Mrs. Khoo Siew Mun:     A Tribute

1. Introduction

This tribute shines a light on Mrs. Khoo Siew Mun's pivotal role in the development of this journal, the Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies (MJES) which is the flagship journal of the Persatuan Ekonomi Malaysia (PEM, also Malaysian Economic Association). In so doing, it also acknowledges her contributions to the Faculty of Economics and Administration (FEA) which houses the PEM and is a joint publisher of the MJES, University of Malaya (UM), and the nation. Read together with Siew Mun's publications as an economist, editor, bibliographer, and librarian (Sinnasamy and Koh, 2025), this article is a snapshot of the changing economic and development priorities of the nation for well over half a century. Writing about Siew Mun's work is, however, no simple task. She did what she loved - making available academic resources, especially those related to Malaysiana - but in her undertakings, she usually placed the achievements of others before her own, desiring no acknowledgment for her significant efforts. Siew Mun would likely have preferred continued obscurity but it is only fitting that the MJES records, to the extent that is allowed by limited historical documentation and recollections, the experiences that have shaped her legacy.

2. Family, Schooling and Marriage

2.1 Life at Home

Siew Mun was born in Selangor on 5 February 1938. Her father was the late jovial, cultured and self-taught Leong Jim Choon and her mother the late Low Hon Mun, a strong character and the pillar of the family. She had a younger brother, Siew Wie, and a younger sister, the late Siew Yue. Home was a bungalow in hilly and green Ceylon Lane, Kuala Lumpur, shared with an uncle. An aunt lived nearby in Petaling Jaya. The family was served by two ladies, Sister Ah Yoke and Sister Ah Ching, from a nearby temple and they would, during the day, prepare meals for the family. Every year the family would drive up to Ipoh to visit Siew Mun's grandmother for the reunion dinner organized on the eve of Chinese New Year. Siew Mun was just shy of four years old when the Japanese invaded Malaya in December 1941 and only seven when the Japanese occupation ended in September 1945. Those were difficult days when food was hard to come by. Siew Mun used to recall that the family survived mainly on tapioca and at the end of the occupation the egg that they got to eat with rice was the origin of her great love for eggs! Siew Mun had a deep connection to her mother, and this together with the supportive environment of a close-knit family amid the shared experiences of war, all fostered her sense of self-worth and compassionate demeanour.

Siew Mun's parents were involved in the printing business, the Yau Seng Press at Cross Street in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. It was a letterpress where a raised inked surface is used to create an impression on paper and thus requires the setting of text by hand. Proofs were read mainly by Siew Mun's father, but she helped whenever she could. The press was involved in the publication of, among others, government reports and academic works in diverse areas such as trade classification, agriculture and even Malaysian magic. It was an ideal setting for Siew Mun to learn about the intricacies of publishing and the importance of the correctly printed word.

2.2 Life at School and University

School was where Siew Mun developed her love of language as a medium of expression. She received her primary and secondary education at the St. Mary's Girls School in Kuala Lumpur. As Susheila McCoy, five years senior to Siew Mun observed in her eulogy (McCoy, 2024), the teachers were mostly missionaries from England recruited to provide an English education to girls "in this outpost of the British Empire." She credits the school for "the foundation on which our personal and scholastic lives were anchored." Importantly, schooling at St. Mary's provided a window to the delights of English grammar, literature and poetry.

School was also a nurturing environment for quiet excellence in leadership, living up to its simple, yet profound motto "I Serve," imbibed every morning during Assembly under the unpretentious yet inspiring leadership of the late Miss Carpenter, the principal. Siew Mun was a high achiever in school, and in secondary school was appointed vice-captain. Siew Mun's classmates and seniors included trailblazers such as Malaya's first women's 4x100 meter relay team at the Asian Games in 1954 (Annie Choong, Carmen Koelmeyer, Maureen Siebel, and Fay Siebel), Malaya's first woman athlete to compete at the Olympics in 1956 (Annie Choong), and the first woman officer in the Malayan Civil Service in 1957 (Susheila McCoy).

Following the completion of Form Five in 1955, Siew Mun received her Lower- and Upper-Form Six schooling at the Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur. Here, her language, editing and leadership skills were enhanced. She acted in sketches like the Merdeka parody, and plays like Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, and Tobias and the Angel. She was a member of the Editorial Board of VI's Seladang and The Victorian. She was appointed Head Girl and, in this position, attended the Annual Selangor Prefects Social at the Victoria Institution Hall in 1957. As Lewis (1991), then headmaster of Victoria Institution from 1955 to 1962, noted in his memoirs:

"... last but not least the V.I. had as sixth form pupils about fifty or sixty girls. Far from causing problems, the girls made the school a more lively and cheerful place. They caused no dilemmas; they were hard-working and co-operative. They were almost too good to be true. Some of the outstanding ones that I can recall were Leong Siew Mun, now Chief Librarian at the University of Malaya, Loo Ngai Seong, Fuziah binti Datuk Ahmad and Aloyah binti Rahmen, all Head Girls with brains and attractive personalities. But there were many others who obviously had bright futures ahead of them. One of them was Rafidah Aziz, now Datuk Seri, and the Minister for Trade and Industry."

Siew Mun pursued her tertiary education at UM as it began to establish an independent division in 1959, distinct from its autonomous division in Singapore founded in October 1949. Her first-year courses were held at the grounds of the Technical College in Kuala Lumpur. Siew Mun completed her subsequent courses at the UM campus in Singapore with a focus on economics and was awarded the Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in 1961. Her subsequent career paths led her to complete first the Master of Economics degree in 1967 from UM and then a Postgraduate Diploma of Librarianship and Information Studies from the University of London in 1972. She was also awarded a three-month (May-July 1975) scholarship by the French Government to undertake studies on Southeast Asian materials in French libraries in Paris. From 14 May-27 July 1979, she undertook a study tour of major university libraries and Southeast Asian collections in the United States.

2.3 Life After Marriage

A gregarious personality, Siew Mun made many friends in school, university and at work. It was at the university in Singapore that she met the late Philip Khoo who came from Kuantan. The Khoo family grew with the birth of Ronald and Su-Ming. Philip and Siew Mun were a loving couple who complemented each other in terms of objectives, values, and interests at work and in life, providing support as their careers developed over time. Philip's career took him from the Malaysian Civil Service to the private sector in business, while Siew Mun began her career as a research assistant, ending up as Chief Librarian at UM. Philip and Siew Mun organised numerous lunches and dinners for family and friends to celebrate birthdays and various Malaysian festivals like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, and Deepavali at their home in Section 14, Petaling Jaya. Their loyal house helper, Sister Ah Ying, was a fabulous cook known for her Cantonese fried kuey-teow, fish head curry, chicken curry and nonya dishes. These lively occasions were opportunities for cementing enduring friendships.

The family was deeply saddened when Philip was diagnosed with liver cancer. Siew Mun devoted her time and effort caring for Philip before and after his liver transplant in Singapore. Philip passed away in September 1998, surrounded by Siew Mun, Ronald, and Su-Ming. The following quote from a condolence in The New Straits Times (1 October 1998) placed by twenty-four of Philip's friends succinctly reflects the character of the man that was Siew Mun's life partner:

"A man of great resolute tempered with a tremendous sense of humour... Unpretentious, yet a man of principle and pride.... A man who will not hesitate to put his beliefs into action..... And till the end he has shown unbelievable courage to face his destiny with a smile."

3. Career

Upon graduation, in 1962, after a short stint as a temporary teacher at the Methodist Boys' School in Kuala Lumpur, Siew Mun joined the Department of Economics (DE) within the Faculty of Arts at UM. She was hired as a research assistant by DE head, Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz, who had been invited by the Minister of Transport to study the facilities and services at Port Swettenham (now Port Klang). Siew Mun's involvement with Ungku Aziz in this project marked the beginning of a decades-long professional friendship with him based on mutual respect and recognition of each other's strengths. In 1963, she was appointed a tutor in the DE and then in 1965 an editor in the University of Malaya Press (UMP). The FEA was founded in 1966 to meet the nation's growing demand for a professional workforce. Ungku Aziz was the first dean.

In 1967, after completing her master's thesis in economics, Siew Mun joined the fledgling FEA as a Bibliography, Documentation, and Publication Assistant (BDPA). She was responsible for designing the cover and layout of the first annual handbook of the FEA for the 1968/69 session, a format that remained unchanged as recently as 2013! Siew Mun continued to build on her work to provide bibliographic resources on Malaysia for her colleagues at the FEA. She set up the FEA Library (FEAL) which became a welcoming, well-organised, resource-rich centre that provided access to published and unpublished documents that supported essential and quality research for economic policy and development. Siew Mun stayed at the helm until she became Deputy Librarian at the University of Malaya Library (UML) in 1975. Until a librarian was appointed for the FEAL, Siew Mun continued to support the documentation needs of the FEA. For example, when the Population Studies Unit (PSU) was established in 1979 within the FEA as a part of the Population and Family Health Project funded by the World Bank and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, Siew Mun helped expand the library's holdings to include an extensive collection on women and development.

Siew Mun served as the Deputy Librarian of UML from 1975 until 1980 when she was appointed Acting Chief Librarian. In 1984, she became Chief Librarian, a position she held till retirement in 1993. Armed with postgraduate qualifications in librarianship, she continued to pursue her passion to make available academic resources, only now her focus widened to well beyond that of economics and development. When students complained that it was too cold to work in the library, she famously replied, "The air-conditioning is for the books!!" She had a critical role in converting the entire massive library card catalogue system to the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC). She will be remembered for her passion and efforts to curate a diverse collection of books and materials that represent a wide range of cultures, peoples, and fields of study, including collections of Peranakan, Za'ba, East Asian, and Tamil literature. The UML remains the only academic Library in the country with such extensive collections.

Siew Mun returned to librarianship in 1999 as the Chief Librarian of Sunway College and Monash University Malaysia, serving until 2004. Within the Tun Hussein Onn Sunway Library (THOL), she launched the Library E-Bulletin named @THOL in October 2000. She was also responsible for initiating the online catalogue and library website. The library collection focused not only on books but also on other media such as audiovisuals, including 8,000 items, mostly in DVD format, as well as online access to dissertations and theses. In April 2003, the library was awarded an ISO 9001:2000 certificate and subsequent SIRIM recertification.

4. Persatuan Ekonomi Malaysia (PEM)

The PEM (Malayan Economic Association) was founded in 1962 by Ungku Aziz, Tun Ismail Ali, Raja Tun Mohar, Tan Sri Jamil Rais, and Dato' Siew Nim Chee (Convenor), coinciding with the time that Siew Mun was hired at the DE. Siew Mun joined the Association, becoming a life member. Siew Mun was a backbone of the Association almost from its founding in 1962. But she always insisted on staying in the background (and shunned the limelight). There was an upsurge in PEM's activities when Dr. Stephen Chee became its Honorary Secretary in 1973 and again when Tan Sri Lin See Yan became its President in 1990. And yet, Siew Mun continued to put in the effort required for the success of the Association. Despite the changes in her career Siew Mun remained steadfast in her contributions to the PEM's mission and growth, often co-opted as an Executive Committee member of the Association. Her unwavering contributions and dedication made her an integral part of the Association's identity and her influence is still felt in many aspects of the PEM's work.

Siew Mun was committed to advancing scholarship in economics. She was an integral part of the organization of many of the PEM's Conventions that provided a forum for academics, policymakers, industry players, and general practitioners to debate and deliberate on economic issues that are of special interest to Malaysia. Her former colleague, Dr. Thillainathan, who was PEM President from 1996-2202, recalls that Siew Mun was "his confidant and right-hand person". Without her unstinting support, he explains, "we could not have successfully organized the 1998 PEM Convention and the FAEA Conference (held one after the other) which for the first time featured several international speakers, such as Professors Alan Walters and Robert Barro speaking on the key subjects of capital control and corporate governance".

Siew Mun also helped organize professional training for economists such as the Ph.D. Preparatory Programme conducted in collaboration with the Economics Institute (affiliated with the University of Colorado at Boulder) in 1994. The participants were young Malaysian scholars from the public universities and various government agencies, likely recipients of scholarships to pursue their doctoral studies abroad. Instructors from the University of Colorado taught the core subjects of Macroeconomics, Microeconomics and Econometrics. Participants who successfully completed the programme were awarded the Diploma in Foundations of Economics from the Economics Institute.

5. Kajian Ekonomi Malaysia (Kajian) /Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies (MJES)

The Kajian Ekonomi Malaysia, the flagship academic periodical of the PEM was first published (in English) in June 1964. With Siew Mun's involvement with the PEM and her passion for disseminating bibliographic resources, it is only reasonable that she took on the editorial process of the journal. This was a time before digital typesetting and the process of publishing academic papers was laborious and time-consuming. Siew Mun was critical and meticulous in proofreading every handwritten or typed draft, followed by further proofreading and typesetting, so that the content was polished and precise before going to print. She ensured that the final product met the high standards expected in academic publishing. Each issue of the journal testifies to her keen eyes for details and her exceptional diligence.

As the Sales Manager of the journal from June 1967 (Volume 4, Number 1) to June 1968 (Volume 5, Number 1), Siew Mun also was responsible for the journal's finances. The early issues were supported through advertisements. As the journal gained recognition, the PEM took on the responsibility of funding the journal through organized activities that brought in the requisite funds. In 1992, Yayasan PEM was established as a tax-exempt foundation to support the publication of the journal, in addition to other charitable causes.

In 1968, Siew Mun was appointed the Honorary Secretary of the Editorial Board. She continued to serve the journal in this role until December 1979. In many ways, her work in those formative years reflected her strong librarianship skills. Her dedication to organizing information showcased her expertise in the field. Her contributions not only helped establish the journal's reputation but also laid the groundwork for its long-term success. After she retired from UM, Siew Mun returned to the Board as Publication Consultant from June 1997 (Volume 34 Number 1) until her untimely passing in 2024, a month before the production of Volume 61 (Number 1) of the journal.

The journal's name was changed to the Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies from June 1988 (Volume 25 Number 1) to broaden its global audience. The coverage of the journal was expanded to include submissions of original research on other regions of the world in addition to studies of the Malaysian economy. During the many years as Publication Consultant, Siew Mun provided expert advice on many technical aspects that shaped and maintained the overall quality of the journal as it moved into modern publishing. Her supportive role strengthened the journal's standing, thereby facilitating its inclusion in recognized indexing platforms, most notably Scopus (since 2007) and Emerging Sources Citation Index (since 2015).

A long-serving editor of the journal, Kim-Leng Goh, remembers Siew Mun for her exceptional editorial skills which left a lasting impression on him. He had the privilege of working with her on a few projects in the early years of his academic career. Her keen attention to detail, her unwavering commitment to quality, her patience and perseverance, and her strive for excellence were invaluable lessons. She was consistently a strong supporter of the journal, offering generous words of encouragement that reflect her deep understanding of the challenges involved in producing a journal regularly and in a timely manner. Having previously been involved with publishing the journal, she appreciated the commitment and dedication required, as reflected in the following excerpts from the emails she sent to the Editorial Board:

"At the best of times, producing a journal is a hassle and a challenge. You and your Team have managed to take the journal to a level of quality that all Members are so very proud of.

"We appreciate the difficulty of balancing demanding work schedules, and so many personal research demands with having to attend to the needs of producing a journal issue to acceptable standards.

"We are all aware that a journal of any quality is so difficult to sustain. But one where its quality improves and becomes recognised only becomes possible when the working team really puts in solid work on a continuing basis, year after grinding year.

"Unlike many significant journals in the West, which are serviced by highly paid editorial staff, MJES is still the result of dedicated expertise and simple hard work by your team, working pro bono."

6. Writer, Editor, Bibliographer and Beyond

6.1 The Writer and Editor

The listing of Siew Mun's works in Sinnasamy and Koh (2025) portrays her passion and dedication to promoting quality academic resources through bibliographies and edited volumes. She was a prolific writer, and the list also includes articles, paper presentations, reports and theses. Whether she was the editor or the author, Siew Mun was an articulate writer who effectively communicated her aims and persuasions. It is gratifying to see her editorial prowess acknowledged formally. Williamson (1996) in his review of "Memorable Journey: Commemorating 25 Years of CONSAL (Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians) 1970-95" noted that Siew Mun, who had taken on the editorial responsibility, did "...a fine job..." resulting in a "... wonderful book about a wonderful organization!" In retirement, Siew Mun brought together her extensive knowledge about, and passion for, the nation to reach Malaysian children. She wrote books, some translated into Bahasa Malaysia, that encouraged a life of unity and harmony in a diverse society.

6.2 In the Realm of Economics

Siew Mun's core discipline in her undergraduate and postgraduate training was economics. Her meticulously researched written works and many carefully edited publications related to the Malaysian economy in the almost six decades between 1960 and 2017 describe the challenges, needs and evolving priorities of the nation. Siew Mun's editorial expertise was very much respected and in demand not just by the UM community but also by the nation's eminent institutions like Khazanah Nasional and Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.

Siew Mun's initial written contributions in economics were related to the valuation of economic resources. Her undergraduate thesis investigated costs and returns to rubber and coconut smallholdings. As the research assistant to the Port Swettenham project, she was involved in obtaining "forecasts of the tonnages of import and export commodities likely to pass through the port of Port Swettenham," and based on that "to recommend the number of berths needed" and "the years by which they should be in operation". The project would have had a major economic impact for the nation, as revealed in the following quote from the Project Report cited by Doraisamy and Durairaj:

"Port Swettenham, whose hinterland is the 'heartland' of the Malay Peninsula, continuously reflects, in quite minute detail, changes in the pattern of the Malaysian economy ... to study the future of Port Swettenham is to study the future of the Federation of Malaya."

Thillainathan believes she would have been a great academic economist if she had chosen to remain in the field. He notes that this is readily evident from a reading of her meticulous and thorough study on the Licensing of Goods-Carrying Motor Vehicles in Malaya, under the demanding supervision of the eminent economist S. J. Gilani, which earned her the degree of Master of Economics from the University of Malaya in 1967. It was a pioneering piece of research into a very specialized industry that was growing rapidly and displacing the Malayan Railways network as the dominant mode of goods haulage in the country, and one on a key economic activity for which there was little or no data in the public domain. And long before the launch of the New Economic Policy (NEP), it was also the very first study on the role of government regulation in promoting Malay entry into business but at an industry level. Furthermore, in the hands of most writers, an account of the cost of the public inquiry system related to licensing of good-carrying vehicles would have been mundane and boring. In the hands of Siew Mun, the account was, in the words of Oort (1970, footnote 2), "a very vivid description."

As the activities organized by the PEM grew, so did the papers that recorded these deliberations. Siew Mun conceived, spearheaded, and completed many important projects that showcased these resources. She initiated a documentation section in the early issues of the journal, published under the title "Documentation: Malaysian Economics", which is an annotated bibliography of materials relevant to those conducting research on the Malaysian economy. The documentation was later expanded to a "Checklist of Socio-Economic Materials on Malaysia Produced Between 1967-8" published in the December 1968 issue of the journal. In 1993, she led a project to publish a bibliographic guide on the major publications in the PEM's collection such as those published in its journal, Biennial Convention proceedings, and Occasional Papers. It was an activity to commemorate the Association's 30th anniversary and indexed the PEM's publications from 1964 to 1992 arranged by subject groupings together with an author index.

Siew Mun (with colleagues) edited works and prepared bibliographies addressing the nation's economic challenges and needs of the time. Malaysia and the multinational corporations dealt with the role of multinational corporations in the economy, a controversial strategy in the push for export-oriented industrialisation. Malaysian economic development and policies dealt with distribution and growth, and appeared soon after the launch of the far-reaching NEP that aimed to restructure society. The opaqueness of the NEP's policymaking process notwithstanding, the volume documents the serious and thought-provoking discussions on economic concerns underlying the NEP's ethnic-based policy. These two publications, both well-edited compilations of conference papers, were published at a time when the nation was concerned about growth in the midst of a global economy confronted by escalating oil prices and a collapsing pegged exchange rate regime leading to the "great inflation" of the 1970s.

"Malaysia: Some contemporary issues in socioeconomic development" was a collection of 22 papers from the 1976 Annual Convention of the PEM. The volume addressed concerns about the economy, providing input for the nation's Review of the Third Malaysia Plan. The papers covered the distribution of income and wealth, housing, land ownership, urban development, financing of the Plan, manufacturing, industrialisation, entrepreneurship, management of public enterprises, agricultural policy, rural development, population, unemployment and manpower planning. At the time, the world economy was characterized by "stagflation", with a significant slowdown in growth, high inflation rates across most countries, and a major disruption caused by rising oil prices.

Siew Mun's work in the field of economics and development broadened to include the role of women in 1990 when she was appointed Coordinator for a two-year project based at the FEA. The project, which aimed to produce a written analysis of the existing body of literature on women and development in Malaysia, would surely have appealed to Siew Mun. She was a member of the cohort of pioneering women who joined the Malaysian Civil Service in the 1960s that for about a decade was paid less than men for the same position. It clearly rankled, as she pointed out to her former colleague, Shyamala Nagaraj, who had then just joined FEA in the 1970s, "You are very lucky not to experience such discrimination."

The undertaking resulted in the volume titled Status and Role of Malaysian Women in Development: A Bibliographical Essay, published by the FEA and the National Population and Family Development Board. The following excerpts from the preface and acknowledgment of the volume showcase Siew Mun's editorial thought process and professionalism. The project team included compilers responsible for "initiating the searches, collecting all information for the project, vetting and editing the citations," a database analyst to manage the information, and the requisite clerical and research assistance to support the work. The work required visits to specialised libraries and NGOs all over the country, accessing material from the national archives, theses, and newspaper items, and collaboration with the ASEAN Clearinghouse on Women in Development. The most extensive part of the endeavour was the search for information that "adequately documents the legal field and women." Above all, Siew Mun wanted the publication to be "a research undertaking" that would "allow for further administrative analysis and .. serve, albeit tentatively, as a basis for policy formulation." She notes that "studies on women are among the most multi-disciplinary of subjects... The whole undertaking can only mark a beginning, rather than signify an end."

After retirement from UM in 1993, Siew Mun continued to pursue her interests in women and development as project coordinator in the Women's Affairs Division, Ministry of National Unity and Community Development, Malaysia (HAWA). Responding to local and global initiatives, the Malaysian government actively incorporated women-centric needs into its development policies. During her time at HAWA, the Malaysian Clearinghouse on Women in Development was established, and the bi-annual Network Notes, the Bulletin of the Clearinghouse, was issued. Though it lasted only from 1993 to 1994, the bulletin provided a rich source of information on women in development.

Well into retirement, Siew Mun continued to share her editorial expertise in economics. At the request of the late Dato' Dr. Mahani Zainal Abidin, Director-General of ISIS, Siew Mun agreed to be the principal resource person for its 25th anniversary project that resulted in the 2011 publication Malaysia: Policies and issues in economic development. As she wrote in an email exchange with Thillainathan, one of the advisors to the project, "I am very glad and privileged that Mahani invited me to be at the editing part of the ISIS book. It gave me an opportunity to work with very old and scholarly friends." The project had two components, one a collection of papers by eminent authors and the other a database of interviews and thoughts of key personalities. Siew Mun led a team of technical editors to produce the 700-page, twenty-chapter volume. Mahani, in her preface, notes that the project began with traditional topics but grew to cover areas that examined the "progression of our economic thinking". The book covers macroeconomic management, economic growth and transformation, management of growth and equity, and enabling environments and institutions for development. Thillainathan credits Siew Mun's strengths in both the field of economics and editing for the remarkable quality of the final product, a publication that is essentially a compelling history of economic thought and development in Malaysia over the previous fifty years.

Throughout her career, Siew Mun kept up with the writings and projects of Ungku Aziz, her first employer. She soon realized that the impacts of his work were far-reaching, and that it was important to honour and recognize them. To acknowledge his work on the poor, she edited a collection of case studies on poverty that was presented to Ungku. In 1990, she coordinated a Festschrift volume that showcased Ungku Aziz influential ideas over the previous three decades. Aside from a listing of his publications, eminent economists contributed papers that discussed cooperatives, savings, banking, finance, trade, transport, industrial relations, and the outlook for the Malaysian economy in the 1990s. These were published as Volume 27 (Numbers 1 and 2, June and December 1990) of the MJES. Siew Mun humbly placed herself last on the Editorial Committee list, though her contributions to this special volume were far from insignificant.

Arguably, Siew Mun's most important, and certainly her most extensive, bibliographic project was the collation and reprinting in 2017 of a five-volume collection of over seven decades of Ungku Aziz's works titled "Royal Professor Ungku A. Aziz: Writing for the Nation." Siew Mun coordinated the project for PEM in collaboration with UML, UMP, and UM, and the collation was the culmination of months of Siew Mun's tireless efforts. The project was the most meaningful gift Siew Mun could conceive for a scholar she deeply respected and admired, and the collation was presented to Ungku Aziz during an event celebrating his 95th birthday. Siew Mun's thoughtful appreciation of his strengths is recorded in the introduction on the title verso page of the publication: "This (project) is undertaken to honour Ungku as an educationist, economist, and agent of change par excellence with the objectives of preserving his works and to facilitate access to his writings and publications for purposes of research and education." The collation represented the zenith of Siew Mun’s career as a writer, economist, editor and bibliographer, whose actions always prioritized broad access to academic resources.

Siew Mun developed a close working relationship and a deep friendship with Mahani, who had served as the Honorary Secretary and Deputy President of the Association. Upon Mahani's untimely passing in 2013, the MJES dedicated a special issue "Remembering Mahani Zainal Abidin" to commemorate Mahani's life and work. It comprised a paper titled "Dato' Dr. Mahani Zainal Abidin: A Tribute", a bibliography of Mahani's publications and seven papers (Volume 51, March 2014). Siew Mun contributed significantly to the writing of the tribute. From her involvement in the 2011 ISIS publication, she understood the importance of Mahani's many contributions to economics, including macroeconomic management, international trade and finance. She also took on the responsibility of contacting the family, friends and colleagues of Mahani to gather and coordinate the necessary information. For the role she played, Siew Mun declined recognition. Without her knowledge, the journal editor added a footnote in the volume to acknowledge her significant contribution.

6.3 The Consummate Librarian

Early in her career, starting with the DE in UM's Kuala Lumpur campus, Siew Mun quickly recognized the nation's pressing academic needs, particularly of sourcing and accessing information. She promoted the idea of well-developed, detailed bibliographies, avenues for documenting research, and ways to disseminate research findings. She championed dissemination not only by editing publications that collated research but also by ensuring publications were available to the public.

Siew Mun worked closely with the management of the University of Malaya Co-operative Bookshop providing advice, guidance and assistance to the manager and staff. The Bookshop was set up by UM to benefit both staff and students in 1967 when Ungku Aziz, a leader of the Malaysian cooperative movement, was Vice-Chancellor. Aside from the usual responsibility of selling textbooks, the bookshop features publications by UM academic staff and documents from international organizations not usually found in the city's bookshops. In the pre-digital era, it served as a vital resource. Susan Go, the Southeast Asian Bibliographer at the University of Michigan, ascribed its rich collection of Malaysiana to her practice of always visiting the Bookshop during her travels to procure books.

Innovative in the pursuit of dissemination, she embraced the latest technologies, even in the digital age well past retirement, to develop exemplary library systems. She was an exceptional leader in this respect at both UM and Sunway University. She had, as Kouzes and Posner explain about leadership that makes extraordinary things happen, the ability to "a) model the way, b) inspire a shared vision, c) challenge the process, d) enable others to act, and e) encourage the heart." She championed the librarian's role in the institution. Long-time staff at the FEAL, Corrinne How and Lulu Loo, remember her as not just hard-working and intelligent but also as providing positive guidance. She fostered a sense of esprit de corps among UM's librarians, making them feel valued for their efforts as librarians who make the library a pleasant place for its users.

Even before becoming Chief Librarian, she encouraged academic scholarship among librarians. She started an in-house quarterly bulletin of UML titled Kekal Abadi (Everlasting) that published articles in English and Bahasa Malaysia. The first issue was published in 1982, and her doctrine of meticulous and accurate publication details is still followed today by the staff who manage Kekal Abadi. She convinced the UM administration that librarians, like the teaching staff, should have access to postgraduate education. Siew Mun believed that professional training, particularly outside Malaysia, exposed librarians to the various facets of librarianship and ensured they were on par with librarians globally. Senior librarians were also given opportunities to participate in a six-month study attachment at a library in the Asian region.

Siew Mun's interests in librarianship extended to supporting professional organizations locally and globally. She was a life member of the Librarians Association of Malaysia (PPM) and always present at their Annual General Meetings She presented papers globally in conferences of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and she was on the National Committee for the 2018 IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) held in Kuala Lumpur and was the Team Coordinator for its Newsletter.

Siew Mun not only promoted the documentation of available resources; she applied this maxim to her own work. Reflecting on the important role of a librarian, she wrote about being a BDPA and about the FEAL. Concerned about the reach of libraries, she discussed their utilisation and the provision of information in the digital age. Her experience at UML exposed her to the operational issues of a large university library that she shared in articles about reprography and costing and the challenges of computerisation. Leadership at the FEAL and UML, and her involvement in international conferences and professional organisations, brought important perspectives on librarianship. She shared these about the regional sharing of bibliographic information. Her expertise was also sought to evaluate access to resources, such as to seminar papers on Bumiputera participation in the Malaysian economy, in proposed faculty and departmental library collections at UM, in libraries available to the Malaysian Indian community, and to regional materials on women in development.

Siew Mun was deeply passionate about the importance of libraries, viewing them as an integral part of the wider community. In an interview with the Oral History Series, she recalled her involvement with women in Kampung Kerinci who were left alone with nothing much to do when their husbands went to work, and the children were in school. Working with others, they arranged for the library to bring these women in to learn the skills of bookbinding. When they acquired the skill of binding books, she negotiated for book-binding contracts as an additional source of income for them. In the same interview, the interviewer asked if advancing technology would cause librarians to become extinct. Her answer was an emphatic 'No!'. For Siew Mun, librarianship is not just about maintaining and organizing a collection; it is also the sharing of information through publication, research, writing, and editing. She firmly believed that the librarian's role will always be essential for the institution, community, and nation.

6.4 Beyond the Written Word

Siew Mun was knowledgeable about all aspects of publishing, including content, language, paper quality, paper size, typeface, and cover design. She was also very interested in the arts. In some of her projects, she was able to connect these interests, especially in her efforts to honour individuals who made remarkable contributions to the country, society, and PEM itself. Her unwavering commitment to this cause reflected her deep belief in acknowledging and celebrating those whose efforts created a lasting positive impact. In so doing, she always ensured that the person being honoured was presented with a well-designed high-quality item.

The previous discussion notes that one of these individuals was Ungku Aziz, first head of the DE, the first Dean of the FEA and the first Malaysian Vice-Chancellor of UM, an office until his retirement in 1988. Ungku Aziz also had the distinction of being a founding member of the PEM and the longest-serving Chairman of the Editorial Board of Kajian/MJES, from 1962 to 1989. Siew Mun meticulously oversaw every detail. The 1990 "Essays in Honour of Ungku A. Aziz: A Festschrift Volume" was presented as a blue fabric hard-bound copy with the beige MJES cover pasted on top of it and printed on distinctive, high-quality watermarked paper, ensuring a sense of appreciation, personal connection and thoughtfulness.

Siew Mun played an integral role in the preparation for the inaugural conferment of Fellowships of the PEM during the 30th Anniversary Dinner of the Association in 1993. Six distinguished individuals were conferred the Fellowship, and each of them was presented with a scroll of Fellowship in the form of a citation printed in gold and mounted on a Chinese silk scroll. Siew Mun actively composed the citation, and the design and layout for the special printing of the scrolls.

In 2002, Siew Mun guided a team to create a booklet on Ungku Aziz as Malaysia's "Renaissance Man" for a dinner organised by the PEM for his 80th birthday, where five guest speakers, including the President of the Republic of Singapore, spoke glowingly at a Grand Dinner on his extraordinary life. In a unique and thoughtfully crafted souvenir programme (Khoo and PEM, 2002), she described the design concept thus: "The size of the Souvenir Programme is an unusual size - this is a reflection of Ungku who is a most unusual person. The typeface is Futura Book, chosen because Ungku has always favoured a sans serif typeface. The colour of the Cover is an earthy brown, to reflect the "rural" base of Ungku's lifelong research interests. Wording and borders are printed in silver, lending a touch of aristocracy." It was a description that eloquently reflected her deep understanding of Ungku Aziz's achievements.

Upon the passing of longest-serving president of the PEM, the late Dato' Dr. Mokhzani bin Abdul Rahim, in 2003, Siew Mun worked together with colleagues from FEA and PEM to put forth a proposal for the establishment of the Mokhzani Memorial Medal to honour his memory. She saw to the design of the medal, contributed to the seed funding for the creation of the Medal and ensured that there was documentation so that recipients understand his contribution. The medal, established by PEM and funded by Yayasan MEA, was awarded to the student who graduated with a distinction from the Master of Economics programme at the FEA by coursework. The first medal was awarded in 2004.

Siew Mun also brought together her academic, publishing, and artistic interests to celebrate women in Malaysia. The Fourth World Conference on Women was to be held in 1995 in Beijing, China, and it aimed, among others, to consolidate five decades of legal advances securing the equality of women with men. Together with the Publications Sub-Committee at HAWA, she coordinated the content, design, and publication of a booklet to be distributed at the conference to a global audience. Accordingly, of Malaysian Women Today (Nagaraj, 1995) covered all fields in which women participated and was written in language that was simple, non-academic, and succinct. The cover was a powerful artistic expression of her grasp of women's issues in Malaysia. She selected beautiful fabric specimens from her friends' collections and had the cover designed and printed by a printer who worked with art. As she explained (page ii):

In Malaysia, as elsewhere, fabric design and production are closely identified with women's industry and creativity. Over the centuries, waves of immigration to Malaysia have brought in their wake various races and diverse cultures. The textile designs: batik, brocade, peranakan embroidery, saree, songket, and asli weave are symbolic of these different ethnic groups. Like the smooth fabric-flows on the back cover, these women have lived and worked in close harmony with each other. Today, Malaysian women of all races are firmly bonded by commitment to developing Malaysia, in equal partnership with men. Net-working with one another, within organisations or as individuals, they are well-set to take wing: to achieve for the family, for the nation, and for themselves.

Again, she was able to articulate through design of a publication her deep understanding of the role of women and development.

7. Farewell Friend

Siew Mun's passing on 11 May 2024 was deeply mourned even as her extraordinary life was celebrated by those near and dear to her. Siew Mun accomplished so much, but she would be the first to acknowledge the contributions of her many colleagues in diverse contexts. Her dedication to excellence, integrity and sincerity in all her endeavours fostered collaborations that blossomed into deep, mutually respectful friendships. Those who had the pleasure of studying with her, those who had the privilege of working with her, those who were delighted to call her a friend, and those who had the joy of calling her family - all remember her as gracious, kind, warm, and generous. Siew Mun valued the people she met, maintaining close friendships not just with classmates from school but also with her teachers. Siew Mun believed that it was important to stay in touch with her many and loyal friends whenever and wherever possible, even organizing gatherings of former colleagues from FEA, PEM and UML. One co-worker recalled that her office was always visited by friends and colleagues. She was close to the children of some friends and even made new loyal friends after retirement. To her family, she was inspirational and motivational, but more than that, she was also proud of their achievements. She shared her extensive knowledge of locations across time when traveling with friends and family, frequently on a tight budget. Her enduring bonds with friends and family guaranteed gatherings long after retirement, sharing good food, books read, travels remembered, museums visited, operas attended, and gatherings where (as she explained) she found joy in sharing small gifts. As the following extract from an appreciative text to her niece shows, it was companionship that she cherished, "... I enjoyed time spent with you, your company, and conversation." Her enduring spirit of appreciation and friendship was apparent to her visitors even during her last days. We will miss her humour, her warm smile, and her fellowship.

Farewell, Siew Mun. May God grant you eternal peace and rest.

REMEMBERING MRS KHOO SIEW MUN

By: Dr Nor Edzan Che Nasir, Universiti Malaya (1991-2017)

* Previously published in Kekal Abadi: University of Malaya Library Bulletin (Special Issue) 2024, pp. 11-25

The Early Years

After securing the post of a librarian at the University of Malaya, I was instructed to report for duty to the Chief Librarian and I did just that. On 1 April 1991, I reported for duty to Mrs Khoo Siew Mun, the Chief Librarian of the University of Malaya Library (UML). I cannot remember what we talked about except that she said that she knew my former boss, the late Edward Lim Huck Tee very well. She informed me that I would be working at the Law Library but if for whatever reason I am uncomfortable working there, I was to inform her immediately and she would place me elsewhere. I was puzzled but never gave it much thought and till this day I have yet to find the reason.

I was the most junior staff then and therefore there was no real reason for me to be directly in contact with her. However, from 17 to 21 June 1991, UML organised the IFLA Malaysian Workshop on Maps, Spatial Data and Conservation. All the librarians were involved in one way or another and so was I. I had the experience of working with her and she does keep a tight ship. To me, she is a perfectionist and being so, she is meticulous as in the proverbial saying, please dot your i's and cross your t's. However, I have no recollection of being up close and personal with her.

She retired on 5 February 1993 and we never met again until I was assigned by PPM to formulate the criteria for their Library Excellence Award in 2007. We were both members of the organising committee and I remember attending a meeting with her at the Royal Selangor Golf Club in Jalan Ampang. As always, she looked good and I remember asking her what daily supplements she takes to look the way she did. She laughed it off and said, "Enjoy the simple things in life, keep yourself happy and don't worry too much." We had a few more meetings and the Committee disbanded on completion of our task.

On 14 July 2012, she hosted a reunion for her former and current UML staff at Rumah Ku in Jalan Universiti. She invited retired librarians and staff who worked in the Librarian's Office or popularly known as LO. She was in her element - recalling memories from the past, informing of her activities in the present and making plans for the future. From then on, I would receive calls from her now and then seeking my permission to use the Library – something she need not do but she still did. I also met her at PPM events such as the Annual General Meetings and Celebrating PPM Diamond Jubilee (1955-2015): 60 Years Dinner.

Post Retirement: Work

When Kuala Lumpur was chosen to host IFLA WLIC in 2018, Mrs Khoo's name immediately came to mind when the Organising Committee was looking for someone who could head the IFLA WLIC 2018 Newsletter team and at that time I was the Chair for the Satellite Meeting Committee. However, I was informed by Dato' Dr Zaiton Osman, the Co-Chair of IFLA WLIC 2018, that I will also be a member of the newsletter team. Mrs Khoo, Linda Yip, Molly Chuah and I were responsible for producing the contents of the newsletter and we met regularly at the PAUM Clubhouse. Each and every meeting will end with a sumptuous lunch courtesy of Mrs Khoo. We decided then that we would take turns to pay for lunch but Mrs Khoo was adamant that the eldest will always pay. This was my first experience working directly with Mrs Khoo, and yes, she is a perfectionist in every way. With her attention to detail, we were able to produce eight newsletters for IFLA WLIC 2018. We had Dr Ghazali Mohd Fadzil as the photographer and for the design and layout of the newsletter, we had Mohd Faiz Rusli and Zulkifli Samah.

The Malaysia Economic Association or Persatuan Ekonomi Malaysia (PEM) decided to compile and publish Pak Ungku's publications. Mrs Khoo was appointed as the Editor of the Ungku Aziz Project and since most of Pak Ungku's publications are in UML, Mrs. Khoo asked for our assistance in the acquisition of Pak Ungku's publications. On 25 January 2017, I was fortunate enough to be part of a group from PEM to present a draft copy of the five-volume publication to Pak Ungku at his house. Towards the end of 2017, the book titled Royal Professor Ungku Aziz: Writing for the Nation Volume I-V published by UM Press was finally completed. On 15 December 2017, PEM invited me to Pak Ungku's house to be part of the handing over ceremony. Pak Ungku was in his element and was very happy with the books.

Post Retirement: Social Life

I retired on 28 May 2017 and was immediately co-opted into Persatuan Pustakawan Pesara Perempuan or the 4P group. As the name suggests, members of this group are retired lady librarians and they meet regularly for lunch, Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and visits. The furthest I went with the group is to Pinto Coffee+ in Janda Baik. I had the company of Mrs Khoo and Molly Chuah throughout the journey, whilst my daughter was the driver. The hour long drive gave us the opportunity to catch up with the goings-on in our lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic kept the 4P members apart for more than a year but we kept in touch through Whatsapp. Once the MCO was lifted, we were very careful about meeting up too soon since we are all senior citizens. However, we finally met again at the PAUM Clubhouse on 12 October 2023. As always, Mrs Khoo drove but she missed a turning and arrived rather late. The decision was made there and then that I would pick her up and send her back for every 4P event.

Prior to the MCO, Mrs Khoo, Linda Yip, Molly Chuah and Chin Loy Jyoon were planning to host a Chinese New Year lunch for the 4P members in March 2019. It was a normal practice for Mrs Khoo to host the Chinese New Year lunch. I was co-opted as their official food taster, a task which I rather enjoyed. We had one session in early 2019 and another one on 22 November 2023. The Chinese New Year lunch for the 4P members was planned for 25 January 2024.

The 4P group met again for lunch at Hameediyah Nasi Kandar Restaurant in Sunway Nexis, Kota Damansara on 25 April 2024. I picked her up at her place and Dato' Dr Zaiton picked us up at the PAUM Clubhouse. She was her usual bubbly self, narrating to me about her latest escapades and never did it crossed my mind that it would be the last time I would listen to her stories. It was also the last time the group would meet her.

I received an invitation to attend the UM Library' Hari Raya Open House on 10 May 2024. The plan was for me to pick up Mrs Khoo and Dato Dr' Zaiton Osman will pick us up from the PAUM Club House. From there we will proceed to the UM Library (UML). I sent her a message through Whatsapp twice but she did not respond. I thought it was odd since she would always reply to my messages almost immediately. I left it at that and only found out from the 4P group that she has been hospitalised at PPUM.

On 10 May 2024, together with Dato' Dr. Zaiton Osman, I attended the event at UML. We then went to PPUM and were greeted by her son and daughter. We stayed with her for as long as we could. She was receiving a lot of visitors. On 11 May 2024, I received news of her demise at 6.30 pm. I paid my last respects to her on 14 May 2024 and watched her wake funeral service via Zoom on 14 and 15 May 2024.

Four months on and I can say that I do miss her presence in my life. On our drives, she would tell me about her travels, her operas, her movies, her books and the food she loved. She loved to travel and once told me that every year she would travel to one local destination, one Asian destination and one international destination - a habit I am picking up. Her latest was a trip to Sri Lanka with her daughter. I will definitely miss talking to her on all matters. Gone but not forgotten by those who knew her. Rest in peace, Mrs Khoo Siew Mun.

KHOO SIEW MUN née LEONG SIEW MUN (5.2.1938-11.5.2024)

Leong Siew Mun was born on 5 February 1938 and assumed the name Khoo Siew Mun on her marriage to the late Mr Philip Khoo. She graduated with a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Malaya in 1961 and then pursued her postgraduate studies at the same University. She graduated with M. Econs. in 1968 and graduated from UCL in 1972 with a Postgraduate Diploma in Librarianship and Information Studies.

She began her career at the University of Malaya as a research assistant at the Economics Department. Her work involved working for government sponsored research projects. She then went on to become a tutor at the Department from 1963 to 1965. Until 1967, she worked as an editor at the UM Press. From 1967 to 1975, she was the Bibliography, Documentation & Publications Assistant at the Faculty of Economics. She then became the Deputy Chief Librarian of UM from 1975 to 1980 and the Acting Chief Librarian from 1980 to 1984. On 12 October 1984, she became the Chief Librarian and on 5 February 1993, she retired from the post. In January 1999, she came out of her retirement and became the Chief Librarian of the Tun Hussein Onn Library at Sunway University. She retired again in May 2004.

In her oral history interview with the team from UML, she said that when she was the Chief Librarian, her vision was to establish the Library as a premier research and teaching library in Malaysia through excellent library service and innovation. She considered the following as her most important contributions to the library:

Mrs Khoo was a writer and in her 1988 curriculum vitae, she listed 30 publications on librarianship and seven publications on topics such as economics, development and culture. She wrote extensively about the UML, academic libraries, librarianship in Southeast Asia and beyond. She also produced numerous bibliographies and was the editor for various publications. She has indeed contributed tremendously to the corpus of knowledge of Malaysian libraries and librarians. Beyond 1988, she added more publications to her name.

Even though she was never a Council member of PPM, Mrs Khoo played an active role in PPM and sat on various committees. She wrote and edited a number of PPM's publications such as Memorable Journey: Commemorating 25 Years of CONSAL (1970-1995). She became a life member of PPM and was always present at PPM's AGM. When IFLA WLIC 2018 was held in Kuala Lumpur, Mrs Khoo became the Team Coordinator for the IFLA WLIC 2018 Newsletter. Together with Linda Yip, Molly Chuah, Dr Nor Edzan Che Nasir, Dr Ghazali Mohd Fadzil, Mohd Faiz Rusli and Zulkifli Samah, the team was able to publish eight newsletters.

She was a former Board of Trustee of Yayasan MEA as well as a former Exco Member of Persatuan Ekonomi Malaysia. (PEM). She was also an active member of PEM and the Editor for the Royal Professor Ungku Aziz Project which led to the publication of a five-volume publication titled Professor Ungku A. Aziz: Writing for the Nation. The Royal Professor Ungku Aziz project was undertaken by PEM, UML, Perpustakaan Peringatan Zaba (PPZ) and the University of Malaya Press (UMP).

Her concern for the profession led to her appointment as the Chair of the Working Committee on Studies for the Postgraduate School of Library and Archival Science in 1980. This Committee was formed by UM's Board of Studies for the Postgraduate School of Library and Archival Science. UM agreed to offer the MLIS course from Institute for Advanced Studies with the inaugural session beginning from November 1987 to November 1988. Mrs Khoo was one of several lecturers for the course.

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The Comedy of Errors at the Town Hall
7th to 11th August 1956
Siew Mun, as Abbess Aemilia, is second from left

The female cast of The Comedy of Errors.
L to R: Leong Siew Mun (Aemilia), Inderjit Kaur Bul (Adriana),
Miss Yvonne Stanley (wardrobe manager), Maureen Siebel (Luciana),
Punithavathy (courtesan), Chan May Chen (Nell, a kitchen maid)

Some Editorial Board members of the Seladang and the Victorian
L to R: Soo Suk Suet, Hamzah Majid, Leong Siew Mun, Mr Ganga Singh,
Mr G Fernandez, Josie Mei, Baljit Singh Sambhi.
Speech Day, 1956

VI Prefects Board 1957

Classmates with, in foreground, the wife and daughter of VI HM, Dr Lewis;
Background, from left: Letchumanan, Josie Mei, Maureen Siebel, Siew Mun,
Chooi Mun Sau, Jimmy Wong

Two of Siew Mun's favourite teachers

Annual Selangor Prefects Social at the VI Hall 1957
Siew Mun (centre) is seated with other VI prefects. Her sister, Siew Yue,
then a Form 5 St Mary's prefect, is standing directly behind her.

Siew Mun and Philip (1)

Siew Mun and Philip (2)

Siew Mun and son Ronald, in 1964 and 2020

She posed for a portrait by Victorian Benjamin Ong (VI 2000 - 2006)

Khoo Siew Mun (2012)

In her later years
Siew Mun attended V.I. Reunions in...