Masters of wit caught in a storm of change

Straits Times

a day ago

Life's Like This! by Straits Times senior executive artist Lee Chee Chew and The House Of Lim by then Straits Times artist Cheah Sin Ann were among the comics published in The Sunday Times on Nov 20, 1994.
Their take on life is different – sharper, more biting.
Through artful strokes, cartoonists illuminate, entertain and provoke, often leaving a lasting impression after the ink dries or the screen fades.
Their licence to wield humour like a knife for social or political commentary has earned them fans and critics.
Senior executive artist Lee Chee Chew, 58 , knows this well. His long-running strip, Chew On It! , which began as Life's Like This! in 1991, has chronicled everyday idiosyncrasies for three decades.
'I'm partial to doodling about things that I find exasperating, for example, littering and people who cycle on pedestrian walkways,' he says.
A cartoon on job loss (top left) caused by artificial intelligence from senior executive artist Lee Chee Chew.
PHOTO: ST FILE
But poking fun, even at mundane issues, has never been an easy business. Mr Lee recalls a 1994 cartoon satirising a television advertisement that claimed better colour quality than a rival's. His comic character quipped: 'If I can already see their more vibrant colour difference in my set here, why should I still go and buy theirs?' The TV company didn't find it funny.
Cartoons have been a part of Singapore's media landscape since the late 19th century.
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One of the earliest known satirical publications, The Straits Produce, was published in 1868 and modelled on Britain's Punch magazine. Printed by the Straits Times Press, it skewered colonial society and politics, but ceased publication in the 1930s.
The Straits Times itself started featuring cartoons and caricatures in the 1930s, when the paper was under editor George William Seabridge. During his editorship from 1928 to 1942, Seabridge also increased the number of pages and introduced photographs, creating a visually more appealing product.
From around 1953, special pages in the Sunday edition of The Straits Times were devoted to syndicated comics . These early strips included The Cisco Kid, 'your Wild West favourite', the adventures of Tarzan, the misadventures of Blondie and her husband Dagwood, and Peanuts featuring Snoopy and Charlie Brown.
Over time, these comics adapted to the changing world. Blondie, for instance, evolved from a carefree flapper girl to a middle-class housewife who started a catering business. In the 1990s and early 2000s, syndicated strips like Calvin And Hobbes, Garfield, and Baby Blues struck a chord with readers.
Writer and researcher C.T. Lim, 53, who has studied the history of cartooning in Singapore, notes that when the paper had more space, it tended to run serialised adventure comic strips like Tarzan. When space shrunk, gag-oriented strips such as Garfield became the norm.
Alongside syndicated cartoons, editorial cartoons by the paper's artists began to appear in the late 1950s, often taking sharp aim at political or social issues.
In an opinion piece in 2015 for The Straits Times, American journalist Tom Plate spoke about the editorial cartoonist's 'crazy mind that could twist a lance into your brain to make a point that you knew in your heart was true'.
As he explained in the article headlined 'Cartoonists – the 'mad men' of journalism': 'At their lampooning best, which is when they are at their meanest, they hardly ever show any mercy – only respect for the truth... even if it is the truth as they see it.'
Political humour
After the Japanese Occupation in 1945, local cartoonists picked up their pens to push for political change and challenge colonial authority.
Researcher Mr Lim describes the late 1950s as The Straits Times' most vibrant era for political cartooning, driven by intense public debate over decolonisation and independence. This climate encouraged cartoons that critiqued political leaders and social issues.
A key figure then was cartoonist Tan Huay Peng, known for his sharp social commentary. Mr Lim highlights a May 2, 1959, cartoon by Mr Tan that used boxing imagery to represent the fierce election campaigning that year.
A cartoon on May 2, 1959, by Mr Tan Huay Peng on the fierce election campaigning that year.
PHOTO: ST FILE
In an online article 'The history of comics and cartoons in Singapore and Malaysia', Mr Lim notes that the British in colonial Singapore allowed and encouraged a certain amount of freedom of speech that was part of the Western democratic tradition.
'They wanted to ensure those who inherit their colonies were English-educated and friendly to their economic and strategic interests,' he writes.
But from 1961, when Singapore was self-governing but not yet independent, political cartoons became rare.
Mr Lim attributes this to three factors: the tense political climate; a view among senior leaders from the People's Action Party that The Straits Times was too critical of it, despite the paper's favourable stance towards the party ; and the nature of political cartoons being satirical.
'For the PAP, politics was not a matter of a game or a sport as portrayed in political cartoons. It was a matter of life and death, especially during the volatile political climate of that period,' says Mr Lim.
Discussions to bring back political humour resumed in the late 1970s, with group editor Peter H.L. Lim viewing political satire as a sign of Singapore's growing political maturity, Mr C.T. Lim says in another article, 'Singapore political cartooning', for the Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science.
An example was a series of cartoons on the lighter side of the 1979 by-elections by Straits Times cartoonist Shamsuddin H. Akib titled 'Sham's election smile' . In one strip, an old woman tells a child how she wishes every day were campaigning day so that strangers would come and see her and make her feel important.
Former Straits Times cartoonist Shamsuddin H. Akib's work on Feb 6, 1979.
PHOTO: ST FILE
However, in 1981, the unexpected victory of opposition candidate J.B. Jeyaretnam in the Anson by-election led to criticism of The Straits Times' election coverage. Political cartoonists again had to retreat, says Mr C.T. Lim.
By the 1990s, there was a gradual loosening of editorial boundaries. Mr C.T. Lim observes that more space for editorial cartoons returned when Mr Goh Chok Tong became prime minister in 1990.
Indeed, in 1991, The Straits Times hired six Filipino artists, three of them political cartoonists. Their target was often everyday issues and international affairs, which they depicted in cartoons and op-ed illustrations.
Cartoonist Miel joined The Straits Times in 1992 and one of his first cartoons was on the changeover of prime ministers within two months in Japan, drawn as an origami. It won him an in-house annual award.
'We were allowed to have our opinion, but there was a discussion and we would work towards a consensus,' he says about how editorial cartoons were developed. 'There was no outright 'no you cannot do it' but we would work towards what could be easily digested.'
Retired cartoonist Miel's origami on the changeover of Japan's prime ministers was published on July 7, 1994.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Mr Miel, 61, who retired from the paper in 2025, adds: 'The role that we played was to make it easy for people to understand the changes taking place, the policies.'
Senior executive artist Manuel A. Francisco, 55, who joined the paper in 2007, says restrictions often 'force you to think out of the box and to be more creative'.
'It has been easier to do economic and social issues, but for political and religious issues, we have to be careful,' he says.
As to how he comes up with the visuals, he says that symbolic images pop up in his head as he reads a story he has to illustrate . For instance, going through an article about corruption, an alligator in a suit came to mind.
In an environment where political cartooning had boundaries, comic strips like 'The House Of Lim' offered another form of commentary. The daily strip by Cheah Sin Ann ran for eight years straddling the 1980s and 1990s. It featured a relatable Singaporean family spanning three generations and its appeal lay not just in the familiar characters but also how he would build up a situation only to end with an unexpected punchline.
A report on June 15, 1991, on a book containing The House Of Lim comics.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Heyday over?
The rise of digital media has led to declining newspaper revenues globally, resulting in fewer opportunities for editorial cartoonists and the disappearance of many syndicated comic strips from print.
According to a 2012 study by The Herb Block Foundation, the number of full-time editorial cartoonists in American newspapers dropped from about 2,000 at the start of the 20th century to over 250 by 2000, and to fewer than 20 in locally owned outlets by 2023.
American cartoonist Rob Tornoe, writing in Editor & Publisher magazine, noted that in 2022, Australia's two major media companies – News Corp Australia and Nine Entertainment – axed all comic strips from their publications.
McClatchy, a US media group, dropped editorial cartoons in 2021, citing changing reader preferences.
Cartoonist Lee says cartoons lose some of their impact on a smartphone screen compared with the large canvas of a printed newspaper page. He adds that the proliferation of digital content – from webtoons to manga – creates fierce competition for attention.
'There are so many things grabbing every reader's attention on their devices,' he says.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has entered the creative space with its ability to generate images. But artists remain sceptical of its ability to match human insights or wit.
Straits Times art editor Lee Hup Kheng, 62, says AI can imitate visual styles and churn out cartoon-like images and animations, but falls short of crafting original, personal cartoons that capture an artist's voice, humour and life experiences.
'In editorial cartooning, the real magic comes from raw feelings like anger, frustration, happiness – real human emotions that machines just don't have,' he says.
'A fellow cartoonist once told me, 'AI lacks soul'. That's the case. For now.'