T.J.S. George, one of Asian journalism's most recognised stalwarts, dies at 97

Renowned journalist and author T.J.S. George, who gave voice to a new Asia and spoke of Southeast Asian centrality in Asian affairs long before it became a popular concept adopted by regional leaders, has died.

- Ravi Velloor Senior Columnist

The founding editor of Asiaweek and former deputy editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review (Feer) died of age-related ailments on Oct 3 in Bangalore. He was 97.

The India-born Mr George was regarded as one of the biggest names in postcolonial Asian journalism. Pioneering a pan-Asian view of the continent, he emerged as a public intellectual who interpreted the region with empathy and insight.

Mr George began his writing career at Mumbai's Free Press Journal in 1950, but it was in 1965, as editor of The Searchlight, a newspaper in Patna, capital of India's backward Bihar state, that he acquired global fame.

The Bihar chief minister, enraged at his stinging editorials, jailed him on charges of sedition for just over two weeks - the first time that a journalist in free India had faced such a charge.

Angered that the newspaper management had overruled his instructions to run blank editorials until his release, Mr George left The Searchlight and joined the International Press Institute, before moving to Hong Kong to work with Feer.

Not a man to waste a moment of his day, which typically ended with a glass of rum and water - a deliberate choice to reflect his “working journalist” instincts - Mr George’s career flourished in his new home, both as a journalist and author. At Feer, he was appointed regional editor, before becoming deputy editor.

His career as an author started with a sympathetic biography of the late Krishna Menon the defence minister under whose watch India suffered military defeat at China’s hands in 1962 - and a book on the revolt in Mindanao, the Philippines.

Pioneer-generation Singaporeans particularly remember Mr George as the writer of Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore, which portrays a nation cast in its founding father’s image. Published in 1973 by Andre Deutsch, the 215-page book is regarded as the first full-scale study of Mr Lee in action, a work that is both critical and appreciative.