When he was Editor-in-Chief of the English/Malay Newspaper Division of Singapore Press Holdings, Mr Cheong has directed a group of newspapers noted for the strength of their ASEAN coverage.

This is most evident in the main English language daily, The Straits Times which provides extensive and in-depth reporting on ASEAN every day of the week, in the form of news stories, features and commentaries, and spanning the entire range of topics, from politics to business to human interest. Mr Cheong's interest in ASEAN affairs is a long-standing one. Even before he assumed his position as Editor-in-Chief, he had recognised the key role The Straits Times must play in providing high quality ASEAN news from as Asian perspective to its readers on a regular basis.

From the late 70s when he was Deputy Editor-in-chief, he became the driving force in The Straits Times move to establish a network of news bureaus in the ASEAN capitals.

This was not only to overcome the dearth of ASEAN news being provided at that time by the Western news agencies. He believed strongly that ASEAN affairs would best be reported for Singapore readers by Singaporean correspondents, who would be able to offer an Asian perspective of unfolding events in the region quite different from that of Western journalists. Getting the bureaus started was a formidable undertaking, because they are a high-cost operation and because of the lack qualified journalists with the requisite language skills.

In 1980, the first of The Straits Times ASEAN bureaus was launched, with the posting of a correspondent to Bangkok. It was beginning of a process which has seen the regional network grow to 9 today. Mr Cheong became Editor-in-Chief of The Straits Times in 1987 and under his direction the expansion of the network was given fresh impetus. Concurrent with the expansion in the number of regional offices, the staff strength of some of the bureaus has also grown: Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila have two correspondents each, a sign of the increasing interest in developments in these countries.

In addition, the position of Chief Regional Correspondent was created three years ago to augment The Straits Times' ASEAN coverage. The Singapore-based journalist's responsibilities are to travel regularly throughout the region to report key developments as they occur. Plans are in place for bureaus to be set up in some of the other ASEAN capitals, especially now that new members have joined the grouping.

Output from the bureaus averages 100 stories and 30 features a week, and occupies a large part of each edition of The Straits Times. It publishes every two to four pages every day of news each on South East Asia and Malaysia. In addition, news on the region is featured regularly in the three most important page- Page One, Two and Three - as well as in the bussiness and sports pages. Features and commentaries appear in the Comment/ Analaysis pages and the arts/entertainment and lifestyle section, Life! Daily reports from its ASEAN correspondents dominate many of these pages. To provide a diversity of perspectives to its readers, The Straits Times also carries routinely news items picked up from all major ASEAN newspapers, either through news exchange schemes or an informal lifting arrangement.

These news exchange schemes and the ASEAN bureaus form the core of a wider corporate goal of The Straits Times to extend its news-gathering operations to all key Asian countries. It symbolises its belief that Asian news is best reported by Asians themselves.

Mr Cheong Yip Seng, as its most senior journalist, has spent a good part of his journalistic career in driving The Straits Times strongly ahead on the road towards that objective.