The Correspondent, April - May 2004

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION

TIIE

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Pulitzer Pfize for Tyler Marshall j Face to Face with Charles Sobhraj Where Have All the Corros Gone?

Pedal Power

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@

Letters

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From the President

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Cover Story

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Media

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The world's premier law firm

-

Adie's Bullet Points Breaking News Delivers a Sorry Tale about Reuters Where Have All the Corros Gone?

- Face to Face with Charles Sobhraj - Far From The Lantau Trail

0bituaries

More powerful legal solutions

Eyes on the Prize - Tyler wins a Pulitzer

Stiletto - Max Kolbe is All for Divine Intervention

Features

-

-

Peter Bennett

-

Jerry Richardson

-

C.,y Searls

Outside the FCC

Hong Kong

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Floor, fardine House, Orre Conrraught Place, llong Kong 'It'lephonc (8t2) 282t B88B I'irx (Bt2) 2825 BB00

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& Dolls

- Prisoner At The Bar - FCC Charity Ball - Language Training

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Club Speakers

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Around the FCf

G&

Professional Contacts

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Out of Context

- The FCC in Pictures

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Kate Dawson Main Cover Photograph by Hugh van Es

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL,/MAY c:<lt I I

Guys

How Others See Us

Club Activities

29'h

-

2OO4

letters

From ,{bsent Member, Jonathan Mirsky

Where was ',your honest, sonsie

face, Great chieftain of the pudden

Sandy Burton was the most widely loved person I have met in 71 years. If

AND WIN A LAVISH TWO-NIGHT GETAWAY IN A LANGHAM SUITE IN

CLUB, HONG KONG

(

2 Lor

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Second Vice president

Laurie

tt'

u Jounalist Member Governors

Francis Moriaty, Stuart \4rolfendale Associate Member Governors David Garcia, Nicholas Fulche¡ Anrhonv Nedderman, Steve Ushiyama Finance

a

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Comittee Ilaria Maria Sala

General Mmager Gilberr Cheng

The Correspondent Hong Kong

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o.Mac

Arthur,, Hacker.

THE CORRESPONDENT -{PRIL/MAY

exciting Scottish Cultural Evening.

George Mackenzie as Colonel Commandant of the Hurlestone Highlanders (23rd Foot and Mouth)

put on a fine per.formance wor-thy those great stand-up Scottish comedians of the past, Sir Harry Lauder, Witl Fife and thar clown

2OO4

can

Take the meat from two mature BigMacs and mix with finely chopped

liver sausage, onions and ,'the halesome parritch, chief of Scotia's food," lumpy porridge. put mixture in a buttered dish and steam for four. hours. Saturate with Scotch before serving on a bed of mashed potatoes.

This should be consumed with a few drams of malt whisky unadulterated with water. An infusion o' the ole, stag's breathe helps eliminate the taste of the BigMac

From Absent member George

and chicken, particularly during a Bird Flu epidemic. What's wrong with

Ma ckenzie

bubblyjock or famous grouse? A wee

it

slice of crowdie woulcl have been prefelable to some sort of insipid French junket. A few wee lumps of

that auld-farrant sweetie

grundy

would have been pr"ferable ro Atter.

Eights. The FCC menu made

me

.

Up your kiltl

Sassenach starter)

greet.

Website

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/N{AY

From Arthur

been served at this Scottish Cultural Evening rather.than pr.awn cocktail (a

:'Ier r y Duckham

Flongkongnow.com ltd Tel: 2b2t 2814

Fax

l¡ytngnl payable

Haggis is acceptable. you

generally get away Mock Haggis. Here is the recipe (for two):

Howevel myself and my guest for the evening, a wee Scottish lassie, agreed that it would have been more appropriate if Scottish cuisine had

Publicatiore Comittec Con ¿cncr: Prrrl Bay,lield Editor: Diane Stormont

Cardholder's address (as shown on statement)

0r pay by cheque

make. Cleaning a paunch takes about twelve hours, so the paunchless

Ramsay MacDonald.

Editorial

Occupation

Right as usual.

in there, Jonathan," she warned me.

"They're going to kill a lot people."

would like to thank the Foreign Correpondents' Club for staging an

O The Foreigu Correspondents' Club,

,u

gosh, she always looks great. ,.Don't go

Hong l(ong delicatessen. The other ingredients onion and oatmeal are readily available. Like any fine dish Haggis is very time consuming to

I

Convener: Kevin Egan

Conuencr: David Garcia

r.

ming pool.

and liver in one piece with the windpipe attached) cannot be found at the drop of a sporran in your average

tey e Ushiyama

Freedom of the press

fanrily heirloom by 2005. Supplies of th¡s

the Foúidden City on the night of Tiananmen (ir Jr.r" l9B9). They were running out of the Square hand_in_ hand and she had her sunglasses on her head as usual. I thought then,

Comittee

Home/F&B Comittee

become a treasured

Mediter_

Robert Delfs in the tunnel leacling into

ingredients of Haggis at short notice.

Two hundred fi.esh sheep's paunches (stomachs) and plucks (lights, heart

snaps rn T'he Conespondent. I remember encountering lter and

Comittee

Comtitution Comittee

that will undoubteclly

hotel's health club, which

it might have been difficult ro find rhe

at

Conuenø-: Anthony Nedderman

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Kevin Egan

Membership Comittee

ers

either dinner

a

_

Driskill

Scottish banquet without

Fortune Cookies.

However I am aware that

Conuena; C,p. Ho

Gift!

nights in a Langham Suite,

also features

À,Iart

Correspondent Member Gove¡nors Paul

Priceless

ham Experience (worth $8,736) inctudes two

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Kate pound Dawson

President

Fint Vice Prsident

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breakfast for two, plus

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A

Haggis is like Dim Sum without

the

circumstances, stylish. Look

CORRESPONDENTS'

SpÌke is Hong Kong's newest and most audacious weekly EnglishJanguage magazine combining satire with hard-hitting commentary. And, as if that,s not enough, it contains a unique ¡ns¡ght into the world of medicine, travel and food columns of a kind you have not seen before, the best of the critics and a business section that is rapidly becoming required reading.

On top of this are translations from Next magazine and Apple Daily, revealing a slice of local life so far denied to English-language readers. lf you don,twantto feel left out when surrounded by the smart and sharp people who have already become Sprke devotees,

Haggis?

the cliche "not a mean bone in her body" retains any meaning it must apply to her. She was also, in all

THE FOREIGN

THE LANGHAM HOTEL HONG KONG

racel" the exquisitely scrumptious

I just wanted to say how wonder{ul was to come back and revisit the

FCC - my favourire Club.

It

was goocl

to see so many of the old ..gang" still

there..A few even r-emembered my number. Amazing I They must have been trained by Mr,,Memory', Liao.

Despite the fact that the new Main

3

_T letters

Bar feels a

bit like

entering Grand

Central Station in New York, I got the hang of it and I guess it leaves more

for tables and for the

space

food

waiters to move about.

Sammy) have been there since at least

L97I-72 and know how everyihing works, know all the staff and how they think and feel and know the form for cutting deals with suppliers elc.

Gilbert is running a really top class operation. I'd give the FCC 5 Stars for service and management, just

like the Mandarin. Unlike the Mandarin, though, the FCC has kept

the prices for food and drinks

at

fantastically low levels.

The food is of excellent quality

as

well as great value for money. Chef Alan Chan deserves a big pat on the back for his and his team's good work.

I spent so much time in FCC, as I was

living next door in the Ice

House

the wonderful I was able to

observe and study the ways of the staff and how they operated in considerable

detail. loved

I

it seems?

As for the rest of the Club, I've never, ever, seen it so full of people, eating and drinking in every bar and restauranl, every day at lunch and dinner. You must be pulling in the lolly. Mind you, at FCC prices, it used,

I'm glad the Board of the day saw fit to hire Gilbert Cheng as General Manager. After all, Gilbert (and

(well-managed by Angela Lee), that

Shirley is great news. You've hired top notch lass in her.

The gym, sauna, steam bath and whirly-pool are great value but, hardly

was most impressed and I

it when, one night, Shirley

gave

a couple of the makee-learnee new bar

staff a right telling-off for getting it wrong. I told the Captain that Shirley ought to be Officer-in-Charge of the bar. His reply: "She is."

doesn't pay to stand around hungry, or sober.

Allen Youngblood and

his musicians are also good news. My old friend Bert, of UPI, would be proud of what's been done to "His place".

My only real reservation is about the new "high tech" taps in the men's loo. It took me a while lo fathom out how the damn things worked. There are simpler taps that look like taps and work like taps and which also shut selves off to save water.

All in all, Gilbert is to be congratulated on running and managing what is now

a really top S-star Club.

Please

pass on my congratulations and best wishes to all the team, not forgetting your efficient front office staff or quiet Mr Pong, who mops out the gents.

Thank you all for the welcome home and for making my visit so memorable.

well on the way to topping that figure.

On a more serious note, lhe FCC

Advertise

played a modest role

1n

CIub, along with other

media organisations and companies, urged the

The

government

to

scrap the Article 23

provisions that could have curtailed the press freedoms that are so central to

Correspondent

making Hong Kong a great place for joumalists and businesses that rely on the free flow of inforrnation. Dozens of

and reach Hong

Club members and many of the staff joined the July I march opposing Article

Kongos rnost

ZJ.

discerning readers.

We've had our share of sonowso too.

In the past year, we've lost several longtime members, including Sandra Burton and Jerry Richardson. All are missed.

So what's ahead? Well, going into the coming year, the new Board, led by Matt

Contact Sandra Pang for details.

Driskill of rhe International Flerald Tribune, will have a few challenges to

re

Sandra can be reached at

deal with. First will be making sure that the finances stay healthy as Hong l(ong looks set to retum to inflationary times.

The Board also must make plans for replacing the roof in the next year or so

-

Telz 2540 6A72

Fax: 2IL6 Of89 Mobile: 9O77 TOOI E-rnail: advertising@fcchk org

May you all keep breathing and slay warm to the touch.

CROWNliô-Äi)

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

We did it! The Club ended the fiscal year in March with a surplus - a small one, mind you, but a surplus. Given that in April last year our sales fell roughly 257o, and between October 2001 and July 2003 we lost more than 200 members, our surplus for the year that just ended is a remarkable feat.

It is largely the result of a lot ofhard wolk, but it hasn't hurt that the Hong I(ong economy finally has begun to pick up. Most of the credit goes to Gilbert Cheng and our dedicated staff, who have kept close watch on costs and helped the Board find ways to keep them down.

The Membership Committee, led by Steve Ushiyama and benefiting from Marilyn Hood's marketing expertise, also can claim a share of the glory.

which we cut in half last

Membership is now well above I,600 and rising. The FCC Charity Ball has helped bring in new members - a great

lovers, while C.P. Ho's Professional Committee kept coming up with great speakers to draw in crowds.

side benefit to throwing the best party in town. We're doing so well that perhaps before the end of the 2004105 year, we'll

proved again that FCC members

2OO4

year,

unchanged.

Tony Nedderman and the other

sure that no matter what, members of the

FCC have a comfortable, welcoming place to have a drink. Fortunately,

deposits that Tony and Connie Bolland on the committee recommended provided a welcome boost to the bottom

line.

All in all,

despite a rocky start, it was

a good year for the CIub. The Jazz Festival last summer helped get our recovery rolling, and reminded Hong

I(ong music lovers that Bert's is the place to be. Several stunning displays arranged

by Ilaria Maria Sala's

Vy'all

Committee also received the notice of art

The Ball was a rousing success

-

are

Board has voted to keep joining fees,

Kuk kids, and this year we're

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

however, there are no huge problems on the immediate horizon.

I'd like to say thanks to everyone on the Board who made this past year very,

very enjoyable for me. I'm especially grateful to Gilbert and the rest ofthe staff for their suppolt and cheer{ul hard work.

No problem is insurmountable

for Gilbert and the gang!

Finally, thanks to all of you around the Bar who've bought me drinks and took time to offer suggestions on how improve things at our CIub. Even if we couldn't act on every idea, each was valuable, because it meant that our members were looking out for making the best Club in Asia even better.

and

prospective members. By the way, the

to re-institute a waiting list for

that will be costly. They'll be reviewing ideas for possibly revamping this little mag - our beloved Correqondent And there will be serious talk about how to plan for our long-term future, making

members of the Finance Committee have been keeping close track of the money finding areas we can save, or earn, more.

A savrry, but safe, investment in euro

committed to heìping make Hong Kong the best city in the world. We raised $2 million for scholarships for Po Iæung

have

RELOCATIONS

4

in the effort to

protect press freedoms last year. The

I'll

see you at the bar!

already

5

cover story

a slightly owlish yeats, man oÏ 62 who has covered much For a appearance. younger looks much than his age. He looks he world, of the just another "I'm hack boyish. trying to get well, almost, he says. done," "Who would work believe it? I day's the to win Plulirzer?" ever expect a you do mean, Note the use of the word "reporter" and "hack". We all silver-framed glasses that give him

know that there's

Marshall won his Pulitzer as part of a four person team

for a three-part series on American retail giant V/al_Mart.

It was one of five Pulitzers awarded To the LA T.imesthís year, the second best haul in the BZ year-history of the awards. (The New York T-imes won seven of the annual awards ín 2002, largely for its coverage of the September

Ilth

attacks.)

a

Apart from the Wal-Mart series, which won for best national reporting, the newspaper also

(romantic). More likely

won for best breaking news coverage,

than not, we've aÌl used

editorial

a

different oomph between

being a

"rePortet"

(modest), a'Journalist"

(intellectual) ot "correspondent"

FCC Member

and

Angeles TÍrnes Hong l(ong

bureau Marshall

chief

tail

photography. It had

total of nine finalists

40-year

categories. In the

in the 14

six-times bureau chief and, now, Pulitzer prize winner, he's just a "reporter". veteran,

Tyler

won a Pulitzer

Indeed, for

Wal -Íttal.t)

all

newspaper has won

his

nearly a quarter of

globetrotting experience

the 35 Pulitzers it has

(Hong Kong, New Delhi, Bonn, Brussels, London, Berlin, Washington, DC), Marshall is not prone to making

since winning its first in 1942.

garnered in total

That marks incredible

srveeping observations or

four

itself was almost

underapp

an

studying

at a

in

junior

in the

began

Hugh

U.S.

Marine Corps. He picked the cub reporter's position over another part-time job, as a claims adjuster for an insurance company, in part because it fitted in berter with his class schedule.

Four years later, after graduation, he needed a job and -

o'It's a great experience to be awarded a Prlítzer,',

thought I would ever get one."

2OO4

1995

of Mark Willes as CEO of the Times Mirror group (th"

company which controlled the LA Times and several other newspapers). Willes had no journalism credentials and was

remained ever since.

to wake up in the morning and do what

The low point came 1n 1999 when the newspaper published a special supplement about Los Angeles'flashy new multi-sports arena, the Staples Center. Unbeknown to the editorial staff who worked on the supplement, the newspaper was secretly sharing the advertising revenues

found that his only real skills were in journalism. From there it was a job at UPI in San Francisco and then the first of.several overseas postings for McGraw-Hill before finally joining the Los Angeles Times ín 1979, where he has

"Because il's so far out there."

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

I

Es

in May

with the appointment

a former executive at General Mills, a giant food conglomerate best known for producing breakfast cereals.

Almost immediately, Willes began slashing jobs, cutting sections and, perhaps most troubling of all, tearing down the barriers between the business and editorial operations of the newspaper. He was quickly dubbed ,,the Cereal Killer" by the staff.

Why never?

He leans forward at his desk. His eyes blink behind

a

rock-bottom morale.

The problems

while

college after a lackluster high school performance

and a stint

after

recent scandal and years of drift and

was as a copy messenger Sacramento

re ci ate d,

newspapers

accident. His first job

and cub reporter

an

turnaround for one of America's greatest, but sometlmes

on his decades of

philosophising

Marshall says in an interview. "Obviously any reporter's aspiration is to get one of these, but honestly, I never

prize

previous year, it won three Pulitzers. In the last two years, the

journalism. The career

There's a disarming modesty about Tyler Marshall.

He's quick with a smile and a friendly handshake. It's easy to like him and his unaffected, almost self-deprecating manner. The Hong Kong bureau chief of the Los Angeles 'limes has just won a Pulitzer Púze, that most elite of American journalism awards. And he can,t quite believe it himself.

a

audience and whether we are trying to impress. For

Marshall,

Prize for a series on IJ.S. re

writing, criticism and feature

one word or another depending on our

THE CORRESPONDENT AIRIL/MAY

2OO4

I like to do."

from the supplement with the owners of the Staples center. was a profound conflict il;J;;"ñ i,ri"t ty dr"* criticism from others in t "f

billion in 2O02 alone. That kind of rur.nover has turned Wal-Mart into a behemoth sovereign nations. For ex

It

former publisher of the

accounts for almost t\Vo o China and lAVo ol Banglade That kjnd of po*".,

family owned the paper. the newspaper to lhe C

away, the Tribune manageme and team of editors.

"orn of ever lower costs and prices, has consequences beyond

U.S. borders. V¡hen

r J;;;;or"*i"r",

)

".

pt. sti.let.tos or

sti'let'toes A small dagger with a slender? tapering blade. Something far

,,rppti"..

to cut costs' Ì4/ases in

There's a certain irony in the fact that Marsha yriz-e;winning storyl resulted frorn solid repor

STILETTO(s,í-,é,ó

in his relatively peaceful home heat instead the rnore " grarnorous " bang-hang destinations :î"_i",ii ,,"",:i,:::,å t h a t h og th e in t e r n at io n aI b ro a .î; dl a st h e a dr in e s .

shaped

like such as a dagger. A small, sharp-pointed instrument used

for making eyelet holes in needlework. fltalian, diminutive of dagger, from Latin

stilus,

stilo,

stylus]

i::,Jr""J:lr"îîî*

US$f.Z million durins twas

won

And

üiî;r}"*

krcking ass!'You courd just

r""r,n"

irst

üT

usuallv, the Pulitzer awards remain a closely held ro the minute. But this ,;, ;; ::ri:::j'*l,"up ^tast .r," eo,,r ã*

ffli:.f:j",y.11rj Tl"*, '""",'"äJ,i: rumours thar the LA T;;.;;;;;#::i:ffiì;

f"ï:**"

I

I I I

/ ::îr:q+*tr;".ïi"I think ör,'îiiJi;îriî..1î",ïlr:ï:, fthe article] ,uir"å u rot

of

I ;iä,ry#shall' i "-""'

I

,"

Media reptiles responsible for story cock-ups can relax a little in the knowledge that the good sisters of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master have just marked B0 years of prayer for the

now what?

Much of the three years since Marshall arrived in Hong

There was a middre-or-the-nisht phone call, a lãst last mi¡"+^ J^^lminute dash across

Unheknown to the editoriar staff who wo'ked L'on ,I I1 the supplernent2 the newspaper was secretlJ/ the Pacific and, with exoeclâtinne l"i^L sharing ohn-:^^ r '-l the aclvertising re venu es front the ff,ffi:îì':än"l'i* LA'rimes newsroom supplernent with the owne-rs of the Staples eenter. late on the Sunday .

night just a few hour"

before the announcement. By the time the results were made public on the Morrday

ä""r" *"r" ,oo in the net{sroom, a stafier with a microphone manning the Ap *ir", glu..", oiä._pugn" ., the ready reporters waiting

-"*i;;,

(and laLer, margaritas).

The party, ,ays Marshall, ,.was experienced."

You bet.

like nothing I

ever

M::h ol 2002, was spent

Afghanistan. There,s Mars

h

ail,s p.i,;_;l

covering pakistan and

t':l]",1i

!"'li:ir "1 "

o.nå"*",, jT,ï ho-" b"li insteacl ofthe

more "glamorous" bang-bang destinatiorrr-itut hog the international broadcast_ headli"nes.

f,;r-"-"ü""*

getring back to the iob he was .rppor"a io't

interesring series rù is rhat r'dr ll. some very thing about the Wal_Mart uur¡uù it_raises sharn _;^ p crjri^i"*" criticisms about ";.; the giant retailer .,i t_.., ^__ ,

stiu

needs redemption.

Kong has been a blur. In the post_9/ll reality, he has been shuttling back and forth ro ,f," Uiaaf" f;;'(i"". rimes last year, once each to Kuwait and Qatar, twicà to Baghdad).

reporting in his rerativery p"acefui

The Wal-Marr Bffecr

"¡';;: ¡"

;;"iïi

if" .manag",,o l_:1,::ï:.1-. itself is an interesting one.

From a small fle-and_dime store in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 1950, Wal_Mart hr. ;.o*"'r; ieco_e UEUUIITU th.

LIIC wo¡ld's largest company in terms "of ."u".ru", _ fi245

modem day apostles called joumalists. True.

Their job, beginning in a small congregation in Alba, Italy, is to remain silent and deliver reparations for the sins ofthe press, or the "great root of the tree".

Founded by Italian priest, Father Jarnes Alberione in 7924,they have prayed forjournalists'sins to be forgiven, even if they don't run a correction. And now that their founding anniversary coincides with the paper anniversary of the U.S. marriage to Iraq, Max decided lo look in on a handful of reportem who covered the troubled union, and see if anyone

first place, tru-"If, covering Hoïg China.

that he is

doing in Lhe southern

" for-ãnd

And that means back to the work_a_day life of.a humble

ity in the world. o¡e of these prizes, but you ," says Marshall. ,.And as a

o get things

right." A

I

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

Former Hong Kong regular Lisa Barron is still in Baghdad with the CBS Network "where there's not much funny to report -- it's all gruesome." Otherwise she's fine.

American "Mikee" Sprengelrneyerof the Scripps Howard News Service went back to the U.S. and he's fine too after making the front page of The New York 'l'imesfor asking Vice

President

Dick Cheney whether troops had been misled into

believing that Saddam Hussein was linked to al-Qaeda and September 11.

Cheney referred Sprengelmeyer to one news article as the best source of information but that story had already been dismissed by Cheney's own Pentagon officials as inaccurate.

Woopso looks like Dick could do with some prayers too.

The Sisters of Alba shouÌd also be pleased when it comes to giving up on living in sin. In the AFP comer, Singapore-based Karl Malakunas married his sweetheart Arny Chung despite

a stag session rounded off by non-compliant neighbours delivering their wrath over beer guzzlers doing strange things with cricket bats to loud music in the middle of the night.

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

The couple added a lovely touch. Instead ofpresents, guests were asked to donate money for orphaned Cambodians that Karl and Amy are helping.

DPA's hero in lraq, Frank Zeller, got about as far away as possible and went freelancing in Argentina. Guy Taylor of the

Washingbn Timesfell. in step with Malakunas, got married and has since had a child.

New York-based writer Paul McGeogþ and Jason Bourke

of the London Obsen,er wrote their own gospels. McGeogh produced Manhattan n Baghdad, a lively recollection of his 30 days in the Iraqi capital amid the U.S. and British advance.

Bourke deserves high praise for At-Qaeda the Shadow of Terror, an impressive text detailing the inner workings of Osama bin Laden's mob. Bin Laden was not immediately available for comment on his weapon of choice -- prayers or bombs -- for knocking wal.ward hacks back into shape.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, former FCC Govemor, and exBusiness trZeekbureau chief, Dinah Lee l(ung, is one of 20 novelists nominated from hundreds ofentries for the prestigious British OrangePnze for Fiction 2004.

Kung's literary comedy, A V;sit From Vohaíre faces stiff competition from literary bestsellers including Oryx and Crake

by Canadian literary giant Margaret Atwood, National Book Award winner The Great Fitq by Shirley Hazzard, and Loveby Tony Morrison. The Orange competition is open to lcomen authors of any nationality of books published in ùe U.K. A lísit From Uoltaiì' (Peter Halban Publishers, London) is a picaresque domestic romp in which the eighteenth-century "King of the Enlightenment" haunts Kung's Swiss farmhouse.

With wit and wisdom, he helps her adapt to life overseas, while she hosts his modem attempts to fight superstition and prejudice with a website, "L'infame.orgrr- all with disastrously funny results.

Kate Ädie delivered a seÍnon or two while tending the {eminine side of war zones with her latest offering From Corsets to Camouflage During a recent promotional tour of Australia the BBC superctar appeared on the highly rated Jon Faine radio programme in Melboume with Luke Huntwho is on a l2-month sabbatical.

Hunt, a former alta¡ boy and renowned for his ability to talk the leg off a chair after a few beers, later moaned: "I did get a word in by the fifth minute, a second word in the tenth minute and almost a full sentence in the last minute that went 'thank you

Funher north and gainful employment

is still posing

Still in Melboume, and Lindsay Murdoch has bid fa¡ewell to his home town after being posted

by The, geto Darwin where friend Mark Do dd.

he was reunited with wife, daughter and old

'Word

has it that Doddy is plotting a pan-Southeast Asian pub crawl for his upcoming birthday bash (age withheld) for the end of May with a who's who guest list including Kate Webb and Tirn Page. Those two are also expected in Ho Chi Minh City to commemorate another anniversary, the end of the Vietnam'War,

with the likes of Hugh van Es,

,4.1

Rockoff and Saul

Lockhart,

in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia where Hurley Scroggins is being asked to leave the chili plantation alone and stock up on beer. The tour will force Doddy's tour takes

Murdoch to juggle a hectic social schedule that includes the marriage of his old boss Torn Hylandto his former staffer Sushi Das. In Cambodia, a prayer or at least a few Buddhist thoughts should be spared for Bronwen Sloan who is facing litigation threats for writing the truth about black angels (comrpt aid

However, there are blessings, particularþ with the parting of Rose Tang from CNN. Tang -- a witty and hard bitten scribe wrote for Sp,rke under a pen name while at the network. Now she's out of the closet and this should lift sales of Spike'sback issues with readers piecing together the missing bits. But don't tell the nuns of Alba it's all slightly raunchy. Instead Max shall inform them that Seth and Sayya Meixner are first time parents of a baby girl. In dad's words: "Seriously we're both exhausted, happy and a little shocked by what! has just happened."

Congrats also to Bangkok stalwart, Phil Blenkinsop. The plucky one has picked up a World Press photo award for his work with the Hmong in Laos. This yam has attracted far more good than the govemment

in Vientiane can cope with, and they

certainly won't be praying for his retum.

And a final note on Mark Worth. He died in'West Papua earlier this year and the modem day apostles want to know why the Indonesian authorities hastily buried his body in a remote grave and why no autopsy was undertaken. Some say Worth died in suspicious circumstance while on assigrment, others pray he did not.

Amen

fl

ts

presenter once it, Kate Adie is torcnowned for her straighttalking". When the veteran war BBC delícately put

correspondent addressed the FCC,

she did nothing to belie that reprrtation, as Jonathan Sharp reports Journalism is experiencing huge and rapid changes, and Kate Adie does not like the way things are going. Speaking at

an FCC luncheon, Adie deployed her impressive verbal arsenal at a broad range of targets in her profession with an

irnportant on-the-ground reporting it, Adie, who

1(

1(

As a

trmphasising how desperately

o

A CAREER C

reported frorn Tiananfilen Square in lune 19 B 9, was

The Asian Venture Capital lournal (AVCI) is looking for a talented and energetic professional to help expand its global conference activities. The individual will be the key driver in the program development for AVCJ's highly regarded series of

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THE CORRESPONDENTAPRIL/MAY

obliges fellow correspondents to report from hotel rooftops, and she gave both barrels to a reporter who carried a weapon during the Iraq war -- "a disgrace to journalism". But she also blasted the "bean-counters" who run television and for good measure loosed off salvoes at her own employer, the

Continued on page 25

they have escaped being caught in her gun sights.

The reporter who made her name by getting up close to

Must h¿ve excellent communication skills in both written and spoken English. Fluent Putonghua or other Asìan languages an advantage.

reporting that is being demanded from news desks is that you

the dangerous action aimed broadsides at a system that

.

intensity that made at least some in her audience thankful

Strong understanding of the Asian financial markets, preferably with exposure to the private equity/venture capital industry.

Listing changes that have surprised her and other "old - her words -- by their break-neck speed, she took particular aim at 24-how television news that feeds little more than headlines. "More and more we find the style of

fogeys"

should deliver first, rather than deliver a more crafted package, a more researched bit of reporting."

It used to be the case that in the event of, say, a train crash, the first to be sent to the scene were reporters. "Now it's the satellite truck that goes first. So the pictures come in first without the information, and the information often follows much later on.

"It is this kind of thing that is shunting the business of reporting down faster lanes and, I think, naffower lanes."

those events was " bullshif'

At least four years experience in financial journalism, conference organization or other related fields.

I r r

All

D

problems in Hong Kong where accountants are praying for fiscal .Word is that CNN is gearing up for another round of salvation. sackings. It should be remembered that the prophet Matt Wal sh had predicted the January purge, thus more sackings are a good bet. But of course we don't gamble.

-

Jon, Kate'."

r

o ) ,- oBullet oPoi

workers) who are answering the prayers of children with cash in retum for testimony -- false or otherwise - which is being used in court as evidence against alleged pedophiles.

Adie decried the commercialisation of television, especially in America, where conglomerates which now own once-independent news organisations think of them merely

RBC. 2OO4

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

11

Where Have All the

Review by Luke Hunt

Breaking l\ews Delivers a Sorry Tale about Reuters In an industry brimming with disgruntled former Reuters reporters, Breaking [Yews - Ifow The Whee]s eatne Off At Reuters should have no problems in findin g a market for its unflinching account of the media giant's management style of the past decade.

The number of mainstream foreign correspondents is deelining and the future of foreign correspondence is under threat. What is happening in the field, what are the camses and what does the

move markets resulted in a significant change in financial reporting style that allowed traders to increasingly buy on the rumour then sell on the fact.

Instead of tackling such issues the authors seem content with just one chapter dedicated to newsgathers of all types, rightly pointing out that Reuters journalists ale hardworking, and in many cases noble.

But to simply lionize the editorial deparlment as being responsible for the "the world's most respecled news agency"

future hold? Shanghai-based journalist, Fons Tuinstra,

The book names names and is a refreshing and easy read that details Reuters heady reliance on technology in booming financial markets and its battle with Bloomberg that led to its share price collapse and a massive shedding of jobs around the world.

The finer details of personalities are not ignored by Brian Mooney and Barry Simpson, both former Reuter journalists, and their findings include the itching senior executive with

the unfortunate habit public.

of "scratching his nether region" in

The antics at a "three day awareness building" meeting for 2,000 staffers in the U.S. also provide an insight into corporate spending habits with the company paying for each persons' massage of choice and to quote one of the authors sources, "who knows who ended up in which room at night."

However, too

little attention is paid to the journalists,

photographers cameraman and technicians who were largely treated as second class citizens in company forged on their

die-hard reputations as Reuters diversified into financial products, such as Instinet, amid the booming markets of the 1990s.

Breakin7' À¡euo also ignores the impact on writing style and editorial content that arose from increasing demands for financial news by traders being published on screens.

It is no secret that induction courses for newly-hired Reuters journalists include the often used maxim: How to choose a Reuters story? The answer: Whatever moves the market.

This style of reporting was a change from reporting fact

-- and therefore beyond criticism -- is a bit rich. Of

more interest was the revelation that Reuters news department was generally more profitable than many may have thought.

The designers of the book adopted the annoying habit of picking-out and highlighting pointed quotes in bold type, as if to say "this is really really important". Having to read the same quotes twice is irritating.

Still such criticisms, and the odd typo, do not detract from the overall read which should prove timely in an industry that is ever watchful of Reuters next moves.

Breaking lYews is a must read for anybody with the remotest interest in the media and deserryes a place in your bookshelf alongside [ìeuters - The Pov,er o[ ùIews. J Breaking News - How the Wheels Came Off at Reuters

By Brian Mooney and Barry Simpson Capstone

ISBN t-84112-545-8

"Reuters and Bloomberg are dinosaurs that will become obsolete in two to three years," predicted XFN managing director, Graham Earnshaw, back in August 2003 at a meeting of the Shanghai Foreign Correspondents' Club.

Both the established newswires have lost their technological competitive advantage of being able to deliver their news in real time to their customers, said Earnshaw.

Since the end ofthe 1990s, the internet has made it possible for others,

including

THE CORRESPONDENTAPRIL/MAY

2OO4

China is greatly compensated by that of the former Reuters journalists.

Other signals indicate times are not favourable for the traditional foreign correspondent. Last summer I cancelled my last hardcopy media subscription. Living in China, it was easier and cheaper to get all information online, although

media

companies

(Xinhua Financial Serwices), to do the same.

The worldwide operations of traditional newswlres,

the

cornpanies are supposed to pay my ïent.

deploying a large number ofjournalists, puts a high burden on operations, a burden that dates from the days when they mainly served the media. XFN, which acquired AFX-Asia, last year, focuses on the lucrative financial markets only.

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

assumed

the

economlc crlsls was

to blame for stagnation in

to a

group

of

experienced

Reuters journalists who retired in the second half of the 1990s, has 30 years of journalistic experience in Asia and

us$19.95

if it wasn't for him and two other Reuters' veterans, we may have dismissed this newcomer. But Earnshaw knows what he is talking about. Xinhua's lack of credibility outside

XFN

Earnshaw, who belongs

PB pp224

then letting the markets move on that basis, and the push to

I2

cotnrnents.

2OO4

the the number of foreign correspondents in the rapidly expanding city. A continuous stream of major events, including 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, gave us reason to believe that we were living in extraordinary times and that when the crises were over, things would return to normal.

Survival tactics were deployed. Colleagues joined emerging low-budget local media operations or trade 13

Survival tactics weïe d eployed. e oll eagu es ioined ernetging Iow-budget hocal rnedia operattc¡ns or trade publications to survive the cris is. C olleagues from llo ng I{ong sought refuge in Shanghai and Beiiing.

Othets had to widen their beats to cover Iarger parts of Asia.

theory internet users have

lace to lace w¡th

an

unprecedented access to online print stories from all over the world, varying from radical Islamic voices to the officiai viewpoints of the Chinese government.

But increasingly even the most exotic

media rely on the international newswires, in many cases Ap. Ap has become the McDonald's of foreign newsgathering: there is not much diversity in its menu.

roo- fã,

Continued on page 25

Cococabana ¡\l ficsco dininq in N,lo 'Iat \\'an

By RÍchard S. EhrlÍch "The l<ÍIler awoke hefore dawn, He put hÍs hoots on, NATO and the fast_expanding European s increase. ,,Each new member state in t 30 new colleagues here in Brussels,,,

e

('omc to

\lo Ilt \\'alton l.alll¡a lsltntl antl dise or cl'

lklng Koltqs lllosttrc¿rutilìrl rcltrrc jìrt lri lì'csco tlininq antl stcitt pl'tics [-.c.1cii ,lrìr0,\r o, thc bc,ch. ( ococrblirrr .r'icr: lr lrritl mber of foreign correspondents has to 50," said Howard French, the chief.

The Times's successful syndication service has allowed other major U.S. print media to reduce the costs of foreign correspondence, at the expense of their own voice.

French grins when asked about future offoreign correspondence and the growing dominance of his paper. .Vhut u., u*f,rl thought that would be," he said.

A second survivor is the Associated press. Tþe news service set up by search engine Google giveí a good overview of what the print media worlJwidã publish.

In

He took a faee frotn the aneient gallery, And he walked on down the haII,, --The End by The Doors

lllck \lcditc'tiìrtrì, st'lc I rrisirc ,r](ì

¿rliìr()sl)hùrc.

l:rjot

0ur ù\()tic \r.ursr'I c()ckrlils irnrl bu]ctlnr tlrnirg :ct lgiiirìst 1hc

solì \ouÌl(l ol'\\'iì\

Outside, beyond medieval _ Buddhist

pugodur, white_washed srupas, hashish-smoki"g Loly sadhus and

crumbling brick hovels, peasants had found the charred, smouldering remains of two human s,27 years ago.

ùs,

l'or ic:cn irttorr: ple l:e cltll I inlct¿rbir.s. []oirL I

BANGKOK,

Thailand - The alleged French serial murderer with thick hands and lynx physique slid quietly toward a baccarat table in Kathmandu's'fivl_star yak and Yeti Hotel. He wanted to savour a quiet card game and ponder how well he was avoiding NepalL cops.

In America, "Charlie Don't Surf" was the slogan of

l-ilE-l l-lN

lirc, to rcscl \ e 0rìlitìc 0r lllol.c

in lÌ).

( hr.ck out: \\ tl \\ ti)pt¿ìblùs.c(ìll hk ('ubanl :S6g- ll l,l lJll Piclnle lli(rg-9ó.j

a

culture-jamming T-shirt, juxtaposing California,s psycho_

murderer Charles Manson and that [uote from Apo"ulypr"

Now when

Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore mocked commie Vietnamese who negÌected choice ocean waves ofTshore.

The guerrillas -- "Charlie" -- were too busy dodging U.S. napalm.

I

Today,

"Charlie Don't Gamble" coulJ bã th" upãated version for Charles Sohhraj and Kathmandu's cheesy casinos.

t4 THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL,/MAY

2OO4

THE CORRESPONDENT AI'RIL/I\,T{Y

2OO4

On September 19, 2003 he was caught while playing *orrì unsolved murders. The crimes were on a list of up to 20 murders allegedly linked to Sobhraj (pronounced so_ BRAHJ). And mosr of the dead were thà hippest of our baccarat, hauntingly close to the site of iwo of AsiuL

generation: backpackers from the West slouching East via the Himalayas. And all 20 were unprepared to meet their doom.

Victims who fell into Sobhraj's clurches included American, Canadian, Dutch, French, Australian, Israeli, Turkish and other travellers innocently wandering through the mystical sites of Asia, distracted in some tacky tourist

trap and suddenly sweet-talked by a smooth operator who

knew more about the road than they could ever imagine.

During abizarre criminal career careening across Europe and Asia in the 1920s and BOs, Sobhraj police arrd "*"up"d broke out of several prisons.

15

In 1972, for example, the wily Frenchman was seized in Her-at, Afghanistan, for car theft. But when the Afghans moved him to Kabul, he got himself transferred to a prison hospital and then drugged the Afghan guards. And escaped' In 19?5, he was locked up in Greece but successfully fled while being transported in a police van. He hid gasoline in a bottle of shampoo which he carried with him into the van'

brick lanes, where earnest "nomads" planned treks

tï;ï

ïi

Well,

track them down.

or

when Thai police belatedly brought Sobhraj in for questioning, they neglected to keep a careful eye on him

It1976,

he insisted, merery

Tttey weïe srupefied: after 27 hazv v.c?rs .sint'e ï:::'1"-0. '" was

feigning illness and changing changing hi

always

allegedly

couple and stealing more than US$2,000's worth of their belongings in 1975. They survived. Today, they could provide valuable testimony if they agree to talk, but it was uncertain whether or not Australian authorities would try and

scooped up Tibetan-style souvenirs' He was a businessman'

the infamous dr¡uble murder, Sobhtai ff back in l{epal. Word spread, and police h rdentity. identity. And he rushed to yank him from the Yak and Yeti.

bribing officials,

in Thailand for

attempting to murder two Australians, Russell Lapthorne and his wife Vera, after repeatedly drugging the Melbourne

Today, the S9-year-old Sobhraj may be safe from any murder trial in Kathmandu because, after all those years, the evidence, files, testimony and witnesses are scattered' Confident, Sobhraj told the cops this was actually his first time visiting NePal. He said he had been dwelling in Thamel, the capital's tourist trap of old

Afghanistan, Iran,

I:;*::

Sobhraj was also wanted

up for an equally spectacular 1976'

Inside the vehicle, he poured the gasoline on the floor and ignited the fluid. Amid the screams and fiery chaos, he fled tã Trrk"y, though he was wanted there for a robbery at the Istanbul Hilton.

Over the years, the fast-talking confidence man eluded police in Hong Kong, Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan,

Turkey, Greece and

back to health, while continuing to concoct toxic potions that would keep them quivering in his apartment for days until whatever passpofis, foreign exchange and other precious items could be extracted from their weakening grasp'

Annabella Tremont and Laddie DuParr)' Way back then, police and investigalors suspected Sobhraj, but he slipped ãut of the Kathmandu Valley and crossed the Himalayan foothills into India where he had other vicious crimes lined as

escaped. almost

always...

Those

are His hunting along Asia's continent, ¿ idealistic Westerners.

In

n his ream-long resume'

arrived.

vulnerable cul-de-sacs still criss-crosses this rade of Young, naive'

southeast to

those days' daze, they were

ir:^:,:"'lrl^iT NepaI's sharvls unáÌa,'dicrart''

But no

one

really knew why

Sobhraj had suddenlY

\

miles News of his arrest immediately echoed hundreds of

crippled by Sobhraj be sensational committed in 1975. e unsolved murders include:

Bolliver' of Cabrillo Beach' California' at Pattaya, a ribald resort on the Gulf of

and salt water in her lungs as if forcibly drowned, according to a Thai pathologist' on French woman, Charmayne Carrou, also found dead neck her that Pattaya's beach. She was strángled so forcibly bones broke.

suits' Both Jennifer and Charmayne were clad in bathing

inspiring the Thai media at the time to dub the mysterious

and traveller's cheques.

"You

rtigltt tind out later t:hat the road w'ill ertd in

while he waited in a police station. The experienced escape artist simply walked free when police looked the other way' Sobhraj skipped south across the border to Malaysia with his Canadian lover, foxy-looking Marie-Andre Leclerc from the small town of Levis, Quebec. They were joined by their alleged paltner, an Indian named Ajay Chowdhury.

They bounced through Europe and Asia until they arrived in India where a mess of red-tape, comrplion, contradictions and chaos created an

easy stomping ground for the quick-witted,

Deuoit,

flashy maniac.

Hone¡', the roacl will et'en end in Katlttnanclu'

But

India also has its own

unfathomable traps.

The wheel of

life

and

death can turn vicious as it grinds across that

According to Sobhrai's own written description of himse]f to prornote his still-unpublished memoirs, het c]airned tc-t Ite a "rrua.ster iail breakerr" "mastet criminal" and "rÌfaster murderer".

ancient land, and it hacks its cuts most deeply in the Hindu holy city of Benares,

street.

also known as Varanasi, along the Ganges River. Sobhraj, and not-so-sweet Marie, were soon arrested and convicted in India of killing Israeli tourist Avoni Jacob in 1976 amid Benares's temples and ghee-smeared funeral pyres.

Sobhraj had also slipped up elsewhere in India. An

They were stupefied: after 27 hazy years since the infamous double -trd"r, Sobhraj was back in Nepal' Word

ill -- if they Carriere, whose burnt bodies were discovered

on

Kathmandu's outskirts (and sometimes confusingly identified

16

Indian court found him guilty of killing a French tourist, ever awoke at all.

*llli

Those who could open their eves then found them #i'!"JuI,;i'em, politelv offering to nurse

*".#i;

IHE

CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

Iong prison sentence, and possible execution by hanging, Ioomed in front of Sobhraj who nervously contacted better Iawyers while tugging on other expensive strings. Eventually, Sobhraj was acquitted ofboth murders.

But in 197? he was imprisoned in India for 10 years for the madcap act of drugging an entire busload of French tourists in New Delhi's middle-class Vikram Hotel while attempting to rob them. The slumping, babbling tourists

Jean-Luc Solomon, in New Delhi the same year. The Israeli and the French victims were both found drugged to death. A THE coRRESpoNDENT ApRIL/MAy 2oo4

staggered through the hotel while slowly passing out in public, screwing up Sobhraj's plot because his timing was all wrong. Quizzical hotel staff meanwhile called unamused police.

Eight years later, during jailhouse interviews in New Delhi, the muscular Sobhraj appeared suave yet excited when he told me in 1985 in aggressive, French-accented English: "Officially I am denying I killed anyone. Of course I am denying!"

17

Wearing his typical gear of slacks, slip-on shoes, a shirt rolled up to the elbows and a big gold watch, he resembled an urbane Vietnamese safesman giving a hard-sell to customers in a showroom instead of a prisoner in the bowels of New Delhi's Tihar Jail.

Despite his bravado of confidence, he told me his legal strategy was to block extradition from India to Thailand, where he feared cerlain execution.

"According to the Thai constitution, they

can shoot

anyone

without trial. So I don't think you can get a fair trial there," Sobhraj

said at the time, while other prisoners looked

"Have something to drink..."

For a while, he lorded over Tihar Jail's miserable universe by blackmailing the prison's superintendent. Sobhraj planted eavesdropping devices which recorded the superintendent's illegal rackets, and then Sobhraj played a few sound bites until the aghast superintendent agreed to share power with the usurping inmate. But the scandal leaked out and hit India's media. After the government investigated his activities, the

Sobhraj wrote it, the shooting of Mrs. Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards in the

garden of her official residence was described in bloody, graphic slow molion,

with her splattered

blood

lovingly described.

I asked about against him charges various When

About a year after our interview, Sobhrai did the thing he knew best: he escaped from Tihar lail in 1986 by hosting a birthday partJl for the guards and serwng thern drugged sweets.

seven other countries,

Sobhraj smiled and replied, "Nobody has applied for my

extradition except

the

Thais."

He always liked the way

on in awe from a respectful distance. "There is no evidence to connect me with the crimes there."

The balding, grinning convict said, "If I go free from this jail, I will try to stay in India, get residence here and do my writing. I find pleasure in writing shofi stories. And I will try to get married. I don't know yet. I want to settle. Kids is what I want. There is no question of my going back into crime."

And then came the classic Sobhraj line, by now his own ghoulish cliche: "Here," he said, handing me a bottle of soda.

in

cops rushed to nab him while

superintendent was transferred.

According to Sobhraj's own written description of himself to promote his still-unpublished memoirs, he claimed to be a

jail

breaker," "master criminal" and "master murderer". He was certainly a master hustler, trying to squeeze money out of authors, film makers and others who wanted to tell his tale. He also showed me some short stories he wrote while in prison, including his version of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's l9B4 assassination. The way "master

leaving loopholes dangling.

Sobhraj who sharpening

his

enjoyed

survivalist

wits by reading

philosopher

German

Friedrich

Nietzsche while deepening his manipulative skills by immersing himself in books

by Swiss psychiatrist Carl

Jung

said with

a

"I believe played a I had, the childhood my development.

Iot in professional tone:

Certain traumatic things in my psychological setup."

About a year after our interview, Sobhraj did the thing he knew best: he escaped from Tihar Jail in 1986 by hosting a birthday party for the guards and serving them drugged

sweels. Officials simply nodded out while stuffing their faces. W'hen they evenlually awoke, India's police freaked out and, embarrassed by international coverage, searched for Sobhraj everywhere.

frorn 7th November 2003

Bombay's finest soon found him hiding in India's decadent beach resort of Goa, a favorite sandy pillow for

Hong Kong's largest range of affordable alt: Anlîque ntups, prinls tl enç¡turinqs, t'inÍú(tc.fì1tII tt /

rd

le/

irosf

er

s,

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qa ç¡e I u It ¡:

ls,

cIti

I

tl re

n's

p

i

foreign criminals who need to lay low' Police laid a sting and posed as waiters, cooks and other staff at a restaurant Sobhraj frequented in Goa. Less than one month after breaking out of jail, Sobhraj was again handcuffed, this time wearing long hair and a beard so he could mingle with his favourite chums: foreign backpackers.

ct u re s,

etrly pholo¡¡ra¡ths ontl utuch ntore...

Sobhraj was eventually confined a total of 21 years in India before being released in 1997 and deported to France.

He had been born illegitimately on April 6, 1944, to a Vietnamese mother and an Indian father in Saigon, South Vietnam -- then a French colony -- and he held French citizenship, though Paris also suffered from his reputation.

His childhood was described as a painful quest for love, withheld by his squabbling parents, who alternately accepted and rejected the troubled child as he shuttled back and forth between Vietnam and France.

Sobhraj said alienation turned him into an outcast who dabbled in petty theft either to get more attention or out of

Suite 6018, 6th Floor, 9 Queen's Road. Central, llortg Kong

lelephonc: 2525 2820 Enrail : ìnfo@ pictrrctlriscollectiolr.corn

\,Vcbsitc: wr.vn,.pictut ethiscolleclìo¡r conl

Wednesday to Saturday

llanr to 6prìr or

by appointnrent at other tinles

18

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

boredom with the soap opera world he perceived around him.

As a result, he was incarcerated as a teenager in France's brutal detention centres.

Today, he remains immortalized in two biographies, titled, "Serpentine" by Thomas Thompson, and "The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj" by Richard Neville and Julie Clarke. But much of his secret, sinister life has never been told.

When his Canadian lover Marie-Andre Leclerc developed ovarian cancer in jail, the Indian government allowed her to return to Canada in 1983 for humanitarian reasons, and she

died there one year later.While waiting

in New Delhi's

international airport to board her flight home, Marie appeared ravaged by cancer and her imprisonment, but still alluringly pretty as she spoke about her years with Mr. Sobhraj.

"I stayed with Sobhraj because I had no passpot, no money, and did not speak English then," Marie told me in an intewiew at the airport.

She added softþ, "I consider Sobhraj a man who is sick." fl

Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based special corre,spondent for 'lhe Washington Times and international media who has reported Írcm Asia Íor

the past 25 years' w ww.

His wehsite

ís

geo ci t ies. co m/ gl o ss o gr ry h,/

19

building not far-flom rvhere we cycled. What is more, it was so functional that ín IB42 Macmillan rode it to Glasgow - over ?0 miles along unpaved stagecoach tracks - in just two days.

On Macmillan's arrival in the Gorbals on June

7th 1842, the invention drew such a crowd that when he tried to cycle away, he knocked over a child and unwittingly notched up yet another fìrst.

The world's first ever fine for a traffic offence five Scots shillings. After his court appearance the next moming, so the story goes, the magistrate who imposed the fine, fascinated by Macmillan's creation, requested

a

demonstration. IGrkpatrick

rode a few figures of eight in a nearby courtyard and

Drumlanrig Castle In his free time, the eccentric known locally as "Daft Pate" (Pate, Smithy.

rhyming with "fate",

the impressed magistrate slipped him the five shillings out of his own pocket. The Glasgow Ilerald of June llth 1842, however, was less irnpressed. "This invention wilÌ not supersede the railways," it

frec Lirne, the occ:entric known locall¡, as I)aft PateD (Pate, rhynting with '( fatd), is a contra ction oÍ Ki rkpatrick), in vented th i ngs Thing's likc a pr:dal-drivctt gt'indstone fc¡r his Tn h is

((

.

is a contraction of Kirkpatrick), invented things. father's smithy. Oh yes, and the bicycle.

Things like a pedal-

predicted.

Well into the

world's second century of fascination with the bicycle, it is somehow apt that Dumfries and

dr-iven glindstone for his father's smithy. Oh yes, and the bicycle.

The world's first ever pedal-powered two-wheeler

was fashioned from wood and metal

in a sturdy

4

(

1 When it comes to Travel'Writers' Clichés, one that really gets my goat is the "following in the footsteps of (insert historic name)" one. Who cares if Napoleon or Hans Christian Anderson or, for that matter, Pamela Anderson strutted, strolled or streaked this way before?

Or so ran the thoughtdu jour while we raced mountain bikes around Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland's glorious south-west. The day's setting was dense forest encircling the

vast Renaissance exclamation mark that is the Duke of Buccleuch's mighty Drumlanrig Castle. And the supreme

20

quality of the off-road trails, the lushness and variety of the fîoru und fauna, as well as fleeting, ever-changing views of the castle itself, lvere justification enough to reach for the superlatives, I told myself, smugly' But rvait. Did I mention that rve were rìding in the cycle

tracks of a special man with his own significant place in history? A Scotsman no less and one blessed with the name of

Galloway

is working hard to attract cyclists back to

the

birthplace of a sporting pastime that invokes passion the world over. The temperate Gulf Stream-blessed climate of southwest Scotland is a far cry from sub-tropical Lantau Island where we used to mountain bike together. The tenain and trails and challenges are on a par with anywhere on the planet.

In an example of cross-sector cooperation that borders upon the enlightened, local mountain bikers and land-owners in this part of Scotland have worked together to provide some of the best-designed, best-constructed and best-maintained

Macmillan?

If onty I couÌd claim him for an ancestor' Blacksmith IGrkpatrick Macmillan's lgth century workplace was the THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/N{,{Y

2OO4

Continued on pa6e 26 THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

21

Peter Bennett

Jeremy Richardson

Born London June L7 1939 Died Brisbane Feb ruary 3 2004

(1923-2004)

rise during Chinese banquet in W'anchai

a

Far Eastem Economic Review and later a

restaurant and

a rousing version of a give

current Canto-

pop

song.

Strangers and

waiters would

lead

the applause as the

¡.

ð

Cantonese-

{

singing

o u)

took a bow.

E

There are many memories around the

Club bar of Peter Bennett. But for many

He became advertising manager of

nglishman He was son

of of a l¡ndon policeman bom at the end

general manager of Asiaweek'

In 1981' the casual but sophisticated businessman was named Hong Kong managing director of executive search firm KomÆerry. He liked the work' He found it satisfying to find the right person for a challenging job'

also a keen cricketer and an avid reader of

books on the the history of China and

was his captaincy ofthe FCC cricket team

iUåluyu as a conscriPt, he

Southeast

Asia.

ll

two matches (one victory, one defeat.)

From Washington, where he is working for the Intemational Labour Organisation, Keats wrote a few words to commemorate his friendship with an FCC stalwart. The affable, friendly executive recruitment executive died in Brisbane aged

is

64 after a long bout with cancer. He

survived by wife Tomoko and son

Simon.

Other members had memories of a man who was always easy with a smile and quick with aid for anyone who needed it. Saul Lockhart remembered Peter's party trick; in the riotous 1970s, he would

22

Automobiles were one. He was President of the Hong Kong Motor Sports Club and Chief Marshal on three Hong Kong/Beijing rallies (a job that required him

to banquet once fried on scorpions). He also served as an

official at the Macau Grand Prix in the 1970s and l980s.

The boy who grew up in the

The quiz went on. So did WendY

formed ajazzband.

English town

Richardson's bridge sessions, which for years have helped Members through the

Peter

Richardson

for forces radio station asking them to play Sunset'" ùe in Sails son "Red soldier her The sergeant major was not amused'

to build his

in

February, the Club lost a

stalwart. He had joined in 1975 and his distinctive head of white hair was a feature at the

your "Red sails?" he demanded' "Whal's

.-

game, laddie?"

Back in Britain' he worked briefly for the BBC. But he feh the east calling' He

Kung peninsula.

He collected maritime etchings of a

famous artist, William Lionel Wyllie, whose work portrays the sea, ships and men of Pofismouth in the 19th century.

Jer'ry and Wendy for years ran the popular Club Quiz Nights with vim and

bar.

A man of many parts,

worked in Malaya in import-export' came

Jerry Richardson

to Hong Kong in the same field but was

was

involved in computers from the 1960s, a time when most people had

he soon hired by the fledgling TDC' Then

headed operationa of Off Duty magazrÎe at a time when this was a fat and profitable publication catering to the unique needs

a sense of fun. The

Photos by: Bob Dauis

accounts handling wages and keeping track of trees for the British Forestry

servlcemen.

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

enormous

contribution they made was recognised by them being made honorary members'

never heard of them. He was working in

àf hundred. of thousands of U'S'

own

own sails and wetsuits. He loved the water and for the two years before his death, the couple lived in the remote hamlet of Hoi Ha at the tip of the Sai

JeremY

died

ol

boats from scratch and would stitch his

have wanted that, too.

When

coastal

Portsmouth used

intricate disciplines of the game. Jerry would

remembers the lean batsman "marshalling his troops in a Bradman-like manner."

Those who suwive still recall the hilarious

Commrssron

jazz fan and loved the music of Dízzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker'" Peterlas

to expected to do their imperial duty' Sent

Arthur Hacker remembers

Independent

for graft. Jerry Richardson, a mild and amiable man, was adamant that whatever type and level of corruption existed, the cost of graft was eventually borne by the common man.

He had many interests.

as a workmate' sense "He was a great wit, with a sharp a big was recalled' "He Shaw of humour,"

vete¡-an members,

back in the 1980s when our eleven faced the frightening competency of a team from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.

Former FCC president Mike Keats

He arrived in Hong Kong in 1974 to work for the Housing Authority but switched the following year to the

Against Corruption (ICAC) where he concentrated on examining the way in which government agencies and private companies operated.

Jim Shaw, former editor of Off DutY magazine, now living in retirement in North Catolina, was a close friend as well

were

PromPtlY

assure you that the quiz will go on next week. Jerry would have wanted it."

He founded his executive search company' Bennett Associates, in I99l'

an era when Young Englishmen

the most vivid recollection of the urbane Englishman

"Gilbert," she said to Club General Manager Gilbert Cheung, "I want to

mlsston was to plug the chances for corruptron, to block the opportunities

His plesence at the Main Bar will

be

missed. O

23

Kate Adie...continued over claims by Andrew Gilligan of a "sexed-up" dossier on Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction, her view was

in terms of their contribution to the bottom line. Television

-

2OO4) ;

is being run by "executives who produce cat food".

The demands of 2[-hour news combined with the market place mentality are disastrous for in-depth reporting. "The repofier is reserved for the role of information presenter, standing on the hotel rooftop, delivering four times an hour.

It's hugely more cost-effective than having him bugger around the streets and produce abot 2-Il2 minutes at the end of the day, a crafted and weighed-up report."

Emphasising

During his more ùan 50 years in Hong Kong, he was a correspondent for overseas media, a local joumalist, a researcher, a teacher (of journalists), a sub-editor and editor.

His Presidency of the FCC in 196465 was much more than a sign of social recognition. It was a tribute to his tenacity

and experience as a journalist

and

full-time staff. Many of lhese intems today occupy leading

positions

in

society as lawyers,

authors, business executives as well as media personnel.

He was equally caring for wildlife, at one-time rescuing a honey bear

imported from Borneo by a local restaurateur to make a dish of bear's

He helped solve an problem and made the

insolvency heartbreaking

switch when the Club was forced to leave

its beloved colonial mansion in Conduit Road to a downtown site, The move to Ice House Street came later.

apartment and was moved to a zoo.

He also worked for a time on the

IIong l(ong Standard, and was a

Photos by: Kees Metselaar

adroitly. In filing news stories,

various capacities he took a position with CBS radio as a China watcher and correspondent. During the course of his assignment he covered Vietnam, Taiwan, India and many parts of Southeast Asia.

For his work he was awarded a CBS

he became a familiar face in

local films and

on

television, often acting the "dirty old gweilo", the antithesis of his everyday existence.

at Columbia University in New York, one of the highest academic fellowships for electronic joumalism.

Foundation Fellowship

His longest stint as a local joumalist was at the

South China Moning Postwherc he was a sub-editor and acted as managing editor.

There, he showed a special talent as a teacher and carer, particularly for trainees and young graduates.

His kindÌy, avuncular manner heþed

young man

or woman gain

confidence through a process of gentle shepherding, rather than the hard, shouted abuse that often is flung at a young miscreant in a busy newsroom.

Searls handled the internship for local schoolchildren

programme

planning a career in joumalism during the summer months and was proud that on some days his young team produced more

24

is b eing ïLrn by " executives who produce cat food"

Vlhere have all the Coros gone... continued

positions between

a

So what advice does Adie give to would-be journalists?

"Don't accept the guff, the public relations rubbish, the slime, the spin, the nonsense, the public statements that

.

come out of the rich,

the influential, the power{ul...

"I do

think

is an honourable (journalism)

I hope they are endlessly curious, and that basically they go out to make honourable pests of profession.

themselves."

It's advice that Adie has certainly followed

herself.

J

He kept it until it outgrew his crowded and semi-industrialised

He juggled his

many

BBC, which, she said, "cocked up the management response."

pa'!fs.

administrator.

varrous

know the journalist who hasn't got the emphasis wrong at some time in their career." She was much more critical of the

Television

how desperately important onthe-ground reporting is, Adie, who reported from Tiananmen Square in June 1989, was years later able to tell Chinese students that Beijing's official, sanitised version of those events was "bullshit".

Asked about the BBC's collision with the UK government

stories than the

that there was an "over-emphasis" in Gilligan's famous report, but no malice or lies. She added: "I would like to

L-R: Marain Farhas, Guy Searls a,nd,

Dauü, Rogers

freelance cor:respondent for many overseas media outlets as well as a

He was bom in Huron, South Dakota, more than B0 years ago, and married Ursula Yeung, a fellow joumalist, during his time in Hong Kong.

consultant on China studies.

She became a devoted carer when he

He had earlier been a joumalism teacher at the Chinese University, Baptist University and Shue Yan College. He also gave courses on contemporary China at

the University of Hong Kong and other organisations, as well as training schools.

Searls came

at

vocational

to Hong Kong

in

September 1952 after beginning his career at lhe Se at de Post-Intel þe ncerin 1940 as a copy boy. After sewing in

fell ill and depended increasingly on fulltime support. Ursula finally decided he should retum to his home country.

They moved to Washington but he died there shortly after being placed in a home.

He will be remembered by many as a courageous friend, a warm arìd füendly colleague, a patient and devoted teacher and a loving husband.

t

-

Robin Hutcheon THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

In Europe, only the Financial Times might be said to belong to the same league ofsurvivors. Otherwise the outlook is grim.

The decline has started earlier than we assumed, and the economic downturn offered a convenient excuse to speed up cost-cutting. Highly profitable media would rather increase their return on equity than the quality of their product.

Sam Jameson, the informal dean of American journalists in Tokyo, arrived in Japan in 1960, initially for the Chicago T-ribu ne, switching to lhe Los Angeles Times in 197I where he remained until his retirement in 1996. Of the four correspondents in place in 1996, none now remain. The U.S.

network, ABC, has also closed its entire office. "Iraq is of course a bigger story than the second largest economy in the wotld," said Jameson bitterly. "At the LA Times, the return on equity had to go up from eight to 20 percent. That is now dictating the editorial policy, nothing else. 'We are not talking about a change in reporting, I call it the end of reporting about Japan."

Other countries and continents are even lower on the media agenda.

It was not the economic crisis, followed by 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that was behind the reduction in foreign correspondence. Rather it was the end of the CoId

War and the disappearance of this ideoÌogical conflict between capitalism and communism that triggered the demise in interest in what is happening abroad.

Both consumers of the mass media and editors at foreign

TH E CORRESPONDENT APRIL/ I\4AY 2OO4

desks have less patience with foreign news when it is not coming from a war zoîe. The "need to know" disappeared from the media agenda together with the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Why should we have an interest in other countries, nowwe are at war and our soldiers coming back in body bags?" an American media student asked me when I was teaching at a university in Boston last Autumn.

He is not the only one who blames us for not having a story to tell anymore. Our editors do the same. Il Manifesto is the ltalian communist newspaper and is owned by the journalists themselves. It offers its foreign correspondents only marginal compensation for their work and its longserving correspondent, Pio d'Emilia in Tokyo, is not a heavy

financial burden. But he says the number of stories he wrote for his paper decreased dramatically from 207 articles in 1997 - his record year - to 87 articles in 2002. At least d'Emilia is still in Tokyo but he is the only Italian correspondent left. More than half a dozen other Italian repofiers left Japan during the 1990s. "Our paper has only two pages for foreign news," said d'Emilia. "It prefers to have breaking news and not the really stories I can write about the changes in the Japanese middle class."

What is next, is a question that is not yet asked often enough. The internet and especially webloggers are popping up as alternatives. While they are not the cause of the demise of the classical foreign corr:espondent, they might offer a viable alternative.

i

Fons Tuí¡ntn's weblog can be Íound at http://www.chinaherald.net cb

iz

(h

.

He is also a columnßt Íor

ttp :// www.c bi z. c n)

25

Far from the Lantau Trail. .continued

Alsop, owner of two bike shops and instigator of the now legendary weekend off-road rides in Mabie Forest near Dumfries. Rides which go by the inspired rag of ,.Sunday Muddy Sunday"

In the late nineties, Rik got

together with the Forestry

Commission and bashed out a plan to create *uy_-urk"j, graded and sustainable off-road cycle tracks in Mabie Forest.

To its eternal credit, the Forestry Commission recognised not

overwhelming majority of tourists. The bulk of Scotland's arrivals funnel into the country in a frenzied rush up the motorway from England, sights firmly set upon The North. As a Dumfries businessman told me, they "don't think they are in the Real Scotland until they get past Srirling,,'

only the project's value, but its near-inevitability. the

which

reasoning was thus: if the Commission did not get involved in providing sustainable trails to mountain bikers, mountain bikers would carve out unsustainable ones of their own.

"I saw the huge potential for mountain biking in Mabie,', said Rik Allsop, "But I also saw the danger of mountain bikers losing it altogether if we were not organised."

What started as a one-off project in Mabie Forest was such a success that it has led to a J2 million scheme to develop the "Seven Stanes" (stones) cycle areas, five ofthem in Dumfries and Galloway.

Highlands and a hundred-plus miles nonh of Dumfries.

All of which makes for a 2,500-square-

W'e spent two days

riding Seven Stanes trails in Dalbeattie

Forest and Mabie Forest that varied

in degrees of difficulty

is a

gateway

to the beautiful

mile mostly agricultural region where typical market towns boast fewer than four thousand inhabitants and where even in mid-summer, visitors get meandering country lanes to themselves.

Our frenzied days on the mountain-

bike trails were broken up by more glimpses of history. At the Camera Obscura in Dumfries's superb little museum in the medieval castle ruins at

Lochmaben, re-captured in 130ó from English invaders by Robert the Bruce, are exhibitions devoted to local-bom heroes as diverse as Victorian writer and historian Thomas Carlyle and Formula One racing star David Coulthard. And this

astonishingly varied coastline was once patrolled by a disenchanted young exciseman and poet by the name of Robert Burns.

We stayed at Brighouse Bay Holiday Park, near the wee fishing and market town of Kircudbright (pronounced Kircoobrie with the emphasis on the second syllable). The holiday park is on a coastal headland surrounded on three sides by ocean, and despite being host to a couple ofhundred residential caravans and custom-built chalets, is like no camp ground we had ever seen. It has its own woodland area, beach, indoor swimming pool and private

mountain biking to be found anlwhere in Europe or beyond. Do I care if my superlative bag runneth over?

A key figure behind the region's emergence

as

a magnet to mountain bikers is a red_headed

whippetlike cycling maniac by the name of Rik

oking the point where the Solway

from the pedestrian, per{ect for the elderly and for qarent with young children, to rhe unthinkably

"I'll tell you what it's nof got," said the sun-browned man supping a beer at an outdoor table between the port Logan Inn and the ocean.

difficult.

Want to know another travel writing cliché that makes me gag? OK, so it is a rhetorical question, It's the "best kept be believed, every mes whole nations strive, however improbably, to pass themselves off as

undiscovered. Scotland alone lays claim to several such spots, but in my experience, only one might be able to justify the assertion, and this is it. The real secret, like the old real estate adage, is location.

Dumfries and Galloway's greatest asset is the local

tourist industry's biggest curse. But it's the single most imporlant factor that draws me back here. Its geographical location makes the region, if not a secret, then the next best thing: ignored by the

26

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

On Macmillan's arrivat in the Corbals on [une 7th 1842, the invention drew such a cïowd that when he tri ed to cycle away/, he knocked over a child and unwitti ngly no tched up yet another first. The wr¡rld's {irst ever fine for a traffic c¡ffence -

five Scots shillings.

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

"ft's not got crowds, motorways or traffic jams. It,s not got

karaoke, discos, roller-coasters, kiss-me-quick hats or amusement arcades. For

if

that'swhat you,re after, you can go

to Florida or bloody Blackpool. What we have gor here," he says, waving his nearly empty pint glass at the picturepostcard coastal landscape, "is a place where it's still possible to have a Proper Family Holiday." J

Seven Stanee

off road cycling:

wvw.Tstanes.gov.uk

Dumfriea and Galloway Tourieû Board: 64 Whitesands, Dumfries DGI 2RS, Scotland

Tel:01387 253862 Email: info@dgtb.visitscotland.com Web: www.visitdumfriesandgalloway.co.uk

Rike Bike Shed (Sunday Bloody Sunday/Cyele hire): The Steading, Mabie Forest, Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, DG2 8HB, Scotland TeL 01387 270275

E-mail: info@riksbikes.co.uk

Brþhouee Bay lfoliday Park: Borgue, Kircudbright Dumfries and Galloway, DG6 4TS, Scotland TeL 01557 870267 Web: www.gillespie-leisure.co.uk/1 lf.htm

Yi¡itScotland (National rourisr board) www.visitscotland.com

2OO4

27

Guys

On sale at the FCC Above

/

Panorama Hong Kong Glendar

Terry DuckhamlAsiapix

ãIlt

Desk: 970

FCC member-s on srage. The Hong Kong Singers, production of

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Cooking up a Dragon

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Getting Heard

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enny Southstreet)and John Tustin

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George Mackettzie du,ring his one-man show.

28 THE CORRESPONDENT AÌRIT,,/ MAY

2OO4

THE CORRESPONDENT,{PRIL/MAY

2OO4

29

T_

as others see us

Prisoner

at the

D

D Vietnam and Brandy was in the UK with her foot on

the first rung on the ladder of a successful Not that the SAR had changed any

more than usual; rather that

I

was

eye, and giggling inwardly as they bounded puppy-like around good ole

granted a different insight via their eyes, mouths and, it must be admitted, brains.

With a gay one, a gnzzled one, a geeky one, an Irish one and a guidebook writer,

wig spotting the favoured spectator sport

they were a walking exposition of why

on bus journeys, which would

there's no collective noun for joumalists.

The grand occasion was the opening

punctuated with Cockney rþming cries

of the Avenue of Stars, or "Avenue of SARS," as one wag put it, and so the five-day junket was spun around Hong Kong's film industry, with excursions

applause for the unfortunately tonsured

aboard Ihe Suzie WongStar Ferry and trips to admire the Love is A Many Splendored Thingbits of Repulse Bay.

Five totally blank

expressions parade of world-famous-ingreeted the Hong-Kong personalities who graced the opening night on the Tsim Sha Tsui water{ront, and complete bafflement the appearance of Leslie Cheung's

Live-It-Love-It.

As so often happens on this sot of

trip, arcane in-jokes proliferated, with

of

"syrup, syrup"* and

a burst

be

of

"What's a tong?" asked one bemused

hack as we motored north toward the New Territories. Calls for clarification.

"I've just seen a sign outside that building - The Kowloon Tong Club."

Most of our meals were taken in the city's upper echelon eateries - including one fog-ridden dinner on the Peak when

almost everyone chowed down in

But a meeting with the legendary Charles W'ang, managing director of Salon Films, saw the notebooks rapidly filling up as the doyen of the Hong Kong

I've eaten" unquote.

Other parts of everyday City of Life

movie industry casually dropped

struck the Grub Street expats

at the

same

event.

galaxy

of

names

into a

a

Potted

autobiography that had spanned severa-l decades and more than a few box-office wonders.

Three ofthe gang had never been to

Hong Kong before and their amazement at everything they discovered - from the city's heroic skyline to the versatility of the Octopus Card ("You can use it on the bus and in a photo booth?") - would

have microwaved the cockles of

any

marketing manager's heart.

But the chief pleasure as far as I was concerned was observing the hacks' behaviour with a mildly anthropological

30

career in business.

blue green eyes, drool-worthy midriff

reunited, along with

as

similarþ bízarra "That bloke's just walking down the street picking his nose."

"She's wearing mauve and yellow together." "'wanko?"

Rather than the stage-managed Star Avenue opening - marred only slightly when a stray firework set light to the imperturbable guide's designer trousers - the trip reached its apotheosis in the unlikely setting ofthe Shek Kong valley.

Past the deserted army barracks, the piles ofrusting vehicles and the slightly incongruous ranks of newly developed

Bruce and

Bruce's son Justin, now 33. Bruce has discovered

first glimpsed wearing not very much in Return to the BIue Lagoon and more famously and recently as loan ol Ato some of us

synopsis

of

didn't exactly follow the

[Jltrauio]et

-

humans battling vampires at some indeterminate time in the future - it might have been due to the complexity of the plot or to Ms Jovovitch's exposé, small pun intended.

But it was intriguing to witness - here in Hong Kong, the world's third largest flick factory (cue applause) - the

enoÍnous, painstaking effort that goes into making a film. Enjoined to complete silence, we stood at the back ofthe set as a bevy of humans (or maybe vampires) died time and again for the camera, spurting gouts of blood as they did so.

On the subject of superlatives, the

Brandy

Jane have since been

and bone-crushing handshake of 28year-old Russian-bom Milla Jovovitch,

If

wearer,

blissful ignorance of the technical hitch that had occluded the regular panorama - but a push one lunchtime to go local (tripe and pig's trotters) lead to squeals of alarm mixed with daring.

Quote "I've only just realized what

cater-wauling mourners

residences, the bus made a sharp right turn onto a live film set. Seconds later we were confronted with the sparkling

he now has an 18-year-old

grandson, Danny, son of Brandy Jane, as well as three grandchildren from

Following my story on Bruce Derrick, the agricultural guru who solved the Lynam-Malmstrom family fertility problem (with their avocado, let me hasten to add), I got a call from a delirious Dad. Bruce rang me to say that

Justin. Nicole is

B,

Callum is 3-I/2 and Tegan was born in March this year. Bruce's l7-year-old son, Simon Cheung Derrick, aged. \7, has a brand new

family. J

EnrreST MAUDE

his long-lost daughter, Brandy Jane Derrick, living in northern England, had contacted him as a result of reading the story in The Corrcspondenron the rnternet.

Bruce and Brandy Jane lost contact over 25 years ago when Bruce was in

-- Ted Thomas E-mail: ted@corpcom.com.hk

Øá.-t4t 4" . ln//nrl-/on" Clocku:ise

from

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top: Bruce, Da.nny and

Brandy

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hacks - once de jetlagged - were unstinting with praise for the SAR, which they produced in convenient sound bites. "Like Thatcherism on

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Of course, you can't please all of the people all of the time. The boys and girls gamely knuckled down to an evening kung fu class in So Kon Po but an earþ moming Tai Chi session outside the Cultural Centre wasn't quite so popular, producing the unforgettable one-liner: "If I was given the choice, I'd rather be cleaning windows."

You couldn't make up a better sign-

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2OO4

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

31

T_

Rightt

MiheYamashita, a regular

contributor to the National Geographic since 7979, sPoke on his documentary that sought the

Francois Bizot, author of the award-uínning The Gate, uas the only Westerner to suraiue irnprisonment by the Khmer Rouge. Hß nouel recounts the nightmare of his arrest and, captiùity it f97f on

truth behind' the traaels of Marco Polo. The three-part sPecial, titl,ed Marco PoIo: The China Mystery Reuealed', aíred' on the N ational

G

eogr

suspicion

of

being an Atnerican spy while uorhing

in rural

Cambodia. François Bizot is the Director of Studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes-Etudes and hoLd.s the chair in Southeast Asian Buddhism o.t the Sorbonne

aphic Channel

Author Richard Miniter addressed the topic of intelligenc e and Leader ship failure s ínside the U.S. prior to 9177.

Born into a Welsh mining family, Cffi Morgan became one of the greatest Íly-hcùúes

for Wales and the Brítish Lions. He represented his country 29 times and captained the Britßh Lions to aictory oaer South Africa in the Third Test at Pretoria in eùer to pley 1955.

Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Womaru Warrior : Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts and China Men spoke øbout her latest book, The Fifth Boole of Peace, her first book in more than a

In hß clínner speech he talked of his life on the rugby pitch, a.nd.

decacle.

choríster. He ß Presid,ent of the London

Wel.sh

o,s a broadcaster, Male Voi.ce Choir.

uriter

Proþssor Harry Harding, Dean

Photo by Hugh aan Es

the Elliott School of International AJfairs and Professor of Internatíonal Affairs and Political Scí.ence, examined the prospects of China once a.gain becoming øn issue

in the 2004 U.S. Presidential

el.ections and the the chances for change in A.5. policy touard China.

..\,.E '

Ð

v

\-.

Lu Xiaobo, an Associate Proþssor 0.t Columbia Uniuersity, addressed, the atternpts of China's netn Communist leadership to tachle the perennial

Grand.pareruts Simon and Jennifer Murray (centre) etæm'plily the søying: "lf 40 is the OId Age of Youth, then 60 is the Youth of Old, Age'" Simott became the ol'd'est md'rl ot 63 to utalk unassisted. to the South Pole at the start of the year' He was uell into hís

trek uhen Jennifer suffered. a helicopter accident uthile attempting a record pol'e-topole helicopter flight. Despite the setback, Jennifer insisted tha't Simon continue uith his attempt.

Jennifer entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1997 as the rtr$ üotnaru to circurnnauigate the globe ín a helicopter. Three years later, she became the first u)oman to fly this uay solo round the uorld.

32

of Cotuption,

probl.ems

Deaelopment, spolte about balanced. budgets.

and

Deaelopment,

Scott Clark, who represents Canada. on the

board of clirectors of the Lond,on-based European Banlt for Reconstruction and

Communism,

As the WaII Street Journal's Beijing correspondent, Ian Johnson Øon the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for his reporting on the Falun Gong in China,. Hß boolt, WiId. Grass: Three Stories of Chønge in Mod,ern China uas launched. at the Festíual

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

33

Easter Bunny

Proceeds Aid Language Training The $500,000 launch

of

the

Foreign

Correspondents' Club

Language Training Centre at the Po Leung

I(uk is the

donation of $400,000 following mention of the Fund on Mary Cheung's radio programme last year. In accordance

Other scholarships may be awarded to

with the wishes of the donor, that

web design or animation.

Students from the Po Leung Kuk's

$400,000 was spent immediately on additional scholarships in 2003.

The remaining $I.6 million will be split 70:30, with $I.I million for scholarships and $500,000 for the FCC

relatively short courses in areas such

as

wiÌl be eÌigible to apply for scholarships, including secondary schools

of

initiative following the 2003 F CC Charity

conduct EnglÍsh and Putonghua traÍnÍng

and understand English, Cantonese and Putonghua.

gl t¿r.

*ì

programnres) targeted at the 4OO chÍldren in resÍdential care at the Po

The Language Training Centre will

Language Training Centre.

from school to a career more difficult

The scholarships budget of $I.1 million will enable the Selection

than other children.

Following discussions between the Foreign Correspondents' Club and the Po Leung Kuk, the scholarship rules

Committee in August 2004 to award.22 person-years of scholarships, perhaps

four scholarships each of three years' duration and two scholarships each of

-utitne s s uieuting s.

Cocktails and new member

,*= ¡

Leung Kuk. be able to read and write English and Chinese, they need to be able to speak

e

the Kuk who may find the transition

The Language TraÍning Centre will

The launch of the centre recognlses that young people in Hong Kong need to be biliterate and trilingual: they need to

ey

students Ìeaving the residential care of

k"y

8all.

The Easter Bunny made hß annual appearance at the FCC easter-egg hunt. Rumours he spent the Fri.day night at the Main Bar are unfounded despite claims by some m.embers

talented students who might need

Presiclent Kate Dannson greets nelo members at a wel,come cochtail party. The drinlts flnued as old and new members got to ltnotn each other.

will be more flexible from 2004.

Scholarship winners will be able to accept grants also from

Kong's student Frotn 2OO4, not all scholarshÍp wÍnners wÍll need Hong Financial Assistance to be hígh flyers academícally. Other scholarshÍps agency, be able rnay be awarded to talented students who mÍght :::iïi:Ti,"r.u--ll r overseas as part of need relatively short courses in ateas such AS w-en their Hong Kong education, and design or animatÍon. scholarships will be

awarded for conduct English and

Putonghua training programs, targeted at the 400 children in residential care ar the Po Leung Kuk. The 2003 FCC Charity Ball raised $2,018,835 for the Foreign Correspondents' Club Scholarship

Fund, including one 34

anonymous

five years' duration, for

students

all

of the course instead of

a

scholarship

look for potentially outstanding students

The 2004 FCC Charity Ball will be heÌd on Saturday 25 September at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Ball Committee plans to

in the creative and performing arts.

beat the $2 million raised in

winners

will

need

academically.

to be high

The

Selection Committee

will

h.;

standard three years.

reading medicine for example.

From 2004, not

duration

-t

the

{lyers

Scholarship be asked to

Peter de Krassel øutogrøphs a copy of Custom Maid,for New World Disorder, duríng hß book launch at the FCC. Photos by: Hugh uøn Es

2003. J

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL/MAY

2OO4

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL,/MAY

2OO4

35

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I'lìtrB lNlT|AL CONSULTÄTION WIT}IOUT OULTG^]'ION

39

'/enlrl 9 rncl r-l I 9: erì C) C) ¿

Robin Lynam speaks to I{ate Dausson

l<ate

ei ltrne 4l Paciiic Place ln llre Flrb of Àorry)'cng zt'rr¿acl

Photograph b1' Steve Cray

Untroubled FCC presidencies have been rare in recent year.s,

but Kate Pound Darvson's has been surprìsingly free of major dramas. "It's amazing," she says over a vodka and tonic in Bert's

"I

haven't had to

kill

anybody."

She knows better than to push her luck however.. After several

consecutive ye:ns of board service she is taking some

time out to devote such spare hours as her job as Voice of America's Asia Editor affords to enjoyirrg the apafiment she and husband John have bought on Robinson Road, just a

short hop fi'om the Club.

They've radically renovated the place, acquired a family of cats, and after eleven

of residence they reckon they're settled here for a while.

As President you might years

have thought she'd have had

Ridder Financial News, then to Okinawa for Stars and Str.ipes, where she met John who was also wor-king for the U.S. Forces newspaper, before moving to Tokyo wher-e she wor.ked for the I(yodo News Service.

The next move was to Hong Kong with the Asian Wall Streer Joumal, and she worked for.

Dow Jones lor almost uine

years before taking up her present position.

The Voice

of

Amelicn

gave her a chance lo rvolk

radio and switch hel

from financial to political news, as well as taking ol a regional managerial role. The

Hong I(ong office

is

last year she has

been

juggling her day job's

rnarry

responsibilities with the l¡CC presidency. Amazingly, she

enough of renovations, but

says, this hasn't been hard.

the trouble and expense.

The building she says is

because

"not quite colonial, built in has

balconies, high ceilings, and a garden area, and she and John enjoy having a retreat that's not too far from the FCC or the VOA office.

Kate has certainly taken her time settling down though, partly perhaps because her father was in the U.S. military and travel has always been in her blood. She lived ir Japan as a child and was eager to retum to Asia as an adult, although her first for.ay away from the Continental United States was only as far as Guam.

"I doted on Guam. I had a hell of a good time," she recalls.

"I begged for the posting. I actually took a large pay cut to go there. The sun was up enough hours that you could put in nine ol l0 hours at the office and still have time for a quick snorkel or a game of tennis."

Next

40

it

was back to Japan where she v,orked for Ifuight

the

network's operational centre for all points between l(orea and Afghanistan, and for the

this, she thinks, was worth

the mid 1950s," but

irr

focus

too

"The Club runs so rvell of Gilbert ancl the rest of the staff. T've hacl a great deal of fun without too many problems," she says, adding that by comparison rvith the various upheavals over which the previous board presided, her' watch has been concemed mostiy with keeping finances solid ald ser-vices reliable, although necessary minor renovation work has been one unavoitlably lractious alea.

She'r,vill, she says, remain involved in Ctub affair.s next year but not as a Board member, although she might consider standing again in 2005.

"I have only one regret. Hugh Van Es told me that when he was President he got called out a couple of times a month in the middie of the night to break up a fight, or bail somebody out of

jail, or throw somebody out of the Club, and I thought 'Oh boy, that sounds like fun'. Not once did I get called out to break up a fight. I'm really disappointed. Where have I failed?" D THE CORRESPONDENTAPRIL,/llfAY 2004

tft*.

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Steve Vickers

Grace Ting

President & CEO lnternational Risk Ltd Tel: (852) 3120 8688 Email : steve.vickers@intl-risk.com

Vice President - Marketing lnternational Risk Ltd Tel: (852) 3120 8618 Email : grace.ting@intl-risk.com

HONG KONG

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TOKYO

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NEW YORK

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BEIJING

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SINGAPORE