Two of Tony Hermon's front-page stories upon confidence as well as defence
Tony Hermon, once counterclaim match of The Straits Times, as well as after a headlines editor during Balai Berita, died peacefully during a age of 71 during his home in Subang Jaya, Selangor, upon Saturday.
A family crony pronounced Tony had received treatment for his heart condition upon Thursday after angry of breathing difficulties. He died while lazy in his chair upon Saturday. He is survived by his wife as well as four children, Andrew, Gordon, Sandra as well as Jennifer.
Funeral services will be hold during 10am today during his home, No. 44 Jalan USJ 2/5K, Subang Jaya. (Details: 03-5632-8295)
Tony's Mirages
A personal memoir
By Gobind Rudra
Tony Hermon was counterclaim as well as domestic match of The Straits Times in a 1960 as well as 1970s prior to he became a table man, initial with a New Straits Times as well as afterwards as headlines editor of a Malay Mail.
As a table man, he suffered from a intense knife-in-your-back politicking of a times, being posted to a wilderness in Penang for a spell prior to returning to Balai Berita upon a NST headlines desk, as metropolitan headlines editor with a City Desk, as well as afterwards back to a Malay Mail as headlines editor, from which post he retired in a late 1980s.
As domestic as well as counterclaim correspondent, Tony lonesome a discussions leading to a creation in 1971 of a Five-Power Defence Arrangement, a alliance responsible for a joint air counterclaim of Malaysia as well as Singapore.
Security counts in those times largely involved Commonwealth forces, meaning a troops services! of Brit ain, Australia as well as New Zealand (or ANZUK) as well as Hermon lonesome a most meetings ensuing from Britain's troops pullout from a Far East.
Among a other major stories which rolled smoothly out of Hermon's Remington was a front-page lead in 1970 upon a Air Force wanting to buy a the derivative of a supersonic Mirage III warrior jets by Dassault of France, to reinstate a subsonic Sabre jets of Korean War selected donated by Australia.
The Mach 2.2 Mirage III, also flown by a RAAF, made a repute for having destroyed a Egyptian air force upon a belligerent as well as in a air during a Six-Day War of 1967, a Sinai campaign, as well as over a Golan Heights.
Malaysia's air force led by warrior jock Sulaiman Sujak longed for a hotshot fighter, as well as a hottest warrior afterwards was a Mirage. They had to settle instead for a Northrop F-5E, a "Freedom Fighter", a supersonic light warrior lucky by a US supervision for export purposes since of a partially unlethal capabilities.
Though Tony's Mirage story was denied (by Tun Abdul Razak, available in a one-paragraph filler in 1971), he would always insist in in isolation conversation which his story had been accurate as well as which domestic pressure had resulted in a decision being changed.
The Northrop purchase was after to figure in US Congressional hearings upon corruption as well as bribery of foreign governments in US troops export sales, as well as to legislation outlawing a payment of bribes abroad to secure arms deals. The F-5E deal also figured in a Malaysian justice box involving low-level air force personnel, during which Sulaiman Sujak was a witness for a prosecution.
Tony Hermon's counterclaim as well as confidence stories were written prior to a Official Secrets Act came into being in 1972.
Given a approach it has been used since, we competence consider it was essentially a Official (Protection of Defence Contracts as well as Sales Commissions) Secrets Act, ! as well as we wouldn't be too distant wrong during that.
Last month, counterclaim ministers of "South-East Asia Command" (if we may call it so) noted a 40th anniversary of a still alliance, a the single for which Tony Hermon had helped to play nursemaid. It came during a finish of Bersama
Shield 2011, a five-month-long practice over Malaysia, a South China Sea, as well as Singapore, involving a three armed services of a five countries in their annual precision fight games.
Though he had since gone upon to ploughshares as well as swelling a great word, Tony Hermon would have desired to have been there during BS11, with a borrowed unstable typewriter in place of his bulky desktop Remington (or was it a Royal?), a wide grin creasing his face during familiar sights as well as faces, as well as most a still word over a still blockade or two.
Farewell, Herm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLfGNcurC5M
Like this:
More Barisan Nasional (BN) | Pakatan Rakyat (PR) | Sociopolitics Plus |
No comments:
Post a Comment