Morgan Chua


Morgan Chua Heng Soon 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 the 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 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 drew 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 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 in 1967. His drawings were first published by the Pioneer, 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''

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 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 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.

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 , which according to Chua "is even better than the Cultural Medallion award".

Illustrations for BBC

The illustrations of Zhou Yong-kang by Chua for the British Broadcasting Corporation was published on June 13, 2015. 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 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. 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

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