The Correspondent, October 1998

The Official Pnblication cf tbe Foreign Corespondents' Ch'b ctf Hong Kon¿4

t-

\

Mahathir vs Arrwar

Vere the seeds of the rift planted in Hong Kong?

East anld\Vest Tþo reviews of Chris Pattett's new book

Time out on Tumon On the beach in Guarrt

Multimedia month at the FCC

THD GORRDSPONIIDNT October 1998

How to make the Internet work for you Mahatbir us Anwør- uere tbe seeds of the rift sown in Hong Kong?

During November the FCC will be holding a series of seminars and lunch speeches on the Internet as tool for communication, research, business and trade.

TIIE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLTJB

2 Lower Alben Road. Hong Kong Telephone: Z5Zl l5ll Fax:28611 4092

E-mail: fcc@ltthk.org

Some of the subjects to be covered:

D¡ane Stomont

Presldent

Fiñt vice Presldent

' ' . . ' . '

Second Vlce President

The why and how-to of websites Searching the Internet: best sites, short cuts, most useful sites, how to do research

-

Philip Segal Richardson

The beacbes of Guam beckon

--Jerry correspofldent Member Govemo¡s Paul Bayfielcl, John Colmey, Tin Cribb, Brian Jefferies, Kees Metselaar, Christopher Slaughrer, Huben van Es

Joumallst Member Govemoß Liu Kinjning, Francis Moriarty Associat€ MeDber Governors Villiam H AresonJr., Kevir Egan, Carl Rosenquist, Steve Ush¡yama

Flnance

How e-commerce works

m

Treasu

Comittee

W illiam H Areson Jr.

A

Prcfesslonal C¡mmlttee

phôto'essay b2.Lincoln Potter

Conuenoß: Liu Kin-ming and John Colmey

Multi-Medla Commlttee

Successful e-commerce

Cot

The future of the Internet

uenor: Brian Jefferies

Conuenor Jerry Richardson

Keynote speakers on IT in Asia Practical workshops

t

Plaming Committee Membership Committee Con

ue

nor: l{ul¡erl van Es

F & B afld Entertainment Comittee Conuenore: Kevin Egan and Carl Rosenquist

Wall Commlttee Conuenor: }fubert

vlo

Cbris Patten's new booþ is reuiewd by Jonatban Mirsky and. Cbristine Lob

Es

Freedom of tl¡e Press Comittee Con uetnr: F runcis Mor iaíy Geneml Manager Robert Sanders

At the same time, we would like to hold an exhibition of FCC members' websites (commercial or personal) either electronically or blown-up print displays.

For the exhibition to work we need your submissions and suggestions

Sometime during the month will be Cybernight

at the FCC, whatever that means. What would cyber-food be anyway?

Empty plates with holograms of virtual food?

Ideas wanted. Websites wanted. Sponsors wanted. Help wanted.

Contact Paul Bayfield c/o The Foreign Correspondents' Club Tel 2521 15 1 1 Fax: 2868 4092

The Correspondent EDITORIAL Saul Lockhart, Editor Telephone: 2873 5284 Fax: 2873 6394 E- mail: 700426.7233@conrpusen,e.conr

Publlcatlons Comnlttee Co n æ n or: Pavl Bayttelc) Terry Duckham, Robin Lynam, Kees Metselaar, Karen Penlington. Huben van Es

2

necessarily those oF

'ClubofHongKong.

Tbe Coneslnnden is published 11 dme a year by

The Foreign Crres¡rcndenrs'Club of Hong Kong.

PRODUCIION Asiapix Pr¡nt Seryices Te'l: 2572

9544

4- Lel1er:s 6- Co\zef stofj'z

a. R.erninlsc'encre

Fax: 2575 8600

East and 'Slest by Chris Patten

2a-

Hong Kong: China's new colony

by Stephen Vines

Turning thespian

Crisis? \jØhat crisis?

7-7--

TIIE CORRESPONDENT WEB SITE

L4-

@ Copyr¡ghr 1998 Tlre Foreign Corespondents'Club of Hong Kong

rerrieq¡s

aa-

22- l\zferrrl¡ers' ûes¡s

ao- Asia in crisis

ADVERTISING ENQURIES Ewan Simpson Telephone: 2573 3548 Fax:2834 3162 E-mail: ewatak@wlìnk net fcchk org>

The Coliseum in Kuala Lumpur

Goodbye and all that

Impress Offset Printing Factory L¡mited

<htrp://w

\X¡ater:ing-troles flook

Mahathir vs Anwar

E-mail: asiapix@hk.linkage net PRINTE.R

7-6.

Onward to our half-century

by writers in

Tl¡e The

Friorn the President

lfra.rzel Time out on Tumon

23- II

Professiorìal

travels with Terry Part

26- Social a.ffairs

Portfolio

2a-

Photographs by Lincoln Potter

corìtacts

FCC irreplaceal>le Neil Farrin

Cover photograph by Chan Looi Tat

/ AFP

October 1998 TEE

CoRRXSPoIIIDDIIII

l

Canoil

Onwatdto our lealf-century entertained an interesting hagiography here. It wil1, we hope, visitor to the Club last month. be a serious documentary worthy of Albert Ravenholt, now living in New being aired commercially.

\\|/.

VV

\Øe've formed an anniversary Hampshire, was one of the war correspondents who co-founded the committee to plan events next year, We hope to centre everything around FCC back in 1,943 in Chungking. passing en a blockbustet party at the end of through Albert was March and arelooking for sponsors foutetoChinaandwaskeentocatch up on the news. In return, he who can help us fly in former described the original FCC which members anð celebrities and was housed iî a fattan and adobe under-write some of the celebrations. stfucture which used to sway when No contribution is too small. At risk the bedrooms upstairs were, of repeating myself - I did bang on er...occupied. A middle school about this last month, too, so I now stands on the site where apologise for sounding like a broken all ideas are welcomed no photographers once managed to record Ifyouhavean force mortal enemies Chiang Kai- matterhowoffthewall. shek and Mao Tse-tung to actually advertising or marketing budget, why pose side by side and toast each not consider sponsoring the Club?

Also in the pipeline is a multiòther. \øe have no photos of the

The Interna¡ional Data corporation pfojects e-commefce revenues in Hong Kong alone will snowball to HK$37.2 million this year from just $8.8 million in 1997. By

world standards, this is a drop in the 'ü/orld Trade the ocean - expects global eOrgamzafion commefce revenues to reach us$200

billion by the year 2000. But Hong Kong is ideally placed to benefit exponentially. Its telecommunications system was the first worldwide to

become fully digitised. One in six people here are connected to the

internet via more than 100 service providers.

The event is being co-ordinated by the multi-media committee convenor Brian Jeffries and Paul Bayfield, who is the convenor of the

SounDAy you wANT T0 BE IUsT rrKE EVERvoNE ErsE O. o TO USE THE VERY BEST

committee in charge of thi s magazine.

The difference between a good shot and a missed'shot is sometimes less than a millionth of a second. And in important events like the World Cup, you just cannot afford to miss. That is why more photographers use the Canon EOS system than any other to deliver their very best shot.

Tbe Corcespondent will devote a considerable amount of newsprint

to the subject. Theycanbe reachedvia the front offic e. I can always be reached by e-mail at < dstormont@bigfoot.com>

or via the Club office (e-mail

of La'st

Erder of APV, who filmed much

Jonathan Dim

aim about events thr FCC. So we're Gouernor,

in the workroom off the pool bar.

And one last thing. Is there anyone out there with a working

i

knowledge of btmlwho can help me maintain the FCC web page?

film f

the

the whereabouts of former members, seminars on why businesses need a videofootageandoldphotos. If you web site, creating web sites, the haveanything-whetherit'sahome opportunities and pitfalls of web video of a party or press conference publishing and what's new in the in the Club, anecdotes, photos, world of e-commerce. 'W'hether drawings, contacts of former you're a web-head or a web-novice, members-anythingatall-please it's becoming increasingly difficult get in touch with me via the front to ignore the Internet when it comes office. NØe're not looking, af a to doingbusiness.

ln World Cup '98 in France, most photographers will continue to count on their EOS cameras and their "white" Canon EF lenses to make the difference.

<fcc@fccbk,org> or fax2868 4092).

i

DianeStornxont

Canon Marketing (Hong Kong) Co. ttd.

Tel.

21

70 2B2B

...

FoR Youn

Bmr SHor

Canon OFF'CÆ SPONSOR OF voR@cuPFwcE9a

hope that at last this finally puts that

"Trailwalker" is an annual

one to bed.

walkathon in which participants will

Sadly, Lee left Hong Kong just four days after Fu's picture appeared, in the first tranche of Black\Øatch soldiers to

walk along the 100km-Maclehose Trail stretching from east (Sai Kung) to west

head for home. '$l'e couldn't therefore

To the editor

satisfy the many requests for

inteliews, andhe wasn't able to ...er... respond. to the stream of female fan letters that came in to the Prince of 'SØales

Barracks and Stonecutters Island

The picture was a contender for the Regimenf's 1.997 Christmas Card,

during tuo

seþa.ra.te tours.

In tbis letter,

be remembers Susanna, Itwas in the mid-7Os that Susanna

joined the BBC Hong Kong bureau with evident nervousness and hesitation after a successful career in newspaper journalism. She wanted to try something different and it did not take long for us to realise she was a great find.

'W'hat Susanna brought to our small neñvork operation was a wonderfully

and

in the years that followed

-Susanna maintained that interest before her gradual withdrawal.

Above all Susanna showed tolerance to others whatever the temptation to be dismissive of bad behaviour or temper tantrums. \øe benefited from her insights and her professionalism and were warmed

by her friendship. To me she

personified the best qualities of colonial Hong Kong, sPanning two cultures, and comfortable with both whatever their absurdities. Her life and laughter far eclipse the sadness of her farewell

beguiling mixture of curiosity, irreverence and fun. She hated pomposity and cant and }rad a masterful touch in hand to hand combat with the bureaucratic nonsenses of China visa forays

award. His classic shot of Lance Corporal Lee'Sl'otherspoon's "winddriven kilt" gave us all much fun both at the time and since. And as HuvanEs

\fall Committee will confirm, classic photographs can have

and the

remarkable effects, so Fu and your readers may be interested not only in the story behind the picture, but also what happened next.

For a star-t, it literally fulfilied the old cliché of going "round the world." \Øe know because we probably got more comments and feedback on that one picture than on anything else we

it appeared in did in Hong Kong - New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, Indta, Zrmbabwe, South Africa, South America, the USA (including Time, rf not on the front), Canada, France, Germany, Italy and, of course, the UK, and no doubt there were many others.

All the British tabloids splashed it, but so did Tbe Times, The Sun

especially media

- in that part of the

influenced by the fag end was still-which of tired old'Westeners who'd made a

which was the first to get to Lee's girlfriend back at home in Scotland who confirmed that it was indeed her

70s

late career of sucking up to Beijing.

Any trip to China with Susanna was bound to be eventful andwe had

F

one true love because she recognised

some terrific evenings in Shanghai lubricated by some copious amounts

S

his ears! And as naturally as night

ñ

of scotch

$¡5211¡¿ herself always

wreathed- in smoke

and the FromRogerGoodwin

- hair down ex-Directorof PR apparatcheks letting their in the presence of a character whose HQ British Forces Mandarin was as Impeccable as her Hong Kong The March Corresþondenthas iusr. baritone English.

Afteraten-yearbreakfromHong caught up with me, with that

Kong I returned in the mid-SQs just as photograph on the cover to reiease an Susanna was leaving the BBC. In vain extra-heavy belt of the monthly did we try to persuade her to stay. She nostalgia fix.

Many congratulations to Fu Chunfelt new challenges were needed. But for confirming our predictions by period were wai in the transitional there innumerable kindness on her part winning the Press Association and especiallyto ouryoung jaughter, Fleur Newspaper Union Picture of the Year

follows day, it's publication disinterred the inevitable irate retired Brigadier who gotthe Black SØatch's Regimental Secretary out of bed at 6.30 ln the morning. He was firmly put back in his box, I am pleased to report.

And yes, ftrathoary tale I used to

hear around the main bar after the true

partly.

Sergeant Maior for

being

picture was first hung

Lee was hauled uP

is

- of in front

his

photographed with uneven stockingtops (take a look). But sorry to spoil a good story, folks. It was a wincl-ttp, and all his mates were in on it, and I

FromJoanne Bunker Bossy Boots

ndraising

(Tuen Mun) through eight country parks and about 20 hills in the New Territories within 48 hours.

Donations raised from the participants will be contributed to Oxfam Hong Kong's poverty alleviation and development projects 14 countries in Asia and Africa. In addition, it will also help sponsor selfhelp organisations and di sadvantaged groups in Hong Kong. Last year) over

Tel¿ 2575-1339

Faxz 2893-3486 Emaift jbunker@ netvigator.com Re: John Clayden's letter in the August issue. I aman FCC associate member (+6551), who, like John

Clayden,was equally impressed with

Edward Stokes' pictures of a green like him I've and lush Hong Kong those spent many years exploring

in

for him.

From Brian Barron Susanna Fung pø,ssed. away re c ently. Brian Barron, now tb e BB C's New York comespond.ent, worked. with her in tbe BBC's Hong Kong bureau

fu

but it was the Golden Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's

appointment as Colonel-in-Chief of

the Black'Watch, and even today there are some things in Britain which are quite simply sacrosanct.

The Black $Øatch is currently serwing at Fort George in the Scottish Highlands and Lee is still with them "fame" hasn't spoiled him-where he keeps his favourite memento. The letter lroma Gay group in Paris appointing him as "Rump Of The Year, 7997."

HK$11 million was raised.

'W'e

have categorised teams into different categories according to

very places. Over

to visit.

I have recently set up Boots Hong Kong'\lomen's SØalking Group (which despite its name is open to

different professions and one of them is a team representing FCC in which Raymond Pierce, Louis Thomas, Kevin

men too) and if ever any

Barry Egan and Peter Andreas

Trailwalker Chadtable T¡ust

Comesþond.ent is thal it is interesting and meaningful to let the readers know their fellow colleagues are

love to hear from them. In a bid to avoid complete withdrawal symptoms, I can even arrange hikes that end with the lure of alcohol with a view of something more pleasant thaítaxis in Ice House Strçet. All you have to do is put one foot in front of the other...

-

Should you need any further

Firstly, I would like to introduce what "Trailwalker" is. Organised by

information, please feel free to contact

Oxfam Hong Kong since

me a1282-1.3265.

1981,

FCC

members want to explore a Hong Kcing that.is not dark, crowded and full of alcohol and cigar smoke, I'd

Pederson are members. The reason I suggest featuring the members in The

another side of the professionals the sportive life.

Assistant Publicity OfEcer

of this Barren

waterfalls, möuntains and islands that many of its residerlts sorely neglect

supporters in fund raising and they are enthusiastic trailwalkers. This pictures

FromTracyWong

450/o

Rock is far from barren at all, it's heaving wíth country parks, jungle,

@

THE 1999 FCC DIARIES The 1999 FCC range of executive diaries is now available at "Club" prices. Each has been specially produced with a wealth of important information, in either black imported bonded leathet or calf skin for wallets. All feature a discreet club logo and your name, if requested.

Avoid disappointment and order early as stocks are limited. Orders will be available for collection in December. Allow three weeks for personalizing with your name or initials.

A. The Desk Diary. 58 weeks in popular week-to-view format; international HK$320.00 public holidays; world atlas.

B. The FCC Compact Desk Diary. The new convenient size of 164 x 210mm, popular week-to-view diary; international public holidays; general

information.

C. The FCC Pocket Diary. 58 weeks in the popular week-to-view format; international public holidays ; general

information,

HK$

80.00

D. The FCC Address Book. Handy pocket size with international IDD codes and HK$ 90.00 world time chart.

E. The FCC Calf Skin Wallet. Ideal for HK$240.00 HK$240.00 the Pocket Diary.

Order forms ayailable at the front desk or call Lavinia, Sarah, Jennifer, Don or Doris on

252I15ll

October 1998 THX GoRRf,SPolIIlEilf

who came here a few nights ago and described what he saw. I'm going to

tell everyone to colne

F¡-

here

tomorrow."

Malysians can

log on to \üeb pages and chat groups such as <Anwar.com.ffi!>, a site in Malaysia established by Anwar supporters, or <tuurD. anuntr.cj b. net>, a mirror site outside MaIaysia. Both are devoted to the fight between the two giants of Malaysian politics. The government apparently has no rival site though

b a I

(â a È

the Malaysian press is keeping

= È

I

coverage of Anwar's activities to a minimum. "A bit unfair to say the

6

ë

least," an engineer named Syed, 31,

told Fuller'.

o =

II

Seeds of the conflict were sown,

evidently for the first time in public,

in an address Anwar delivered to

a

Freedom Forum/FCC conference on

Asian Values and tbe Role of

the

conference on December 1 at the Foreign Correspondents Club, "signs of rnoral entropy, corruption and nepotism and other excesses abound which the elite, for reasons best known to themselves, choose to gloss over." His talk openecl a three-day discussion of vahres and the news media role in Asia.

-fr.re wrenching rilt between I Malaysian prime rninister Dr'.

Anwar lbrabim and wife Wan Azizab Ismail

tbe

Media in Society tn December 1994.

"In much of Asia," Anwar said in

the keynote address to

I ò

\øirh hindsighr, afrer the fiefce confrontation between the men, it

becomes fascinating to speculate how much he focused in that speech on conditions in his own couniry.

Stating no reason publicly at first, Mahathir, 73, sacked Anwar, 51, as finance minister and deputy plime minister September 2 after the younger man, who has desclibed the prime minister as his "father'l, refused to accept an Ltltimatum to resign. Mahathir's United Malays

'

National Organisation (UMNO) party

He also has insisted he plannecl to lead a reformist movement that cor¡lcl

The Freedon-r Forr.rrr's neq/ interim director in Hongl I{ong ArtzolcJ ,Zeitlim, qzho man;z vzill rerlrember frorrr l-ris da¡zs qzitLr thre AP and IJPI, presents a neq/ perspectirze on tl-re political upl-rear.al ir;t À4alaysia. \üÇ/ere tkre seeds of tl-re clispr-rte sos/rì in tl-re FCC?

TnE CORRf,SPoilDEllf October

1998

Anwa.r's political allies, including

an adopted brother, were arrested on

charges ranging from possessing caltridges for a handgun, a crirne púnishable by death in Malaysia, to violations of internal seculity. Anwar, the fatherpf six children, has said he exfected arrest after accusations of

homosexual ancl tlanssexual

misconduct and sedition follou'ed his fall from office.

swiftly ousted Anwar, its deputy

mean direct confrontation with

president, frorn its ranks.

Mahathir,

Mahathir Mohamed and his former

Mahat}rír vs Arrwar

juLst beÍore bis arcest

Once assurned to be the anointecl

to

heir apparent Datuk Seri Anwar

successor

Iblahim has become

grown apal't on econornic and other' policy matters frorn his mentor', who Nvo months ago appointed a close advisor, Tun Daim Zainuddin, as a minister of "special functions" to develop strategy to bolstel the economy, thus undelcutting the

a

freedom of the

press issue as Malaysians tnrn to the

Internet for news that

their'

newspapers aren't publishing about the political conflict.

"Now that we have Internet, we can read about five newspapers a day

foleign and local," a thilty-

-something engineer

Mahathir', Anwar hacl

finance minister.

who declined to

Zainuddin's appointment fol-

be identified told leporter Tom Fuller of the International Heretld. Tt"ibune

lowecl UMNO's annual assernbly in June, Anwar's allies used the occasion

in Kuala Lumpur, illustrating a

to attack colr-rption and nepotisrn in the government.

problem al1 governments seeking to contlol news now face. "'SØe get both sides of the story."

A bank employee, also unidentified, told Fr¡ller at a rally at Anwar's home that "I got fed up with the news in the papers. And then I leceivecl an email frorn somebody

Anwar and Mahathir differed publicly on a numbel of issues. The o ex-finance minister spoke of malket c) forces as a solution to the difficulties into which Malaysia's economy had È I fallen. Mahathir, who cliticized his position and erlbraced the notion ç)

()usted d.eþuty Prime Minister Anwar lbrabim ackttotuledges a cbeeñng crowcl

October' 1998

IHI

CORRf,SPOIìDHI|T

à

that values in Asia were different from values in the \Øest, made headlines last year blaming the country's plight on international money market speculators, George Soros in particular.

Virtually coincidental with Anwar's ouster, Mahathir has banned the use of Malaysia currency, the ringget, and the trading of Malaysian

securities outside the country, measures designed to insulate Malaysia from the swirling financial

tempest in Asia. Mahathir also has fired the head of the Central Bank and his deputy and taken on the post

of finance minister, adding to

his

duties as prime minister and home minister.

Here are other remarks from

Anwar's 7994keynote speech that in the light of subsequent events are peculiady ironic:

o "It is altogether shameful, if

ingenious, to cite Asian value

as

r "N7e are still strr.rggling the eradicate the vestiges of the socalled'Oriental despotism.' They will remain unless we vigorously develop and fortiFy the institLttions

of civil society, enhance the workings of truly representative participatory governments, promote the rule of laws rather than of men, and foster the culLivation ol a free and responsible press."

an excuse for autocratic practices

and denial of basic rights and civil liberties. To say that freedom is \ùØestern or unAsian is to offend our own traditions. . . .It is true that

Asians lay great emphasis on order and societal stability. But it is certainly wrong to regard society as a kind of false god upon whose altar the individual must continue to be sacrificed." . "The quest for growth must always be balancedby a profound concern for social justice and equity."

. "Asia will continue to

modernize, even at an accelerated pace, but it does not necessarily

mean that she will have to compromise her values and forsake her ideals. However, she needs to be able to giver a better account of herself." @

have to go and get provisions. Surely

they wele still selling stuff by the Star Ferry.

I had visions of going into the office the next rnorning: "Ahhh you fanciecl a little Pelrier and so you yolr decided to skip the stoly know, the Hong Kong Handover story we've been planning for the

last five years. Never mind Harrington, there'11 be another Handover rn 1999."

\il/e watched them push more

trolleys out of the barlacks and onto the naval sr-rpport ship docked next to the Royal Yacht. The force's PR boys hacl promised to leave the light bulbs, everything else seemed to be going aboard. One old porler was pushing a trolley full of boxes up the slope. My eyes must have

been deceiving me, so I walked closer to check his calgo, Sure enough, one half of tl'ie trolley was filled with Mars bars, the other with chilled, yes chilled, bottles of \ùi/atson's watel'. Summoning up my

Good-bye anidallthlat Veterarr AFP correspondent P¿zul Hczrringtotz, vrlt<> l-ra.s l>een transferred t>ack to thre kread office in Pa-ris a,fter a d<>zert years l-rere, rerrrinisces at>out thre nighrt of tkre Ha-ndorzer

Qo there we were, just before \-f midnight on lhe night olJune J0 1997

.The AP guy and I were standing

outside the Prince of

'ùØales

barracks

trying to cover both the military Handover and the final British departure al¡oard the Royal Yacht Britanniamoored some yards away From our vantage point we could see precisely neither.

It had been a long, wet day. The ceremonies were over, the sodden Union flags safely stowed away, and the curious sombre revelling was beginning. There was a rurnour going around that the boys from the New Territories were going to come down to town and rough up a few Brits .

TEE CORRf,SPONIIEIIT October 1998

ten years worth of Cantonese, I pointed in the general dilection of the booty. The old fellah shrugged indifferently, in a manner I look to

mean "I don't think Her Majesty's armed forces will miss aMarsBar." '\fhen I returned triurnphant to ou1: stake-out, the AP guy (I wish I could remernber his name, he had some good jokes) gazed on Íìe as if I was the Monkey King or something.

It was a look of wonder and thanks which I wiÌl take with me to, well, Paris actr-rally. TheJoint Serwices Public Relations blokes had told us

kind of Handover

leaving. Tradition dictated that he

fist ceremony. The more pressing

would drive around the grounds

concern was drink, or the lack of it. \Øater, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Somehow I'd managed to miss any event which involved the handing out of copious amounts of

three times before Ieaving for good.

after midnight, in

a

refreshments to hardworking journalists or me. There had been

a

few soft drinks at Government House

just before Chris Patten did his emotional le ave-taking, but we were so intent on jotting down the colour

and swapping notes on which daughter was crying, that most of it went undrunk.

The photographers jostled to get

the best view of the Governor's car

Cursing after missing tbe shot the first time round, the snappers were soon cursing harder as Patten eschewed tradition and rnade a swift break for it. Any.way, it was hot and humid and I was so parched that all.

I could think of, as we waited for the two armies to do their stuff, was getting hold of a bottle of water'.

The AP guy was sympathetic. "I am absolutely famished. I could just murder a Mars bar," he said. It was 11.30 p.m. on Handover night and we were both about to expire. There was nothing for it. One of us would

two things about the final British military depalture; a) that we wouldn't see it and b) that the Chinese side wouldn't know what to

do afterwards when they were faced

with 100 journalists in a PLA barracks which most of the reporters knew better than the solcliers.

They were right on both counts.

The last grolrp of British soldiers slipped quietly out and up the gangplank while we were watching the Chinese flag being hoisted. Then there we all were, the only PRwhich the new tenants knew aboutwas the

People's Republic. The rest of the night was abit of a b1ur. I remember getting poked in the stomach by the

Paul on tbe Royal YótcbtBitaînia with an RN fficer counting tbe minutes until the press tour is ouer.

tip of the Prince of \Øales' equeirry's umbrella when I got too close to the inanities doled out by Charlie to a doting public. In a sudden bout of enthusiastic unprofessionalism, I then became one of the last people on the quayside to shake the gubernatorial paw. And then it was all over'. The Royal Yacht and the Royal colony bound for the history

caï¡ and hurling abuse at each other.

I'm not sure what this incident the reason why the eíplains best Brits forced themselves on the people of half the world or the reason the Errípire crumbled. Pelsonally I feel it's time to stop being a foreigner in Asia. I want to go back homewards and be a foreigner in Europe.

@

books, 'Well

nearly all over. Of course there was the small point of going back to the office and writing up

HAVING A PARTY?

stories. At 5:30 am I staggered out on

to the streets of 'ùØanchai and tried, like everyone else apparently, to snare a post-colonial caI> home.

Finally I managed to hail one down and was just about to flop into the back seat when someone grabbed rne by the shoulder from behind, swung me round and hurled me onto the road. I looked up. There was a large boot looking l¡ack at me. The boys frorn the New Territories, I thought for a split-second. No actually the boys from Yorkshire.

Two airport constrLlction workers in a hurry to get their Filipina girlfriends home, or somewhere.

Needless to say the taxi had quickly sped off. For the next ten minutes we stood on the same corner of the same road waiting for the next

Make it easy.

Enjoy the fine food and hospitahty of the FCC in your own home.

CaTI2521 151.r

for more information.

Oc¡ol¡er 1998 fHE

CORRf,SD0I{DENT

Crisis? What crisis?

By David O'Rear

ñ I here are three countries not I directly (and devastatingly)

Taiwan's different. On the surface, it isn't much different from Korea. Both wereJapanese colonies

affected by the Asian Crisis: China, Vietnam andTaiwan China was the subject of an earlier piece, and Vietnam for all of its being the

until the end of the ìØar. Both benefited from US military suppofi

in dealing with a big, aggressive neighbour. Both are Confucian, both value education, and both had rigid social and political systems. Neither

fastest -growing economy in Southeast Asia this year (probably

better than 5o/o) remains a minor - Taiwan as the player. That leaves anomaly. \Øhat makes it different, so special that it can confidently expect positiue growth this year?

In the 20 years prior to the Great Asian Depression (Gad!), Taiwan turned in real growth rates right in line with those in the worst trouble. It was

one of the Asian

has much

rank among the most densely populated countries on earth. So, what's the difference?

One key difference is that it was unable to borrow huge sums from

ending up in tears.

In fact, Taiwan is

doing quite well,

thank you. As other NICs are estimated to conttactanaverage of 60/o this year, Taiwan is very likely to grow

1997 -0.4 5.5 7,8 6.S 7.8 4.6

1977-96

Thailand 8.2 Korea 8.1 Singapore 7.9 Taiwan 7.8 Malaysia 7.2 Indonesia 6.6

L998 -6.0 -7.9 -2.2 4.4 -3.5 -15.0

of its "difficult"

4-5o/o.That's off the 7.8% trend of the

abroad because

Iast 20 years, but hey, its major

diplomaticstatus (it doesn'thave one).

So, instead of borrowing to build, as in Korea and other places, Taiwan invited

markets are dying! As the chart above shows, there is little difference among growth rates inAsia's high-achievers

prior to the GAD. Thailand got hit early, and everyone else went into reverse this year. Some will (with luck, in short supply lately) find first gear in 1999, but it will be a while yet before they get back up to highway speeds (despite the easing of traffic flows around the region as people trade their cars for abag of rice).

TEE C0RRDSP0I{DENI October 1998

foreign companies to invest in its development, and share the rewards.

Reward is the

flip side of

risk,

is

legendary, and exports

are very well balanced. From a 500/o dependence on the US ma rket a dozen years ago, Taiwan's export profile is now about 240/o to the US, 240/o to

to the to Japan.

The rest is scattered around the world, seeking out the opportunities with amazing flexibility.

Another difference, particulady China and Hong Kong,

European Union and

1.40/o

1.3o/o

with Korea, is that Taiwan didn't develop with huge government

- massive conglomerates. It doesn't have a single corporate group support

Real GDP Growth

favoured to explain why economic theory said the pace couldn't

that long without

natural

consumption

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Dragons, Tigers, NICs, or whatever term was

be. The bumble bee can't fly; economies don't grow that fast for

in the way of

resources (except people), and both

investment are strong. Private

1999 -0.1

'worthmore than5o/oof GDP, whereas Korea

d

has several. Small is beautiful, pafüq)laÃy when you go broke. \Øhich brings us to perhaps the most important reason Taiwan is surviving: it has never feared

S

-2.3

bankruptcies. Compa-

7.4

4.8

and right. An entire undergroundbanking

2.4

co-operatives) failed

nies go bust left system (the credit

in the mid-1980s and the economy barely noticed. Knowing

-2.3

when you've had

enough is good, particularþ when it avoids costly bailouts.

So, in looking at how to rebuild Asia it is important not only to look at what went wrong, but what didn't.

Taiwan didn't, and there are lessons to be learned.

remember? So, whenthings go wrong,

the risk is also shared and that means

companies on the whole have very little (if any) foreign debt to repaywith those incredibly shirking local dollars.

Moreover, Taiwan has a very well balanced economy. Private andpublic

Dau

for

i d.

O' Re ar, region al

ec

onomi st

tbe Econoruist Intelligence Llnit,

liued in Taiuan when tbe current financial district utas a rice paddy. He preferred it tbat utay.

Eq

Þ q

"Going my way?"

Time out on Tumon trurels with TerryPart I?oL:irt Lltnctrrt ctrecks out tkre t>eackr a"rtd nigkrtlife Guarn's tor¡rist strip J ruppor. having alreadyvisited I Guam with Terry Duckham once, I should have had the sense to insist on

somebody else making the travel arrangements. Experience, however, teaches me only that it teaches me

nothing, andanyway I hadno choice in the matter.

Last time this happened, as one

or two readers may recaII, Tery in the teeth of a booked me

without benefit of either mini-bar or IDD telephone.

On this occasion his impulse to

torment was identical, but took a subtler form. Our visit to Guam followed on from a shared assignment on nearby Tinian and Saipan. Terry was already on Saipan and had assured

me that I would arrle there, via a Continental Micronesia night flight,

generous offer- of an executive suite

nicely rested in time for breakfast.

Continental offers direct flights to

in the Hyatt Regency on Tumon Beach

both Guam and Saipan, and on picking

into the staff quarters of the Pacific -Islands Club, about a mlle and a hall away lromthe hotel coffee shop and

up my ticket I discovered that Terry had booked me on CA 986 which departs CLK at 11pm and goes direct

II

scene on

very convenient if you happen to -be going direct to Guam. I, on the other hand, duly disembarked at 4 iî the morning with the prospect of two pleasant hours waiting lor a connection to my acù)al destination, andpondering, as one does, howbest to murder him.

to Guam

Fortunately Saipan and Tinian worked out well and four days Iater with the bulk of our work completed we arrived back on Guam for a quick re-familiarisation trþ. Terry was very excited about Tumon Bay which, he claimed, was fast developing into "the Lan Kwai Fong of Micronesia".

October 1998 Tf,E

CORRXSPOilIIDNT

The analogy struck me as strained

at the time and in most respects still does. Lan Kwai Fong, after all, is a small area in the middle of a big city composed largely of non-franchised restaurants and bistros. Most of them, admittedly, are owned by AlanZeman, but they do at least look independent.

Tumon by contrast is a sorl of Californian beach misplaced on a Pacific island with a six-lane highway running arolÌnd the back of it. It does not lack for locally fashionable restaurants, but they boast the all too internationally lamtliar frontages of Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Holly.wood and Thank God It's Fridays.

Fortunately that isn't all there is to it and Terry was keen to show me some of the joints the locals frequent.

Having checked into the

effortless style, but Tumon Beach is to iife on Gnam what Copacabana is to life in Rio. It is, for avariety of reasons, and one of them is that a fun place it belongs in equal like Copacabana, parts to locals and tottrists.

Unlike Copacabana, however, never a problem.

At least 90% of the tourists areJapanese, which everybody regards as normal, but which to anybody who has read a

telling the two apart

history

of

is

the island ought to seem

In

very strange indeed.

precedent in the course of so doing.

Guam saw some of the bloodiest and bitterest fighting of the Pacific \ül'ar, and wherever you go its legacy is neverfarfromthe surface. Much of the abandoned military hardware has

Many of his younger compatriots come

never been hauled away.It is a big feature of the dive and snorkelling

visiting the aforementioned dance establishments to gingerly touch the

couples tie the knot in hotel chapels dedicated to that purpose, and in the evenings spice up the honeymoon by

of

substantially

ladies with a view tc¡ checking out whether they could possibly be

bar called Trades, just about opposite Planet Hollywood and flanked by an assortment of establishments ranging from video arcades and

\

Japanese restaurants to

clubs featuring...er... !

the Pacific, Get dressed and stroll awayfrom the hotel towards the strip and you have all the nightclubs,

is obviously loosely

modelled on yet another international chain, Trader Vic's, the owners have somehow failed to give the place the homogenised qualiry which comes so effortlessly to so many of the other

sites and the wreckage of it is dotted all

over the island.

playing just the kínd of elegant chamber jazzwhich,heard on a Sunday evening, takes much of the pain out of the

By all accounts the Chamorro people had a very tough time during the Japanese occupation, yet the energy the Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) puts into encouraging the Japanese to fly to the place makes you wonder why the hell so much effort was put into getting them to leave in the first place.

Actually that isn't a wholly fl ippant

prospect of Monday morning.

observation. A big question mark hangs

place felt

comfortable and lived in. Furthermore a local music teacher on saxophone and an accomplice on gr-ritar were

Not that there was much pain

bars, theme restaurants if that happens

to be your thing, and shopping oppofiunities you could wish for.

If you don'trnind driving a iittie and car hire is inexpensive other include the attractions Chamorro villages and the fledgling eco-tourism attractions in the south. A new cable car has made access to Talafofo Falls, over the top of which Terry tells me

Americans and blast thc hell out of targets in shooting galleries.

we almost lost Mark Graham a little while ago. a greaL deal easier.

For gollers the place is more or less perfect. Members of the FCC Golf Society who have played in Guam

groups dress up as cowboys and native

Guam may look like California, but much of the time it feels like Tokyo.

Although the GVB concedes that

there are other markets, and

is

transition, and the livelylocal

beach culture

is

aheady

changing.

New developments on the beach have already seen off \ffet $Øillie's, a popular

for locals. More hotels are going up, and although

hanging out on the beach and meeting

the recent recession nothing, but

at all.

people in bars.

nothin¡L has deterrecl the Japanese

As a lesult rates in international hotels like the Hyatt, the Hilton and

Tf,E CORRDSP0NIIEI\IT Octobcr' 1998

Tumon is in a state of

time, and facilities for tourists are clearly displacing those

Koreans simply haven't been coming

irom going back there.

while it may not sound like working to

ftagic

necessary, but be that as it may, until

miss the troops.

you,

bar

recovery of Guam was strictly

and quite breathtaking incompetence.

The gids on the beach are going to

over. \Øe did make the late show at Club USA however.

For those who have not yet been to Guam, one compelling reason for going sometime soon is that

tror-rble. Fewer Japanese ale travelling anylvhere, and those who are have tighter buclgets. Since the

with Terry Duckham Tours Inc, our programme seemed to involve mostly

indulgently

- bikini clad watched by both 'their gidfriends and a group ofeageryoung playing beach Japanese ladies volieyball with infectious enthusiasm

us that it must be getting on for halfway

in

and still unexplained Korean- Air crash on the island, the

American serviceman

American mainland standards. Tumon, apparently, has one very good Vegas style and Vegas standard revue which for the second trip running I did not get around to seeing. Terry was so anxious to catch the $= cocktail show at The i Sandcastle thatwe were half È way through about our fifth e Planet Hollywood among pølm trees beer at the Pacific Islands Club with FCC member Lee NØebber before it occurred to either of Our time on Guam was brief, and

Japan or Korea.

Both ofthose markets are currently

scheduled for ours. As is often the case

doesn't quite have the same

seem to be a little vague in their recollections of the nightclubs, but speak very highly of the greens.

Still, nightlife is a factor. Terry was keen to impress on me that in this regard, even if Guam is a small island in the middle of the Pacific, the local nightlife with its curious mix of Japanese and American elements is well up to

increasingly looking to draw business from Hong Kong and Taiwan, almost all of its efforts for the last couple of decades have been directed towards

over whether the cost in human life paid by all parties concerned for the

It

in

parlours and Japanese saunas. Japanese tour

-o.. $s Although Trades Japønese tourists uoop it up at the \Yilcl West Gun Club

different.

a

of the best fish watching or feeding areas

an uncertain future, we watched a small group of

Americans sold.ier on.

Outside Japan you will never visit a place

hotels, Japanese restau-

\

hardly have been

beachside base beside Tahiti Rama and anothervenue with

s

snorkel andyou walk straight into one

rants, J apanese massage

danceattractions. Itcould È

a

real.

literature is printed in Japanese than English.

Thele are Japanese

I

Another change is the rapidly reducing American military presence. Happily ensconced in Sails Bar, our

Stroll down the beach with

moreJapanese-identified than Guam. Mol'e tourisrn

'#

difficult,

access. This being America in all but name nobody walks any distance in excess of 100yards-no, make thatas long as 100 yards but should you feel like using your- 1egs, almost none of the attractions of the place are more than a few minutes walk from any one of the Tumon Beach hotels.

endowed caucasian

offer of hospitality we headed down to a- little

in the area. The

in the world offer so many options with such ease of

to Guam to get married. Japanese

breasts

is becoming increasingly

place for a short break, or even as the jumping off point for a

the other Micronesian Islands.

Few tourism destinations

an

locals since ownership of acar is more or less compulsory-

a

longer visit taking in some of

more

- for important consideration

right now it looks both attractive and affordabTe as

is becoming

restricted and parking

access

resorts such as Phuket ol Bali,

the truth. On return to his home country he got married, and for his honeymoon flew straight back to Gr,ram.

He appears to have set a romantic

Hyatt-which had fìnally managed to persuade Terry to accept its kind and very comfortable

joints

the Pacific Islands Club are currently soft, and although Gurm is still more expensive than one of the seriously ¡ecession hit Asian getaway

I97 2, J apanese Sergeant Shoichi

Yokoi emerged from a cave near the scenic Talofofo Falls and was finally repatriated after 28 years of hiding in the Guamanian jungle. More than enough, you might imagine even for an appafently insane Japanese war helo. Nothing could be fi-rrther from

and inexpensive open air I enjoyed visiting last

È L

boys'promote a bealtby (tccent on uísible accessibility

theoretically no area of the

beach is private, public

I

can assure yo\r that it was. I

estimate that we must haye spent at Ieast 50o/o of our waking hours on the island by either the sea or a swimming pool, and Terry somehow managed to devise

a

schedule of appointments that

precluded my getting into either on so much as one soiitary occasion.

On ourway to the airpofi we swung by the G\B office for Terry to complete some unfinished business. While there I learned that Tumon may, after aIl,ïte set to become the,Lan Kwai Fong of

Micronesia

for three days in

December. In -reciprocation for a Hong

Kong Guam promotion proposed to take place partly in fhatarea, some of the LKF outlets are considering taking their own show down to Guam. I hope it isn't just Tokio Joe!

@

October 1998 lHD

CORnDSPoI\IIIENT

On the wall Photographs by Lincoln Potter Clockwise from top: The annwal unueiling of tbe Dreþung Monastery's giant tangka in Tiber; Nagqu nomads of Tibet in tbeirfestiual best; Wbarf boldings Gonzaga Ii in the construction site of Times Square, for tbeir a.nnual reporl; Gouernor Cbrß Patten posed.for ø Forîune magazine couer sbot,

t

j Clockwise from top left: Hong Kong sborelinefor a Hutcbison Telecom brocbure; Goin to market in Bali; Pertamin(t's Arun LNG Plant in Lobkesmaue, Sumatra., Indonesia; Cøliþrniafilm producer on locøtion in flong Kongfor Catbay Pacffic; Military train in Cbina, sbot in tbe eaily l9SOsforBusiness rùØeek; Oll explorøtion rig in the tnarsbes near Sorong, IrianJaua, Indonesia.

Prints by: ColorSix Laboratories Ltd. THE C0RRXSP0I|IIEI{T October 1998

October 1998 Tf,E

CORRf,SPO¡V|IEI|T

The Coliseum in Kuala Lumpur Thris tale of

revelies orrer the bar. Most patrons now are more cheerful Malays,

Chinese ancl Tamils, and a few bzickpackers staying in one of the 10 cheap roolrls upstait's.

NIal aysi a's most famou s cartoonist, Lat, creator of tl-ie famous KctnxþLnxg Bo.y,,

comforta-t>le s/atering hole b¡z freelantce qzriter (and FCC stahvart) (joznA¿ A4otrclcottzt is t1-re first of uzl-rat -nze l-rope uzill l>ecorne a- regr,rlar fea-ture in 7-be Corres]>oncJent. If ;zor-r krave a favourite pr-rt> c>r l>ar or saloo11 solr-revvl-rere in the qzodd yor-r'd like to sl-ra-re qzitkr FCC r-nerrrl>ers, please contact tl-re editor a-

\Zellowecl newspa per cl ppi ngs I adorn high, banana-green walls i

and thlee ancient, broad-bladed

ceiling fans hang fi'om a tine-stained ceiling. The mr-rsty smell of the tropics and the dank odol of wet beer mats

of ils character and abandoned charm, the modest two-storey white stl'ucture,

is no grand architectural landmark such as those classic hotels, Hong

pelrneates the slightly shabby, shoebox

Kong's Peninsula, Bangkok's Oriental or Rangoon's Strand.

The streetlevel entl'ance leads

shaped room. The waiters ale sttllen

into a high-ceilinged room with

but the beer is cold ancl cheap. In

several low tables and a small teak bal at the far end with ample evidence

short, a fine, atmosPheric bar. fl

purportedly frequented the place while living in the colony from 1954-59 as a teacher and

favorite hattnt for' LtttnPttt' Kttala expatriates who ran the country.

In the dying decades of the Rai, sr-rn-scorched lubber plantation

managels,

a

box-wal1ahs

(mercl'rants), district officers and

British soldiers guarding the Empire cooled off in the hotel bar with Tiger beers or chota

---there's no karaoke, no disco, rlo canned rrnrsic and no lirze rock l>ands to disturb tlle serious atrd lrrrsiness of drinking cofi\zefsation-

pegs of whiskeY.

During the boom years of

Malaysia's development, authorities frequently thleatened to tear down the o1d building, as huge rnodern strr-tctures slowly encroached

on the street of low-rises. But the Coliseun-i on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahn-ran, an o1cl section of Kuala

Lumpur, stuwives still. It is more than just a bar, though. It is a fi'ayed, but venerated, local institution that recalls old Nlalaysia as mttch as any renor¡atecl I'reritage building or llìuselrm. For all

E

rHE coRRf,spoNDENr ocrotrer1998

of

decades

of wear. Pictules of

Malaysia's king and qlÌeen hang high

over the bar, above a row of liquor bottles and a matter-of-fact sign "Terms Crsh.' The Chinese owners and managels sit at low chairs behind the bar pecking away adding ^t rnachines, oblivious to the dedicated cll'inkers l-u-rnched ovel their beels, Aside florn its patrons, the Coliseum, only open

until 10 p.m.,

even the rnenr-r, has not changecl since

report, none of those banes of

independence. Aromas of scorching meat and spices fill the restaurant, u'hich has long been acclaimed for'

modern lor-rnge bars exist: there's no karaoke, no disco, no canned mttsic and no live lock bands to disturb the serions business of drinking and

1ate.

The ambiance, and plobably

clipping titled "How to know when

its sizzling steak. In an unhurliecl

yolrr servant has malaria"

house litual, waiters fasten stalchecl white bibs alound dinels' necks and deposit a starchy slice of tsr'itish-style bleached-white bread ancl a hot iron plate on the table. They throw a slab of br-rtter on the l'rot plate, then the large steak which sizzles ancl smokes,

aclvises

them.

I92I, the venerable

Café & Hotel has been

of

giving them tea and staying clear of

merdek.a (independen ce) in 7957 . Any colonial or expat who came to the Malayan capital from the 1920s until the hotel slid into casual clecline some tine in the 1960s or 70s, frequented the Coliseurn. An unusual fellow called Anthony Burgess, author of Malayan Trilogy (later titled The Long Day Wanes) and Clockworle Orønge,

Hainanese waiters as old ¿rs the hotel tend the tables. In ice cream salesrnen r-rniforms of wl'rite jacket and pants, they move as slow-ly ancl clelibelately as the creaky ceiling fans, although a few younger u,'aiters have shown up

Drinks of choice are draft beer (about HK$14, with tax and seryice charge) ol basic whiskey sodas and gin and tonics. There al'e no cr-rte cocktails fillecl with tinned fir-rit and topped by tiny parasols in this bar.

convelsation.

@ Coliseum Calê & Hotel 98-100Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, tr(uala Lumpur, Malay sia.

Tel. (603) 2926270.

filling tlre room vr'ith a tanfalizing afoma and spatteling the bib. The

THE FCC BOOK 1997. EYEWITNESS ON ASIA - UP TO 1997 AND BEYOND . 248 PAGES .614 IMAGES . A COLLECTORS' ITEM

education officer.

Perhaps the inspilation of his classic Time For A Tiger,his

first novel published in 1956, came while he was clowning a bottle of thatlocalbeerhere. Itis easy enough to picture his

steak ancl thick graly are tasty, but only a traditional English-style chef could make vegetables and bread tl-ris b1and, Still, at about HK$60 it is plobably the best 'Westeln foocl bargarn in Kuala Lumpr-rr, fol the shorr"'as much as the filling rnea1.

And it is a 3O-second walk back thlough the saloon doors to the Coliseum Bal where, I'm happy to

calicattu'es of bygone bal regulars dot the café's walls, along with old cllttings of stories about the bar and

tl'ie Coliseum Cafe. An ancient

hasn't changed since

lead to the cafe next door where

at one of the lou,' tables. Lat's

a f921 nes.'spaper aclvertisement for

oor bar in the Coliseum

Since ground

apparcntiy often sits

Teak saloon-type sn-inging doors

+þ3tsJå{c+

};

'+ I

character, Nabby Adams, sitting

I

in the corner with his favorite beverage, a warm, dusty Tiger.

t

During the Ernelgency (1950-60), when communist insulgents dislupted Malaya, Blitish squaddies drinking in the bal while on a break fi'om jr-rngle patrols hung their Sten guns from the ornate wooden hat racks once intended for' solab topees.In these post-pith helmet days, they stand r-rnused, like artifacts

l'etrieved flom an attic.

A few remaining expatliates from colonial days, red-faced and whitehaired, sit silently slumped in sodden

COPIES AVAILABLE FROM THE FRONT DESK AT HK$250 OR CALL 25211511 / FAX 28684092

October' 1998 THD

CORRXSP0IIIIIII{T

MirskY continued doubt whether anyone would believe the whole unvarnished 'What

East andWest rrredia--rrrogul Rupert À4tlrdocl-r t>locked Harper Collins frorn pr-rbliskring Cl-rris Pa-tten's t>ook, he set in rrrotiort a,dsrarlce<l put>licity that irtcreased a"nticipation, a_nd no doubt sa-les, for thre 2atr,r^ (and fina"l) Gorzernor of Hong l(ong's first official xzords a-t>out hris tirrre hrere

rüÇzkren

Joncttbctn A4irsky, ø1f'orrner FCC nternber, tuarc tbe East Asict EditorlforThe Tirnes utbert bctsed irt .Hong l(ong. 7-bis reuieLu u)tzs publisbed inThe Telegraph on Seþternber 16 his is of course the book which Rupert Murdoch,

risking public obloquy and a suit by its author for breach of contract, ordered its previous publisher, Harper Collins, not to publish. And the author is the man termed "a whore, " by Peking, " a tango dancer," and " a serpent, " to be "cursed forever. " SirPercy Cradock, intelligence coor dtnator and China advisol to Prime Ministers Thatcher andMalor, called Chris Patten "a Duke of York," and "the incredible shrinking governor" who betrayed past British-Chinese agreements.

How is East and ll/esttobejudged? There will be a queue of critics spoilingto join SirPercy(who is oftenreferredto but never named); Peking (Mr Patten insists on this spelling ) and its friends will dispute Mr Patten's view of China having "many of the hallmarks of early-twentieth century fascism."

The Foreign Office "sinologues," of whom Mr Patten speaks with contempt, will reject his view that, until his time, "Hong Kong deserwed better deserved better of Britain," and his - bowed to Peking's diktats. Tony barbs that they ceaselessly Blair and Robin Cook will dislike his attacks on rheir policy of speaking discreetly to the Chinese about their human rights record, a policy Mr Patten characterises as either "knowledgeable and well-meaning" or "ignorant and craven. " Mr Patten's purpose is to use his experience of five

years governing Hong Kong "to develop a number of arguments about Asia, about the conduct of economic policy, about the components of good governance, and

about the relationship between political freedom and economic liberty." He devotes substantial chapters to these topics. Indeed, much of East and'West, ínwhich Mr Patten praises his "hero" Rab Butler and savages post-war Labour Party policies, reads like a man attempting "as I trudge today towards ..,the front line in the battle of political ideas" to reshape the Tory Party alonglines in which this brilliant and now under-used politician could play a leading role.

But surely what we want from Mr Patten is a no-holdsbarred version of his time in Hong Kong. rùØe don't get it.

"This is not a long and detailed account of mygovernorship ...the most important and interesting job I have ever done," Mr Patten says straightaway. Such an account would be "unfair to those who worked with me and certainly unfair to Hong Kong," He reveals, moreover, that ,'I sometimes fHE CORRESP0NIIDI|T Octobe¡ 1998

is so unique about Hong Kong that the truth about its recent history would be unbeiievable? In any event if incomplete account there is already an unvarnished is responsible for much of it: Patten Mr and Jonathan Dimbleby's The Last Gouernor. Mr Dimbleby had what he describes as "easy access" to Mr Patten for five years, during which the governor agreed to discuss his strategy and tactics every stage of what was to be a serious and sustained ^t diplomatic crisis. "This extraordinary aÍrangement gave the

story...."

Elected Legco nternber Cbristine Lob i-s cbctiru,tornctn of tbe Citizens'Pcr.t'ty. Tl:tis reuietu zaas publisbed in Ttre Tirnes ozz Septerrtber 10

\ A /"

are shaped by our experiences. We learn about

U U tne world from what happens to us. Chris Patten,

a Conservative politician who lost his seat in Bath in L992, is now better known, both at home and abroad, as the "Last Governor of Hong Kong" than for anything he did in his various ministerial posts.

Anyone looking for diplomatic titbits and secrets between Britain and China will be disappointed. "l sometimes doubt . . . whether anyone would believe the

whole unvarnished story, so that is not for now," Patten writes. For those of us who had walk-on parts in the unfolding drama, or indeed, anyone who has read the other Hong Kong books, Patten's adds very little in terms of what happened.

As the name of the book suggests, it is about more than just the former colony. He did not enjoy having to hand back a free city to a "totalitarian state", but the experience made him think hard about democracy' economics and freedom.

There are two reasons

to read his book. First, it

provides a quick summary for the general reader of the

arguments for and against whether there is a set of "Asian Values" distinct from other values' Secondly, if you are interested in the man, then the book provides an opportunity to get a glimpse of a talented politician who has a way with words and strong emotions' He admits to having occasional dark moments when he is

impression that Mr Dimbleby, who also spoke to other sources, had either seen or been briefed on secret official documents. Indeed, what provoked furious letters to the press was Mr Dimbleby's contention that some of the chief figures in British diplomatic life could be charged with " atro gance, cynicism, and dishonourable conduct. . . Britain's reputation there IHong Kong ] will be indelibly stained by the mark of aPPeasement."

He described alleged meetings between senior British and Chinese officials in Peking in the mid and late-Eighties during which the British assured their opposite numbers that they would attempt to block or at least limit direct elections to ùe Legislative Council; Mr Dimbleby alleged further that the British distorted the result of a 1.987 public opinion poll in Hong Kong which purported to prove no enthusiasm for such elections when in fact the results were rhe opposite. A1l such allegations included names.

Mr Patten has never repudiated any of this, but in his own book he backs away from such details (occasionally .

contradicting, without saying so, what Mr Dimbleby attributes to him or to "Government House" ) referring only to "much speculation and several books, newspaper articles and television documentaries." He states merely that "the

Chinese believed they had a secret deal with Britain," and

that from Britain's standpoint there was "just an understanding between friends." He even recommends a but not Mr book for those seeking further information Dimbleby's, Instead of his own usually unsubstantiated

leferences

to unsavoury diplomatic dealing

and

backstabbing at home, Mr Patten should have provided the evidence behind Mr Dimbleby's damaging charges.

Nor does Mr Patten mention, as related in the Dimbieby voltrme, that in 7993 and again in 1994, the Foreign Se cretary Douglas Hurd and the Prime Minister invited him to retlrrn to London at the height of the crisis with Peking to

help the Tories prepare for the next election, serwing

simultaneously as Foreign Secretary, Leader of the Lords, and Deputy Prime Minister. So little did Mr Patten's closest ltolitical friends consider the effect of such a withdrawal on I{ong Kong, which Mr Patten describes as "a major t esponsibility, as great as Britain had anywhere. " According to Mr Dimbleby, Mr Patten, who turned down the invita tion, "brooded on this; it did nothing to cheer him up."

In the absence, then, of the unvarnished Hong Kong story, we must evaluate East and. IY/est as a political treatise.

LIe has much to say about the concept of "Asian values," strch as respect for the group rather than the individual, and tlle need for stability; these he rightiy notes are invoked by attthoritarian leaders to justify their rule. MrPatten observes)

Loh continued

views, knowledgeable though they might be about things Chinese,'don't really Jike the Chinese at all. We are not that strangá. We can be treate.d just like everyone else.

Patten tells us that before he went to Hong Kong, he

never really thought very much about why he was a democrat, as he had never had to defend freedom and democracy at home. ln Hong Kong, however, not only did he have to argue for the merits of democracy with the local establishment, but hq also had to stand up for democratic values w¡thin the British Foreign Office and British business circles'. He does not hide his distaste for those who think freedom and democracy are r¡ght for them but unsuitable for others from a different culture.

He also admits that he had accepted the case for market economics rather loosely. But his time in Hong

Kong coincided with the height of ¡nternational discussion about "Asian Values", culminating at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.

Patten's liberal leanings would have nothing to do with the proposition that economic success can be enhanced by a modicum of political repression. He rightly asks:

"Why do you need to be authoritarian to deliver a sensible macroeconomic policy?" He coniludes that democracy coupled with the rule of law, respect for civil liberties and economic freedom is most likelyto produce a decent society.

Patten has a lot to say about China. He deplores China's "acts of economic terrorism" when it wants to apply pressure on others to toe the Chinese line. He thinks the West should make a fuss about dissidents and Tibet, and ignore Chinese petulance, because it is October

1

Mirsky cotxtii'LLrcd

Lolt cotttintLed

again rightly, that "Asia" is a very broad church indeed in

morally right to be concerned about abuses wherever they occur. He believes that how the West deals with China will be one of the defining issues of the next decade. For now, at least, he will not be a welcome guest on the mainland. lf we are to assess Patten's time in Hong Kong, he certainly stimulated a debate as never before about politics. However, he could not cure the most damning colonial legacy, which is that the system was never designed to produce political leaders. Hong Kong sorely needs confident political leadership as it faces the

which to seek a common grouncl for Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, and Animism, not to say fol chopsticks, folks, and fingers, and that it is inhabited by many w.ho aclhere to other "univelsal" values, such as a longing for freedom, ethics, goodness, and even beauty.

Br-rt swerving away frorn his arglÌment he concedes

that the 'ù7est should learn a "little more about order, harmony, partnership, and responsibility from the East."

One rnight questionwhen the "universals" MlPatten admiles became universal. Male supremacy, femaie circumcision, justifiable tofiLue, the divine right of kings, and rhe right to rule over Little Brown Brother, for instance, are or have been valued bysome, despised by others.

A further confusion arises from his celtainty that in a genuinely free rnarket (I wonder what he thinks of the Hong Kong Government spending billions in Augr-rst to p1'op up the stock malket), the rule of law and democracy mLlst appeartogether. Sometimes he substitutes "liberty" free press, speech, and assembly for democracy. This-is usefulwhenhe discusses HongKong, where, as he coffectly says, Britain denied its colony

ancl dtis one alone

a

colonialism, he makes no mention of its disempowering legacy.

Patten also excuses himself for not trying to right some of Hong Kong's most serious policy flaws. He criticises Hong Kong's housing policyfor being confusing and too interventionist. After all, the Hong Kong govern ment is now the world's largest housing developer and landlord. Patten tries to argue that real change would involve more

Confusion deepens when Mr Patten lecognises that

as bulwarks against Communism. I often aglee with Mr Patten, although he sometimes exaggerates the alguments of his adversaries only to knock them down, a Commons' debating ploy. Hong Kong's democrats he names

-whom China has were and are the colony's best citizens.

-probably left Hong Kong alone since the Handovel becalrse

by Chds Patten

could manage. Well,

Ranclom House/Macmillan

Mr Patten's big idea is that he iearned something governing Hong Kong, not only about international relations but about how Blitain should be governed. Despite his

genial but hortatory tone, that big thing requires another thoroughly thought-out book. In the meantime, we await his unvarnished Hong Kong memoir

I@

CORRXSPONIIXNT

Ocrober 1998

he didn't bother even to activate a sustained debate

HK$120, S9.99

there,

@

Ewan Simpson is

The Corresþondents' new Advertising Manager

hen Steve spoke at an FCC

lunch promoting his book, Ilong Kong: Cbinø's New Colony,he made a wounding and deeply scurrilous allegation that I was on a 10% cut of sales made at the Club, I wish to put the record stlaight. I want I2,50/o more if I can get lots of - by engineering a bookshop publicity ban now that it's too late to provoke a

high profile row and change of publisher complete with large

is reversed. My judgement of the

impressed by

likely to say". US tax consultant Fled Fredricks actually said...

Ieastlikelyto say: "You're not paying enoughtaxes."

Most likely to say: "It's deductible."

liked to freeze-dry the place and its people for the next

13 years. Hence all the dismay over any plan to introduce more representative government even

overturned so n-ìany cosy assr-rmptions and sent the future leaders back to the drawing board to draft harder-nosed plans for assuming the reins of power.

anniversary issue in lVlarch.

In last month's FCC Irreplaceable IRS (that's IRD in US-speak) hackers musthave brokeninto oLlr computers and reversed the order of "Most like1y..." and "Least

continue to run Hong Kong as strch.

Indeed Hong Kong was a docile.colony when the Joint Declaration was signed in 1984.Ideally, Beijing wor-rld have

before the Tianantnen massacre

The Colrespondent needs your advertising slÌpport, so get in touch with Ewan ancl place your order. If nothing else, you must be in the 50th

Correction

belleve that it was China's intention all along to inherit a docile colony and

Seriously though, I was impressed with the book. Shame the cover photo

15 or so years was dominated by covering the ins and outs of the transition, so I'm hardly likely to be

Contact Ewan Simpson on telz 2573 3545 faxz 2834 3162 email ewatak@wlink.net

throughout the book. I have no problem with his view. Like Steve, I

compensatory cheque.

contents might be flawed because so much of my working life over the past

the "Patten reforms" convinced Peking that the former colony's people prized liberty, sought democracy, and feared their new master. He doubts whether the next centrìry will be a pacific one.

Easf and rï/est doesn'f tell us much new about East and rù(/est despite the author''s easy-going style which

- Hong Kong press conferences but it tells us a captivated - he recognized lot about Chris Patten. Himself a llbertarian, the widespread Chinese thirstforpolitical and social change when he visiteci Peking in 1.989 during Tiananmen, and despises Britain's kowtowing to China. Generous to his friends, he baits his enemies, identifiable but not by narne.

un-

elected government

Singapore, whose moderncreator', LeeKwanYew, he derides as attthoritarian, rude and wrong, is "an extlemely well-run ciff which feels more \Øestern to me than any other in Asia," although as Mr Patten points olrt, "critics of the governrnent arc...purstied by defamation suits through the courts..."

He admires the moral lole of the US on the international scene, but forgets that for decades 'ùØashington propped up Asian authoritarian rulers ,inJakafiaand Seoul for example,

TIIE

pain than an

East and West

SB 342 pages

fol democracy.

FCC Presi<lent Diane Storrltont reviev¡s Sterze Vine's book qzkricl-r szas tLre subject of kris luncl-r talk last rnonthr

Asian economic meltdown. While he criticises

full

- out of fear of angering measure of dernocracy, actually China, but justified this denial by invoking a racist folm of Asian valnes: lhat Hong Kong was not interested or ready

Ifong Kong: China's New Colony

broad brush approach.

One criticism that was made by an or,rtsider was that the book was a tad a

The nub of the arglrment is contained in chapterseven, titled "The Shameless Elite". The chaper heading sums it up rather neatly. \Øhen

it comes to

colonies, probably the most important lever of power for the

rr-rlers lies in

picking and

shaping the comprador class members of the elite section of the

parochial. That has some validity, although as Steve states right at the beginning, the account is based his diary entries and he was no dispassionate obserwer. In my view

community who serue as the conduit between rulers and the ruled. The British were masters at this. And as

one of the strengths of the book is the

' Steve details, Beijing has shown itself

attention to detail.

In his luncheon remarks, Steve went on to mention that several doors would slam shut to him as a result of hisbook. Theycertainlywillslamshut, Steve, and expect them to be doublelocked, too.

Hong Kong: Cbinø's New Colony pulls no punches. The title lays or-rt the central thesis which is cogently argued

to be just as adroit.

Not that it had much persuading to do in terms of winning hearts and minds. "The most assiduously pro-

British members of the

old

establishmen[ were the most active in making their obeisances to the new rnasters," he wrote, He calls them Rice Communists

individuals by name. He weighs up Hong .Kong's elite and finds them wanting. "The members of the elite who are genuinely prepared to stand r-rp for lhe interests of the Hong Kong people can be counted on the fingers of a single hand," he states. LateL on, returning to theme, he muses: "The average person expects little from the elite and is rarely disappointed."

-The first person sryle qf the book makes for a comfortable read. It is also enables him to paint a picture of living

in Hong Kong through

anecdotes, "There rs alre4dy a more Chinese feel to Hong Kong," he obseles although he goes on to admit this is hald to pin down. He gives a glimpse of a brush with tliads and a verytiny glimpse into his time as Editor of the Eastern Express

which ended in aclimony.

The book opens with the PLA arcivi.ng to claim Hong Kong in the early hours of July 7,1,997,It closes with the hope that China, having recoverecl the treasure that is Hong Kong, will lesist the temptation to interfere. I hope one day to lead the second installment on the Hong Kong

story perhaps in 10 or 15 years from now.

So keep on writing yåur diary,

Steve.

@

Hong tr(ong: China's New Colony

by Stephen Vines Aunrm Press HB 274 pages HK$210, S18.95, US$29.95

and spares no blushes, singling out October 1998 Tf,E

CORRXSP0NDINT

Turning thespiaÍr

Kodak (Far East) L¡m¡ted

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J{otlywood has beckoned i'or I Iabsent memberJon Marsh, who is currently appeaing in a major motion picture, alongside one of Titanic's stars.

Marshis amongthe castof ABrigbt Sbining Lie, a movie which features Bill Paxton, best known for his role in

Titanic alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate \Xiinslet. American actor Paxton went from that film where

he plays a modern-day buccaneer,

correspondent profile, was roped in

for the shoot, which took

place throughout the countly. For their efforts, Marsh and'SØinn were paid US$300 a day, enough to buy several rounds of Singha in recession-hit Thailand.

"My first line in the movíe is'Cassius Clay' ," said Marsh. "I had to say this 20

of some three hours with the temperature up around 40'C in Kanchanaburi. I'm not sure if

times over a period

interviews major stars and reviews new movies for the South China Mornirtg Post.HaIligan, also an FCC member,

tùØar

laughter when the wiry frame ofJon Marsh appeared on the scfeen.

IHalligan stayed in the cinema to ensure the Home

onabook by former New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan, takes The story, based

Box Office production credits

mentioned Marsh (they did)

a critical look at the ill-

and to pen a critical appraisal.

fated American government involvement in the war, and

Her advice

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The thespian job came about

then. My other classic line includes:

through Pat Pao, the casting-agent wife of FCC member Basil Pao. She was reputedly looking for rumpled, middleaged British hacks, a questwhich took

People who have seen Marsh in action in person and on the set say he -has the acting sty'e of Arnold

her no further than the Bangkok bar Marsh regulady frequente dwhen Asia

Schwarzenegger, the physique of \Øoody Allen and the lacial contortion

Times closed down last year.

capabilities of Jim Carrey.

Fellow Bangkok-based, FCC life absent member Howard'ùØinn, who

safari-suited

Tf,D cORXXSP0tllENf October 1998

.Welcome back'."

It is Marsh's second ventLrre onto

the screen. An earlier, little-known career as a Hong Kong sPortscaster

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$ laced press conference õ questions at American military $ top brass.

5 "Are you seriously trying Members o/A Bright Shining Lie cast (fromleft) Howard to suggest that Tet was a Winn, Jon Marsb, Mark Graham and Bill Barnes. victory?" asks Marsh in one scene, delivering the line in a age it was my best work, as the joke went sneering British accent.

also fitted the

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previewed the movie at the Cannes Film Festival and could not avoid

trying to salvage Titanicfuom the seabed to the lead role in A Brigbt Sbining Lie, which tells the story of a maverick Vietnam

Manager

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Canon cameras and video camcorders

was quietly put on hold after one critic unkindly accused Marsh of adopting a

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His new Australian base could, however, lead to other

film roles in the country's resurgent film industry.

Heart-throb Mel Gibson, as Marsh points out, is from Australia, around the same (forty-something) and not entirely adverse to sluicing down a cold tinnie or two. Gibson, too, got his first Hollywood break playing a fearless journo tn Tbe Yeør of Liuing

Døngerously.

In fact allthat separates them is a few centimetres of hairline Marshy is ever so slightly thinner on- top than macho Mel and a couple of million American dollars.

@

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Contact Saul Lockhart on 2859 8070, fax: 2858 5413 or email : 100426.1233 @ compuserye.com

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HAPPY SNAPPERS Crossed paths with some ex-FCCers on yourrecenttrip? Take ahappy snap. We'dlove to run it. Put the pic/pix with a nice long caption in The Corcespondent box in the basement bar. And please drop the editor an email or phone callto alert him. Thanks October 1998 THE

CoRRDSPONDDIIT

RAY CRANBOURNE - Editorial, Corporate and lndustrial Tel: (852) 25248482 Fax: (852) 25267630 E-mail: cran5@hkabc.net BOB DAVIS - Advertising, corporate, and editorial photography Tel : 2866 0887 Fax: 2866 221 2 E-mail : bobdavis @ netvi gator.com KEES PHOTOGRAPHY -- News . Features . Online Tel;2547 9671 Fax: 2547 8812 E-mail: kees@hk.super.net HUBERT VAN ES - News, people, travel, commercial & movie siills

FREELANCE WRITERS JOANNE BUNKER - STRINGERS MEDIA SERVICES: Business, Finance, Banking & Forex / Writing / Editing / Research / Speeches.

Tel: 2575 1339 Fax:2893 3486 E-mail: jbunker@netvigator.com ROBIN LYNAM -features on travel, food, wine and spirits, music and literature. Speeches and corporate copy writing also undertaken.

Tel: (852) 2827 2873 Fax: (852) 2194 4551 EDWARD PETEBS - Features, Travel, Profiles, Research. Many Asia Pacific photos. Tel: 2328 2553 Fax:2328 2554 E-mail:edpeters @ netvigator.com

Tel: 2559 3504 Fax: 28581721 E-mail: vanes@asiaonline.net

PROFESSIONAL

PHILIP ROBERTSON - Script, copy, speeches, corporate brochures.

Tel:9406 09457 Fax: 2533 3161 E-mail: rpr@hk.super.net ANN WILLIAMS - Specialist in fashion. Press releases, brochures, newsletter etc. Tel: 28159789 Faxt 2545 O2O2

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For bookings contact Don on tel:2521L511 or fax 2868 4092

PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS 'The Professional Contacts page appeats every month in The Correspondent and on the FCC Correspondent web site at >http://www.fcchk.org < . Let the world know who you are, what you do and how to reach you. Thero has never been a better time. Listings start at just $100 per month, with a minimum of a six month listing, and are billed monthly to your FCC account. copy

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G0RRf,SPoI\|IIENT

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Don't mess with the prez

Food Nights at the FCC Haveyoutried one of the FCC foodnights? If not, you're missingsomething-like excellentfood atleasonable prices, andofcoursethelegendaryFCCconvivialityandselice. Toprowleftand.cenlre:TheScandinavianCrayfishBash;rigbt: The Raj atthe table, Indian Foodwithguestchef Ghammar. BoltomroutLaCucinaltalianawlthguest chef Rolando. That's Chef Stephen'lfl'arren checking out the food.

Look closely at the second row of the class photo on the left yes that's her, our president Diane Stormont, circa 7995, at a \íing Chun (a form of kung fu) class. 'When she was- posted to Seoul in the eady Nineties, she honed her fighting skills with taekwondo lessons.

Farew-ell Farrin

È E

s

a

a q

Joan adds another Irish VIP to her marrtelpiece

Clockwise from top left; Neil Faryin witb stalf; Neil witb Joan Boiuin and

The Emerald Isle'sJoan Howley metthe

Nigel Eluen; Bob Dauis, Terry Ducþbam ønd. Neil; Bill Yim and. Neil;

Jobn Scbramenko, PeterJones, Ross Blake, Neil and Nigel.

Taoiseacb...(that's Irish for Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern recently. A fewyears

lrish

s {3

Photos by Bob Davis

THD CORRXSP0IYDDNT October 1998

Þ

g

back, the then President of Eire Mary Robinson (now the UN's Human Rights Commissioner) was captured on film with Joan when she spoke at an FCC lunch

October 1998 THE

CoRRf,SPoNIIEIIT

ntlcly

portrøit of tCC irrepløceøbles

50 years at the FCC 1999 marks the 50th anniversary of the FCC

in Hong Kong

During next March there will be: o f, monster anniversary pafty . Lunch speaker series . Cocktail parties o I month of anniversary food Come along and meet old friends or just contemplate your navel over the next 50 Years.

*****

Neil Farrin øIember since: \ oc. ^¿r' '

)rofession:

Post Bob Davis.

Year of the Dragon (work it out).

Millionaire.

The Corcespondenl plans a bumper 50th anniYersary issue We plan to look a little at the past, a lot of the present, and a little of the future.

We invite ideas and contributions.

Lesterite.

'{ationality: ,east likely to say: "Why don't we live together for awhile first. viost likely to say: "I do".

We also want YOUR ADS

Pltotogrøpbed by Bob Da'aís

This is a good way to support your club and your magazine and give your company a high profile in amagazine that will reach the four corners of the globe

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