FEATURE A CAMBODIAN SURVIVOR’S STORY FROM THE 1970’S
BI-MONTHLY • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2011
FRONTILINE THE BBC’S MISHAL HUSAIN ON WHY SHE LOVES LIVE TV
IN REVIEW MARVIN FARKAS AND HIS AMAZING REEL LIFE STORY
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong 香港外國記者會
WELCOMING IN THE WABBIT THE CLUB GOES FESTIVE FOR LUNAR NEW YEAR
CC
FCC MAGAZINE
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2011 THE BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE PUBLISHED BY THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB, HONG KONG
cover KUNG HEI, KUNG HEI!
The Tiger is gone, the Rabbit is here and so this issue of The Correspondent looks back to the past and forward to the future. Kung Hei Fat Choi to all our readers. Wishing you all a safe, prosperous and very Happy New Year.
dear members
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A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
news
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LUNAR NEWS YEAR OPENING HOURS, SPECIAL MENUS & MUCH MORE
feature
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THE YEAR OF THE TIGER: THE FCC IN PICTURES
feature
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CAMBODIAN SURVIVOR’S STORY
wall
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NG KING SAN: HEAVEN
wall
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BASIL PAO: YI JING – BOOK OF CHANGES
media
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HARRY HARRISON’S DIRTY DOZEN
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FREE, OR NOT TO BE FREE?
in review
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AMAZING REEL LIFE STORY
press freedom
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Max Kolbe on wikileaks and Bob Davis on the old Blake Pier
club tie
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THE FEARED RED LIPS BRIGADE
frontline
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The BBC’s Mishal Husain talks TV plus another cartoon from Harry Harrison
In 1975, journalist Jim Laurie tried in vain to help Soc Sinan join the American helicopter evacuation of Cambodia. Here, Jim tells their very moving story.
Cartoonist Harry Harrison draws more than two thousand cartoons every year and most do not make it into print. Here are a selection of his favourite rejects. The arrival of the Internet spawned a depressing drumbeat of predictions that the end was nigh for print media. However two seasoned media figures told the FCC why that forecast is wrong. Jonathan Sharp was there Film maker and Club regular, 83-year-old Marvin Farkas has more stories than Dymocks. And at last he has had them published.
Cover: Harry Harrison
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2521 1511 Fax: (852) 2868 4092 Email: fcc@fcchk.org Website: www.fcchk.org
President: Anna Healy Fenton 1st Vice President: Stephen Vines 2nd Vice President: Francis Moriarty Correspondent Governors: Frederik Balfour, Keith Bradsher, Thomas Easton, Tara Joseph, Christopher Slaughter, Peter Stein, Stephen Vines, Neil Western Journalist Governors: Jake Van Der Kamp, David Lague Associate Governors: Andrew Paul Chworowsky, Thomas Crampton, Kevin Egan, Steve Ushiyama Goodwill Ambassadors: Clare Hollingworth, Anthony Lawrence General Manager: Gilbert Cheng The Correspondent © The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong The Correspondent is published six times a year. Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the Club. Publications Committee Convener: Neil Western Editor: Richard Cook Produced by WordAsia Limited, Tel: 2805 1422, Email: fcc@wordasia.com www.wordasia.com
Feature
From the Club President Dear Members, Once again the FCC kitchens produced spectacular takeaway turkeys, hams, puddings and pies and made light work of Christmas for many grateful members. But the hazards for a turkey in Hong Kong don’t end on leaving the Club in a white box. Having survived the ferry to Mui Wo (making fellow passengers drool with the delicious smell) and then the 15-minute ride home in a bike basket, short work was made of the still-hot roast ham on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, the raw FCC turkey was wearing an impressive coat of bacon rashers, waiting to be swathed in silver foil before going in the oven. Presents were being unwrapped nearby. Suddenly someone noticed the turkey was now naked, denuded of every shred of bacon. �e bird was otherwise untouched. But there wasn’t a rasher in sight. Dogs were innocently asleep, children denied all knowledge. �e turkey was redressed and stuffed in the oven before the phantom rasher rustler could strike again. It was time to collect long-time FCC member Arthur Hacker, who together with his helper Marianita caught the gaido from Discovery Bay to Mui Wo. Marianita then valiantly pedalled to the Pres Res on a stylish taxi-tricycle, with Arthur seated rather regally behind. Once there, Arthur sat �rmly on the sofa and scoffed prodigious amounts of turkey, ham and perhaps a few too many cherry liqueur chocolates. A merry time was had by the other FCC members present, who included Diane Stormont, Tim Huxley and Jonathan Sharp. Still unsolved was the mystery of the vanishing rashers. Dog dinner time came and they lined up. All except Dog Xiao Ping, who is usually the greediest. �e wily old sharpei wasn’t even tempted by turkey scraps, in fact just one whiff sent him bar�ng into the 2
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garden. For two days he was, well, sick as a dog. Culprit found. But I’d still like to know how he silently �lched, and consumed, a pound of bacon off the turkey a metre off the ground, in a room full of people without anyone noticing. Between Chirstmas and New Year come those dog days – sorry, dogs again – when no-one feels like doing much except moaning about over-indulgence. It seemed a good time to head to Sichuan province in search of pandas. A two-hour drive took us, myself and Kayee, 10, to the Panda Base, where 90-plus pandas inhabit spacious enclosures. Many are earthquake refugees from the Wolong panda place and still more are the offspring of pandas presented to overseas zoos by the Chinese government, on condition that their babies are given back. “Childen of China should return to the motherland,” explained the guide. Placards with big-name overseas sponsors were everywhere. �is is an impressive operation, scienti�cally run, and visitors even don blue surgical suits to protect junior pandas (see picture). But there was an uneasy feeling about the place. Approaching the panda park, the car passed two shivering giraffes, then some miserable zebras. While strolling
around the panda base, which covers several hectares of small steep forested hills, snarls and throaty growls could be heard very close at hand. Young pandas live together amicably until the age of three, then they become aggressive and need solitude. Was this roaring the sound of beefy young bears squaring up for a squabble? “No,” replied the guide. “�at’s the tigers.” Tigers? In a panda sanctuary? “In the zoo,” she added, and pointed through the bushes to the source of the increasingly ferocious roars, now accompanied by human shrieks. It seemed incongruous; China’s little treasures bunked up next to the tigers. �e guide explained that the complex was sponsored by the local municipality as a tourist area. Ka-yee wanted to see the tigers, but discretion seemed the better part of valour. Suppressing journalistic curiosity and with my camera twitching, we trudged back to the gate. As we arrived, a group of excited Chinese visitors, each clutching a live chicken, got out of a panda base golf carts and headed towards the roars. It had been a good call to skip the tigers. Back home and time for some renovation, this time the Club ladies’ toilets. �e hall of mirrors and novelty basins have been replaced by two deep sinks and some space. Also, new ceiling glass has been installed in the Hughes Room and experiments are ongoing with a speaker under the TV in lawyers’ corner of the Main Bar. Not much else to report just now, it’s a fairly quiet time as Lunar New Year approaches. All that remains is to wish the very best to our brace of FCC newly-weds: Adrian Bell and new bride Jo-Jo, and Kingsley Smith and his new wife. Happy Year of the Rabbit. Anna Healy Fenton Club President
Club News
Club Letters Christmas Cheers I’ve been promising to do this for eight of the past 10 years and today I am finally bringing that promise to fruition. At almost exactly the same time on pretty much the same date on each of those eight years, I have found myself ensconced in the Main Bar, the recipient of perhaps a little-known and, certainly in my case, unreasonably unsung aspect of the membership benefits. At the aforementioned time, a discreetly whispered “it’s ready whenever you are” announces the arrival of the Christmas turkey that has become an indispensable element of my family’s celebrations. And on each of those instances, the bird has been delivered exactly at the appointed time, packed with exactly the right trimmings, impeccably packaged for the arduous ferry ride home. Upon arrival, it has without failure or exception been the most perfectly-prepared, tender and delicious centrepiece of the Christmas fare. No matter if the carving takes 10 minutes or - as it did one year - 45; no matter if the box is open and the bird cut within 30 minutes of arrival or two hours; irrespective of delays awaiting guests lost en route - it’s always, without fail, been absolutely perfect. So - with due apology for its tardiness - please publish if you would this long overdue tribute to George and his team for the wonderful little piece of Christmas magic they have produced each time. It’s greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Graham Barkus Member 8714
Club Speaker Events The Club’s speaker podium remained busy at the start of 2011. On January 3rd, Norman Pearlstine, Chief Content Officer for Bloomberg, spoke on “The U.S. Political Scene and Its Implications for Asia 2011 and beyond”. On 18th January, author and analyst on Sino-US relations, Peter G de Krassel, gave an absorbing address entitled “Feasting Dragon, Starving Eagle” while on January 24th, Jing Ulrich, from J.P. Morgan spoke about “China in 2011:Cultivating Sustainable Growth”. Upcoming events in February include censored mainland author, Murong Xuecun, on February 22nd and Artem Volynets talking on February 23rd about Sino-Russian energy issues.
THE CORRESPONDENT
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Club News
Valentine’s Dinner Main Dining Room
Monday February 14
SUPER BOWL XLV, AT THE FCC The FCC will be showing the Super Bowl live in the Main Bar on Monday, February 7. A buffet breakfast will be available from 6:30 am and the bar will be open to serve pitchers of Bloody Mary and any other drinks you request. The charge is $125 for Members and $140 for Guests. Image: NFL/WireImage.com
Menu A Glass of Pink Champagne * Fine de Claire & Irish Rock Oysters, with Sliced Scottish Smoked Salmon, on Seaweed & Ponzu Dressing * Baked Silky Chicken Consommé with Heart-shaped Vegetables and Diced Foie Gras in Puff Pastry * Pan-seared Beef Tenderloin with Cepe Jus and Giant South China Sea King Prawn with Basil Beurre Blanc * A Romantic & Delicate Passion fruit Soufflé * Coffee or Gourmet Tea and Chocolate Delight per couple
$988
To book, call 2523 7734 or email concierge@fcc.org
New Zealand Wine Dinner Thursday February 24, 7PM Cocktails / 7:30PM Dinner $398 per person
Welcome Drink Villa Maria Private Bin East Coast Gewurtraminer 2009 Menu Albacore Tuna & Oreo Dory Tartar with Ribbon Cucumber & Daikon Salad, Sweet & Sour Dressing and Peanut Scatters Villa Maria Private Bin East Coast Chardonnay 2010 * Chestnut and Truffled Potato Ravioli with Sgreds of Duck Leg Confit Villa Maria Cellar Selection Marlborough Pinot Noir 2009 * Porcini-seasoned Lamb Rack & Loin, Wild Mushrooms, Peas and Kumera Chips Villa Maria Reserve Hawkes Bay Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2008 * Berries & Green & Golden Kiwi Fruit Parfait with Meringue Villa Maria Cellar Selection Hawkes Bay Syrah 2006 Speaker: * Ms Charlotte Read Coffee or Tea Petit Fours
Villa Maria
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Kung Hei Fat Choi! THE FCC WISHES ALL ITS MEMBERS A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND WEALTHY YEAR OF THE RABBIT!
LUNAR NEW YEAR OPENING
On Wednesday 2nd of February (the day preceding Chinese New Year), the Club will close at 3PM - with last orders at 2.30 PM. From 3rd of February, (New Year’s Day) until Sunday 6th of February (the 4th day of the Lunar New Year), only the Main Bar will be open, from noon until 11PM, as well as the workroom (from noon until 10PM) and the Health Club (from noon until 7PM). On Monday 7th February, the Club reverts back to normal opening hours
LUNAR NEW YEAR MENUS The FCC Chinese Restaurant serves traditional Cantonese cuisine as well as regional dishes. To celebrate the month of Chinese New Year, special menus have been created. Join us to see in the Year of the Rabbit in true FCC style.
JANUARY 28, 31 and FEBRUARY 1 Chinese Year-End Set Menus * FEBRUARY 7-17 Chinese New Year Specialties * FEBRUARY 7-17 Spring Set Menus Please reserve with the FCC restaurant at (tel) 25237734 (fax) 2868THE 4092 or CORRESPONDENT (email) concierge@fcchk.org
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Club News
FCC golfers close out the year hot and cold December found the FCC Golf Society both hot and cold. The hot was thirty degrees in Pattaya, Thailand and the cold was seven degrees in Hong Kong at the North course of Kau Sai Chau. In Pattaya, we played in a tournament of sixty golfers over three days at the Siam Country Club. It’s a magnificent 27 hole club and home to the Honda LPGA. Since it was a competition course, the fairways were long, the undulating greens were slick and water hazards seemed to be everywhere. Sabrina Wong placed 3rd among the ladies for our best showing. She used her cruise missile drives to get down the fairways and guided 20 foot putts over the potato chip greens with shrieks and screams to get the ball in the hole. It was an enjoyable tournament and a great getaway. Back in Hong Kong, while the television crews were out filming frost in the weeds, we began our Texas scramble team competition on the North course at Kau Sai Chau. The lady’s team (pictured) won the friendly competition by one stroke hitting long drives and draining clutch putts. Afterward, we all drained some hot toddies, packed up our ear muffs and closed out the year.
Winners Ladies: Alice Au, Sabrina Wong, Jenny Ching and Beryl Hung (left to right). We will play the third Friday of every month in 2011. The new FCC golf society golf shirts are in and free for all members of the society. To join the fun – of golf, drinks, lunch and prizes contact russjulseth@netvigator.com
Happy Birthday to Saul
Honorary FCCer Saul Lockhart, The Correspondents’ former editor and former Second Vice President, turned 70 on the last day of October, 2010, which was as good excuse as any for a gaggle of FCC-ers to meet in his suburban Sydney home, gather around the barbie and reminisce about times gone by. Enjoying the conviviality were old FCC hands, David (former Second VP) and Siew Bell, Martin Pollard, Paul and Ruth Niemcyzk, Peter and Trish Carton, Richard and Bronwyn Beere and Ashley Ford, who flew in from Vancouver for the occasion. Pictured are Asher, Alison, Saul and Léna Lockhart posing for posterity on the occasion of the old man’s 70th birthday. Trebles all round! Photo: Peter Carton
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THE CORRESPONDENT
What’s on Membership Our regular column dedicated to the comings and goings of members. It is for you and about you. So just had a baby? Got married? Should you wish your fellow members to know about changes in your life simply email marketing@fcchk.org.
Hatched – An extremely warm welcome to these new members: Correspondents:
Sebastien Berger, AFP; Eric Bernaudeau, AFP; Matthew Brooker, Bloomberg; Cheng Wing-Gar, Bloomberg; Leisha Chi Ping, Bloomberg; Pauline Chiou, CNN International; John Dawson, Bloomberg Television, Maria De Acosta Noya, The Wall Street Journal Asia; Rachel Evans, Euroweek Asia; Alexander Frangos, The Wall Street Journal; Robert Fraser, Thomson Reuters; Gu Wei, Thomson Reuters; Arun Mahtani, Thomson Reuters; Lucie McNulty, PAM Insight; Brian Rhoads, Reuters; Alison Tudor-Ackroyd, The Wall Street Journal; and Paul Tyson, Bloomberg.
Journalists:
Alexander Lo, South China Morning Post.
Associates:
Colin Boothman, Gleeds; Jose Maria D’Almada Remedios, Parkside Chambers; Brian De Souza, the Judiciary; Timothy Ferguson, OgilvyOne; Glenn Henricksen, Purearth; Frederick Ng Kar-Yin, CBID; Dinesh Nihalchand, KUSH; Benjamin Pedley, HSBC; Mark Taylor, Avon Capital; Carl Tong Ka-Wing, eSun; and Vanessa Wall Nomura.
Welcome back, absent members who have reactivated their membership: Journalists:
Sarah Monks, Renate Boerner, Mike Burrell, Ida Chow Mung-Har, Peter Henricks, Frank Kasala, Keith Keown, Simon Kwan, Man Sai-Min, Euan McKirdy, Tammy Mok Kwan and Philip Stubbings.
A fond farewell to members leaving Hong Kong: Associate Philip Sheats, CDMI Asia Limited. Also resigning:
Nicolo Bellotto, Chiomenti Studio Legale; Ralf Caspary, Bayerische Landesbank; Eric Kan Shiu-Kay, Oasis Management Services; Kishin Lalwani, Elkay International; Nathan Manning, the Financial Times, Caroline Mezan de Malartic, LVMH Asia Pacific and Joanna Tan Wai-Yee, Herbert Smith.
Bon voyage to those also leaving but who wisely became Absent Members: Correspondents:
Elana Beiser, The Wall Street Journal Online; Donald Durfee, Reuters News; Richard Jones, Sinopix Photo Agency; Mary Kissel, Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal; and last but not least, former Club President, Tom Mitchell, The Financial Times.
Associates:
Au Chee-Ming; Mark Bennett, Standard Life Investments; Gerald Clarke, Zhuhai Orbita; Joshua Goldman; Dickie Ho Sik-Por, Jackel Porter; Kenneth Lee Shu-Fa, BNP Paribas Private Bank; and Paul McConomy, CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management.
Other Changes:
Congratulations to Correspondents Jo McBride, Editor & Publisher of Asia Agenda International and Nancy Nash, a Freelance Correspondent; and Associates Arun Nigam and Manohar Ahuja, Proprietor of Vinamito Trading House on attaining Silver Membership. Congratulations also to Edith Lederer of Associated Press to whom the board has granted Honorary Correspondent Membership. As she is now working as a Journalist/Broadcaster with BBC News, Annemarie Evans has changed membership status from Journalist to Correspondent.
THE CORRESPONDENT
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Club News
Want to break into �lms? Local film maker, APV Hong Kong, is looking for interns to help work on the exciting National Geographic/RTHK documentary project, “Inside: The HK Rugby Sevens”. The film will be a one-hour, behind-the-scenes look at the making of Hong Kong’s wildest sporting event and will follow a mix of characters who help make the event run smoothly. Players, coaches, doctors, referees, organizers, commentators, volunteers and fans will be features, and, through the drama of their individual stories, the film will build a picture of what makes the Sevens tick. The film is part of the HK to the World documentary production initiative that is co-funded by CreateHK of the HKSAR Government, and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and, in total, hour hour-long documentaries will be made. As well as “Inside: The HK Rugby Sevens” will be: “Siu Mei Kung Fu”, an examination of the marriage of traditional Chinese food and martial arts; “Cancer and the City”, that looks at the struggle of a cancer patient trying to survive within the pollution of urban Hong Kong; and “Falling Through The Ropes”, the story of how the Police Boxing Club works to better the lives of Hong Kong’s young innercity tough guys. Anyone who is interested on working on “Inside: The HK Rugby Sevens” should be 18 years or older and have a strong interest in factual filmmaking. Responsibilities will include: assisting camera crews, ingesting footage from camera memory cards to computers, maintaining shot lists, manning walkie talkies, running errands for producers and more. Daily working hours will be quite long and demanding. Production dates will be 19 - 27 March, 2010, inclusive. Seasoned documentary maker Mark Erder will be Executive Producer, Alex Wilson will be Director and Maggie Choy and the FCC’s own Chris Slaughter will be producing. If you are interested, send your CV, with a tip-top cover letter to info@apv.asia.
In Memoriam It is with great soffow that The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong has received the sad news of the sudden and untimely passing of Mr Hiranand Pokardas Mahboobani (1923 - 2011) The Club offers its deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and associates.
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THE CORRESPONDENT
Love is in the Bar Who said romance is dead? Two FCC couples have tied the know in recent weeks. Kingsley Smith and bride Dina got married on Kingsley’s birthday, December15 at City Hall. A small party followed at the FCC, with a bigger bash at Delaney’s in Wanchai three days later. Over the water on sunny south Lantau Adrian Bell and bride Joselyn (Jo-Jo) had a civil ceremony and party at Palm Beach, Cheung Sha on New Year’s Day.. Best man was Simon Westbrooke, while civil celebrant Geoff Booth did the honours, with Mike Foggo and Will and the Giles clam in close attendance. A celebration and blessing was held at the Westin Resort on Coloane, Macau, on Saturday January 15, with a strong turnout from the Wyndham Street corner of the Main Bar.
What’s on
Reciprocal Clubs
Puerto Galera Club, Mindoro Island, the Philippines The Puerto Galera Yacht Club, a world away from the gridlocked chaos of Manila, is a friendly, informal club popular with sailors and a colourful cast of other characters, writes Robin Lynam. The FCC’s reciprocal club list is a mixed bag. Very properly we have affiliations with regional and international press clubs and associations – whether or not they have clubhouse premises – but we also have links with an eclectic range of other special interest clubs with which members have for one reason or another formed a bond. One such is the Puerto Galera Yacht Club, located at Puerto Galera on the northeast coast of the Philippines’ Mindoro Island. It is a scenic spot, with its own natural typhoon shelter, and the club is a popular facility with sailors and a colourful cast of other characters who live in or visit the area for business or pleasure. The club’s links to the FCC date back to the late 1990s and the inaugural event held by the mothballed - but still revivable - FCC Jazz Society. The first FCC organised Jazz Festival was held not in the Hong Kong club but at various locations in Puerto Galera. Organised by Allen Youngblood and Terry Duckham it involved a diverse group of members travelling down with several of the regular Bert’s musicians, including Larry Hammond, Guy Le Claire, and Paul Candelaria. Several performances were held at different locations, one of which was the Puerto Galera Yacht Club. Preparations took some time, and a few months previously a few of us had gone down to Puerto Galera with a party led by Duckham – who has a home there – to check the place out. It quickly became apparent that the Puerto Galera Yacht Club – which has its share of journalist members – was the place to be if you wanted to find out what was going on in the area, or to meet anybody who was anybody living there or passing through. As well as being the convenor of the Jazz Society I was at the time serving on the board, and on return suggested that we arrange a reciprocal arrangement before the festival. It has continued since to mutual advantage. The Philippines is not at the moment a favoured destination for many Hong Kong residents, but the bar of the Puerto Galera Yacht Club is a world away from Manila’s gridlocked chaos. It’s something of a production getting there, involving a long road journey and transfers by outrigger boat from Batangas, but Western Nautical Hwy it is worth it once you get there. Puerto Galera itself is one of the Philippines’ most attractive beach resorts. Like most serious sailing clubs, the Puerto Galera Yacht Club is an ideal place for a cold beer, and come sundown it has the best bar in town for meeting people. Friendly and informal it is also hard to beat as a place to hang out and relax earlier in the day, unless you are a yachtie and keen to get out on the water, in The Puerto Galera Yacht Club, which case every effort will be made to find you a crew to join. PO Box 30450 Sto Nino, Puerto Galera, The food is a good mix of local and simple international fare, Or. Mindoro, Philippines. and outstandingly good value. Social events include barbecues, Tel: 63-(0)-434420136 and quiz and movie nights at which visitors from the FCC Email: info@pgyc.org are welcome. Website: www.pgyc.org
THE CORRESPONDENT
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In Review
The Year of the Tiger: The FCC in Pictures
Speakers:
A wide variety of topics were tackled at the Club in the Year of the Tiger including (clockwise, from top left): Paul French on Fat China: Michael Palin on travel; Christina Chan on angry youth; Nancy Kwan on being Suzie Wong; Peter Mandelson on New Labour and Myrna Reblondo on press freedom in the Philippines.
Music: The regular music in Bert’s Bar was complemented in 2010 by the Jazz Festival in July (left) and the FCC ball in October (above). 10
THE CORRESPONDENT
In Review
Clubbing Together:
The FCC enjoyed another busy year: board elections were held in May; Clare Hollingworth celebrated her 99th birthday in October; departing President Tom Mitchell was replaced by Anna Healy and we all continued to eat well, , Fenton in November; courtesy of the Club’s skilled and hard-working kitchen teams.
The Van Es Wall:
Highlights included: a retrospective for Hugh Van Es, curated by his old buddy, Kees Metselaar (centre); Asian wildlife by Patrick Brown (left) and youth photography workshop exhibits from Haiti.
THE CORRESPONDENT
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Cover Story
Cambodian survivor’s story In the early 1970’s Jim Laurie worked as a journalist and covered Cambodia for NBC News. He left Phnom Penh with the American Embassy helicopter evacuation in April 1975 but his close friend, Soc Sinan, did not make it onto the fast-departing American choppers, and bravely endured four brutal years under Khmer Rouge rule. Many years later Jim helped Sinan leave Cambodia and eventually she settled in the USA. And in December, she died of liver cancer. Here, Jim tells their story.
O
n December 9th, 2010 a friend, to whom I wish I had been a better one, ended her �nal struggle for survival. Soc Sinan, age 62, succumbed to liver cancer complicated by hepatitis C, contracted years ago in Southeast Asia. Her story is as remarkable as any in the wider war that was Cambodia. She was a survivor of Pol Pot’s killing �elds (1975-1979). Soc Sinan was an employee of Sonatrac, a Cambodian-French agricultural �rm, when I �rst met her in the summer of 1970. Before work one morning, Sinan walked from her office to the third �oor café in the bank building near the Phnom Penh central post office where the daily military brie�ng was held. I ordered a café au lait, noticed her seated quietly in the back, clearly a newcomer to these proceedings. I took a seat nearby. I scribbled my notes, faithfully reproducing the official reports from the war front delivered by the Khmer Republic’s military spokesman, the aptly named Colonel Am Rong and his English speaking attaché, Lieutenant Chhang Song. Sinan sat taking it all in: the clutter of shabby newsmen and women; the attempts to put the best face on Cambodia’s already shaky military situation; the new condition only �ve months after the overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk; the extension of the Vietnam War to Cambodia. When the brie�ng ended, I introduced myself. Sinan was an exquisite, intelligent, engaging woman, with whom in the months and years ahead, I would 12
THE CORRESPONDENT
develop the kind of never-to-be-forgotten relationship that only war and the passions of youth can provide. We saw each other off and on until 1975. We both became involved with other partners. And yet … We met each other again in February 1975. She was engaged to be married to an American Army colonel, a former defence attaché in the Embassy. For reasons too complex to recall, she failed to join him and remained behind in Phnom Penh as the Khmer Rouge moved toward completion of their inevitable capture of the country. On April 5th, I made a promise: to get Sinan out of Cambodia come what may. I wrote in my diary: “She says she will leave Cambodia, but wants to stay through the Khmer New Year, Chaul Chnam �me, which begins in twelve days time.” Chaul Chnam �me would be celebrated in Cambodia that year only by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge. On April 11th, the American Embassy issued its last morning progress report on the war with “the defence perimeter steadily shrinking.” In the early hours of the next day, word came that I must leave Phnom Penh. US Marine helicopters swooped into a school yard behind the American Embassy and launched a hasty evacuation which included the American television networks and their reporters. I raced to Sinan’s apartment on Boulevard Monivong at six in the morning. She must join the American helicopter evacuation to Bangkok. Her papers were in order: a visa for America, up-to-date.
Cover Story
Khmer Rouge ďŹ ghters (above) and teen soldiers (below) enter Phnom Penh on 17th April, 1975, the day the country fell under Khmer Rouge control after a three and a half-month siege of the capital city. (Images: AFP)
THE CORRESPONDENT
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Cover Story
Left: Soc Sinan, the author Jim Laurie, and the Cambodian Foreign Minister Hun Sen, December 1979. Below: Jim Laurie leaves a helicopter that is part of the US evacuation of Cambodia on April 12th, 1975.
I RACED TO SINAN’S APARTMENT ON BOULEVARD MONIVONG AT SIX IN THE MORNING. SHE MUST JOIN THE AMERICAN HELICOPTER EVACUATION TO BANGKOK... YET SINAN WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND... IN DESPERATION I LEFT A NOTE. “GET OUT,” I WROTE, “ANYWAY YOU CAN.”
An onward ticket to Paris and Washington was con�rmed. Yet Sinan was nowhere to be found. [I found out later she had spent the night at the home of a girl friend, who, fearing the sporadic mortar and rocket �re around the city, sought companionship. �e next morning, only a few blocks away, they watched the helicopters leave.] In desperation, I left behind a note and a business card with my address in Hong Kong. “Get out,” I wrote, advising the obvious, “anyway you can. Join me in �ailand or Hong Kong.” I left, to my everlasting regret, without her. Sinan never fully told the story of her cunning, bravery, endurance and survival in the days, months and years that followed. �e American colonel in Washington assumed her dead. He waited and then married another woman. I too believed survival was not possible. Educated city people did not survive in Pol Pot’s Kampuchea. I dreamt she had worked herself to death in the 14
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communal paddy �elds. In late September 1979, I received a letter at my old NBC office in Hong Kong, forwarded by an employee of an international relief agency in Singapore. Dated August 17th, it began: “It is four years and four months since April 17th 1975.” I could not believe it. It was from Sinan. �e two-page, handwritten, almost dispassionate, letter chronicled in a minimalist way her suffering under the Khmer Rouge. It said she was living in Kandal Province about thirty miles from Phnom Penh (now under Vietnamese control). She taught English there, helping survivors recover; helping provide kids, who had had little under Pol Pot’s regime, some education. Sinan wrote simply: “I would need some help from you: could you please �nd a good way to take me out of this situation.” She had signed her letter “your remote friend, Sinan.” Sinan had survived. Now, as �ve years earlier, I
Cover Story
Cambodian people leave Phnom Penh after Khmer Rouge forces took control of the Cambodian capital and then forcibly emptied it of nearly all of its inhabitants. During the Khmer Rouge’s brutal four-year rule perhaps as many as 2 million Cambodians – or one in five – died from starvation, disease, overwork, and execution. (Image: AFP)
became obsessed with my promise to get her out. I returned to Phnom Penh in November 1979. With much negotiation, a lot of help from friends, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and the then Foreign Minister, now Prime Minister, Hun Sen, the promise was kept. Hun Sen signed travel documents. I arranged passage on a returning relief �ight to Singapore. A front page item appeared in the Singapore Straits Times, January 9, 1980, under the headline: “How Khmer Woman escaped to Singapore …with TV Newsman’s help.” �e article did not explain how after we had been �own to Singapore on a �ight chartered by Oxfam, Singapore officials threatened to send Sinan back to Cambodia and arrest me for abetting an illegal entry. Singapore in those days continued to recognize the ousted Pol Pot regime. From Singapore, Sinan travelled to Washington where she struggled to build a new life for herself. We drifted apart in the late 1980’s. Much to my regret, I was not able to maintain a close friendship.
She had once again become very much a “remote friend”. Yet she remained, all the same, the most unforgettable person in my life. Sinan’s survival story was like none other I had heard from among the many accounts of the ghastly Khmer Rouge era. �e period with its tortures and its nearly two million deaths from starvation, disease and execution is being revisited now at the United Nationssponsored War Crimes Trials in Phnom Penh. Sinan was the only survivor, I know, who managed to remain in Phnom Penh well beyond the Khmer Rouge forced evacuation carried out between April 17 and April 20, 1975. Within three days, at gunpoint the city was reduced in size from two million to about 25,000. Sinan was still there on April 27th… darting from house to house… eluding Khmer Rouge capture. When she was �nally found, she was taken by truck to the District of Saang on the Bassac River in Kandal, an hour’s drive from the capital. She disguised her identity, her knowledge of THE CORRESPONDENT
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Cover Story
Soc Sinan as she leave Cambodia on the Oxfam relief plane that took her from Phnom Penh to Singapore on January 8th, 1980.
SINAN KEPT HER SECRETS WITH GREAT BRAVERY. EVERY NIGHT, THERE WERE INTERROGATIONS. PEOPLE WERE DRAGGED AWAY FROM THE COMMUNE, TAKEN ACROSS THE BASSAC AND PUT TO DEATH. SINAN COULD HEAR THE SOUNDS. IN 2003, I TOOK A BOAT OUT TO THE ISLAND IN THE RIVER NEAR KHUM TROYSLA WHICH HAD BEEN THE KILLING FIELD. A SHRINE OF SKELETONS AND SKULLS STOOD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ISLAND IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO HAD PERISHED. 16
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French and English, her friendship with Americans, her engagement to a US Army colonel, and her birth as the daughter of a general under Prince Sihanouk. She managed to bury deep in a hole on her commune a passport, a visa for America, her air ticket, a crumpled business card and note from a young TV reporter from America. �ere was of course an element of luck. She was befriended by an older couple in the commune. She was made to work as a prisoner working in the communal kitchens, but was spared the paddy �elds. She managed to get enough to eat. Sinan kept her secrets with great bravery. Every night, there were interrogations. People were dragged away from the commune, taken across the Bassac and put to death. Sinan could hear the sounds. In 2003, I took a boat out to the island in the river near Khum Troysla which had been the killing �eld. A shrine of skeletons and skulls stood in the middle of the island in memory of those who had perished. For the last 25 years, Sinan lived with her partner Walter in a modest but comfortable home in the Washington suburbs. She gave her new life to serving others. She met often with the local Khmer community – swollen by fellow survivors and other Khmer refugees who had been spared the horrors. She led a simple life. No frills. Wherever she went, Sinan brought compassion and help to those around her. She helped older Khmers receive medical assistance at Georgetown University Medical Center. She helped �nd jobs for their children. She served as a paralegal and a translator for refugee families. She counselled them. Befriended them. Encouraged them. Sinan provided to others what she had lost in 1975 – the support of lost family and friends. As she endured her �nal struggle, 30 years after the Khmer Rouge, and four months after being diagnosed with cancer, Soc Sinan exempli�ed the best of Cambodia - Khmer courage, honour, kindness, and decency – representative of those who suffered one of history’s greatest periods of genocide.
Jim Laurie covered Cambodia for NBC News in the early 1970’s. He left Phnom Penh with the American Embassy helicopter evacuation on April 12, 1975. He returned to Cambodia in April and again in November 1979, in the wake of the Vietnamese overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime. His 1980 documentary for ABC News ‘�is Shattered Land’ chronicled the period and the widespread famine of 1979-1980.
Cover Story
Cambodian people on the road after the Khmer Rouge took control of Phnom Penh. Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch was found guilty of crimes against humanity in June 2010, by Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes tribunal, after admitting overseeing the torture and execution of thousands of men, women and children at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison. Other Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trial are “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, the minister of social affairs. The group’s top leader, “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, died in 1998. (Image: AFP)
FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS, SINAN LIVED WITH HER PARTNER WALTER IN A MODEST BUT COMFORTABLE HOME IN THE WASHINGTON SUBURBS. SHE GAVE HER NEW LIFE TO SERVING OTHERS. SHE MET OFTEN WITH THE LOCAL KHMER COMMUNITY – SWOLLEN BY FELLOW SURVIVORS AND OTHER KHMER REFUGEES WHO HAD BEEN SPARED THE HORRORS. SHE LED A SIMPLE LIFE. NO FRILLS. WHEREVER SHE WENT, SINAN BROUGHT COMPASSION AND HELP TO THOSE AROUND HER.
The Cambodian war trials The long and painful process meant to hold accountable top officials of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime continues in Phnom Penh under the troubled and financially strapped United Nations-backed genocide tribunal. Four ageing members of the Khmer Rouge regime including its chief ideologue, its head of state, its foreign minister and his wife are scheduled to go on trial in 2011. An estimated 1.7 million people perished in Cambodia between April 17, 1975, and January 7, 1979, as the result of starvation, disease, overwork, or execution. More than four million people survived near-concentration camp conditions in the country.
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The Wall
Ng King San: Heaven Photographer Ng King San’s hauntingly beautiful black-and-white still life portraits, all of Shing Mun Reservoir in the New Territories, hung in the Club’s Wall Gallery in December. The exhibition was entitled “Heaven”, and, writes the photographer: “Most cosmopolitan inhabitants... coexist with feelings of helplessness and confusion. At times, we need to slow down... and let our thoughts subside. We then can realize there is no need to search for human serenity... it is all around us already. When creating these pieces, I noticed how the external elements and internal images within my heart had intermingled and it was at this moment, that I found my internal heaven.”
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Above: Shing Mun 5 Below: Shing Mun 6 Opposite: Shing Mun 2
Shing Mun 1
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The Wall
Basil Pao: Yi Jing – Book of Changes “Ever since I was introduced to the Yi Jing more than 30 years ago I have wrestled with the problem of how to visualize the concepts contained within the hexagrams. It was only recently when editing a personal project I had entitled “The Great Walls of China” that I realized I’d accidentally chanced upon the solution. The series centered on images of weathered walls I’d photographed across China, and became my homage to Abstract Expressionist paintings. The images fit both conceptually – by showing the changes wrought by time and impact of natural forces like wind and rain on the most basic of human structures – and visually as the walls’ resemblance to abstract paintings opens up for the viewer the possibility of the same kind of multi-layered interpretations as offered by the text in the Book of Changes.” Basil Pao, Hong Kong - December 2010.
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The Wall
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The Wall
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The Wall
Top Left: Zhen | Arousing Thunder [Shock] Top Right: Heng | Perseverance [Endurance] Left: Fu | Return [The Turning Point] Opposite: Wei Ji | Before Completion Previous page 22: Left: Qian | Creative Previous page 22: Right: Kun | Receptive Previous page 23: Tai | Peace
The Great Wall of China Series by Basil Pao. Accompanied with Basil Pao’s new interpretation of Yi Jing: 160-page [Hardcover] sized 234 x 354 mm. Book in English.
THE CORRESPONDENT
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Media
Harry Harrison’s Dirty Dozen This magazine is very fortunate to enjoy Harry Harrison’s wickedly wonderful pen. Harry has supplied excellent Correspondent covers for two years now and he contributes illustrations for features on the inside pages as well as drawing a regular cartoon sideswipe at Club life, with his Zoo Night cartoon. But this, of course, is not his day job. Harry produces the daily cartoon for the South China Morning Post while also drawing for publications all over the world. Here we reproduce some of Harry’s cartoons that didn’t make it onto the page during 2010. They are a mixture. Some got shunted for something considered more newsworthy and others may have been just a tad too close to the bone for mainstream Hong Kong. Harry reckons for the SCMP he has to submit an average of five drawing ideas a night and says he never really knows why some are picked over others. In all, he submitted more than 2,000 news cartoon “roughs” to the SCMP over 2010. When he looked back at the end of the year, he said 149 of the “rejects” still made him chuckle. And these are his favourite twelve.
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Media
Facing Page: March - China leases a port from its close neighbour. This Page, Above: October - During the PRC’s annual CCPPC Plenum, Chile rescues its trapped miners. Left: December - The Dear Leader makes a comeback as everyone’s favourite bogeyman at the same time as the re-emergence of the Bowen Road dog poisoner. Below: October - Halloween.
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Media
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Media
Facing Page, Left and Right: December - Beijing comes up with its own peace prize. Middle Left: August HKU develops a prediction method for Alzheimer’s, but still no cure; Right: April - China declares a National Day of Mourning for Tibetan earthquake victim; Bottom Left: March - Hong Kong’s chattering classes worry about a proposed ESF fee hike; Right: January - Police try to work out how to detect drugged drivers. This Page, Above: September - Following the disaster in Manila, Philippines decide that its special forces are due for an overhaul; Below: November - Clergyman Thomas Law likens Li Ka Shing to “Satan”.
THE CORRESPONDENT
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Media
Free, Or Not To Be Free? The arrival of the Internet spawned a depressing drumbeat of predictions that the end was nigh for print media. However two seasoned figures in the media industry told the FCC why that forecast, like so many, is far from the truth. Jonathan Sharp reports.
S
eparate well-attended lunches welcomed speakers Gordon Crovitz, familiar to many FCC members as former editor of the Far Easter Economic Review, and John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief of the Economist since 2006. While they had different perspectives towards the question of how the traditional media can survive and even �ourish in the digital era, they shared a generally positive outlook about the industry’s future. Crovitz, whose audience included his immediate predecessor in the Review editorial chair, Philip Bowring, and several other Review alumni, is co-founder of Journalism Online, a New Yorkbased company that pitches its Press+ technology as the answer to print media publishers who are casting nervously around for a pro�table business model in a scarily shifting environment. His presentation was titled Can Journalism Make Money on the Web? and clearly his answer is yes. How? Welcome to “freemium”, an unlovely name for a strategy formulated by Press+ that Crovitz says old-fashioned press barons will come to love in a world where advertising, the long-time revenue crutch for journalism, is fast 30
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“SO OVER TIME, I AM ACTUALLY QUITE OPTIMISTIC… THE PROBLEM IS GETTING THROUGH… THE MEDIUM TERM TO THIS ERA WHEN… JOURNALISM IS PAID FOR DIRECTLY BY THE PEOPLE WHO CONSUME IT.” slipping away into the Internet. And that advertising cash machine is not going to come back, Crovitz said, noting that in the U.S. a quarter of all advertising now appears on Facebook, “which is really not journalism at all”. �e freemium strategy promises a �exible compromise solution to those news publishers who, in the 15 years since they launched their web sites, have dickered over whether they should give their content away for free or fence it in behind pay walls. Brie�y, under a freemium model, most visitors to Web sites will continue to get free access, but the most interested or engaged users will be asked to pay for unlimited access. �e idea is: some readers will accept what is free,
others will pay for what they need. It’s a model familiar to subscribers to the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, among others. �e New York Times, free online until now, is following suit. Crovitz estimates that the Times will easily end up making US$100 million in incremental pro�t, a signi�cant amount even for such a large publication. (In the online version of the South China Morning Post, headlines and the introduction to stories are free to view, while the full articles are available to subscribers). And, of course, it is far cheaper for publishers to deliver content online than on paper. How many news consumers will sign up to this type of deal? Crovitz cited research showing that with the freemium model, about 10 per cent of online visitors to a broad, consumer-oriented publication will pay for full access. For more specialised journalism it will be more than 10 per cent. And what’s in it for Press+? Crovitz said Press+ was a revenuesharing company that took a cut from publishers who create new sources of revenue from using the company’s services. Typically the breakdown is 80 per cent for the publisher and 20 per cent for Press+.
Media
Image: AFP
Creating new revenue sources from subscriptions to online services, Crovitz said, “will help editors and publishers justify, to the business side of the publishing operations, re-investing in distinctive, differentiated, hopefully even unique journalism…” “So over time, I am actually quite optimistic about journalism. �e problem is getting through the short term, the medium term, to this era when more and more journalism is paid for directly by the people who consume it.” Optimism was also the tone of the Economist’s Micklethwait,
although one might say that it was easier for him to look on the bright side. After all, the Economist, emphatically bucking the global trend, has not only survived but nearly doubled its circulation in the past decade. But the Economist has by no means ignored digital delivery of its journalism. As an enhancement of its online services, the magazine recently announced its global launch on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, so that even subscribers in far-�ung corners can download it by 9pm �ursday UK time. Micklethwait said he was reading
his FCC speech from an iPad for the �rst time. So what is the secret of the Economist’s success? Micklethwait cited several positive trends. Firstly, technology has not turned out to be the threat to the media industry as �rst feared, especially for magazines. �is was true even among young readers, who may not look at newspapers as much as they used to but are reading magazines at rates as high as two years ago. Moreover technology has created new demands among consumers that magazines can exploit. �e crushing deluge of information and data now available has thrown up a demand for media �lters – like the Economist – to provide context and make sense of it all. Micklethwait also took issue with the conventional wisdom that everything in the media is going down market, that the only way to survive is to be trashy. �e more one looked round the media landscape, he said, nothing could be more wrong. Improved access to higher education means greater demand for intelligent ideas, information and analysis. “�ere is a much bigger top of the market than people think… there is a vast amount of very clever stuff going on that people want.” Globalisation also helps boost the desire for elaborate understanding and more knowledge about exactly what is going on – in China more than anywhere else. Finally, what else has the Economist got going for it? Micklethwait put it as follows. Asked if one had to be British to be editor of the Economist, he said no, but added – to laughter: “I think it’s an advantage, in many parts of the world, in not being an American.” THE CORRESPONDENT
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In Review
Amazing Reel Life Story Anyone that has spoken to Club regular, 83-year-old Marvin Farkas, knows he has more stories than Dymocks. He lived in the FCC in the 1950’s, he was a cameraman in the Vietnam war in the 1960’s and he has made movies and documentaries ever since. And at last he has written his autobiography. His old friend, Martyn Green, was at the book launch.
O
n Wednesday December 15th 2010, the FCC hosted a cocktail party to celebrate the launch of FCC member Marvin Farkas’ autobiography, “Eastern Saga”. In its 298 pages, Farkas re-tells, in a variety of vivid anecdotes, his exploits since he �rst arrived in Hong Kong in the 1950’s aboard the SS Eastern Saga – going on to become a cameraman from 1963 in the Vietnam War over a period of 12 years, and eventually starting Farkas Studios. In his introduction, Marti Mertz, who has known Farkas for around 15 years, said, “For some years, starting around 1995, three times a week, rain or shine, Marvin would traipse up to the Peak to go jogging, alone or with whoever would come along. And whenever I went along, I found he always had many interesting or amusing anecdotes to tell.” As the years passed, Marti and a good many of his other friends encouraged Farkas to write them all up into a book. �en �nally, one day, about �ve years ago, Marti said, Marvin casually announced, “I’ve started writing my book.” In his address, Farkas recalled, “Arriving in Hong Kong in 1954, I started living at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, when it occupied a beautiful old mansion 32
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Eastern Saga by Marvin Farkas 298 Pages Published by Make-Do Publishing ISBN 978-988-18419-5-7
in Conduit Road. I lived there for two years, and from that building you could see across the sampans and junks in the harbour, to the Nine Dragons mountains – before ugly high-rise apartments started sprouting all around.” Marvin then reminisced about the “good old days” of the 1950’s – which led to a specially dramatised “incident” taken from chapter six of his book, involving a rather rapid liaison one evening with the bored wife of a British soldier at an FCC dance, entitled “And �e Band Played On”. All, allegedly, in the space of just one tune.... Years later, Farkas must have been concerned he kept his reputation, because after the speeches and the mini-drama, V.G. Kulkarni, a long-time friend of Farkas, recalled, “Around the time he was already aged 77, Marvin told me he was regularly walking up the Peak and going for a run. At his age, at �rst I didn’t really believe him, but then RTHK’s Jagjit Dillon told me he himself walked from his �at on the Peak down to Admiralty, to go to work at RTHK, and in the evenings walked back up again. I joked with him about it, but he said, “Marvin’s about 15 years older, and he still climbs up there for his run three times a week. ” He maintained that Marvin,
In Review
being married to a young mainland Chinese (his third wife, in 1999), wanted to prove he was still �t and able... so he always made sure he did �e Circuit faster than Jagjit!” Joel Laykin of Laykin Communications recalls, “Along with Mike Morrow, in the mid80’s I was involved with Marvin on making a pilot for a series on ‘Food of the Middle Kingdom’. So, full of hope that we had the makings of a really great programme, we sent Marvin off to sell the series in Los Angeles. But you wouldn’t believe it. �is guy, who’d braved bombs and bullets in Vietnam, came back emptyhanded, saying our wonderful idea had been ‘shot down’ by a bunch of ignorant TV executives, who’d probably never even been outside L.A.” Lawyer Angus Forsythe tells of an incident related by a journalist friend of his. “Apparently back in 1972 or ‘73, Marvin was working as a photographer in Cambodia with this friend of mine. And in the thick of battle, with shells �ying all over the place, Marvin suddenly announced, ‘I think we’d better move over there – it’s a much better place to get some shots.’ My friend demurred, shouting over the noise of the explosions, ‘I think we’d better wait for this to die down a bit...’ But Marvin remonstrated with him impatiently, ‘If we wait for it to die down, the shot will be over – come on, let’s go!’ So they rushed over to the new position, Marvin got the shots – and they both survived, much to the amazement of my friend.’ �e book’s publisher, Harvey �omlinson, says that he had only met Farkas a few months before. “I actually met him at the Hong Kong Writer’s Festival in 2010, when he handed me a CD of his autobiography,” he says. “As a publisher, I have a lot of stuff to
read of course, and so quite a bit of time went by before I could get to it. But one day, when I was �ying off somewhere, I slipped the CD into my laptop and started to read his book – and with all his wonderful stories, it �lled the entire time of the �ight. And I knew I wanted to publish his book.” �omlinson went on to say, “�e original manuscript amounted to 430 pages, 101 chapters, which we eventually reduced to just 38, although we didn’t cut as much as it sounds, as there was a lot of amalgamation of chapters. It was
mostly a question of picking out the best parts....” But �omlinson agrees there is still plenty of good stuff left – leaving open the possibility of a “Part Two” sometime in the future, depending on how well “An Eastern Saga” sells over the next few months. �ose who’ve read it feel sure it will meet with a lot more appreciation among readers here, than the idea for “Food of �e Middle Kingdom” had in Los Angeles, when it was “shot down in �ames” all those years ago....
Marvin Farkas with a picture of his arrest after filming Morris “Two Guns” Cohen in Kowloon in the 1950’s. His tangle with “Two Guns”, a Jewish cockney who became Sun Yat-sen’s bodyguard, is just one of the many incredible stories in “An Eastern Saga”. Image: Bob Davies
THE CORRESPONDENT
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Press Freedom
Stiletto By Max Kolbe
Not a great year for press freedom As 2010 drew to a close Pakistan appeared to take out the most unwanted prize in journalism as the most dangerous place to work. At least 42 journalists were killed worldwide in 2010, with Iraq, Mexico, and Honduras just behind Pakistan according to the Committee to Protect Journalist. China and Iran also stood out, by pushing the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide to its highest level since 1996, with 145 reporters, editors, and photojournalists identified by the CPJ as being behind bars on December 1, up by nine from the 2009 tally. Eritrea was third among the foremost jailers of journalists. Among the dead, six of the eight Pakistani journalists were killed in suicide attacks or in crossfire during militant strikes. Such attacks injured more than two dozen other Pakistani journalists over a year when Afghanistan, Thailand and last year’s standout – The Philippines – also made unwanted contributions. Rather glibly, the report reads like an annual profit and loss statement from a major corporate. This year’s number is an improvement from 2009 when 72 died, however, the numbers are slightly misguiding. The sharp drop was partially attributed to last year’s figures being extraordinarily high with 32 journalists killed among 57 people murdered in a single massacre in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao province. It was the country’s worst political killings. Efforts by recently elected President Begnino Aquino to launch investigations into those murders, separate from current ongoing legal action, and the
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Image: AFP
record number of killings of journalists and human rights workers that occurred under his predecessor Gloria Arroyo have met with stiff resistance within the bureaucracy she left behind. This included her last appointments to the Supreme Court bench. Whether Pakistan can fare any better in probing why so many of its journalists died remains to be seen. According to the CPJ report about 40 percent of all 2010 deaths took place in combat and other dangerous circumstances. The CPJ added: “Suicide bombings and crossfire in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand, and Somalia accounted for the unusually high proportion.” With the number of freelancers growing amid the digital age alongside Internet based journalists it should not be too surprising to see an increase in contributions from each of those categories in the CPJ death and imprisoned toll.
“At least six journalists who worked primarily online were killed in 2010. Internet journalists rarely appeared in CPJ’s death toll until 2008, when online reporters doing front-line investigative work began to be targeted with violence.” Sadly the CPJ is unlikely to be the last word on murdered and jailed journalists for the year. Since the report was released Muhammad Khan Sasoli became the fourth media professional to be killed in Pakistan in less than two weeks. Sasoli worked for Royal TV and the INP news agency in Khuzdhar and was president of a local press club. Two men on a motorcycle shot him outside his home. Also, Indonesian journalists are demanding a full investigation into the death of Alfrets Mirulewan, chief editor of the Pelangi Weekly, who was found dead with bruises on much of his body. Meanwhile, hearty congrats to the US state department, that great bastion of free speech. No sooner had Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (pictured) been arrested than it dispatched the following press release: “The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011... UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press. “The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers.” How fitting, given the precedents set by Washington’s near-hysterical pursuit of Assange. Could an even more appropriate host of the next World Press Day be found. How about Singapore?
Then and Now
Blakes Pier. Images by Bob Davis
1972: Blake Pier was first built in 1900 at the end of Pedder Street. The second pier, pictured here, was built in the ‘60s and demolished in 1993 to make way for reclemation. It was a popular courting venue.
© Bob Davis. www.bobdavisphotographer.com
2010: Today the original pier stands next to Murray House in Stanley. Both structures were dismantled from their original Central locations and restored to their original conditions. The pier was re-opened in July, 2007. © Bob Davis. www.bobdavisphotographer.com THE CORRESPONDENT
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Club Tie
The Red Lips Brigade To combat the occasional insulting comments of male Club members, a group of FCC females formed the Red Lips Brigade, an all-women clubwithin-a-club that is now almost 30 years old. And, writes long-time member, Marilyn Hood, it is still going strong.
The Red Lips Brigade, circa 1997 - back row Left to Right: Mary Connell, Lyra Rittger, Wendy Hughes Chuck, Joan Howley, Kate Kelly, Winnie Whittaker, Maggie Beale, Dorothy Ryan, Barbara Waters, Marilyn Hood, Laurie Dillon. Seated Left to Right: Margaret Sullivan, Avriel Gerber, Bonnie Angus, Wendy Richardson, Fed Geldart
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o one quite remembers when Red Lips lunches started,even the Founder and Paramount Bag, Dorothy Ryan, during her recent visit en route from Paris to Sydney said, “I think it was Christmas 1983 when I invited a group of women 36
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friends to lunch to celebrate the festive season, but at that time we had no official title.” However, sometime in 1984 Dorothy and some of these friends were enjoying a quiet drink at the north end of the old Main Bar when a young but rather obese
Australian lawyer commented, intending to insult, “Look at the Red Lips up there,” referencing the girls of the famed Tsim Sha Tsui bar – it was rumoured these girls were so old they even plied their trade during the Japanese occupation! �us the collective name, and a
Club Tie
new collective noun, the Red Lips Brigade, was established. Recollections of lunches in the eighties are hazy though lunches were only at Christmas and the value of gifts exchanged escalated dramatically in line with in�ation throughout the next decade from HK$20 to HK$100. In the early nineties observant FCC patrons began to regard the Red Lips Brigade as a serious organisation and these lunches became known as the Brigades’ Annual Gathering, or BAG for short. A self-appointed Central Committee was established. Dorothy Ryan in true undemocratic style elected herself Chief Bag, and appointed Rowena Young as Treasury Bag, Avriel Gerber as Secretary Bag and Marilyn Hood as Membership Bag. Other members were categorised as Life, Honorary, Full Bag, Baguette and Miette de Pain according to age. It was agreed some French titles were in keeping with Red Lips’ collective elegance and savoir faire. At other lunches during this period Mavis Wigham became Diplomatic Bag, Lizzie Loftus and Margaret Sullivan Songwriter Bags, Kate Kelly PR Bag, and Red Lips started to convene at the slightest excuse. �e Handover lunch, to which gentlemen were invited for post-lunch drinks, and many bravely accepted, saw Bags sporting their Red Lips brooches – red enamel-plate on gold organised by Avriel – for the �rst time. The late nineties saw many Red Lips stalwarts leaving Hong Kong to live in other parts of the world including Dorothy, who having handed over her title of Chief Bag to Marilyn was promoted by her to Paramount Bag. Departing
In the early nineties observant FCC patrons began to regard the Red Lips Brigade as a serious organisation and these lunches became known as the Brigades’ Annual Gathering, or BAG for short
Red Lips, of course, provided yet another excuse, as if they needed one, for a gathering and included, amongst others, long-time FCC members Avriel Gerber, Rowena Young, Margaret Sullivan, Jo May�eld, Joan Howley, and Lyra Rittger who left for France, Australia, Ireland and the US. Throughout the noughties many overseas Bags have made trips to Hong Kong, or scheduled their �ights via here, and demanded
a gathering; some Bags have even �own in especially to attend these lunches. Naturally, over the course of the past twenty-seven years there have many changes for this Clubwithin-a-Club, but the change that has caused the most consternation is Red Lips Corner, the north end of the old Main Bar, having to be relocated to the west end of the new Main Bar making many Red Lips totally discombobulated particularly after lunch! A typical lunch, in the privacy of the Hughes Room or the Verandah, commences with a medicinal dose or three of bubbly followed by a substantial number of dishes washed down with copious amounts of red and white wine. Meetings are never formally closed but usually proceed well into the night and those who have witnessed the descent of Bags to the Main Bar can testify to the fact that lunch has sometimes continued into the next morning! Many have asked how they can join Red Lips. Dorothy and Marilyn’s response is easy: wait to be invited. However there are certain rules of conduct which are essential to become a Bag, none of which can be revealed here. The Red Lips Christmas lunch at the end of 2010, highly honoured by the presence of the Paramount Bag, was attended by the Chief Bag Marilyn Hood, full Bags Wendy Richardson, Kate Kelly, Wendy McTavish, Ruth Ansell, Rachel Hodson, Marion Chandler, Pat Elliott-Shircore, and Mandy Pearson Macdonald (who �ew in from Singapore for the occasion). We were delighted to welcome to the Brigade Annie Van Es, Diana Duncan and Sue Burgess. THE CORRESPONDENT
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Meanwhile in the Main Bar
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Frontline
Being Live and Loving It
Image: Bob Davis
The BBC’s Mishal Husain belongs to a generation of TV journalists who only know 24-hour news and its fast-paced, continously-live schedules. And, as she told Jonathan Sharp, she would have it no other way. Working for 24-hour TV and radio news is not to every reporter’s taste. Veteran foreign correspondents like Martin Bell and Kate Aidie have complained vigorously that having to give onair updates on news events almost literally every few minutes to meet the insatiable demands of 24-hour news is incompatible with proper journalism, because there’s no time to do serious reporting. The BBC’s Mishal Husain is not in the Bell-Aidie camp. When Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007, Husain flew from London to cover the aftermath and went straight from the airport to where she could
broadcast live. Despite her feet having barely touched the ground, Husain had no qualms about such an assignment. In fact she revelled in it. On that occasion it helped that Husain was already up to speed on the Pakistani political scene. Although born in the UK in 1973 she is of Pakistani parentage. She concedes that the Bhutto story was tailor-made for her, and she could not be confident of being so quick off the mark if she came cold to such a big story. And 24-hour news coverage does have drawbacks. “There’s a trade off. You can’t be news gathering and be live at the same
time,” says Husain, whom Asian audiences can see presenting Impact Asia every Monday to Thursday between 1400 and 1600 GMT. “I have always worked in live and continuous news so it’s possible that I don’t know another way of life. “But actually the live side of my work is my favourite. It is very challenging. You don’t know what your day is going to be like. But I love that kind of challenge. It is of course very different from having the whole day to produce a piece for the 10 o’clock news – or nine o’clock (as it was) in Martin Bell and Kate Aidie’s day.”
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Help create a safe haven for Hong Kong’s abandoned and homeless dogs and puppies – buy a brick to help HKDR build a new kennel. To find out how you can help, check out www.hongkongdogrescue.com
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