CLUB NEWS NE WEEK after the appeal went out to help absent member Ted Dunfee, a total of HK$140,000 was sitting in the special FCC-Ted Dunfee
Dunfee fund tops
his condition. For example, he seems to
Fund account at the Bank of Credit & Commerce.
be able to recognise some people. What is certain about Ted, who is only 38, is that he is going to need a great deal of rehabiliLation and speech therapy before he returns to a semblance of normality.
their
chequebooks almost simultaneously, 180 club members donated sums ranging from HK$25 to
Quick-drawing
HK$25,000.
Though Ted received a compensatory
Ted was evacuated to Vancouver by stretcher from Bangkok on Canadian Airlines on September 29. His parents, Enid and Don Dunfee, of British Columbia, who
payout from his company, which, through
its medical plan, also paid his medical
have been by his bedside almost the entire time of his illness, accompanied him with a nurse. Ted's wife and youngest child will follow him to Vancouver soon. (The eldest is already in Vancouver, living with Ted's sister.)
"The trip was uneventful," reported Ted's long-time friend Ashley Ford of the Vancouuer Prouince, who called through the information to anxious colleagues in Hong Kong. Ted was checked immediate ly into (Vancouver's) University Hospital, where he will undergo testing by a team of specialists.
Ashley reports Ted is still "on a trach, but his arm movements are getting better." For the past five years, Ted was |he Asia
Magazine correspondent based in Bangkok. He was stricken by acute viral encephalitis four months ago, most probably contracted while on assignment on the Thai-Burmese border. ffthat disease wasn't bad enough, his condition was complicated
$t 40,000
Ted Dunfee: in need of help by a series of strokes. As a result, he lost the use of his limbs and nearly all voluntary mobility functions. He has also had a tracheotomy to relieve breathing difficulties. After months in intensive care, he was taken off the critical list and moved to a private room in September. An exact prognosis for Ted is impossible. The feeling among those who have seen him in hospital over a period of time is that there has been an improvement in
expenses until August 31, Ted, his wife and two young children are going to need financialhelp. Members of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) have raised HK$60,000 to help settle his outstanding medical bills and other expenses. The Foreign Press Association in Beijing responded and announced it was starting a collection among members. If you are reading this in Hong Kong and have not yet donated, a cheque drawn in favour of the "FCC-Ted Dunfee Fund" would be greatly appreciated. For those of
you reading this story outside Hong
Kong, a bank draft in Canadian dollars in favour of Têd Dunfee would not go amiss. (Please send the cheque to the FCC and we'll forward it directly to the Dunfee family in Vancouver.)
Ted's address is: 12225 Gardiner
Street, Crescent Beach, Surrey, BC, Canada, V4A3CB. Tel (604) æ12255.
r
Saul Loclihart
I
WONDER why the committee wastes postage sending out notifications of professional luncheons to the general membership when it is painfully obvious that only the'insiders" are going to get seats. Having failed to obtain seats for any poÞ ular speaker before, I decided to phone as soon as the notification of Iæe Kuan Yew's lunch a¡rived. I was told quite properly that booking would not open until 10 a.m. on October 5. On the dot of 10 I phoned and got the
engaged signal which persisted until 10.32, When I got through I was, of course, told that it was "fuIly booked" as has happened on every previous occasion. Not only was it fully booked but there was
FCC Christmas cards, featuring the MurrayZanorupanting of the club's premises, are available from the office at $30 for a packet of ten. Christmas creeps up on us all, so now is the time to buy your cards without barely pausing on your way to the bar. It can take so much out of the misery oflate shopping.
4
rHB coRRESPoNDENTocToBER
There are various other FCC items that would make excellent gifts for friends, oÍ, if you re in an indulgent The club has on o ,
T-shirts ($50 and $33), ties ($37)
and cigarette lighters ($4). All these items are decorated with the design of the FCC coat
1990
Lee enters the lion's den CTOBER IS proving to be a particularþ active month for the club. The luncheon speakers have been many and varied: Dr \Milliam Miller (SRI International); Derek Davies (former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Reaiew and former FCC President); Christopher Burge (Christies auctioneer and the man who sold Van Gogh); Anatoly Nosko (Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the USSR), and coming soon (October 26) Singapore's Prime Minister læe Kuan Yew. Mr. [æe will be entering the lions' den, given his views on the way the press should cover Singapore and press freedom in general. And given that Lhe Far Eastern Econornic Reuiew and the Asian Wall Street Journal -bothbanned in Singapore - are based in Hong Kong. Ofcourse, Mr læe's record in dealing with difficult
situations has shown that the lions will
have to be well prepared. Mr læe retires as prime minister in mid-November and takes up a'Junior" cabinet role.
His visit has aroused unprecedented interest . . . and all the 190 tickets were sold within 10 minutes when they went on sale on October 5. I have been consulting my colleagues in an effort to avoid disap-
But many of the hungry lions can't $et in pointing those who were unable to secure tickets. We hope to have found an answer to the problem well in time for his address. Also held this month was the first in a series of FCC seminars. Jointly sponsored by Commerzbank and the FCC, the seminar looked at "the economics of the new European House and the consequences for Asia". The main speaker was Anatoly Nosko, mentioned above. The next seminar, which will be in November, will look at Asia's emerging markets, with particular reference to India. Early in October the FCC launched a fund for FCC absent memberTed Dunfee. For the past five years, Ted has been an Asia Magaziø¿ correspondent based in Bangkok. He was stricken with acute viral encephalitis four months ago, contracted while on assignment on the Thai-Burmese border. Ted's company paid compensation
LETTERS
LETTERS
a
CLUB NEWS FROM THE PRESIDENT
waiting list of 50,
Considering that attendance was resficted to members and spouses, I put it
to the committee that itwould be physically impossible to take enough telephone calls to fill the main dining room and build up a waiting list of 50 in the space of 32 minutes. Seems we stand a better chance of gettins a place in the queue for a new block of ¡ats t¡an getting a seat at the FCC!
I
John Bull
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you and other club officers for continuing to send us the Corresþondent.
After an active 50 years in the Far East and Hong Kong the receipt of the Corresþondent is a real tonic to boost an otherwise continued boring
future. We would appreciate your publishing this letter in the hopes that some of our many friends will drop us a line.
Cq.nadian Sailinç is seeking a cor-
respondenl familiar with international maritime container shipping. While we are a weekly magazine format publication, we would require one monthly contribution of a round-up in capsule
form about maritime and maritime related activities in South-East Asia.
We normally hear and learn about
the major stories, but require some one with a deep understanding of your area of influence and a knowledge of maritime shipping.
Yours sincerely, AL. "Pat" Patterson 4700 Williamsburg LN, #195
Cønad:ian Sailings Ross R. Blakely
I¿Mesa, CA9204l TellFax (619) 589-9361
Editor & General Manager,
As an active member of the Montreal Press Club, I am writing to seek
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3Z 1S3 Tel: (514) 9374639 Fax: (514) 937-4250
4634 Ouest Rue St.
Catherine Street West
your assistance.
Iæe Kuan Yew Picture: Singapore Ministy of
Information and covered his medical bills until the end
ofAugust. The FCC of Thailand rallied around and raised money to settle his outstanding medical bills and airfares to Canada. The Hong Kong FCC has sta¡ted this fund to help Ted pay his bills for rehabilit¿tion in Canada. A letter of appeal went out to Hongkong-
resident members, but absent members can also make a donation by sending a cheque to Hoìrg Kong, payable to the "FCC of members in Hong Kong have come up to me and said they didn't know Ted but would be contributing: "It could have been me."
- Ted Dunfee Fund". A lot
The food and beverage consultative group þhew!) met for the first time over a convivial beverage. The group dealt with some members'complaints and looked at some food ideas for the future. One thing that became clear is that if someone has a complaint about cold fish or something they should do so at the earliest opportuni-
[l to Heinz Grabner so it can be dealt with immediately.
Another story this month is on the Hong'kong Press Club (page 19). This one is for the nightowls: the place to go when
the FCC closes (2a.m.). Not being one of these of course, I wouldn't know. But in the interests of knowledge, I made several exploratory trips at around that time and
found a very worthy bolt-hole. At the end of this month the FCC's contract with Viswa Nathan's Printline for the production of The Conesþondenf ends. Printline has been producing the magazinefor three years and has done a super job. In future the production will be han-
dled by AsiaPacific Directories.
Ron
Knowles will continue as editor.
I
Paul Bayfield
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1990
5