The Correspondent, February 1993

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NEIIT YEAR'S EVE BASH

That was the )rear that was

CONTENTS COVER 10-11 New Year's Eve photo special by Jon Hargest THE FOREIGN

NEWS AND VIEWS

2

CORRESPONDENTS'

CLUB North Block, 2 Lower Albert Road, Hong Kong.

Telephone:521 151l Fax:868 4092

Britain's road to recovery

President - Steve Vines

First Vice President - Hubert Van

Lloyds Bank chief executive, Brian Pitman, on the woes of being banker in Britain today.

Es

Second Vice President - David Thurston

Correspondent Member Governors Bob Davis, Daniela Deme, Cul Goldstein, Humphrey Hawksley, V.G Kulkmi, Catherine Ong, Claudia Rosett, Brian Jeffries Journalist MembeÌ Goycrnors

Images of Ìvar go under the hammer Denis Gray on an auction of some of the best photojournalism from Indochina.

Associate Membcr Governors L Grebstad, S. Lockhæt, R Thomas

D. Cucia,

Professional Committee: Conyettor: H, Hawksley Menbers: V G. Kulkami, C. Rosett.

C

Australia aims at bigger role in China Stephen Martin, junior foreign affairs and trade minister, launches

Goldstein,

V.G Kulkmi

Members: B. Davis, D. Ca¡cia, C Goldstein, L. Grebstad Enaertâinmenl. Committee:

t2 15

Get Grandpa to deliver the paper Ed Neilan on a novel approach by Japanese publishers for home delivery.

18

A traveller tells a tale (or two)

Cottveuor: D. Thurston, Members: S Lockhart, B. Davis.

Wilson (Editor), Paul Bayfield (Co-opred)

F & B Committee: Cottyenor: L Grebstad Mettbers: D. Garcia, H. Van Es, R Thomas, S. Lockhart

Wâll Committec;

H Van Es,

Bob Davis,

D

Derek Davies reports from London.

21

Garcia

Club Manager: H. Crabner

THE CORRESPONDENT

AsiaPaciñc Directories Ltd. Rm 1301, l3Æ, P¡rk Comnrercial Centrc.

6-10 Shelter Stree(, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Telephone: 57'l 9111: Fûx: 890 7287 @ The Currespontlent Opinions expressetl hy wr¡lers ðre not necessarily (hose ol'lhc Fìrreign

Getting the facts across Kevin Sinclair interviews the head of the English department of the China News Service.

AROUND THE REGION

23 Advertising Manager: Totn Deacon Page Make-up: Jane Rec¡o and Eva La¡ Artish Amando D, Recio. Jr DDITORIAL OFFICE:

Bell farewell Friends say goodbye to Cathay's former PR man David Bell.

Convettor: W. Barker;

Menber: S. Wolfendale Publications Committee:

K

a new

study on southern China and Australia's growing commitment to the reglon.

D. Deane, C Ong, R. Thomas Membership Committee: Conyenor:

a

Bob Davis in Marlboro country

rililliam Brker, Stuart r'Volfendale

S. Wolfendale,

Lo's open windo\ry T.S. Lo, CBE, is a man of many parts. A lawyer, politician and publisher of the weekly news magazine Windotu, he aired his views at a recent Club luncheon.

Dateline Sydney by Ron Knowles

PEN NEWS 24 Educating the world's media Fred Armentrout reports on Intemational PEN's congress in Rio.

BOOK REVIEW 26-27 FredArmentrout revielvs Donald Read's bookThe Power of News: The History of Reuters.

Cunespuntlen(s'Cluh The Crrrrespondent is puhlishetl montlìly lììr rnd on h€hall ol'The Frrreign Concspontlcnts' Cluh hy:

Rm l-101, l3/F, P¿rk Conrmerciul Ccntrc.

Sheltcr Strcct. Cuuscway Bry. Hrrng Kong Tel: 5?? 9-1-ì l: Frx: tÌ90 728?

6 ll)

Publishcr: Vonnic Bishop Managing Dircclor: Mikc llish¡rr Cokrul s¡P¡¡¡¡l¡¡¡ ¡¡y' Col(rur Ar( Grrphic Cotttpltty Prirtctl hy l,rint ll(trrsc Lt(|. lllk A. 164i. ,A,ik Srn l-ty 13hl¡. l4 Wcsrhntls Rrl. Quarry Buy. l1 K Tcl: 561 6l-57 (.Ì lincs)

ZUNG FU AJardine

Pacilic Business (D¡stributor for Hong Kong and Nlacau), Bonavenrure House, Leighton Road, Hong Kong Tel, 895 7288 1 22 Canton Road, Tsimsha¡sui, Kowloon Teì, 735 1 199 Zung Fu Carpark Building, 50 Po Loì Street, Hunghom Tel 764 6919

SOUTHERN STAR MoToB CO. (Distributor ior Southern Chrna), 40th Floor, Centraf Plaza, t8 Harbour Road, Vanchai Teì MERCEDES-BENz AG. BEIJING, LIAISON OFFICE (l)rstrrbutor for Norrhern China), 20/F, CITIC Building, l9Jian Cuo Nlen $/ai Dajie, Beijrng Tcl,500 3051

594 8888

Mercedes-Benz Engineered to move the human spiril

NEW MEMBERS

28

LETTERS

28

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT PEDDI,ER'S .TOURNAL

31

32

Cov,er pllotogruph by Jort Hargest

Inside photographs supplied by David Thurston, Hubeft Van Es

¿rnd

Ray CranboLrnte. .I'HII

CORRBSPONDBNT FEBRUARY I993

Lots open window

for the first time, are looking at things from its perspective..l certainly hope,

T. S. Lo is a man of many parts. He is a lawyer by profession, a Commander of the British Empire, served on the Executive Council only to resign on a matter of principle.

He was involved in the drafting of the Basic Law and is now an adviser to the Chinese government. Last year he launc'hed Hong Kong's weekly news magazine Window where he is editor-in-chief.

Karl Wilson reports.

the major business and commercial news

(Commander of the British Empire).

"Why should l?" he said. "That award was given to me by the Queen not the British government."

Lo spent a good part of his address trying to "put the record straight" as to why he withdrew from both the Legislative and Executive councils seven years ago.

"At the time it looked traumatic. lt was not a decision I took lightly or suddenly," he said. "l was, frankly, disgusted by the racist way Britain was treating Hong Kong's British subjects. "lt was my conviction that in the last 13 years of its reign, the British govern-

in China.

ment was not prepared to govern

"Basically I felt Hong Kong needed a magazine that understood China's political viewpoint," he said.

"A magazine that was prepared to take a more independent line on the Hong Kong government without fear, report on the moves by big business without favour and cover the afts and

Hong Kong's best interests.

"That being the case, I felt I had no alternative but to resign as I was one of the most senior advisers to the government."

Not long after he resigned from both the Legco and Exco, Lo made a trip to

espite its crilics, Window

different sectors of society and the po-

however, that it does its best to make it profitable. The point is I believe in the market economy and always believe in doing my own thing."

Because of his outspoken criticism of the British government, Lo was asked

litical structure must facilitate the devel-

opment of a capitalist economy.

"Obviously the guiding principles to the political structure laid down in the Basic Law is for a democratic system that suits Hong Kong's reality and should

whether he would consider "doing a John Lennon" and give back his CBE

is

still around. Death sentences of six months to a year were

but still the magazine comes Circulation is said to be less than 10,000 and losses are rumoured to be $3 million a month but its founder left no one in any doubt, when he addressed

Claudia Rosett puts the hard word on T.S. Lo. the Club recently, lhal Window is here to stay, at least for the time being.

Asked whether he could confirm the rumour that his magazine was losing $3 million a month, Lo said, "No".

He did say that any losses were being covered f rom his own personal finances, but as to how much that is, "l'm not prepared to say."

Lo said: "The magazine is established now and I will probably go on financing it indefinitely."

As to claims that the magazine was being financed from Beijing, he said: "l only wished it was."

Lo said Windowcame about because

Ilt

lt{

It! ltt llr lil t'*

TII 1,,"

lF\f çt

he felt Hong Kong needed a news magazine that presented China's view point and "present that view without

iear."

"For the businessman there was nothing in Hong Kong which covered

culture without taking a shorl-term view."

Lo then went on to deliver a damning indictment on the state of journalism in

Hong Kong by saying: "l Also felt modern journalism in Hong Kong seldom pealed back enough layers of the onion.

I felt journalists tended to be lazy and looked at things from a comfortable Western perspective.

"Journalists hdre seemed to have a cosy relationship with each other and accepted each others thoughts as truth.

They obviously thought that they were catering for an unthinking public. I thought the thinking public deserved a better

deal."

Lo said there were no hidden deals with China over financing of the magaztne.

Humphrey Hawksley, Garl Goldstein and Peter Seidlitz with T.S. Lo.

2

also be given to the interests of the

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

"l'm sure, though that the Chinese

in

Beijing "to see exactly how serious" the Chinese were about the promises made in the Joint Declaration.

Such a trip, he said, seemed relevant "because it was a factor to take into account in planning my future life."

Prior to that trip, Lo said he had never met one single member of the Chinese

government.

"From time to time I have seen remarks in the press which say that I have changed sides," Lo said.

"l take exception to that because I have never done so. From the very moment I first entered public life my only interest was to improve the management of Hong Kong affairs. "l was trying to do that when I joined the Executive Council. I was still trying to do that when I joined the Basic Law

Consultative Committee and when

I

be gradually introduced.

"l believe Hong Kong can be run in such a way after 1997. So far as the individual is concerned he will enjoy a liberal-democratic way of life. But, having said that, we will have to work for it.

"And the very first thing we must do is to have a clear idea as to how far we can go, how far should we go and how quickly we should make that move to get there.

"People living in Hong Kong after accepted the appointment as one of the

44 Hong Kong advisers to the Chinese government. "l have not changed sides," he said.

"Because I was never on the British side to begin with. I have always been on Hong Kong's side. "lf China suddenly acts against the interests of Hong Kong and its people promise that I shall voice my objections publicly and quickly.

I

"But having said that I can tell you that

we are extremely fortunate that sovereignty over us is to be recovered by this particular Chinese government instead of any other Chinese government."

Asked about his view on the future of Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty, Lo said Hong Kong had nothing to worry about.

China, he said, had given its word in the Basic Law. A document he said, which was drafted in a "very democratic

and open manne/'.

"Each article in the document was worked out after careful investigation and all views taken into account," he

1997 will be free to come and go, will have freedom of speech, of religious worship, of education, of work and of political beliefs. "ln short he or she will be able to do just about anything as long as it does not take away freedoms enjoyed by other people."

Lo reminded everyone that "all this and more" is spelt out in the Basic Law. And, in a dig at Hong Kong Governor, Chris Patten, he added: "We must defend it steadfastly from those who do not want to live here and seem deter-

mined to undermine it."

Lo said: "When he first arrived a Hong Kong magazine advised PaĂźen to avoid being seduced into thinking that Hong Kong wants a more conf rontational form of government in these waning days of British rule.

"He was advised notto listen to people who are urging to fight now for the ground they feel they lost in the past because that time can not be reversed.

He was also advised of the facts ...

Hong Kong will reveft to Chinese rule

On the question of Hong Kong's politi-

and that the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law will prevail.

"That magazine also reminded him

cal structure he said: '"This is clearly

that his task was to help Hong Kong

underlined in the Basic Law. "The political structure must accord with the principles of one country two systems and aim to maintain stability and prosperity ... consideration must

make the transition welcome.

"What Patten is doing, I am afraid to say, is extremely harmfulto Hong Kong."

said.

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

3

Britain's road to recovery

By Karl Wilson

the ERM. He said: "The first bit of bad luck

here was a time when Brian Pitman thought he had won the biggest takeover battle in British banking history.As chief executive of Lloyds Bank, Pitman was credited with turning the bank around and

Wall came down and the two Germa-

making it one of the most effective high - - street banks in Britain.

He thought he could do the same with the Midland Bank ... that is until the HongkongBank stepped in and snatched it, right from under his very nose.

Pitman, however, was philosophical about it when he addressed the Club recently: "lf the HongkongBank's share price had not gone up it may have been a different picture."

It was a similar story a few years back when Lloyds made a bid for the Standard Chartered Bank.

British banking had a pretty difficult time of it in 1992 and Pitman believed 1993 would see some light at the end of the tunnel. Banking in Britain had not been easy, Pitman said, and he sighted a number of factors, chief among them Britain's entry into the Exchange Rate Mechanism. '"The reason why Britain joined the ERM in 1989 was to create sustainable economic growth," he said.

"After many years of stop-go policies there was a belief that if we went into the ERM we would wind up in a much more stable position."

He said that in order to achieve sustainable economic growth two essential ingredients are considered necessary stable prices and stable exchange rates, '"|'he theory was that in time the economies of Europe would eventually converge," Pitman said.

On paper it looked pretty good but in reality it was a totally different picture.

Pitman said Britain was hit by two pieces of bad luck shortly after joining

Germany.

came at the end of 1 989 when the Berlin

who were recruited from nearby to

Marlboro country oo.

Forthe past couple of years

Marlboro has filmed some stunning Chinese New Year ads.

The first was a spectacular filmed inside the Forbidden City which went on to win a number of advertising awards. Then it was followed

by another along the Great Wall.

For this year's offering, Marlboro called on the services of award

winning Chinese director, Zhang Yimou of Raise the Red Lantern fame.

Filmed in Jiayuguan, the last foft on the Great Wall, it features 700 PLA troops and some 200 farmers

provide the musical accompaniment.

Club member and Photographer Davis was asked to go along and shoot the stills last December. The only drawback was that filming took place deep in the Gobi Desertwhere temperatures averaged -5 on most days.

Some of his photographs are featured on these pages.

-

4

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

nies were reunited. '"The reunification process, however, has proven to be more difficult than expected and has led to a more pro-

longed period of high interest rates in "The second bit of bad luck was the fact that Britain had just come off the longestboom many years.

it had

experienced in many,

'"[hose two factors," he said, "were quite difficult to handle.

"So how did Britain try to achieve its economic growth? Through high real interest rates. And we all know what etfect that policy has had on the British economy. lt has led to record levels of bankruptcies, massive unemployment and property prices plummeting.

"We had an expression at the time ... if its not hurting its not working. Well, it's

certainly hurting. I believe a lot of people honestly thought it would work.

"There can be no doubt that there was a strong commitment on the part of the government to make it work as well as a strong commitment on the part of a lot business people too. '"|-hey did not assume Britain would

not get through this process without some pain. But the price of low inflation, they thought, would be wodh it.

"But people are now starting to question the logic of this wisdom and asking is it worth the economic and social cost."

Pitman said that since Britain suspended its membership of the ERM, the base rate has come down and expectations are that interest rates will fall below six per cent. He said the government's inflation target is between 1-4%.

Pitman said the British government was now following an economic policy of pragmatism. 'And in my view that is the best policy to dealwith the problems

we are facing

today.'

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

@ 1993

5

LIGHT TRAVELS AT SOO.OOO KM/SEC. AGFA CAPTURES IT FOREVER.

Horst Faas, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner now based in London for the Associated Press.

A minute of silence was observed by

the some 300 attending the auction

Van Es' classic Vietnam photograph.

Proceeds will go to training programmes for journalists from Vietnam,

Images of war go under the hammer

Cambodia and Laos and to build a memorial to some 320 journalists from all sides who died while covering wars in

lndochina from 1945 to 1975.

The auction was preceded by exhibition

When Dutch photographer HubertVan Es shot one of the classic photographs of the Vietnam War, his bosses at United

-War,

an Peace and the Printed

- of some 140 photographs spanning four decades of lndochina lmage

A print of his photograph - evacuees trying to reach a helicopter on a Saigon rooftop in 1975 - fetched US$1,240 recently at an auction of some of the best photojournalism of the lndochina ever assembled.

Organisers of the auction, which was held in Bangkok, said that 96 photographs were auctioned off to enthusias-

coverage. They included works by wellknown war photographers like Horst Faas, Tim Page, Sean Flynn and Henri Huet as well as a younger crop currently focusing on a more peaceful lndochina.

At the auction, though, peace took second place to war.

After the photo of the panicked helicopter evacuation of Saigon, the most sought-after photo was an atmospheric depiction of the battle at Hamburger Hill

by Van Es for the Associated Press. lt

tic expatriates and Thais who paid

was taken at US$98S.

Press lnternational gave him a pat on the back and a US$100 bonus.

a

total of US$32,400.

The third was a chilling scene

and dinner for those journalists killed or still missing from the wars.

Sean Flynn, son of Hollywood actor Errol Flynn, was captured and presumed executed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in 1970 along with American cameraman Dana Stone.

Huet was shot down in a helicopter inside Laos. North Vietnamese photographer Luong Nghia Dung was killed in 1972 during some of the fiercest fighting of the Vietnam War in and around the city of Quang Tri in central Vietnam.

Dung's work and those of two other Vietnamese photographers, recently obtained from the Vietnamese News Agency in Hanoi, also proved popular.

The exhibition and auction was organised by the lndochina Media Memorial Foundation, the brain child of British photographer Tim Page who was wounded five times in lndochina and lost several close colleagues during the war.

The prints, obtained from original negatives, were donated by photographers and media organisations with buyers forbidden to use them for commercial purposes.

Denis D. Gray, Associated Press

by

F.rench photographer Roland Neveu, whowitnessed the 1975 gun-

point evacuation of Phnom Penh,theCambodian capital, by the

victorious

Khmer

Bouge. This was auctioned off for US$925.

A series of

stark

combat photographs Donald Wise, Van Es, M.R. Usnisa Sukhsvastic and Daphne Wise at the auction.

6

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

from the early years of the Vietnam War were also in high demand.

These were taken by

Marriage w¡ns golf classic There was a large turnout at Fanling last November for the Richard Hughes Trophy which was won by Sunday Morning Post business editor Paul Marriage. The results were: Paul Marriage 44 points Robert Low 36 points Neville Nicholson 30 points

The most impoftant element in creative photography is light. That's

hi-tech world of text and images. Photographic paper and photocopiers,

what photographers work with. They capture it, however fast it might be.

X-ray

And then they preserve it

-

on Agfa film. ln a world of light, Agfa is the

computer-controlled photo composition

systems, digital art printers and mini-labs ("1 hour labs") - Agfa provides

epitome of quality. Photographers all over the world give it "exposure".

vital stimulus in all areas of progress.

Professionals and amateurs alike.

The Agfa rhombus is a shining light in more than 140 countries on all five

Film is Agfas visiting card. But Agfa is more than just film. For over

i

film and cineJilm,

a

hundred years Agfa has been setting milestones along the road to today's

ïili:'i.ili;ï,i:;1ii[iÏï: AGFA

1993

NOTHING ESCAPES AGFA.

@

Australia aims for bigger role in China ythe year 2000, southern China is expected to have a population of some 140 million and a market of about US$550 billion.

These facts are contained in a major new study on the region entitled South-

ern China in Transition: The New Regionalism and Australia which was conducted by the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University in Western Australia.

Published by the East Asia Analytical Unit of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the book

was launched at the Club recently by Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Stephen Martin.

Martin, who had just returned from a brief two - - day visit to southern China

where he officially opened Australia's new consular office in Guangzhou, said he was staggered by what he saw. "l was having afternoon tea on top of a revolving restaurant in Shenzhen and I swear to you that in the 20 minutes it took to go around once two new hotels had been built," he said.

Joking aside, Martin underlined the Australian government's growing commitment to the region. ln the past Australia had been viewed, from this part of the world at least, to be more committed to Europe and the United States rather than Asia. lt was seen to be slow or undecided in making a firm commitment to the region.

Allthis, however, has been chang- rì ing in recent years. Prime Minister, f

By Karl Wilson supermarket because of processed food expons; a factory because of exporls of products based on particular Australian

skills and processed minerals; a resod because of tourism and leisure services; a laboratory because of strength in collaborative science and research, and a school because of our education and training strengths.

"There is still a perception in the world that Australia is nothing more than just a supplier of raw materials.

"Well that has changed. We have moved well beyond that where Australia today is a highly sophisticated technologically developed society. "ln the service sector we have things which we can and do export to other

countries. And we are waiting to be asked in and when we are not asked in ... wellmost Australians are pretty pushy anyway."

Maftin said Australia had a lot to offer

it

clear where Australia's future lies

our heads in the sand. Businessmen were afraid to go out and chase new business. They tended to wait for government to do all the work. Well, that is no longer the case.

"Australian businessmen are aggressively securing new business. For our pad we are only too happy to help them with as much research material as we can possibly give them." lndeed, as the Asia Research Centre study shows the Guangdong-Hong Kong area "will continue to grow significantly as a region of major economic interest to Australia".

"Since the late 1980s, southern China (Taiwan, Hong Kong and the south China

the report said.

"Strong trade and investment flows between the individual parts of southern China have led to an increasingly integrated sub-regional

economy."

This economic integration

PRC but they are likely to exercise high

degrees of local autonomy.

The combination of a high degree of local-decision making authority, particularly in economic matters, with continuing adherence to national political, legal and security institutions, is at the core of China's new regionalism. '"Ihe new regionalism provides aframework for both pursuing local provincial economic interests while maintaining a cohesive nation state."

What is interesting is the conclusion that decentralisation under the new regionalism will enhance the cohesiveness of the Chinese state.

"Decentralisation does not necessarily imply a fast-track return to a weak, fragmented, Warring States period," the study says.

"As regionalism proceeds on the mainland, together with reform and the internationalisation of the littoral provinces, and as incomes grow, poliotical barriers may no longer constrain deeper economic integration."

Tying the knot in Macau

relocation of industry offshore in

ÒO

the search for cheap labour; and

È

the regionalisation of China, which has been an unintended result of reform since 1978."

a

1993

The study goes on to say that the process of economic integration in southern China has been driven by individual entrepreneurs ratherthan

The happy couple outside the Bella Vista.

Lost handbags and return ferry tickets left on the wrong side of the Pearl Estuary did little to slow down the celebrations for newly wed journalists Barry

Grinrod and Christine McGee's nuptial

bash, held

Signing off After 17 years in Hong Kong Jim and Kaoru Shaw said farewell to friends and colleagues at a cockail party at the Club last November.

has

resulted from two related, but distinct processes, the study says, "Economic rèstructuring in Taiwan and Hong Kong, particularly the

o_

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

has taken usa long time to wake up to Asia," he said.

"For too long we just sat around with

ing corners of the world economy,"

qo quarry. "ln the 1990s Australia is also a Stephen Martin

8

He said that Australia had undergone

a fundamental change in attitude. "lt

"After 1997,".the study says,"Three of the four constituent parls of southern China will be formally located within the

has been one of the fastest grow-

... Asia. o Martin said: "Australia is becoming more closely integrated into the Asian region than ever before. We U

are no longer just a farm and

a lot to offer in return both as a market and as an "Australia also has

governments.

provinces of Guangdong and Fujian)

{

Paul Keating, last year made

not only in terms of raw materials but in quality services and a growing range of competent manufactured products."

He said Australia was taking a more mature approach tothe region and taking a long{erm view. "And southern China is certainly an area we can see many oppofiunities developing," he said.

Jim first came to Asia in 1

953 and had been a regu-

lar visitor since 1959.

He

worked for Pacific Stars Stripes in Tokyo for eight years;for RMK-BRJ, the big American construction conKaoru and Jim. sortium in Vietnam: The lnvestor magazine and other publications in Bangkok, and since 1972 had been the editor of Off Duty magazine for the US armed forces in Asia. ln January he took up the post as editorial director at the magazine's headquarters in Costa Mesa, California.

in Macau during the last of the warm weather.

One of Macau's

most colourful characters, Fa-

ther

Lancelot,

took charge of the blessing held on

the terrace of the freshlyspruced up Bella Vista Hotel, bef ore guests, made upof mainly

FCC members, spent the week-

end putting a sharp rise in

Barry and Mrs Grinrod observing an

Macau's end of

old Australian custom of throwing

yearalcoholsales.

your new wife through a window.

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

9

Steven Knipp and Scott Gemmell.

A

General mayhem at midnight.

Ä

Howard Wyn, Marlene Lee and Bobi Kang.A

Ilali and Wayne Merrick.A

Akw /eør's Eue øt tñe Pfrotogrøpfrs 6y lon t{ørgest Bonnie Engel, Stewart Dovey and Stewart Muir.

Marlene Lee and John Marsh.

10 THE CORRESPONDENT

A

FEBRUARY 1993

A

Heinz Grabner and the hard-working kitchen staff.A

Gretchen Tricker

& Glen Bigelow.À

Paul Bayfield and Kate Campbell.A

Fin Halligan and Nick Thompson.A

Nury Vittachi and Mary Lacey.A THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

11

The Swire Group

Bell farewell n FCC member since 1967 and the public face of Cathay Pacif ic since 1 973, David Bell

probably the best known PR man to journalists in Hong Kong, returned to Australia last December.

Friends and colleagues threw a small bash in the Wyndham room just before he left to say goodbye. Although David has set up his own PR business in Sydney he will be returning from time to time. No prizes to guess which airline he will be flying.

Far Eastern Economic Review's transport correspondent Mike Westlake (left) Kerry Mc Glynn from GIS and Bob Davis. À

Post-Bell

Veteran Daily Telegraph correspondent Clare

Fear not ye scribes of little faith. There

is "Flight After Bell".

Testimony to this is borne by Club members Ken Barrett, Ray Cranbourne and Rex Ellis, the last two being rare

David Bell with Sunday Times Far East correspondent Jon Swain and wife Claudia. V

extant examples of the species that

Offering more space

flew JBB (Junkets Before Bell).

Together

with other

Hong Kong journalists they helped Cathay usher post-Bell era by flying on Cathay's inaugural direct flight to Cebu.

Cathay has gone intoa joint venture with Philippine Airlines to tap the market in an area Cathay's commercial director M. D. Thacker describes as "a good tourist destination waiting to take off". The two airlines do return trips four times a week.

Shepherded by mother hen Nadia Stoyle, Cathay's public relations manager, overseas, the Hong Kong group stood on the spot where a Cebu Rajah - Lapu Lapu - put an untimely end to in the

\

Surrounded by the PR ladies (L-R) Iris Wong, Jill Kluge, Jill Stevens and Lynn Grebstad. V

Ferdinand Magellan's exploration in 1 521

why Japanese companies have pumped s9 much money into the Mactan Expod Processing Zone and sampled the luxurious delights of the brand new Alegre resort on Cebu's northern tip.

So any Club members wanting to do

in

- - depth piece on Cebu's bur-

geoning economy, said to be the fastest growing in the Philippines, or wanting to get away from it all, can be there in twoand-a-half hours direct.

Rex Ellis

12

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

now introduces new Marco Polo Business Class seating

with an extra two inches of legroom on all aircraft. And also on all 747s, you'll find

new, redesigned seat featuring

a convenient swivel table and fully extendable legrest for

long

distance comfort. What's more, we've dedicated the upper deck of

all our 747s exclusively to

Marco

Polo Business Class and made it smoke-free. Enhancing the space and

comfort of our cabin is yet another way

in which Cathay Pacific helps

business

travellers arrive in better shape.

.f ^l--

CATHAYPACIFIC 1993

a

,

found out

an

than ever, Cathay Pacific

Arrive in better shape.

The name of the world's I

Ma$erCard issuer

deliver the paper

By Edward Neilan

The name welcomed at more than 9 million outlets worldw

mo$ important name of al

world wide phenomenon, not a problem unique to Japan.

recruiting conscientious, healthy senior citizens to deliver the morning paper on

pick-up tracks

downsized routes suitable for their

"throwe/'

energies. lt is a solution that is working elsewhere in the world.

Japanese society will soon become the "oldest" in the world, so seniors will have to take on more responsibilities.

the daily newspaper. ln Japan, circula.

My own guess is that Grandpa Watanabe would love delivering the morning paper for a small reward, not

ln both places, recent advances in

PUT THREE BIG NAMES ON ONE SMALL CARD.

Pick up an application form today 0r call our 24-hour hotline: 8661123,

able and sports or cram schools or other distractions tug at teen-agers'

apan's problem of the "vanishing newspaper carrier boy" might be solved by the growing number of senior citizens with time on their hands.

Newspapers should give thought to

the least of which would be the feeling of "being needed."

The last two large newspaper plants that I have toured were lhe San Francisco Chronicle (circulation 600,000) in the United States and llrc Kitanippon Shimbun (circulation 300,000) in Toyama City, Japan.

Wn'vE

papers by bicycle or on foot before or after school. ln fact, as more jobs become avail-

interests, it is becoming more and more

ditficult

to recruit carrier boys. lt is a

ln the United States, housewives in

-

-

one a driver and one a

are often seen delivering

high school students) but that rate has now dropped to 25 percent, according to a report in BungeiShunju, April1992 issue. Scholarship students attending universities or special schools, housewives and foreign students have becomethe mainstays of the deliveryforce.

"Present students do not want to take the job of delivering newspapers," said commentator Soichirò Tahara: "because it is a job typical of the three K's (Kifsui or hard; kitanai or difty; kiken or dan-

gerous)."

"As even a weekly day off cannot be taken properly, they have fled, one after another." Housewives, though they will deliver evening newspapers, cannot be depended on for morning delivery because they have to send their husbands and children off to work and school.

"ln the case of foreigners," says Tahara," there are

tion departments sometimes get

many complaints

complaints that nonJapanese-speaking foreignersdelivering

omissions in delivery, But to tell the

because of delay or

truth, Japanese delivery personnel do not like them."

According to the results of a survey which the Newspa-

the morning paper may not be as con-

scientious as the previous Japanese carrier boy.

It is not a racist

per Sales Trade

observation, but a sign of shif ting employment pat-

Association carried out last year, inabil-

ity to attract new employees is the

terns.

Sales personnel of newspapers

biggest problem for the future.

computerised production were impressive but underscored a problem common to most large newspapers today: while multi-million dollar or yen invest-

throughout Japan total 470,000. Most, of course, work for the three giant papers Yomiuri (circulation 9,764,551),

called the 'black hole" of capitalism.

Around the globe, labor recruitment

ments are made in state-of-the-art

Asahi (8,255,902) and Mainichi

problems, forced sales practices, fraudu-

sophisticated production systems the

(4,132,1211. Figures are Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) totals for January

and other shortcomings hinder improve-

delivery of the paper at last depends on the carrier boy.

to June 1991.

-ln other words, technology has

These same personnel deliver Ja-

changed just about everything in the newspaper business except the means of delivery.

For sociologists it is merely a trend.

But for newspaper managers it is a

pan's English-language dailies with more modest circulations: The Japan Times,

75,000; Daily Yamiuri, 52,000; Mainichi Daily News, 20,000 (approximately) and Asahi Evening Neus, 25,000 (ap-

most countries is a stereotype in our

proximately). ln the 1960s, 70 percent of all the Japanese newspaper sales personnel

minds: a teenager happily delivering his

were "newspaper boys" fi unior and senior

headache.

The typical newspaper carrier boy in

The newspaper sales world has been

lent "protect-the-consumer" schemes ment in this particular area.

For all the technological innovations, mainly centering on television and facsimile, the electronic and laser and fibreoptic geniuses have yet to come up with a cost-effective way of replicating the "feel" of a delivered daily newspaper.

Ephemeral television "news" broadcasts orblurred fax bulletins that emerge from an electronic box on shiny paper cannot be lingered-over while sipping a

TITECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1993 15

t-t___J-L-/7

Lr-r-rs

trLltr cup of coffee, the way a newspaper can be savoured.

many young Americans.

ls that

too

severe?

The final link in the newspaper

Later, during my mid-life crisis (sup-

newsgathering-production process is still the carrier person who plops the paper on your doorstep.

posedly fulfilling every foreign correspondent's dream of running his own newspaper) as editor and publisher of lhe Alexandria (Virginia) Gazette,the

My own first job was after-school delivery of a local newspaper in a small city in Los Angeles County. lt was Culver City, California, to be exact, the home of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

The paper was the Evening Star-News, which has long since disappeared.

At the time, delivering newspapers was thought of as an ideal entry into the job market for boys of all family income levels. "lt will help you learn the value of money," my father said approvingly. ln those days, being a newspaper carrier and a Boy Scout were stepping stones to manhood for young American. Now, being the pink-haired lead guitarist in a punk rock group seems to

be a more attractive role model for

biggest problem was delivery. Even a

decade ago, boys found other, more attractive things to do in the afternoons than deliver "America's Oldest Daily." ln fact, we found seniors to be the most steady and reliable segment of

our sales and delivery force. Some delivered as few as 40 papers. They also were persistent in soliciting new

paper carriers. Most seniors like to get up early in the morning and most have a good work ethic that is not sufficiently challenged by playing endless games of gateball.

To accommodate senior newspaper carriers, the routes could be madesmaller and the deliveries could be made on foot or by bicycle. With new non-smudge ink being used, the job no longer is dirty, or particularly dangerous.

Such is the changing society in many countries that an individual's employment may go f ull circle: his f irst job at 1 6 as a newspaper carrier also may turn out to be his last occupation at 70.

THERE'S ALWAYS

A STORYAT

THE

HONG I(ONG TRADE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL I I 1

)

orders.

Looking at the population profile in Japan, there may be on the horizon a solution to the problem of the "vanishing newspaper carrier boy."

Edward Neilan is an absent member of the FCC and North Asian Correspon-

dent for the San Francisco Chronicle.

With Japan's population becoming older, more senior citizens should be given the opportunity to become news-

THË ZOO

BY ARTH U F. HACK E R

IT

S YESTERÞAY,S CHICKEN

BCI LEÞ IN LAsT YEARS BE.AUJ OLAIS NOUVEAU

n JI

)

Ihe Hong Kong Trode Development Councll con help you moke business heodlines every doy of the yeor, As o mojor force in world trode you'll find we've olwoys got o good story to Tell: no podding, no puff ond bocked by occurote, up-toJhe-moment figures ond stoti$ics, Next time you receive one of our press releoses, give it o good once-over, You'll soon see whot we meon, Or contoct us jf you need detqils on ony ospect of Hong Kong trode,

^( td

Willi ó85-2ó Gobdello frcpsok {óóó47ó . ldonbul Yokup Borouh Tel:

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Hong Kong Heod Oflce Showki Sofeddine Telr

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¡ Peler Leung

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. Slngopore Andy LimÏel:293'7977 . Slockholm Mor¡o Peterson-Sondow Yomoshito Tel: 3502 325'1/5 . Ioronlo Henry Ng fel: 3óó-3594 . voncouver

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Hong Kong Trade Development Council We Creote Opportunilies

16

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1993

,t

Mexlco Morio Viclorio Acêvedo !el:572-4143. Mloml John

Heod Office: 381h Floor, Office Tower, Convenlion Plozo, 4 Horbour Rood, Wonchoi, Hong Kong. Tel: (852) SB4 4333 Fox: [BS2] 924 O24q

A traveller tells a tale (or two) or the f irst time since the Opium

Wars, Hong Kong is on the lips of London's chattering classes: every day, newspapers, TV and radio record the vagaries of the stockmarket following the latest blast in the dialogue of the deaf between Peking and the supporters of Governor Patten's proposals for a modicum of democracy.

The Foreign Office Sinologist Man-

darins have been flushed out of their closet, or at least their mastermind Sir

By Derek Davies as the paparazzi might say to Princess Di.

f ack Spackman, in his obituary of rl the late Francis James in The Correspondent a couple of issues ago made a lugubrious reference to my reI always thought that the Australian press

lations with the master spoofer.

Percy Cradock has. He itwas who moved 10

never really appreciated the high humour of that anarchic departed spirit,

Downing Street, first as Margaret Thatcher's, and, until last summer, as John

and the way in which his own petard got him hoisted into jail for a couple of years

Major's special advisor on foreign affairs; it was he who squashed the effort to persuade Thatcher to agree a halfelected Legco by predicting that the Chinese would send the PLA in; and it was he, Mandarin-in-chief, who urged

by the Chinese authorities, who are even less humorous than your average

from the embassy

in

Peking

to

or deference, to Peking by following a policy of negotia-

non-confrontation,

ting "tenaciously" but never risking

a

rupture (a bottom line Peking has with greater tenacity exploited). He rounded

off this performance by attending a HKTDC dinner in Patten's honour in London recently and stuck a knife in the

governor's back ribs by loudly describing his modest proposals for reform as

"fatal, fatal, fatal". Power without responsibility is no longer the prerogatÂĄve of the whore of the press; the Mandarins fully qualify.

The blanket press coverage is

a

measure of London's insularity. Over the past 40 years or so, Hong Kong's past successes and travails rarely rated

more than

a couple of

paragraphs, downpage six, column eight. I know it sounds unlikely, but if one of the For-

eign Office types who have decided Hong Kong's destiny had provoked China's wrath, it would still have been a minor story. But Chris Patten is a name, and could well play some future role in resuscitating the battered Tory Party from the disarray into which John Major and the clowns around him have plunged it. So, Hong Kong is in the news. Enjoy,

to a dinner at the Hilton Grill with Dick Hughes on the eve of James's first great China trip, when he solemnly told us of his ambitious plans to penetrate what was then an enigma, visited only by fellow travellers such as Felix Green, Han Suyin and other sycophants. Dick, then the Hong Kong correspondent for the London Sunday llmes, was as always, generous in his estimate of

fellow pressmen, and Francis had him nicely softened up.

Weeks later Francis James's account

of his fantastic journey began to appear, not only in the Sunday limes but in European and American publications,

all of which paid large sums for these

scoops. But the stories for me smacked of the James gift for fairy tales, and I did a bit of digging. ln my column Traveller's Tales, (Far Eastern Economic Review), I pointed out various anomalies: his photographs of PLA troops showed them wearing badges of rank, which Peking had abolished the previous year; the ones of buildings (such as the gaseous diffusion plant at Lanzhou) were so blurredtheycould have been taken anywhere; it was impossible to drive to Lop Nor f rom Urumchi in just over two hours, as he had claimed; he'd gotthe number of the Chinese nuclear test he said he'd witnessed wrong - all this apart from the inherent improbability of the whole escapade, which Davies re-examines the 'master spoofer'. allegedlyclimaxed with James riding in company with a unit of Chinese Ozzie pressman chasing a story. The cavalry along the lli valley, later crossman who claimed, with a straight face, ing the Sinkiang border into the Soviet that he got into a Sydney taxi and, by an Union to be welcomed by a Russian amazing coincidence, discovered his intelligence colonel he'd befriended in a own securityfile on the backseat, treated World War ll German prison camp. life as an extended series of practical My barefoot reporters, as Dick would jokes, the main joke being that a lot of say, confirmed that James had been people took him seriously. I often sussighted in both Kabul and Switzerland pected that his editorship of the church during the weeks he claimed he was in publication, The Anglican was an exChina. And to clinch matters I got the tended piece of satire.

Hong Kong manager of PanAm to conThe story of this incarceration in Canton firm that James was a passenger on its dated back, as far as I was concerned, Flight One to Bangkok and Europe on

18 THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

the day after he had dined with Dick Hughes and myself. Allthis I delightedly wrote up, treating the whole affair as the

Tr

h" same issue oĂ? The Correspondenf contained farewells to David

Bell, to whose good offices with Cathay Pacific I was just as indebted as other

magnificent spoof it always was: anyone who couldtakethose naive, chequebook-waving editors for large sums of money had my enthusiastic vote.

flying three kids

But James over-reached himself . Later he went back into China on, it was said,

the UK, and I rarely

a false passport and was duly arrested and jailed.

On the day, nearly two years later, when James was released into Hong Kong, I was telephoned late at night by Gregory Clark, then correspondent for The Australian. I have the greatest respect for Clark as an academic (he

was later to teach both my sons at Tokyo's Sophia University), but I have not much regard for the way he gained access to the exhausted James as he was stretched across the border to get some quotes for a long f eatu re on James he had written in advance. Gravely Clark told me that James had told him that he was going to "stick me with the biggest libel suit in journalism's history," that he would give me documentary proof of his trip into China but only using himself (Clark) as a Chinese speaking interme-

diary. Smelling

a large rat (after

all,

James had had plenty of time to take exception to the Traveller's Tale before he ventured back into China) and despite the late hour, wife Shizue and I got dressed and walked along to the Matilda hospital, where James was recovering.

Reluctantly, the sister let us into his room (he'd just taken his sleeping pill).

He was sitting up in bed, propped by many pillows. When he saw us, he

threw wide his arms: "Dear boy," he said.

So much for the libel suit. Of course, Francis stuck to his China story, promising to send me the documentation proving he'd done all he claimed (equally predictably, he never did). He came round to the flat for dinner on the following night, and Shizue played the piano.

pressmen; possibly more so, as for some years we were burdened with

up here," he said.

Theface disappeared.

Later, coinciding with the port and Stilton, a second small head appeared,

also calling on Dad. "Get back," David said. "Go and join your mother."

Across the aisle

a large Australian

back and forth to

remembered to makethebookings well in advance.

David had his own story about flying

with

sub-load

status (Cathy employeesflyfor next to nothing but must give way to paying customers) They (wife plus

tow youngsters) were going to Oz-

land on family leave. The plane was crowded, and

when the seats had been allo-

James over-reached himself in China.

cated, all that was available was one in First class and three in Economy. "You take the single First Class; I'll stay back with the kids," his wife selflessly offered.

David was just tucking into his caviare and sipping his schnapps when a small

had watched these exchanges carefully. He ordered a bottle of champagne. when it came, he offered it to David. "lt's yours," he said "as long as you tell me your secret."

head appeared through the curtain dividing the moguls from the hoi polloi.

"Dad, dad," it said. David was embarrassed: "You're not supposed to come

the Far Eastern Economic Review.

Derek Davies was the former editor of

HKJA Appeal The HKJA and some members have established a special account, called

the Ma Chi Keung MedicalAccount, to collect contributions donated by members and fellow journalists. lf you would like to contribute to the

fund send cheques to the HKJA office 6/F Diamond Mansion,462 Lock-

Later, from his home in Sydney, he

hart Road, Hong Kong and make

wrote a typical thank-you note which I reproduce here, just to assure Jack Spackman that , as he would put it, we were, after all, good mates.

them payable to Ma Chi Keung Medical

Account.

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1993

19

LY

POND

Getting the facts across here will soon be another employer in town, a news agency

which swears it aims only to repoft factual developments. So what's new about that? lt's the English section

of the China News Service, Beijingowned but Hong Kong-based whose top executive admits his staff may find themselves working in competition with Xinhua.

Founded a year ago and set up in the Ta Kung Pao building in Hennessy Road, the English seruice translates selected stories form the China News Service.

That's about to change. They plan to hire a team of Hong Kong repoders to help expand a news servicethat's heavy on the facts of China's economic development.

The English section, which is autonomous, is headed by an engaging professional journalist.

BY

ARTHUR HACKER

This lovely silk screen print of Bali was beautifully printed by the famous Coriander Studio in London.

Copies are on view at the Main Dining Room of the Foreign Correspondent's Club, 2 Lower Albert Road and Fabric Fair,4Ă&#x; Ho Lee Commercial Building, 38-42 D' Aguilar Street, Central

Silk Screen Print in Six colours Edition 500 Printed by Coriander Studio Published by Arthur Hacker 1984 Size: 43 x 22.5 inches Price HK$1,250 unframed

Send this form and your cheque to Arthur Hacker Ltd., Suite F, 8th Floor, Crystal Court, Discovery Bay, Lantau, Hong Kong.

Beautifully printed in a limited edition of 500 it is available

numbered copies signed by the artist, HK$1,250 post free from:

Arthur Hacker Ltd., Suite F, 8th Floor, Crystal Court, Discovery Bay, Hong Kong.

Tel: 987 9043 Fax: 987 9072 Pager: 1139933 call 1945 Cheques payable to Arthur HackeÂĄ Ltd.

ORDER FORM Name

Date

Delivery address

Telephone Please send

Signature

_

No. of copies HK$1,250 each

China in news agencies or other journalistic jobs, sees his task as forging economic understanding between China and foreign business circles in Hong Kong,

"We're different from Xinhua,"

ible. lt's our view that economic matters are more impoftant than poli-

tics.

young reporter in his hometown of Manila,

he worked on the well-known daily

of economic

newspaper Fukien Times, lt catered to the large and significant Chinese community in the Filipino capital.

Headlines were exciting. ln the ancestral homeland, the final victory was being hard won from the Kuomintang. ln Tiananmen Square, Chairman Mao had proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic, sending an electric shock of excitement th rou gh Chinatowns around the world.

ment.

Like many other idealistic young people,

Wang answered the call to help build the new China.

Today, Wang is chief of the English department of the China News Seruice.

It is his responsibility to spread accurate, factual and up-to-date news about China to non-Chinese readers.

Unlike virtually all Chinese government offices in Hong Kong which have their head offices in Beijing, the English department of the China News Service is headquartered in Hong Kong.

Wang, an amiable professional journalist who has spent all his 42 years in

he

explains to potential clients. At present, more than a dozen consulate and international news services pay a very reasonable $800 a month for the batch of specialised stories which are faxed daily in English.

"Xinhua is official. We are more flex-

"We devote a lot of our efforts to explaining trade, business, finance, investment and other aspects

When Wang Chengshu was an eager

specified significance

By Kevin Sinclair

to

non-Chinese

business readers are translated into English, if necessary expanded with extra facts culled from the mainland, then sent out in the daily batch of eight to 12 news stories.

"We've got our own sources that allow us to expand on stories of special interest to foreigners. '"[he emphasis is on the overall economic development in China," Wang says, "We tell people first."

Foreign investors cannot take part in prof itable developments unless they

know

aboutthem, he says. Hence a stress on joint ventures, new developments infrastructure and resources and new businesses.

As the English news

I I

team of local reporters.

The English service has seven clients in Manila, three in Bangkok and one in Singapore.

do not read Chinese, they

"lf a client wants an exclusive story on a

may not know of oppor-

special subject, say oil

tunities developing in

exploration in the South China Sea, we can arrange to have that covered for an extra charge," Wnag says. ln addition to hefty coverage of economic matters, the English seruice also focuses on other areas like education, health and social matters.

There is also, of course, coverage of political matters. But, stresses Wang Chengshu, economics takes the lead.

"lf people in Hong Kong

China."

China News Service, the mother organisation, was founded by journalists in Beijing in 1952. Many of them were overseas Chinese, a trend that remains today. Directors from Hong Kong include such veteran luminaries

of

I

department expands, Wang plans to hire a

develop-

as Li Zisong, publisher

I

Wen Wai Po.

Others are Li Xiawen, chairman of the boaqd of Ta Kung Po. Li Cengjun, publisher of Macau Daily News, and Chen Fuli, a prominent photographer.

China News Seruice has about 40 editorial statf in Hong Kong. lt has offices and bureaux in every province and major city of China. Their repofts go to

Kevin Sinclair is freelance journalist.

a

columnist and

E

Beijing for compilation and are dispatched to subscribers worldwide. ln Hong Kong, the Chinese language reports are read by editors of the English news department. Reports with

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1993 2L

I

I

AROUND THE REGION

Dateline.

o o Sydney

By Ron Knowles

doxes of our times that as legisla-

journalists to disclose confidential sources

are becoming more intense.

One former journalist has already served time in Queensland and a repoderwith the ABC television programme Four Corners was recently ordered by a Supreme Court judge to reveal a source.

This was soon followed by a move from erstwhile Elders IXL boss John Elliott to seek Supreme Couft leverage to prise the names of sources from the ABC. Once again the scene is set for public clashes between the courts and journalists' sworn ethical duty to protect sources of information.

While lawyers get rich and judges get angry, journalists gettrouble. When asked to name a source, they have to look the judge squarely in the eye and tell him or her, with the greatest respect, to get

lost. No matter how much respect is mustered, it amounts to contempt in the eyes of the law. And you can be sent to

jailfor it.

That happened to former Brisbane Courier-Mail reporter Joe Budd in Queensland last March after he thrice denied Supreme Court Justice Dowsett the name of a confidential government source referred to in a story he had

written about alleged police miscon-

let the resl sonform

duct. Budd was sentenced to two weeks in jail and actually spent six days in the slammer before being released.

All this legal muscle to extract a few names from reluctant journalists would be merely another example of the law making an ass of itself if it were not that people's liberties are at stake. And that is the least of it.

For if journalists are not prepared to risk their liberty against the disposition of a judge provoked by defiance, disclosure of wrong-doing willdiminish. Those

the leak. She felt forced to take this step and pressure falling on her coileagues. The principled Tisdall was subsequently jailed for six months. Preston is still the editor of The Guardian, a well-paid and prestigious post in British journalism.

to avoid unwarranted suspicion

t is one of the nicer legal paration to protect whistle blowers in Australia is becoming increasingly accepted, if not welcomed, pressures on

Markings on the documents enabled the authorities to focus their hunt on a small department. A young clerical worker, Sarah Tisdall, came forward to announce that she was responsible for

who have secrets to tell to journalists will not accept the chances of having their cover blown and we will be the poorer. Corruption, malpractice and negligence will continue unchecked by exposure.

Not all journalists have the resolution

to stick by their professional code to protect a source. There has been at least one spectacular failure to do so.

Nine years ago Ministry of Defence documents were deposited at the office

of The

Guardian

newspaperin London

by an ano-nymous source. They showed that the Minister of Defence, Michael Heseltine, had lied to the House of Commons about the deployment of US nuclear missiles in Britain.

The

Guardian,

which prides itself on its libertarian tradition,

Courage and journalistic ethics are not always casualties of legal bullying and it is interesting that in the Four Corners case in Australia the Supreme Court ordered the executive producer Marian Wilkinson and "an appropriate officer of the ABC" to appear with reporter Neil Mercer to answer questions on the identity of Mercer's informant.

The affair is showing uncanny paral-

lels with the Steel Mole case which excited the imagination of Britain during 980.

It arose from a long and bitter pay strike by workers of the nationalisedBritishSteel 1

Once agaยกn the Sรงene iS Set fOr publยกc clashes between the CourtS Corporation(BsC)-

and ยก Sw'fn to prot of information.

was delighted by its scoop and trumpeted

the first industrial test of strengthconfronted bY the newlY elected conservativegovern-

ment of Margaret Thatcher. The outstanding television current affairs pro-

it across its front page. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was furious -- not

gramme of that time, World in Action, produced documentary evidence that

that her minister was scheming with the US military to deceive the people of Britain and their Parliament, but that he had been caught doing it. She immediately launched the full weight of the security services to discover and plug the leak.

It was made clear to The Guardian that the documents were to be handed over to help trace their source. Failure to surrender them would be met with a law suit and possible heavy fines or jail

the BSC had put forward false statistics in justification of its hard line against the

for contempt. Heroism beckoned the editor, Peter Preston, but he was looking the other way. Preston capitulated.

unions. ln the context the document appeared to prove that the BSC, at the government's behest, had deliberately provoked a showdown with its workers.

The documents had obviously been leaked to World ln Action and BSC applied to the High Court for a legal order to force World ln Action's parent company, Granada Television,to identify the "mole". The court duly obliged and Granada appealed against the ruling. ln the meantime the strike was settled-well into itsthird month-when

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

23

BSC agreed to pay 16% rises. The original offer had been 2"/".

A furtherthree months laterthe House of Lords announced that Granada must name the "mole" within seven days. Six

days passed before lawyers acting for Granada's leading directors, Lord Bernstein and Lord Grade, told the House of Lords that their clients could not name the "mole" for the very good reason that they did not know the name.

The only person at Granada who did know the identity of the "mole" was World ln Action journalist Laurie Flynn, to whom the "mole" had entrusted the

damning information in exchange for Flynn's pledge to protect his anonymity.

As the uncompromising Flynn told a colleague at the time: "A journalist who

reveals a source not only betrays that source ... he betrays his profession, he betrays his union and he betrays himself ."

The law had been brought to a sorry pass.

The case had been brought against

the Granada lords and sundry minor gentry on the board as the personification of the company. They could hardly flout the highest court in the land, the House of Lords, which clearly could not allow its writto be ignored. The Granada bosses could only implore Flynn to give

PEN NEWS

of the world and that is the plight of Salman Rushdie.

.

The writer still lives under the shadow of a death sentence which is backed up by an enormous reward offered to his killers.

PEN centres around the world have

Educating the world's media

By Fred Armentrout

ne of the outstanding features of lnternational PEN's

committed themselves

for Albanians living in the province of Kosovo, for the Serbian authorities to respect the human and cultural rights of the people.

The congress also urged the Albanian writers and intellectuals in Kosovo to agree to open a dialogue with the by an appeal,

The international PEN family was enlarged during the congress by the

and submitted to the congress, which was

insisting on the need for measures to be taken to stamp out the plague.

unanimously adopted, a resolution addressed to

mously adopted a reso-

admission of a Panamanian centre, an Azerbaijani centre, a centre for African Writers Abroad, and a centre for Chinese Writers Abroad.

This last addition will enrich and supplement PEN's presence in Asia.

The congress expressed its concern

Delegates unani-

the authorities of the republics of f ormer Yugoslavia asking them to allow the return of all

lution requesting the German government and all the constituent bodies of that country,

their citizens who

to take urgent measures

sional code, the Granada lords squirmed

amnesty and an end to

and the House of Lords waited.

Then, after three days, the deadlock

compulsorymilitaryseruice.

An appeal was also issued requesting writ-

against the xenophobic violence in an effoft to fight neo-Nazi tendencies and safeguard the life and dignity of foreigners living in Germany.

The human rights situ-

The

Correspondent.

24

TIJE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

world.

veloping in Europe and stressed the gravity of the situation,

problem.

had

of the FCC and former editor of

the conscience of the contemporary

at the xenophobia and racial hatred de-

democratic elements in Serbia to try and work out a peaceful solution to the

fled their homes rather than take paft in a war

Bon Knowles is an absent member

to urge their

governments to raise the question with the United Nations, and its Secretary General, with a view to international action being taken against this affront to

The attention of the congress having been drawn to the fact that the picture of ethnic minorities and the peoples of the Third World given by the world media is too often a negative one, it resolved to draw the media's attention to their duty to correct this situation.

Congress in Rio recently was participation the active of its five centres from former Yugoslavia.

Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Slovene and Macedonian writers were able to unite to affirm the unity of writers and intellectuals, over and above political conflicts.

Together they drafted

them the name. The only penalty they a could threaten was to sack him which ludicrously inadequate sanction, they were wise enough not to employ.

So, while Flynn stood by his profes-

was broken by an exquisitèly fashioned British compromise. British Steel panjandrums announced that they did not wish to pursue the matter because they had independently discovered the identity of the "mole". The case was withdrawn.

.

which they condemned.

The resolution also demanded a general

ers and intellectuals, and

Salman Rushdie: his death sentence is an affront to the conscience of the world.

in particular those directly concerned in the conflict, to work for the maintenance and development of dialogue and to oppose every statement which could feed nationalistic or racial hatred and foster violence.

The signatories of this appeal, and the congress as a whole, reaffirmed their commitmentto the seruice of peace and requested that war criminals be identified and sentenced without delay.

These resolutions were complemented

1993

To reinforce PEN's footing in Africa, it

ship.

The congress, in adopting the report of its Writers in Prison Committee, drew the attention of the Turkish government in particular to the death threats issued, and often carried out, against its Turkish citizens.

One writer's case is particularly distressing for PEN and for the conscience

is intended to ask well-known writers

result of which the nazi writers were

there to act as roving ambassadors to

forced to leave the organisation.

make better known the terrible suffering of the populations in a number of these countries and to foster a dialogue between peoples and states which exist in a state of permanent war.

The next international PEN congress willtake place in April in Dubrovnik.

It will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the congress held there in 1933 as a

We hope that it will be the occasion of

the renaissance of the Pearl of the Adriatic and the re-establishment of peace in that region.

Fred Armentrout is president of PEN Hong Kong.

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ation throughout the world becomes more

and more alarming.

Killings of journalists are multiplying to such an exterû that they have come to constitute a terrible form of censor-

Germany's neo-Nazis on the rise again.

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THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

25

BOOK REVIEW competition between the unprofitable but prestigious çjenergl news side and the vastly more lucrative financial services side. Moving markets is far more profitable than providing news to the general public.

The bottom line: How Reuters made the news wire services (excepting those few large

suggested in the title of its

enough to afford their own foreign correspondents), is about the same age as British Hong Kong.

Reuters was actually third in the race to provide what today we would call the "software" of telegraphy, following the French Havas and German Wolff agencies.

They were wholesalers and Read's description of Paul Julius Reuter, who

ography, written by British historian Donald Read, to promote itself and its book to its corporate clients around the world.

Companies commission histories so as to share their success stories with posterity.

Such books can also serve tactical purposes, like gaining wider acceptance of new leadership by honourably bury-

'l'l-lc Power of Ncws '

ll

'll

rr , ll ll l:;ilrr

¡rr ol

Rcuters

ing the old. This would seem to be an

launched the company in London in 1851 , drives home the point that the founder's genius lay not in finding or

underlying rationale for Read's com-

reporting news but in knowing what

mtsston.

could be profitably done with it.

"He was a great news entrepreneur.

His book celebrates the success of

the multinational purveyor of financial

During the second and third quarters of

information that Reuters has become, with pretax profits having grown from

ï)()l\, \t I) l{t,.\l)

the nineteenth century news was

stg3.9 million in 1980 to st9283.1 million in 1989 and staff having grown from just under 3,000 to over 10,000 in the same period.

Read's careful scrutiny of how well Reuters has adhered to its founding

The Power of News: The history of Reuters

by Donald Read Oxford University Press $340 Reviewed by Fred Armentrout

principles, and goals established in its era as a press organisation trust, draws damming conclusions about individuals and specific dirty deals (eg propagandists for England, spies, business lies and hidden subsidies form government) that serve the purpose of putting the woolly old lion in winter of its past ties to British imperialism behind, making way for the new supranational perspective of a global corporation.

Read's conclusions express the noblesse oblige ol the successful heirs looking at the failings of their forebears,

accuracy he set impartiality in news distribution. He was to be less clearly successful in achieving objectivity in news reporting.

The Reuter Trust Agreement, first drawn up in 1941 and still in force, pro-

claims that the first objective of the company is "to maintain in every event its position as the leading world news agency," states Read in his preface, a goal implicit in the two generations of Reuter family management that had preceded it.

both business and general news, not its usefulness as a packager of financial software services. And it's the field jour-

more's question about pro-Western bias.

It was, Macdowall suggested, a matter not of bias but of writing for a market.

nalists who inevitably drive the conscience of the organisation, as they must most immediately live with the

Most Reuter subscribers were located in Western orWesternised countries. 'lf we cater primarily for the West it should

But Reuters credibility has always

euters has used all the might recently released corporate bi-

been tied to its principled repoding of

trayed by their own wishful thinking as we were. Analyses we wrote atthe time saying this must be the end of the Deng Xiaoping era were at least premature. I wish I could go back and insert a few more 'But on the other hand...'

In the December 1990 number of Highlights, Macdowall answered Din-

be-

coming an oppoftunity commodity. lf Reuter had lived two generations earlier, in late eighteenth-century England, he might well have dealt in cotton, the opportunity-commodity of the industrial revolution... He chose news as his interest because in his day it was becoming marketable as never before," Read writes.

Telegraphy conquered space and time and Reuters followed the wire of the British empire, for the wire was also very much in the service of the conquest of territory and new markets.

All of the wire services of the time were internationalist because it matched the outlook of their Victorian era clients.

The power of news to assist and be assisted by imperialism is left for an-

Macdowall.

[Reuters was very successful in its repofting of the great events of 1989.

Was it none the less unconsciously biased? ln the internal editorial magazine, Highlights, for April 1990 Dinmore asked some questions from Peking, typical of the commendable self-questioning often to be fÒund among Reuter

journalists:

Are we really a 'world information agency' as we rather pompously like to

Reuters credibility is tied to its principled reporting.

claim? Or, at least in news coverage, is Reute rs stil I ve ry much a Weste rn-based, Western-looking organisation? Whose views do we express?

Watching events unfold in Eastern Europe, I couldn't help but sense some-

not be because of ethnic or cultural bias

times that elation in our repoding had crossed that busy boundary into glee...

It was irresistible that the 'collapse of communism in Eastern Europe'would be portrayed as just that. But does it, as our and other commentaries often imply, vindicate what is left in the West?

Dinmore then turned to recent cover-

quaners. Such

book would surely

he placed accuracy, and alongside

fed to newspapers and magazines by

draw out the longstanding tension and

mates or otheruvise - - were as much be-

26

TIJE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

a

Fìeuters

name on the world's business screens.

between Guy Dinmore, chief correspon-

news", and often was. But above speed

Read tells us in his introduction that "Reuter had set out to be first with the

Also promised by Read, in a third vol-

ume, is a look at the major bureaux of Reuters through its history. Read admits that this book is focused on head-

the daily appearance of the

dent in Beijing during the days of the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, and Reuters chief editor in London, lan

Read's title, The Power ofNews, begs more questions than his book answers.

News delivery as we know it, meaning

wafts and all.

were finance houses; 25 per cent were business corporations; six per cent were government organisations."

The self-analyses and codes of conduct driven by its general news side are what underpin popular belief in its corporate ethics. Lose that and Reuters just becomes one amongst many competing dealing terminals.

This is what Read describes as the "more elusive threat", which results from

consequence of inaccuracy or bias.

The dynamic that has made of Reuters a great news organisation is best expressed in an exchange of views

age of his own terr¡tory, China. He described this as' a sobering experience', apparently suggesting that pro-Western bias had revealed itself in the form of too much optimism about the outcome, from himself among others: The source we often quoted -- diplo-

other volume to scrutinise.

were in the media; some 60 per cent

but because we pay most attention to the needs of those clients who pay us most for our services.' On the other hand emphasised Macdowall, Reuters did aspire to provide information to the whole world. lt must therefore strike a balance between commercial considerations and our ethical obligation to provide a news seruice whose values transcends colour, creed or religion.l ' Read gives a closer look at who read Reuters in a profile of its 1989 customers: "ln 1989 revenue from media products totalled stg78.4 million, whereas revenue from transaction products amounted to st9162.7 million and from information products st9945.8 million.

There were 16,000 customers receiv-

ing Reuters news and information worldwide on over 200,000 screens.

Only nine percent of these customers

Before closing in the obligatory rousing epilogue, Read poses the most discomfiting questions facing today's management: "Reuter products had become

vital and visible tools of the capitalist system. Had Reuters unwittingly become a tool of the system in a second sense of the word 'tool'? Had it contributed to the rise of the materialists 'yuppie' culture of the 1980s? ln Sweden

and else where the yuppie condition was defined as possession of a fat salary, a red Porsche and a Reuter terminal'."

It's like asking if Boesky and Milken suffered for Reuters'sins, with perhaps just enough truth in the suggestion of the organisation's unintended complicity in the dirty deals of the 1980's to threaten its otherwise impossible credibility.

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

ts

1993

27

þr,rr-O You Q¡f.ugC,oLlvg oFF A P€ruSloe.r 1O

LETTER Call for non-smoking

areas

LAST OCTOBER, I wrote to the Board of Governors asking for

some restric-

tions on smoking in the Club. This suggestion was rejected.

There has now been yet more evidence that directly links passive smoking to death and serious illnesses for non-smokers.

I believe there is now compelling and frightening proof that non-smokers are having their health imperilled by those who choose to smoke.

I feel very strongly it is the responsibility of the Board of Governors to heed these medical reports.

What I suggest is not, I believe, outrageous. I asked the Board if they could provide some area of the Club where people could have a meal and a drink without having their lives put at risk by smoke.

I suggested the top floor be declared

nicotine to have some refuge.

a smokejree zone. lf this was too

FACT: A Californian university medical

ambitious (one floor out of three) then how about making the veranda area a dining region where nobody was allowed to smoke.

study shows restaurant workers are twice as likely to die of lung cancer as

There was apparently some debate over this issue at the next Board meeting. My ideas were rejected.

I am no fanatic. lf people wish to smoke and kill themselves, that's their business.

lf they want to smoke and kill me, it becomes my business.

I feel having the veranda declared a non-smoking area is a very reasonable and minimal request. lt would provide a

sanctuary .

I am not trying to stop people smoking in the bar, workroom, by the pool tables or other areas. But I do feel it is fair for those of us who do not want to breathe in other people's second-hand

other workers. Why? They constantly breathe in expelled cigarette smoke.

FACT: The US government has now come out with scientific findings that show passive smoking kills victims who do not smoke.

FACT: The Board of Governors of the FCC, despite requests by Members, refuses to provide a non-smoking area in any dining section of the Club.

I disagree strongly with the Board's stance. I shall be urging Members to ask those standing for the next elections to publicly state their views and to vote for Governors who are committed to providing some measure of protection.

-

OC,. Llvg ,N A Pe^ls,o N?

Kevin Sinclair

^rsloÚ

NEV/ MEMBERS The FCC welcomes the following new members

Andrew Lynch, assistant features editor, South China Morning Post

Correspondent Chihiro Ajima, Hong Kong correspondent, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) James Areddy, bureau chief, AP-Dow Jones Claude-Laurent Ballouhey, correspondent, ANSA NewsAgency William Beamen, Asian bureau chiel, Reader's Digest Louise Bowman, journalist, Euromoney

Susie Chiang, director, Free China Review Peter de Krassel, correspondenl, Asia Beat Andrew Gun, photo edilor, Asia lnc Mary Kwang, correspondenl, Straits Times Neal McGrath, finance edilor, Far East Trade Press Diana Murlel, deputy news manager, lnternational Television News Agency

Kiyoshi Okamura, correspondent, Asahi Broadcasting Corporation

Marc Perton, research edilor, Asia lnc Andrew Roche, journalist, Reuters Steven Strasser, Asia regional edilor, Newsweek Robert Taggart, deputy news pictures edilot, Reuters Eric Thirer, cameraman, BBC Television Deuk Yoon, bureau chief, The Dong-A llbo

Journalist Richard Jemison, senior producer, StarTV

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

Associate Phillip Bruce, corporate atfairs manager, Provisional Airport Authority Steven Burnham, slockbroker, Oakes Fitzwilliams & Co Frank Chao, executive president, Wah Kwong Shipping Hold-

1993

c(olLlÐlRlilDxGlÐco)lLlÐ.&lRl(o)lBllÐlRì]f ss(o)N

ings

Coleridge Cole & Robertson 20e sherr t"i'"Tl centrar, Hons Kons 3tu2r?i?"i;:Ëäi

Donald Cheung, corporate affairs manager (Far East) Apple Computer lnternational David Fitzpatrlck, barrister Robin Forster, associate director, Ove Arup & Partners Dicky Goh, general manager, Singapore Press Holdings Andrew Hart, solicitor, Stephenson Harwood & Co Steven Hazelwood, partner, lnce & Co Anthony Payne, manager, Deegins Ltd Aleksandar Potkonjak, manager, Unibros (Holdings) Ltd Neil Reeder, first secretary and consul, Commission for Canada Patrick Soh, regional operations, Merrill Lynch (Asia Pacific) Rowena Tse, director, Citicorp Nelson Hurst Deepak Uttamchandani, director, Deetex lndustries

Robert Wallace, consultant Henry Woo, managing director, W & WTrading

Janet Kaye, f reelance photographer

28

Fiona MacMahon, reporter, South China Morning Post Suzanne Miao, news edilor, Media and Marketing Edward Naylor,produceÀpresenter, Metro Broadcasting lnge Sundstrup, sub editor, The Standard

Please provide me with more information on your services.

I am (please tick the appropriate boxes):

T Without school fee arrangements tr Without pension arrangements T Without suitable life cover

I

I

T

u

Looking for residential finance ln need of university fee advice ln a muddle and need help

Concerned my existing arrangements may be inadequate

Name

Tel (Home)

Address

Tel (Office) Date

PRESIDENT'S LETTER

MANAGER'S REPORT

And the next party is hope everyone enjoyed the succession of holidays. New Years

Eve was again a very successful night with the last revellers leaving the bar at 7.30 on New Years morning.

We are preparing for the next big

night ... the llthanniversary celebra-

tion of the Club in lce House

Street

which will be on Friday, April 30.

Make sure you make a note of it in

your diary because

it is going to

be

another epic evening.

give you access to over 50,000 full text quality repofts from publishers like Frost & Sullivan, Economist lntelligence Unit, Euromonitor, Strategy 2000, Packaged Facts, MIRC, USA Monitor, Business lnternational and many more.

You can search across all of them or stipulate a single publisher and publication date.

Coverage includes food industries, banking and finance, computing and electronics, pharmaceutical and cos-

a discount.

Club members can access the service from their homes, offices and from

metics, marketing and retailing,

of howlongyoustay on

The popular

fondue evening we reintroduced on January 28 will continue every Tuesday and Friday as

in-

vestment and insurance, chemicals, engineering, accountancy and taxa-

the new Club Press Room provided they have communications software for access to other computers such as Xtalk, Procom, Smartcom and Vicom.

The cost to join is US$50 a year, discounted by US$200 a yearbecause of our collective Club agreement with MAID.

On-line charges are the combination and how much -viewed.

-connectfees

you have retrieved or

The

connect fees are about half of what the nearest competition was charging.

the cold weather lasts. arc seruing beef and

long as

We

Subs to go up

oaa

cheese fondue menus with aPpetizers, salad and desert buffet

There is no monthly minimum

to choose from. ln line with our now traditional food theme night - Tuesday,

charge and MAID will provide every Club member who joins their own password and num-

February 23 and Tuesday, March 23 will feature lndian and ltalian specialties respectively.

ber, with which to log on from home, office or FCC. Members will be billed monthly by MAID for usage.

Press room

Late last year we

installed

Steve Vines tours the press room wÂĄth a new user - Ted Somebody.

modems in two of the four computers for access to Market Analysis and lnformation Databases (MArD).

MAID offers more than just simPle on-line access to the world's market research publishers and the fastest and most cost effective news retrieval seruice. lt is an executive business information service designed to meet the needs of management in tracking the competition, market and technology developments and consumer trends.

Its unique lnfosort sottware enables you to search by companY, brand, product, country, name, phrase - or even a single word - across more than 50,000 market research reports of full text articles from thousands of newspapers and business journals with a single search instruction.

The Market Research Database will

30

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

aerospace and defence and country forecasting reports.

The Newsline Database is a merged megafile of Reuter Textline and Predicasts files (PROMPT, A/DM&T, NPA/ Plus, MARS) and INFOMAT.

tion,

You can access thousands of newspapers, magazines, journals and wires

from.40 countries covered by these publishers as a single file using simple English words for market sectors (or Textline or Predicastscodes

if

you wish).

As with the market research database you can search across all of them or zero-in on a specific publication or publication dates.

The Club has negotiated an agreement with the MAID service to provide members the opportunity to join a computer database retrieval system at

1993

Swindon Books The Swindon Book company has agreed to give Club mem-

bers a 10 per cent discount on

cash

purchases only.

All members have to do is present their FCC membership for the discount on all items excluding magazines, stationary, compact discs, sale books, Hong Kong Government publications and school text books.

The otfer is only valid at the following

bookstores: t Swindon Book Co at 13-15 Lock Road, Tsim Sha Tsui; 246 Ocean Terminal; 346 Ocean Centre and the Science Museum Gift Shop.

Hong Kong Book Centre Ltd at 25 Des Voeux Road, Central; 864 The Landmark; 303 One Exchange Square and the PeĂ?orming Art Shop at the HK Cultural Centre

Heinz Grabner

t the risk up being considered

ferred to as China's paramount leader.

churlish I feel it to be my solemn duty to make some comment about the demise of Jurgen

China experls, who know about this sort of thing, tell me this is pedectly normal as can be seen by carefully examining ceramics made in the early part of the Pong Dynasty.

Lamentably the FCC has taken a firm decision not to invite bridge

Mullemann, Germany's former economics minister and deputy to the Chancellor. Mullemann's fall from grace, following a messy conflict of interest scandal,

came just a couple of weeks after he failed to show up at the Foreign Correspondents' Club for a breakfast meettng.

Some, ill informed persons, might regard this as coincidence. I wish it were so but the record suggest otherwise.

Who can forget the sad case of Maria Tam, who broke an appointment to address the Club and promptly sailed off to well deserved political oblivion.

Nor can we overlook an earlier incident involving Xu Jiatun, who wasforced into exile after failing to appear at the FCC (l admit that other reasons may have influenced his departure but can

only assume his embarrassment viz Hong Kong's premier gathering place figured pretty prominently in the overall picture).

Compare and contrast this sad chronicle of non-attenders with the sparkling success of those who have honoured their engagements at the Club. Martin

Lee, who showed up on the day that

Tam went into hiding, proceeded to lead the party making a clean sweep in

the 1991 elections. President Fujimori

of Peru rushed back from the FCC to launch a highly successful constitutional eoupd'etat. Meanwhile, young Lee Kwan Yew zipped back to Singapore and relinquished the cumbersome post of prime minister yet, no doubt having gathered

the sage advise of FCC members, managed to continue calling the shoots

at the Singapore Town Hall, as if

he

were still the head honcho.

Such a situation is almost as puzzling as that of a country where the head of the national bridge club is frequently re-

players as guest speakers (we are,

after all, opposed to blood spot'ts).

However, I'm pretty ecstatic to repon that discussions have begun with the Macau government about establishing a base for members visiting our neighbouring colony. We are examining both the possibility of reciprocal club membership and the provision of accommodation at favourable rates.

Loath as I am to talk about rates (one feels that the Club presidency should be removed from the sordid world of finance) members will not be best pleased to shortly receive a request for higher monthly subscriptions. The Board, as ever, is torn between the twin pressures of fiscal responsibility and the desire to make a hugely populist gesture of reducing the increase.

As we ourselves will also be paying the amounts requested f rom other members, our deliberations have taken on a distinctly realistic tone.

At the time of writing this missive,

high talks were continuing. Let me, however, prepare you for the worst.

We are looking at cost rises of well over 1 0 per cent and cannot, without undermining the financial security of the Club, budget for our income to fall far short of these increased costs.

We can and will however look at new income generating methods, which could offset some of this burden.

One of the nice things about being President of the FCC is the opporlunity of receiving member's complaints.

A chap wrote in the other day with a whole list of them. Reading the list I

came to realise that the FCC is probably the worst place on eadh, at least on par with the Pyongyang Palace of Fun, Culture, Education and love of Kim ll Sung. Of course he was absolutely right, it is only the

sheer stupidity of our members which encourages them to use the premises in ever growing numbers.

However, there was one item in the litany of complaints which intrigued me. This was a complaint about the ludicrous number of activities now being organised at the Club.

Apparently this very busy, and no doubt fantastically important gentlemen, has no time to read the many Club circulars which come pouring through his letter box.

He thinks we should devise a system so members are only notified of events which interestthem. I have decided, totally unilaterally, to adopt this proposal and will personally decide which of our 1,500 or so active members are to attend which events.

I hasten to point out that attendance will be compulsory and I will tolerate no complaints from troublesome members, particularly from the correspondents' clique, who seem to think they have some right to attend news making events when I have decided that their best interests lie in turning up for a chamber music session.

Should any other members have bright

ideas, please, please don't hesitate

in

keeping them to yourselves.

Meanwhile, Kung Hei! Kung Hei!, here's hoping that the Cock turns out to be even more totally splendid than the Monkey for allwho sail in the good ship FCC.

Steve Vines

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1993

31

The SLRc

fromadiffere

PEDDLER'S JOURNAL

The Turks of Japan ack in the 1950s there was a comedian who appeared regularly on Japanese television by the name of Roy James. His stock in trade was that he was one of those oddities, rare for that time, a caucasian who spoke the language pedectly. The

of laughter. While his fans

family. She was introduced to us by a long-time friend, another Japanese Turk now in his sixties, The Japanese Turks, as they can be called, originated not from Turkey, but f rom the Kazen area in the former Soviet

Union. When the revolution broke out, enticed by promises of some form of future independence, the Kazan Turks decided to throw in their lot with the Tsarists. With the advance of the Bol-

own group, and those Japanese who were taken as wives were converted and their offspring raised as Turks. They

built the first mosques in Kobe, Nagoya and Tokyo which became centres of their social life where they preserved their traditions and kept their language alive. The mosque in Nagoya has dis-

appeared but the other two are still in

use. With the decline in the Turkish community since the end of the war, however, those mosques have been taken over by the growing number of other resident Moslems including the diplomatic corps from the lslamic coun-

tries. When the last Turkish lmam in Kobe died a few years ago, he was

sheviks, they became part of the tide of

replaced by a more recent arrival from

White Russian refugees who were pushed steadily eastward by the Red

the Middle East. ln the 1930s the Turkish government offered to accept the refugees to come

Army. Those who were not captured or killed eventually spilled over the border iñto China, with most of them settling in Manchuria, Tianjin or Shanghai. My friend's father, along with a group of fellow Kazan Turks, were able to call their families later.

Their Muslim religion bound the Turks into a tightly knit community separating them from the other White Russian refugees in Kobe or Yokohama. When-

ever possible they married within their

32

and settle in Turkey.

As long as they adapt and follow the rules, the Japanese people, as a rule, are tolerant of the foreigners within their midst. However, they neither expect or desire them to become fully fledged members of their soc¡ety. The Turks were also very nationalistic and for that reason, until recently, very few have taken Japanese nationality. Roy James was one of the exceptions. After the war they gave their children an international education leading for most of them to a degree from an American university.

Many settled in the United States and there is today a community of Japanese Turks living in Burlingame, California, not far from San Francisco.

Of the original group, there are now about 35 Turkish families left in Japan.

rapid patter of colloquial Japanese, pouring forth from a foreign face, was enough to send his audience into gales probably knew he was raised in Japan, I doubt if many were aware of his real nationality.

He was, in fact, a naturalised Japanese of Turkish origin having been born into a tiny community of ethnic Turks, resident in Japan since the early 1920s.

When we lived in Tokyo a few years ago our family doctor was a Turkish lady who was a member of that community. Japanese was her first language, English was a distant second (or third) and she spoke Turkish at home with her

the war, this time many decided to leave

and settle in Turkey. A few accepted but the great majority who had been suc-

cessful in establishing themselves in business or the professions elected to stay in Japan. Their real dream though was to be able to return some day to Kazan. They were stateless at that time and remained so until 1953, when the Turkish government issued them passports. As the Japanese economy was still in the early stages of recovery from

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1993

They are all in the Tokyollokohama area except for one family left in Kobe.

About a month ago my friend visited

us in Hong Kong. He told me he had accepted an invitation from the new government in Kazan to attend a reun-

ion of the diaspora of Kazan Turks scattered throughout the world.

Leighton Willgerodt is an associate member and sales executive with an American multinational company.

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NIEWSMAKER Where history is made, as it is being made, the Nikon F4 toils. unfailingly, tirelessly.

The F4. Good news for pros everywhere.

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