Morgan Chua

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.

The illustrations of Zhou Yong-kang by Chua for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 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 (over $20 million) in bribes.

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 (1921-2010), which according to Chua "is even better than the Cultural Medallion award".

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.

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 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre 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.

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.

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".

Chua moved to Hong Kong, to the newly established weekly, The Asian. Derek Davies, the editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) 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.

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.

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.

Chua belongs to the first batch of young men to be called up for the national service in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1967. His drawings were first published by the Pioneer (National Pioneer in the early days), 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.

Morgan Chua Heng Soon (Chinese: 蔡興順) (3 May 1949 – 22 March 2018) was a Singaporean political cartoonist. He was born in the Year of the Bull and the month of Taurus, his signature mascot.

Chua was born at Byrne's Maternity Clinic in Singapore on May 3, 1949. He is the eldest of seven children (five younger sisters and a younger brother) 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.