SINGAPORE (May 21): It was perhaps poignant, and entirely coincidental, that as we covered the Malaysian opposition’s momentous sweep to victory in the previous week’s issue, it was also Ben Paul’s final stint as editor of these pages. Now, as the change of government in Kuala Lumpur takes hold, and we are picking up where we left off on the largest, and most blatant, corruption scandal Malaysia has ever seen, this newspaper is set for some changes of its own.
Events such as those in the past fortnight have been a gift to us as newsmen. In these pages, we have tracked developments with a view to analysing how they impact investors and business leaders here. In some cases, the effects have hit closer to home: The 1MDB corruption scandal that felled Najib Razak has also sent a number of Singapore-based bankers packing and forced tighter scrutiny of financial institutions here.
This week, as more information is released, we have laid out the facts behind the scandal and marshalled our resources to run with a story that is still developing. We have also examined how the new regime could set Malaysia back on the path to prosperity it was on, when everyone was full of hope, during the booming Nineties. And how Singapore, separated from Malaysia by only a strip of water, figures in all of this.
Scandal aside, we cover how innovations in technology and thinking have transformed business models and industry, and pushed into obsolescence the proverbial sticks-in-themud who persist in following outmoded ways. And so, we are acutely aware that the media business is not immune and is undergoing a shakeup of its own.
But we also know that we are reporting and writing for leaders, and that drives our coverage. We have a lean and mean team of journalists who chase down the stories that matter, and we seek to highlight issues that set you thinking. In all of this, the dedication of our editors and everyone else who puts the paper together, and the continuing support of our owner, has brought us through many a tight spot.
Still, change is upon us, and change we must. When I started out in journalism, Google Search was out on beta, and one spliced film with an actual blade and tape. I first joined The Edge Singapore as a writer in 2008, without a clue what I was really in for, and soonfound myself caught up in the mad spiral of the global financial crisis.
The world may have changed quite a bit since then, but values are fundamental. There is a story behind every number, or event, and everyone wants to tell their version of it. Our job has been, and continues to be, to separate the fluff from facts and present, as best we can,
the full picture. These pages may look slightly different in the issues ahead, but our commitment to independent reporting and analysis remains.
I am privileged to be taking over from Ben, who hired me twice. But I am not alone in this opportunity to build on what he, and the editors before him, have charted for this newspaper. Executive editor Chan Chao Peh and I, and the rest of the team, are grateful for their guidance all these years and will endeavour to bring this business of news to greater heights.
Michelle Teo
Editor
