hicks was also a frequent contributor to singaporean and regional press outlets. her frankly-written bi-monthly column in "the straits times", "the bonny hicks diary", in which she often discussed her childhood on sentosa island, further incited traditionalists' feelings that hicks was an improper role model for young, impressionable girls, whom traditionalists felt were being morally corrupted by hicks. yielding to public pressure, spurred initially by a letter writing campaign to the paper, the "times" pulled her column within a year. the paper's esteemed editor, richard lim, subsequently voiced regret over what he considered a politically motivated decision by the paper. pushing back as far as practicable, lim began running frequent "special" columns by hicks. having taken a mentoring interest in hicks' development as a writer since her first publication, lim was uniquely authoritative when he publicly noted the deepening of hicks' writings as she matured.