SINGAPORE, July 7 — Veteran journalist Ee Boon Lee, whose career spanned print and broadcast journalism, died early yesterday morning two months shy of 80.
His family said he had been suffering from a blood disorder since early last year. He is survived by his wife, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.
At the peak of his career, Ee was senior news controller at Radio and Television of Singapore, which has since become MediaCorp. He was also a reporter for The Straits Times and news editor of the Singapore Monitor until it folded in 1985.
Born on September 7, 1934, Ee’s education was disrupted by World War II. In 1952, he passed the Senior Cambridge examination — the General Certificate of Education examination prior to the introduction of the current A-Level system — but his father passed away and he had to stop schooling and get a job.
Ee started his first job at the Singapore Tiger Standard, where former Deputy Prime Minister S. Rajaratnam worked at one point, as a freelance reporter.
In 1956, he joined The Straits Times and covered crime, politics and general news. He worked at the paper till 1963 and was a close observer of rampant secret-society activities at that time and happenings in the early days leading to Singapore’s merger with Malaya.
After that, Ee moved on from print journalism to join Radio and Television of Singapore. During his time there, he accompanied then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on a tour of Africa in 1964. A year later, after Singapore’s separation from Malaysia, he went to Eastern Europe with Lee on his trip to impress on the region that the Republic was a sovereign nation.
During Ee’s 18 years at Radio and Television of Singapore, he rose to become chief editor (Output), controller (News) and eventually senior controller (News).
He joined Singapore Monitor in 1981 and, after the paper shut down in 1985, he concurrently edited the National Trade Union Congress’ (NTUC) newspaper and Petir, the magazine of the People’s Action Party.
Ee has also written several books on the labour movement.
At the wake yesterday evening, family and friends remembered him fondly, with former colleagues saying he was a helpful boss. Said Henry Liau, a former news editor: “He was very easygoing ... (a) jovial type of person and that’s very important at a workplace where there’s a lot of tension.”
Ee’s wake is at Mount Vernon Parlour 1 and the funeral will take place on Thursday morning. — TODAY
