OBITUARY
Rodney Tasker: lifetime of reporting Asia By Philip Bowring
T
he death on March 24 in Thailand of Rodney Tasker, 70, was a reminder of an era when Western journalists made successful and influential lifetime careers writing for Asian publications. Mostly they boasted no certificates from journalism schools, but had natural talents and experience only learned on the job Rod Tasker sensed early what he wanted to be. He did well enough at school to go to university, but disappointed some of his family when he elected instead to make a quick start in life by becoming a cub reporter on a local newspaper. One requirement was to learn good shorthand, at which Rod excelled; an ability which proved invaluable as a correspondent whose ability to dispense with a tape recorder seemed less threatening to interviewees. His first job was with the Kidderminster Times, the weekly organ of a mid-size town in middle England. From there it was to the Kent Messenger, a bigger local paper based in Maidstone in south-east England; and moved between there and London, working for the Press Association, the co-operative which supplied local news to national media. The late 1960s in England were an ideal place for a gregarious, good-looking young reporter to be around, enjoying some wild times which we will not record here. But Rod wanted more adventure and after an abortive effort to guide a tour group overland to India, a former Kent Messenger
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colleague who had joined the China Mail, an afternoon daily in Hong Kong, suggested he join too. So he and Liverpudlian fellow Messenger reporter Dave Smith were hired and arrived in Hong Kong in early 1972. From there they both moved on in 1974 – shortly before the China Mail folded – to the desk of the fastexpanding Far Eastern Economic Review. Both were to make their marks on regional journalism, with Smith in 1975 being one of the founding editors – along with Review alumni T.J.S. George and Mike O’Neill – of Asiaweek and staying until its closure in 2001. Rod’s first posting as a correspondent was to Manila in 1977, sharing a house just off Roxas Boulevard in Pasay with freelance colleagues including Bernie Wideman and Harvey Stockwin and various itinerants. He found it easy enough to get to know several of the assortment of the rogues and the well-meaning who were ministers in the Marcos’ corrupt and authoritarian but socially easy-going regime. Labour secretary Blas Ople was a drinking buddy; finance secretary Cesar Virata, foreign secretary Alberto Romulo and agriculture secretary “Bong” Tanco were easily accessible. He could even get along with information secretary – and Imelda Marcos favourite – Kit Tatad. He quickly became Manila’s leading foreign correspondent, the go-to for many visitors such as Newsweek’s Barry Came, but also on buddy terms with UPI’s Vic Laniauskas, Reuters Colin Bickler
and mentor to local journalists including Nellie Sindayen, later of Time, and Sheilah Ocampo who became the Review bureau chief in Manila. Good reporting eventually got him into trouble in the form of a criminal libel writ from defence secretary Juan Ponce Enrile. Rod had written a long and involved story about the attempt of a Marcos crony to take over a small bank. Enrile was mentioned once in passing, but he nevertheless seized on what was an innocent reference, claiming it was an accusation of criminality, to launch a frontal legal assault on Rod and the magazine. This was a technique to silence journalists generally of which Lee Kuan Yew soon became the leading expert. Rod was out of town at the time of the writ and wisely did not return. Eventually the episode blew over, but by then Rod had been made Regional editor of Review back in Hong Kong. He stayed in this post for two years before deciding that he preferred to work as a correspondent in the field. He thus became Bangkokbased Chief Correspondent for the next 25 years, which took him all over Asia. Southeast Asia was his main patch, reporting domestic politics around the region, coups and would-be coups in Thailand and the Philippines, innumerable ASEAN meetings, and the long drawn-out negotiations over Cambodia. But he also served as an unofficial Review ambassador. He was a good reporter, worked