Remembering South Review magazine

After my MBA, I was jobless for a while. I was fortunate to get a research assistant job with my supervisor, Sieh Mei Ling. I also did other freelancing jobs, including designing websites, writing articles for local magazines, etc. My first real job was at SNN Sdn Bhd, which published a magazine called South Review. I was recruited by my MBA classmate Datuk Tengku Rethwan bin Tengku Mansor as CEo of the company. 

South Review was an independent international current affairs magazine published in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by SNN Sdn. Bhd. during the early 2000s. It was an offshoot of South ​magazine, a monthly magazine launched in 1980 ​published by ​South Publications Limited for the Third World Foundation in London, United Kingdom, that ceased publication in the 1990s.

The magazine focused on international political and economic issues from the perspective of industrialising and developing countries, covering topics including international trade, finance, technology, the environment, and global current affairs. Surviving library records indicate that the magazine was in publication by 2000 and continued through at least 2002.

Cover of Volume 1 Issue 3

South Review was established by SNN Sdn. Bhd. (Company No. T-328702) and operated from its registered office at: 

2nd Floor, No. 40, Persiaran 65C, Pekeliling Business Centre, Jalan Pahang Barat, 53000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The magazine was conceived as an independent publication offering perspectives from the Global South on international affairs. At a time when global news coverage was largely dominated by Western media organisations, South Review sought to provide analysis of political, economic, technological, and environmental issues affecting developing and industrialising nations.

The editorial staff included:

General Manager: Dr. Tengku Rethwan Mansor

Managing Editor: A. Sri. K. Nayayagam

Assistant Managing Editor: Fadlullah Wilmot

Contributing Editor: Farish A. Noor

Sub-Editor: Dilip S. Mutum

I remember the secretary's name was Siti. I can't recall her full name. 

Although South Review had a relatively short publication life, it represented one of a number of independent Malaysian periodicals that attempted to engage with international political and economic issues from a Global South perspective during the early twenty-first century. Because few issues have been digitised, surviving information about the magazine remains limited.