To think of winning a Pulitzer as a Malaysian girl, I might as well fly to the moon - Mei Fong

The only Malaysian-born journalist who had won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, may be flying high in her career that brings her all over the world, but she certainly could not picture herself working in the journalism and writing industry in Malaysia.

Fong Foong Mei who goes with the byline Mei Fong, said in Malaysia, the idea of writing for a living or making a living from writing is still not very popular.

“I think most Asean parents want their children to be doctors, lawyers or something more solid than that.

“If I can inspire some of these people who might consider a different career, I hope it helps,” she said in an interview with Astro AWANI.

When asked if the writer, who has recently gotten her American citizenship, would like to come back to Malaysia to pursue a career as she is considered as a lost talent to the country, she said that she doesn’t think Malaysia wants her back.

“It has been a long time. I still have a lot of ties here.

“But the situation with the press here is not such that I would consider myself able to really operate in the way that I was given a chance overseas,” she answered bluntly.

Fong did not mince her words when saying she would not have made it big as a Malaysian girl staying in Kuala Lumpur.

“I won the Pulitzer in 2007 as part of a group in Wall Street Journal and we won it for reporting the economic effects in China.

“I hope that people in Malaysia who are interested in Journalism would feel inspired and would want to find that there are ways that they can achieve something as important as the Pulitzer.

“I guess the Pulitzer is like the Oscars and it’s nice to feel that maybe that there is an inspiration.

“Certainly when I was growing up, I didn’t feel that I had any kind role models in that way. I felt very much out of reach as a Malaysian girl in Kuala Lumpur, to think of the Pulitzer, I might be flying to the moon,” she said.

The former Bukit Bintang Girls School student is in town to promote her forthcoming book, “One Child: The Past and Future of China’s Most Radical Experiment.”

Speaking about her book, which will be released as a hard cover book on Jan 5, 2016, she spoke about how it encompasses stories from people of all walks of life, some who benefited from China’s 35-year-old policy of limiting many couples to having just one child, while other who found that they have much to lose with its implementation.

Fong argued that despite the Chinese government’s announcement to revise the controversial policy and introduce a two child policy, her book is still relevant.

“The two child policy was part of what I have been saying. That this thing has to end because of the problems it caused.

“This thing has to end and when they made the announcement, I got a lot of calls from China media and the first question that they asked was ‘so how did you know they are going to make this announcement?’

“I knew roughly that this is going to happen. So this is a very. very good time for me. I couldn’t ask for a better timing than this.

“I welcome the fact that they are loosening up because it makes people in China happier, but at the same time, the rules are still there,” she said.

The Malaysian is among seven members of a Wall Street Journal team that won the 2007 Pulitzer international award for a series of reports on capitalism in China.

She is the youngest of five daughters of the late Fong Chee Yew, a deputy auditor-general in the Malaysian public service.

Married to an American-born Chinese, she returns several times a year to Malaysia to visit her family here.