountants, who only look at the bottomline.