The Correspondent, October 1988 by The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong

¡t

ì ìr

'¡j

LETTERS If you have a taste for exotic fruits,

David Bonavia SO many words have been writ-

ten paying tribute to David

don't miss the boat. Come to Thailand and sampìe natures most delicious

creations Durian, mango, longan Unique flavours and

gave up trying to teach me Mandarin...not in disgust or anger. I think he just knew that I

subtle textures that will tantalize your taste buds

ln Thailand you'll find fruit

colourfuìarray wherever you go

From the wooden boats that

lll ,..;,.'F >uil9Í tn PnuRÌI

prv rnerr wares on rne

Bonavia's electicism...his amazing skills as a polirical wrirer. his ìinguistic gifts, his humonr (schoolboy and sophisricated as it was) and to be honest, many of them went overmy head or in one ear and out the other. He quickly

sun

dappìed canals to street vendors whose fruit is peeled,

cut and kept on ice ready to refresh you on a hot

wasn't all that keen on ìeaming. David couldtune into almost anyone; not that everyone liked the station he chose to broadcast from orlisten to. But it's safe to say that that boundless brain of his had filed awaysomething on just about everything that made sense, didn't make sense, or was of worth. He loved to lind errors in Scholes' Oxford Companion to

Music- ''Look

summer's day

at this,

would

howl... "this guy hasn' t got a cìue

what Chinese instruments or music are about! Or, we would argue about the Thailand

Coùen

Lentple

ci¡U

Lhe

norLhem

ol Chønq Mat

You'll lind white-sand beaches bathed in vear round

last three notes in the first song of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, the Drinking Song of Earth's Sorrow, where the Chinese poet, Li Bai, sets the tone of the whole work, a lament for the brevity of

sunshine And golden palaces

life: "Dunket ist das Leben, isr der Tod" (Dark is life and so is

that will take your breath away

death). David would say: "See what Mahler has done here? In the first song he uses a group of

You'll find some of Asias best

three notes lrom the pentatonic World famous Thai silk

shopping bargaìns

from silks

and gemstones to arts and cratts

scale to set an Oriental theme.:

I'd say, "No, no the tenor in that recording is flat.' I looked at the

ready smiles and willingness to heìp make this exotic

was

right.

As a wordsmith who loved words as much as he did life and hisfriends, he wasn't muchof

ìand. paradise

EXOTIC

singer. But there was such a sweetness in his quavery voice when he hummed things he loved...from Handel, Mozart, Schoenberg, Debussy.

Fru¡l

sller

viLh her

eþtu produa

GOLDEN PLACES, SMILINC FACES

For more ¡nfomat¡on on exotic Thailand lill in this coupon and ma¡l to:- Tour¡sm Author¡ty of Thailand Room 40¡, Faimonr House, I Cotron Tree Drive, Centra¡, Hong Kong. Tel. 5-8ó80712, 5-8ó80854. Name

Address

Do you have something to say but nowhere to say ¡t? How about writlng a guest column?

score. David was right. Mahler But above aì1, you ìl find an enchanting people whose

INFLUENCE THE INFLUENTIAL

Most certainly these musical loves came from his illustrious grandfathel Ferrucio Bonavia, once a music critic for the Daily Telegraph, who wrote a book David knew I would love. As it was out of print for years, David

photocopied it for me, probably the only dishonest thing he ever

The Correspondent invites allwho have an opinion on anything - from the Hong Kong Basic Law to the international arms race, from women's rights to women's hemlines, from the value of lawyers to the value of no lawyers - to try their hands at

expressing themselves. All members, writers or non-writers, are welcome to hammer out a piece to influence the influential.

TTID qNnISPÍXTIIHIT 601 Fu Huse, 7 lce House Street, Central, Hong Kong

OCTOBER I988 THE CORRESPONDENT 3

OCTOBER 1988 VOLUME 1 NUMBER 12

THE

COMT David Bonavia

Financial joumalists -- are they specialists or generalists?

Asian media comes out unscathed

Expected for long, yet surprised when it occurred

The money game

The China Story

InsideABU

Peaceful Adelaide comes alive

A good piece of armchair travelling

Refugee exodus: We'll probably have to live with

Letters

ClubNews

TheZoo

Stop Press

Crossword

People Editor P Viswa Nathan

Editorial Supervision Publicar¡ons Sub-committee: Paul Bayfield (Chairman) Ken Ball James

Forester

Ed¡torialOffice THE

t'oREtcN CORRESPONDENTS'

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BOARD OF GOVERNORS: President - Derek Davies, F¡rst V¡ce-Pr€sident - Sinan Fisek. Second V¡c€-President - lrene O'Shea Co¡r€spondent Member Golernors - Paul Bayfield, James Forester, Briân Je lfr¡es, Grahâm Lovcl l, Kei Lh M i I ler, Rob¡n Moyer, Peter Seidl i tz, Richard Wagner Journal¡st Member Governors - Bob Davis. Karl Vy'ilson Associale Member Governors - Ken Bal l, ì#endy H ughes, Dorothy Ryan, F C C Schokking Paul Bayfield, rly'endy Hughes, Perer O'She¿, Peter Seidl¡rz, Paul Bâyfield, RichardWagner,BobDavies. MembershipCommittee-GrahamLovell,BrianJelfries.Technical Comm¡ttee -Päul Bâylield, Keith M¡ller, Ken Ball,Robin Moyer. F C C Shokking

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Club Manager Heinz Crabner. Club Stervard: JuliaSuen The Cotrespondent is published monthly for rnd on behalf ofThe Foreign Conespondents' Club, by:

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Opinions cxpressed by writers arc not necessarily thosc of the Foreign Corcspondents'Club

Manag¡ngD¡rector: P ViswaNathan, Ope¡ations D¡rector: Debbie N u ttal I, Advertising Managerl Anthony Mârkìand Prinred by Kadett Prinring Co . B Iock A. 7/F, Shui Ki lndustrial Bui Iding, I 8 Wong Ch uk Hang Road, Hong Kong

4 THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1988

Next month, as in every November, Adelaide will witness the last of the year's Formula One world championship series. And during the four-day event, Australia's southern gateway to the outback, which is known for its arts festival and other cultural pursuits, loses all its tranquillity to the thundering noise of racing cars, cheering

spectators, day-long beer parties

and night-long

cham-

pagne balls. It's carnival time and the event is bigger than Melbourne Cup. Journalìsts from all over Australia and overseas converge on the city to cover the event. Ade-

laide-based journalist and part-time photographer, Paul Lloyd, presents apreview (See page 18-2f),

OCTOBER 1988THE CORRESPONDENT 5

LETTERS did.

THE ZOO

E/ysla is

the

greatest intellectual fun...Bach

|{l

Composers in

and Handel knock each othen Verdi and Puccini compliment each other;

MozaÍ and

Haydn

EY ARTHUR HA¿KER

WHEN YOU WENTINfO B

AÞ

AST

¡r1

6 t ¡4c [v 5H

AIR PoLLUTION

DAVID BONAVIA

INfOA NEW ^^oVEÞ ERA

compare notes. It's reasonable to assume that the two Bonavias are up there in

Born: March 4, 1940, Aberdeen, Scotland.

Died: September 16, 1988, Aberdeen, Scotland.

the spheres right now. patting Bizet on the back for having

aqì

written the only descending chro-

matic scales in the literature of opera; Carmen's Habanera. Or perhaps they're having a chat withTolstoy. CynthiaHydes

AVID BONAVIA was a they offered him a staff job and sent ography David Bonavia wrote over the master of languages. He him to Saigon. He was never a "sharp last few years and which now will

SOME years ago (going back, in

spoke and wrote Chinese, Russian, German, French

end" reporter and rarely joined the other correspondents on the battle-

sadly be published posthumously). David Bonavia was the product

and Italian very well and was more competent than most in a dozen more.

his Triestino grandfather who emigrated to Britain and of his harsher upbringing in Aberdeen. When the

fact, into near-history) the leader

of a prominent African country caught sight of his visitor, a youthful-looking correspondent writing forThe Trnes, and murmured:

a man's

do was

see they sent a boy to

job".

The "boy"

David Bonavia. People have often made the same mistake about David. A

cherubic face, impossibly

tidy hair and an

un-

infectious.

schoolboy humour have fooled many.

us, David was a tremendously generous soul, His great-

est charm was an unswerving honesty. His faults were obvious and henever hidthem. Heloved cats and cat people. He was parl

cathimself, really. He scratched

name.

"The Doge" -- a rib-

knocker for his Venetian ancestry. And he was quick with the latest sick j oke.

But David knew

about

words, the way few can handle

them. Interviewed in

the

ing the first shot of the Taiping Rebellion. When I was in Taiping afew

name of the museum

cent

pink."

Jeny and Martin Evan-Jones

friends.

It seemed an old theme, he suggested, in a town famous for fir-

penetrable red; Chinese communism is a subtle and translu-

The sixth form never left him. He gloried in the knick-

pomposity or

TONY BAYNES expressed surprise at finding an Anti-British Museum in Taiping (C,Aug'88).

years ago,

his

deceit. He purred among

Opium war memorial

mid-1970s about the difference between communism in Russia and China -- a philosophical subject he uniquely understood -- his reply was: "Russian communism is a soulless and im-

David was asurprising individual and a good friend. \We'll

and snarìed

ITUARY

miss him.

saw

museum commemorating Chinese resistance in the Opium Wars, not the

Taiping Rebellion. The full (which

was

in Chinese only)

Lin destroyed the opium that he hacl seìzed from mosíly British ships off Guangzhou in 1839, an act leading dìrectly to the first Opium War and, among other things, the British seizure of Hong Kong. Lup cheung, and

this first

hard blow against the opium trade, are Taiping's greatest claims to fame. Barry Parr, California

Not in the Standard WITH reference to

the feature,

translates roughly as The Fumne People's Anti-British Opium War Memorial Hall.

categorically deny any involve-

Fumen is the Pearl River "gate" and fortress nearTaiping.

Standard.

It was

New Members (C.Aug. '88), I ment whatsoever with any of the cartoons canied by Ihe Hongkong

here that Commissioner

Gavin Coates

fields; instead he usedhis languages to cover the political, strategic and cultural conflicts behind Indochina's wars. In 1969 he moved to Moscow where he was one of the first correspondents to win the confidence of the dissident in-

first-class correspondent or the style

tellectuals. After keeping David and

that helps make the successful author, but David Bonavia had all these qualities and many more.

his Australian wife Judy under intense KGB surveillance for several months, the Soviet authorities expelled them. David partially purged this trauma in the pages of his book. Fat Sasha and Urhan Guerilla. John Le Carre's enthusiastic praise for this work came too late to give it the success it deserved.

Linguistic abilities are not automatically accompanied by the energetic cu-

riosity that makes a good reporter, the intelligent understanding that makes

After a Double First in Modern Languages at Cambridge, he did a stint for Reuters (London and then Central Africa), returning to Cambridge to study Chinese (he had taught himself Russian at school). By the mid- I 960s, at the age of 25, he was in Hong Kong wastinghis abilities inthe local Chamberof Commerce, where he translated

international trade enquiries. However, in a timely move, he joined the staff of the ^Far Eastern Economic' Review and began stringing for the

London Times, as the drudgery of

CL-Alexnnders Laing

Cruicl<shank Searities (HK)

Ltd

China Vy'atching began to be infused with drama. In 1961 , the Cultural Revolution boiled over, spilling into the streets of Hong Kong. David was

in his element. When Hong Kong's

Private client and Institutional stockbroking

version

\MEST TOWER 89 QUEENSWAY,

HONG KONG

lEtl

CREDIT LYONNAIS GROUP

6 THE CORRESPONDENT ocToBER I988

waving

their Little Red Books, demonstrated outside the wrought-iron gates and carefully tended lawns of Govern-

33lF BOND CENTRE

lsl¿t A MEMBER OFT}IE

of the Red Guards,

TEL: TELEX: 81678 WLCS HX FAX:

5-8109338 5-8780189

ment House, David wrote that on that day the worlds of Mao Zedong and Somerset Maugham had comefaceto

face --

and that both

had retired

baffled.

The

Times so liked his materital

Saigon and Moscow

having

produced their differentdisappoinr ments and tragedies, the Bonavias moved to Beij ing in 197 2 with hopes of charting the progress of a more humane version of Marxism. David's facility in Chinese gave him many insights (recorded in his best book,The Chinese), but it also served to intensify his rage

and frustrations with a once-vibrant civilisation smothered by successive bureaucracies, of which the Marxist version was the latest and most oppressive. He was witnessing China emerging from a dozen years of isolation in the aftermath of President Nixon's visit, absorbing the deaths of Zhou Enlai and Mao and the attempt of the Gang of Four to seize power. He rebased himself loi the Far Eastern Economic' Review in Hong Kong 1916, perhaps too early to be much impressed by the impactof the open-doorpolicies

of Deng Xiaoping (the subject of

bi-

warm sunniness of his nature was uppermost, he was a fellow of infinite jest, wont to set the table on a roar with skirls of laughter as he parodied a Chinese opera or made a telephone

call to the Hong Kong branch of the New China News Agency successfully imitating one of its Beijing editors demanding local reaction to Deng's latest policy twist. At other times the Black Dog of a northerly melancholia sat heavy on his shoulders. This world was not fit for children, and affection was lavished instead on birds and cats.

The pro$es-

sive disillusionments of the cities he had reported and of the people who he felt had failed his expectations helped towards his early defeat by his own talents. intelligence and sensitivities. In such moments his wife Judy, who had won her own degree in Chinese after their marriage, was the greatest single source ol strength. David Bonavia in many senses

couldbesaidto have been avictim of

the various ways in which he

had

witnessed the oppression of the human spirit. His rage and frustration were not reactions against political systems, but against human frailties.

-- Derek Davies (See also

LETTERS Page 3 and 6)

This tt ¡bute Á'as Ìirst ¡tttblished ín

The Independent, londoa

OCTOBER I988 THE CORRESPONDENT 7

SPECIAL REPORT

THE Hong Kong

È ø

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Hong Kong Trade Development Council

Stock markets around the world suffered a historrc fall on October 19, 1987 causing untold financial losses to many. Its repercussions are still being felt. V/hat roledidthemediaplay - orfailtoplay - inthe heady days of 1987 which led to the crash? Can the media be accused of allowing itself to be carried away in the euphoria of a surging market, thus failing to analyse the market trend and be critical? What precisely is the function of financial journalists - are they there to report the general sentiment and be fair generalists or are they expected to be specialists and lead investors? These and other questions are discussed special report.

in this

SPECIAL REPORT to have escaped relatively unscathed from the October 1987 stock marketcrash. While financial joumalists in London and New York have been sacked or face wage freezes and austerity cut-backs, most agencies and publishers in Asia repon continued expansion. Both Telerate and Reuters are chalking uprecord numbers of terminals aroundthe region; foreign bureaux are being expanded (AP-Dow Jones in Tokyo, for instance); and newproducts continueto be launched. That is not to say that there has not been adrop in some types of advertising or that growth is as high as in the heady days ofthe 1987 bull market. But overall, businessjoumos from Seoul to Sydney can rest much more easily cific region appears

-t

MICHAEL ROTHSCHILD

Financial journalists

about theirjobs than can their counterparts in other centres. "The effect in Asia-Pacific has been minimal," says Julian Childs, managing di-

rector at Telerate Financial Information Network (HK) Ltd. Only in New Zealand, wherethe stock markethas stayed dismally low, is business bad. "Budgets have béen downgraded in Europe and New York but we have stuck to ours here. We should make it," be said of his staff of 80 -- double the number from last year. Japan, Korea and Täiwan are cited as high growth areas. At Reuters, this view is shared. "We have no substantial budget problem atall in

are they specialists or generalists?

the Asia-Pacific region," claims Peter Job, managing director at Reuters SoutheastAsia

Ltd. "We're not laying off anybody. Busi-

The stock market crash has led the

ness is

financial press to some soul

Indeed, it takes a crisis like the I 987 Octobercrash for many newspaper readers toeven pick up the business section of the paper. For people with but a few bucks in the bank the financial pages are mostly numbers and figures -- boring stuff even for the numerate.

Of course, deep down inside, financial journalists realise that someone has to pay

for the Olympics, that most wars

are eco-

nomically d¡iven and the import of expensive foreign blockbusters can be a drain on a country's foreign exchange (or a sign of rising affluence for a developing country, depending on one's

viewpoint). But suchloftyvisions of

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

THE BACKLASH:

To a large extent, the fortunes of the financial media follow the

searching about how it handled the barrage of bullish news. PORTS WRITERS have their Olympics, war correspondents suffer from no dearth of battles and lilm critics get theOscars everyyear. A stock marketcrash happens but once in a reporting lifetime of a financial joumalist. For the most paft, financial writing is not sexy, exciting or colourful.

still very good.

business writing are frequently lost in the humdrum reporting of copra prices, syndicated loans or tonnage rates.

NOT SO EASY: Reporting on the financial

markets presents particular

challenges.

Much of the information is technical; changes in terminology, let alone in actual news, can

occur

daily.

Bankers can be extremely

haughty and secretive, making access to information difficult. (Even for this innocuous

article Michael Dobbs-Higginson, head of Merrill Lynch Asia-Pacific, refused to "talk to the press".) Most financial joumalists lack the precision training to quickly decipher the intricacies of a company's annual report, let alone a country's full balance of payments figures, and frequently must rely on the face value of commentaries by people in the industry for analysis. With the collapse of most of the world's

1988

more for corporate identity ads." In fact,

Asian media comes out unscathed...

HE financial media in theAsia-Pa-

But others

cut budget and staff

various markets they report on, and, luckily for FCC members, Asia has not experienced themassive retrenchmentsof New York and London where tens of thousands of bankers, brokers and support staffhave been laid off. And the prospect remains bleak. In London, for instance, an estimated 20,000 more firlngs could occur in the coming months according to somepessimists. Over in NewYork,profits of tvVall Street firms continue to plummet and analysts predict they will get worse. Staff firings and poor profit performance by the myriad of financial institutions have both a direct and indirect effect on the media. Advertising at London-based Euromoney, one of the most respected financial publications, isdownbynearly 50 percent, accord-

was scheduled late last month to send out notices to staff that there would be a shortterm hiring freeze as well as a "wage restrainl". More drastically, Eurontoney un-

ing tooneofthejoumaliststhere. The same is believed to be true of US-based I n st i t ut i onal Investor. Bothmultiple corporate advertisements and bread-and-butter"tombstones" -- boring black-and-white ads that give

24,900 are in Asia-Pacific.

basic financial

ceremoniously sacked 25 percent of its staff last January. And several smallerspecialised magazines and newsletters have folded. In London, a Reuters spokesman admitted: "We'vebeen hit inthe provisionofdeal-

ing room systems". That sort

ASIA, AN EXCEPTION: Thosewhoowe their livelihood to thebanking-related world can be thankful that the Asian economies have only recently boomed and that the regional financial markets were only "discovered" by westem f,rrms a couple of years ago.

In response to the downtum in North American and European business, Telerate

equity markets last year, financial journalists have faced some soul searching about how they handled the barrage of positive news that was constantly flowing. Furthermore, many repoÍers, editors and sales people with access to information and sources directly in the markets a

seemingly no-lose investment and many experienced some personal financial loss. Finally, the pressure to take the plunge and become an analyst or salesperson

for a securities firm with

an instant doubling or tripling of salaries --

with the prospect of unimaginable

business

Reuters has around l0,000staff intemationally, but it has announced that it is closing some offices in the United States and cutting back staff across the board. "It's not a retrenchment," said thesource. "Priortothe crash we were contemplating the need to rationalise. The crash crystalised people's ideas."

have been reduced. Naturally, with between 40.000 to 75,0ü) less potential subscribers in New York and London, circulation has been drastically affected. And for the big information suppliers such as Quotron, Telerate, Reuters and KnighrRidder/unicom, terminals have been cancelled, dealing rooms reduced and plans for upgraded systems rejected.

could not resist the temptation to dabble in

comprises l5 percent of Reuters revenue. As for the Reutersmonitor and the news business, he added: "News demand is inelastic. You still require news whether the market is going up or down." The number ofscreens worldwide, now, is just shy of 160,000 up from 141,200 at the end of 1987. Ofthese,

information --

bonuses

(well, for low-paid joumalists anyway) -- was keen.

LACK OFEXPERTISE: Looking back on the halcyondayíof 1986 and 1987 oneAsianWall Srreet Journal reporter related a sentiment shared by many in the trade: "Everyone was bullish, but there was a serious shortage ofex-

Westpac is capitalising on the crash by emphasising the relative safety of a conservative bank. The latest slogan is "You can

pertise. There was alackof ability to analyse and criticise." Thisstate of affairs \¡r'as not peculiarto Hong Kong but was shared around

world. " In Australia, we should have been more analytical but wedidn't have theexperience the

and knowledge to pick apart paper shufcommented oneAussie with several

fling,"

bank on Westpac." "We've spent a lot of money on this image," says Benner.

As a result, stafflevels simply were not large enough to be trimmed in cost cut-backs and many institutions continue toexpandoperations here. For instance Shearson Lehman Hutton and Salomon Brothers, two large US investment houses, recently announced plans to establish offices in Hong Kong (though they are, in parl, measures to move expensive operations out ofTokyo).

"Even though the markets are soft now,

we're still fundamentally in a

growth phase,"said Jim Walsh, executivedirector of Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) in Tokyo, one of the world's leading investment houses. CSFB only moved lnto Asia in the past few years and now has 270 staff in Tokyo, nearly 20 in Hong Kong, 44 in Singapore and I l0 in Australia and will continue to hire. Meanwhile in New York, 500 people have been fired.

that free paper cups are no longer supplied by thecompany. "Now we have to bring in our own mugs," he lamented. - Michael Rothschild

most financiers contacted for this article had few gripes about the standards of reporting around the time of the crash. The sentiment seems to be that a non-specialist shouldn't be

"The press at the time of the crash was simply reflecting what the market was saying. Joumalists mustfollow ratherthan lead. They reflect a community and general sentiment," added Van der Kamp. "What can ajoumalist do without the training? If they do possess the education they wouldn't be in that field. They have to be a fair generalist. " Van der Kamp proffered yet anotherpoint that should placate any financial journalist

expected to have the time, energy or knowledge to rip apart every company result and trend.

highlypaid and trained," explained Jakevan der Kamp, vice president at Morgan Stanley. "Joumalists don't have access to the same information or the time as analysts, ". Van der Kamp is in a good position to judge the performance of the financial press. Prior to his leap across to the world of broking (he has been analyst for Sun Hung Kai Securities and Sasoon Securities) he did a stint at the

regulatory bodies were not doing theirjobs either," said the Asian Wall Street Journal wrrters.

Within securities houses themselves,

was an immediate situation of doom and gloom but after Chinese New Year they came back with dollars and dug into their pockets." He says that the fall-off was particularly noticeable with unit trusts, but most

Down in Australia, Tony Benner, group manager of media and information at r¡y'estpac Banking Corp said that the bank's advertising budget is up. "We're spending

LIMITATIONS: "Full-time

With hindsight it is easy to say that the press should havebeenmo¡ecritical buteven professionals were duped at the time. "Sure the media could have done a better job but the

Corp, says the crash "hasn't had any impact at all on us, either in advertising or information systems." And as Tom Hartje, chairman of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies and the managing director of DDB Needham Worldwide explained: "Generally, after the crash there

NO FREE FTS: "We're not cutting back on individuals but putt¡ng a stronger magnifying glass on things," he admined. "That means no more free FTs. Also, one of the things it doesn't make sense to do is put a Telerate or Reuters screen in front of each guy when they don't read English. rly'e're being more careful but we're still subscribing."

causethemaÍketwas booming, papershad to hire morepeople. They were inexperienced double the salary."

Closer to home, George Cardona, head of public affairs at the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking

ofthe big advenisers have come back. As advertising continues and demand for products remains unchecked in the region, financial joumalists herecan count on continued pay cheques for some time to come. There havebeen no reports of sackings due to the crash and merit pay is still being meted out. though bosses are scrutinising expense claims moretightly andperks in some cases are down. But perhaps the best indication that the crash really hasn't had a radical effect on working conditions for financial joumalists in the region is the complaint by oneWallStreet Journal slaffer

years business reporting experience, "Be-

and once trained would join brokers for

THE BIG BOYS ARE BACK:

analysts are

who might harbour a guilty conscience. "Joumalists have 'to worry about laws of libel. They can'treally remark on thequality of management. Wecan say to ourclient, 'we can't trust those guys. They are smarmy.' We can tell clients we are not entirely happy with the company."

Vanc'ouver Sun's business section before com-

ing to Hong Kong where he wo¡ked at the South China Morning Post from 1979 to 1981.

Michael Rothschild is the Asia-Pacific conespondentfot Lo ndo n - ba s ecl Inlemational Financing Review

OCTOBER 1938 THE CORRESPONDENT

PE C IAL REPO RT

THE SOURCE

STEPHEN ROGERS

'.ii;y:,:"?r;#i,iï';i""i'"#i:3,"i;ifi four stories on the front page - wìth the lead

Exp ected for long,y et

surprised when it occurred S it happened, I was in South Africa coming to the end of my four-year

l- I stay in thatcountry- first with the industrial finance department of Barclays Barclavs Bank and subsequently with Business Day andFinanc'ial Mail. The crash in the Johannesburg stock ma¡ket caught everyone by surprise, more through its timing rather than the event itself. For the previous three months many economists and journalists had been predicr

ingacrash. Thelocal stockmarket index had been rising sharply for almost three years and - accompanied by weak economic growth and a continuous decline

in fixed iirvestment for

four

years - was in stark contrast to the fortunes of the local economy. Locally, many people felt that this reality would finally burst the bubble of investor confidence. However, where almosteveryone got it wrong was in the timing. The earliest predictions for a collapse missed the mark by about six months while most - assuming the adjustment would come after the US presidential elections in November 1988 - were more than a year offthe date. Consequently, when the crash came, it took pessimists and optimists alike completely by surprise. On Monday October 19, when the decline on Wall Street started to gain momentum, the news filtered through 1o local journalists via the Reuters screen. Opinion on how the local market would react was divided.

DELAYED REACTION: Some believed that the market would decline in line with Wall

Street, while others thought the isolation of the South African market - foreign investors

had been leaving the market in droves for over two years in line with increasing intema-

$:*liiäH*,¿Hi,i:!iffi*1!

men and politicians to these small investors not to panic. Reuter's coverage of Wall Street, London andTokyo was also used extensively, bringing home to the reader that the crash was a global rather than a local phenomenon.

tional anti-apartheid sentiment - would protect it from the worst of the crash.

This latter opinion

seemed to be confirmed when the stock market actually rose about two per cent on the back of a stronger

gold price. However, this was only the lull before the storm and on Tuesday, as the news aboutWall Street started to sink in, the market collapsed over 25 per cent.

Ironically this collapse was sparked off more by local newspaper coverage of the Wall Street crash rather than the crash itself. The two local English national newspapers, Business Day andThe Star, used the crash as their lead stories with headings like "Wall Street collapse: Global recession feared. " Through these headlines many small investors became aware, for the first time, of the collapse in world markets, which in fact had started a week previously, and the inevitable reaction was panic on a wide scale.

THREE QUICK BURSTS: The crash in the South African market took place in three quick bursts with each decline followed by a period of nervous stability. During these periods the media coverage slackened off, but most newspapers still ran at least one market story ontheirfrontpages, which was usually acommentof the performances of the local and foreign markets. The weekly newspapers - Financ'ial Mail and the Finance Weekly - chronicled the events leading up to the crash but did little to shed any light on where it would all end. And as the crash continued, the papers increasingly started to question the wisdom of economists, stockbrokers and other experts who, after the initial decline, had predicted the worst was over only to see the market decline agatn.

And the actions of institutional investors by selling large blocks of shares had aggravated the situation - were also called into - who

EVERYONE JOINS IN: OnTuesday,every financial joumalist in town had his eyes

glued to either the Reuters or local stock exchange screen. As share prices started to fall, the papers - grasping the fact thar rhis would be a milestone in economic history went all outto give the event maximum coverage. Busíness Day put five financial joumalists on the story while at The Star the entire finance team followed the markets. Even the Afrikaans-language newspapers - which are not renowned for their financial coverage made it their lead story the next day. This policy - particularly in the case of

questlon.

As the market began to calm down the papers tumed their attention to the aftermath. The weekly newspapers particular ran several stories speculating on the future of the local securities market and the consequences for the local economy. But market stories quickly disappeared from the front pages of the daily newspapers to be replaced by political comment, which tends to dominate SouthAfrican media coverage in normal times.

Stephen Rogers is senior finoncial wtiter kong Standard.

at the Hong-

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2 THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1988

Central, Hong Kong, Tel:5-213686 Telex:61761 TLR HX Fax: 852.5.8452152'

MEDIA

SPECIAL REPORT VERNON RAM

N A TOWN where reputations, like fortunes, are won and lost ovemight, it must be well nigh impossible to live down a tag like "Doomsday Man".

THE MONEY GAME

But Dr Marc Faber, who successfully forecast the stockmarketcrash of ayearago, is coping with afairmeasure of aplomb -- and success. Quite recently he traded in his chips to write an instant besrseller (The Great Money lllusion) on the alchemy of his craft as financial investment consultant.

director of Drexel Bumham Lambert's Hong Kong operation

The managing

challenges all perceived notions of the man. He is neither the witch-doctor of the marketplace nor the guru of the small investor trying to tum dross metal into solid gold. Bom of a father who was an orthopaedic surgeon and a mother who was in the real estatebusiness, Faber, an avid skiingenthusiast, had made the national

"8"

team in

It's

a bit tike tennis, says Marc Faber

Swir

zerland in the early '70s. When he visited Hong Kong in 1973, the year of the property crash, the Hang Seng Index had plummeted to 170from apeak 1,700. A broker friend advised Faber this would beagoodtimeto buy stocks andhewas gratefulfortheadvice. By 1978, the indexzoomed toS00andby l98l stoodat 1,800. Therewas amoral to that and it didn't escape Faber who, by then,had gone back to work on hisdoctorate in economics in Switzerland. One of his specialities was a study of business cycles and the collection offirst editions

of every known economist engaged in this arcane enterprise. Consequently, Faber can now lay claim to having the largest collection, in private ha¡rds, of economic literature relating to the movement of commodity prices, market fluctuations and the ebb and flow in the fickle world

stocks and shares.

FCC members were given an insight of this vast storehouse of accumulated information when Faber traced the history ofbusiness cycles and capital markets at a club luncheon on September 16. From Alexandria to Con-

stantinople, Venice, Calicut, Goa, Malacca, Macau, Shanghai, Batavia, Calcutta, and so on Faber traced the changing economic centres ofthe world in thepast500 years and went on to demonstrate how business cycles have changed over that period oftime. Vy'hat he leamt from his study of all that was not the jiggery-pokery of market manipulationbut a realistic appraisal ofecono-

mists. "Economics," Faber says, "is still

very littleunderstood science, if onemay call it a science. The problem with most economists, with few exceptions, is that these people are very theoretical and they may underestimate factors that cannot be caught by mathematical models. How do you catch the psychology of people? It is very important. Or how do you account for whether a civilisation is in an expansionary phase, in a

Faber development phase orindecay? That makes a lot of difference in economic behaviour." In other words, Faber says, mathematical models will not show these things. "If you and I were to predict the economy next year, we may have to take into consideration 50 factors. We could be right on 49 of these. But the one factor we are wrong about could be more important than the 49 we are right about. So that would lead us to having been wrong. Speaking of his ownperceptionsof Hong Kong, Faber says: "People here think that Hong Kong is the centre of the world, a financial metropolis. I take a slightly different view. The Hong Kong market may be good, but some day, somewhe¡e else there may be a better oppoftunity. If we are investment advisers, we have to take into consideration alotof

try to identify unusual opportunities where the probability to make money is the highest. I am a global investor and I don't have to invest all the time in Hong Kong or the Hong Kong dolla¡. I can go somewhere else and find opportunities. Of course, the people here don't see beyond the tips of different things and

their noses.

14 THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1988

As to speculalion per

se, Faberpoints

out: "The typlcal gambler who goes into a casino and plays blackjack will win or lose according to the law of probabilities. And

The China story

the probabilities are almost always weighted on the side of the casino. However, there are

A new magazine promises to tell it 'as it really is'

some players who are card counters. Occasionally, these players, by counting the cards right, make sure the probability is on their side. Once it is on their side, they hit it very heavily and win. This can happen once, maybe, but not always." In investment and in economic forecasts,

Faberfeels, one has to operatealittle bit with probabilities. "There are certain signs when markets are high. So the probability is that it would eventually go down. \ùy'hen markets are low, there are clear symptoms that they may not go up for a long time -- they may stay low for several years -- but the probabilities are that, if you bought at this stage, you will not make a major mistake. "It is a bit like playing tennis. If you are not a very good player, you lose your game through your own mistakes. But if you play a conservative game, and you let your opponent make the mistakes, then you will end up with a relatively good score. "ln investments, I always tell people that they have to avoid making major mistakes. I advisethem to be wrong on theconservative side and nottheaggressiveside. But that is something very few people listen to or under-

as a publishing theme has ¡fìHINA caught the imagination of yet another t

\-/publishing

house. This time. the Sing Tao group, which recently reported that its I 987-88 profit has soared 35 per cent and the

long-ailing Hongkong Standard has "tumed

a new leaf"

and

"achieved profitable results".

Coming from the

Sing Tao stable last month was the inau-

NICK DEMUTH

Parwani went to launch his own tabloid,The Sun.

Now regrouping to create the new joumal, they promise, in the words of Chow, to "present the China story as it really is' ' .

While Sing

Tao

provides the finance

and support system for this gang of four to push ahead with their new venture, the prime movers behind the mâgazine are said

gural issue of a monthly journal,

to be Somers and Par-

China Review which

Somers who spent seven years with The Sl¿r, the last few as its editor, returns to the

claims to be "the authoritative magazine on China". Elaborating on this, the pub-

wanl,

the magazine, Robert Chow

challenging world of China reporting after l5 years with the GIS. He is the magazine's

"The magazine market on China ranges

editor-in-chief. Parwani, a winner of the Joumalist of the Year award and other

llsher

Yung, says in his inaugural message:

stand."

from specialist publi-

The crux of the issue, Faber concedes, is that nobody can claim to have mastered the an of infallible prediction. " Otherwise, fortune-

cations to travel

prizes, is general man-

glossies. But nowhere is there a general in-

ager. (See'. People)

tellers

will

have made their fortunes and

retired millionaires.

"lt is a bit like a coin-tossing contest. Of course there will be a winner in this contest and he can then go and write a book on how to toss a coin properly and how to win. But that doesn't prove thathe has aforecasting ability orthathe is a bettercoin-tosserthan the next guy, because in the next contest he may not win." Retuming to his business, Faberconfides that his greatest problem is when his predictions prove correct. "If, as happened, I predicted the stock market crash and was proved right, then people think that I know something more than they do and which, I think, is pure nonsense. I think I have more knowledge and

the likelihood that I can foretell the future better than my five-year-old daughter. But whethèr it will work is something I can't vouch for or know." It is a measure of Faber's realisation of his very human linlitations that makes him credible as well as acceptable. That is what made the smile on the face of the Doomsday Man a little less enigmatic than the one on the Mona Lisa. Which is more than you can say for the rat pack offinancial investment consultants running wild in town these days.

terest magazÍrc ln

At an annualsubscription of US$54

English with

the

(HK$420) the publi-

spread of information and informed opinion

cationaims tocapture

that China Review

the Pacific Basin and as far afield as Britain, North America and Australasia." The inaugural issue has some heavy-

offers."

The

8O-page,

four-colour inaugural

issue apparently

readership

"all

around

the test-market edi- to right fom top) Somers, Parwani, weight contributors. tion and all 25,000 Chow and Sinclair. Among them: Dr June Dreyer, author of the copies were given away free. Regular publibookChiru's Forty Millions and now director cation will begin in December. The magazine's editorial board of four of EastAsian Programme at the University of Miami; noted China watcher Dick Wilson; comprises Geoffray Somers, Henry Parwani, Kevin Sinclair - all FCC members - and economist and television interviewer Leo Chow. All of them were noteworthy mem- Goodstadt, and Chinese University's T.L. Tsim bers of the tabloid newspaper, The Star, who is also the magazine's chief columnist. Somers is pleased with the initial rewhich met its sad demise four years ago, after its founder and publisher Graham Jenkins lost sponse. "We are delighted to find that many of its controlto SingTao's SallyAw Sian. Each the most senio¡ people in Xinhsa,rheWenWe i of themhadmoved away fromThe Star, for Pao and Ta Kung Pao came along to our different reasons, long before the tabloid's launch," he says. But how does the Beijing lobby view the demise. Sinclair moved out in the early '70s to become news editor of the Hongkong magazine? Says Somers: "I guþd when I was Standard, Somers went to the Hong Kong talking with one of the deputy directors of Govemment's Information Services depart- Xinhua. I told him,'I hope you enjoy the ment (GIS), Chow joined the Independent magzine' and he replied very smoothly, Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and 'Don't worry,I'll read every word'."

Inside

theABU What is the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union? Who needs it and how useful is it? VEN the

most avid devotee could not claim that the ABU is a household name. However, few people of the two-thirds of the world's population who live in its sphere of influence are untouched by its activities. The direct benefits of the ABU are the daily regional news exchanges by satellite (ASIAVISION) and coverage of major sporting events like the World Cup, the Asian Games and the Olympics. The Asian Broadcasting Union, as it was first named, started in 1964, after four years of meetings between a smaller group initiated by NHK, Japan's vasl public service organisation. It was a very different broadcasting world in those days. Radio was the name of the game - very few countries had television and it was largely controlled at the top by civil servants filling in time before reti¡ement. The union was held together by NHK, ABC (Australia) and Secretary Gene¡al Sir Charles Moses who had recently retired as general manager of the ABC and who was a dedicated believer in co-operation between broadcasters. His book Diverse Unity aptly described the union in those early days as it does to a lesserextent today.

MANY CHANGES: The union has undergone several changes during its existence. The civil servants have been replaced by broadcasters, almost every country now has television, and membership has undergone a transformation from one tier of members and associates totwo tiers of members and associates. Hong Kong has always posed a small problem to the ABU. The statutes confine full

membership to "broadcasting organisations of a national character in independent countries in theABU region"; The words "... and dependent

territories" were added to enable (continued on page 16)

OCTOBER 1988 THE CORRESPONDENT 15

MEDIA

pl,iece of armchair nîg

Inside the ABU continued Hong Kong to join as an associate, a category that is applied to broadcaste¡s outside the region. At that time there were few private broadcasting companies in the region; and as the delegate from commercial broadcasting I was not a good person to know! As time went by, the accent

Xí,7!::,"r!;,íÏ:;'!Ï'!:"'$ill'i;#i'l:

i:F*":j*:l,r:rT?iiþi

example. But then there

by the Cross Cultural Press, and de-

lightfully illus-

Macau.

cartoons

Harada,

Japanese

Kana

friend of Leighton's children.

Although focusing mainly on

Tokyo, he also touches on Hong Kong and other

others.

FCC member Leighton Willgerodt has this gttr'

parts of the region.

His

themes

are all the subjects

is disPlaYed

that you'll find being discussed at thé bar at the FCC:

feng shui (or fung soy, as HongKongerspronounce it), karoake machines,Asian festivals, - even the dreaded giant cockroaches that tenify first-time visitors from roach-free counlries. A small drawback is the fact that most chapter headings are Japanese words - so that ifyou do come across an anecdote you want to share at the bar, read to your spouse or so on, it's tricky to trace it again unless you can

find a clue to its whereabouts in the small index at the back.

loved

it' and

if would complain

ocToBER I

Consider these facts:

6 THE coRREsPoNDENT

you've lived or worked in Tokyo, you'll find it a pleasant reminder of observations you will surely have had yourself. If you haven't been there, or are planning a visit in the future, it makes a good piece of armchair travelling - and may well keep you out of trouble as you try a¡rd find your way into one of the most baffling cultures in the world. --Nury Vittachi

988

Ear.* 1 . I Clt-, I I .

48k of FCC members travel out of Hong Kong 6 - 20 times a year and 14/o more than 20 times. Ovei SOZ travel busin-ess class and 1 0% f irst class.

them, except that they can vote each other onto the Administrative Council. Recently we

were joined by friendly neighbou¡ TDM

trated with small

ouoåt"uot"

The findings of a recent survey among FCC members in Hong Kong said it all.

per country and a new category known as "Additional Full Members" would cover everybody else operating in the region - including those in ''dependent teritories ". So today, there is a Hong Kong block of four addi tional full members without a vote between

phile¡ is a good

companies became associate members and resented it. They were paying the highest membership fees and were treated like second-classcitizens. Someresignedand a subcommittee was set up to review membership. Their recommendations were that full membership be limited to two organisations

04-3.

zurd

of the ABU

tumed to television and many commercial

WEALTHY, JET.SET DECISION MAKERS

Facl 2.

52-64k make rental, purchase or for a variety of office automation equipment -- electronic typewriters, telephones, PBX systems, telex, fax, photocopiers,

Ea¡.* â. I d,U t r.) .

F aCl 4 .

64% own cars and 25% own boats.

E-,,-* Ã . I C[t , L \, .

64/" earn morethan $500,000 ayear wilh 23'k of them earning in excess

of $1 million.

'Source: Suveyconducledbylheadveilßngresearch

were wondering whether the union had outlived its usefulness when time taken up by TVB and ATV washing their dirty linen in public was time that should have been spent on

Mnter, managtng dìrcclor ol Execuhve SuNeys

depailmenlol Astaweek L¡miled ândChris

Lld.

These men and women const¡tute the ideal target aud¡ence for suppliers of a

radio discussions. Both Iran and Iraq send delegations, and

No seconder mate¡ialised however.

usage decisions

computers, computer software, wordprocessors, etc.

secretariat to Teheran practically split the union into east-west blocs a¡d the new Iran delegates lodged a violent protest to the appointment of a Japanese secretary general, and said the union was run for the benefit ofAustralia, Japan and Hong Kong. How flattering for a dependent tenitory! The word Pacific was added to the title when the union was virtually leaderless, and several radio members - including this one -

ments. Recently Afghanistan proposed Vietnam for a seat on theAdministrative Council.

and restaurants in

Hong Kong.

NON-POLITICAL!: The statutes state in no uncertain terms that "the unìon should have no political o¡ commercial aims" and that is strictly adhered to, but occasionally politics rears an ugly head. Taiwan was replaced by the People's Republic as the China member. An attempt by the Shah's Iran to move the

the Japanese are placed between them, disrupting the aìphabetical seating arrange-

wine and dine 5-20 nights a

i,ä1'. in hotels

var¡ety of products and services. I 7^,.'

One-hundred-and-forty-six delegates from 50 member organisations in 33 countries (and tenitories) as well as 2l observers attended the 24th GeneralAssembly in Bangkok last October.

TheABU faces the future withconfidence. Nick Demuth, gt oup consultont at Hong KongCommet cial Broadcasting Compony, has been qssoc¡qted with ABU for the past 20 year s,

To reach them, advertise in

THEHouse, GORRESPOIUIIENT 601 Fu Telephone:

7 lce House Street, Central , Hong Kong Fax:5-8453556

5-237121

MEDIA

l¡ ';f.

tÈ t PAUL LLOYD

Peaceful Adelaide comes

alive!

l¡¡T

,!:.

IFE in leafy, arty Adelaide, which

is possibìy the last civilised, wellgoverned and compact city in the English-speaking world, is a mannered pleasure...except for one week of the year when, in staÍk contrast, the streets are disrupted by the world's l-astest. noisiest, meanest racingcarsbuming around at anaverage

L-J

For just

one rveek

November each year Adelaide loses all its

tranquillity. It's carnival time, in the fast

speed

-TTII

lane... the time to enjoy

one of the most spectacular of sports --

ù ¡

everywhere, even in the lake (above right). Motor racing being the week's centre of attraction, Rundle Street (right) takes a name change for the event --

'1i,-[,

:ri I

Brazil's Ayrton he I ow

As Adelaide comes alive with the throb of

motor engines and jeering spectators, beer parties and champagne balls take place everywhere -- day and

night. And Brazil's Nelson Piquet, France's Alain Prost and Swedents Stefan Johannson (left to right in photo middle right) had good reason to celebrate with champagne. For press photographer Leon Ie Falvre,(middle

t '$

leJi)these are moments to freeze on film.

L 1

8 THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

r,I

Brabham Straight. And, among those i:uzzlng the city with the thundering roar of their machines last year was Senna(/izr ri ght,

I I

Formula One Grand Prix. There is fun

lr!ffi"^* I ¡ê ' Ll-..

'9åä$fr'

1988

170 km/h.

For journalists and photographers, coming to Adelaide each Novemberforthe last lace in the world series of the Formula One Grand Prix motor racing championship is a buzz. For a start, it means long and happy reunions with mates from Vietnam and other earlier days. When wars fade into ceasefire, the old pros seem to tum to the next best actlon scene, motor racrng. Adelaide, which is Australia's southern gateway to the outback and norrnally de-

-.*.,

MEDIA voted to dignified inlellectual pulsuits, an international Arts Festival and the great wines grown in its surounding valleys, comes alive for a four-day camival.

High-livers dance away the evenings at champagne balls and see in the dawn with more champagne a( tlte casinol restaul'ants flourish with Asian, Eulopean and Austra-

lian menus; pubs stay open all night. The city flows with money. One main street becomes awash with beer at night; another tums into a party duling the day, sizzling like a giant barbecue with jazz bands playing from elegant wroughtiron pub balconies. People hold breakfast parties among the roses of their front gardens. Picnickers gather under the tall trees in the parklands which surround the centraì business district like an emelald necklace. This thing is bigger than the Melboulne Cup horse race.

It can be hot in November. So, fashions are more like the traditional backyard

'l'*

Aussie barbecue. Minimalism is the theme. Everybody seems armed with a beaker of beer or a tele-lens camera, often both which can lead to some strange juggling acts. Many carry flags of their nationalities or of the Fl team they support. After all, what they are really here for is Sunday's big race, the year's last of the Fl wolld championship series. The temporary track, which runs through the parklands and the city, is cleared of all the minor races, historical motor parades and commercial displays for the bìg race. And the helmetted, padded, space-age gladiators

begin their struggìe over the tough street circuit, sweating it out non-stop for two hours

As the noise, the crowd and the action búld tp (left, below), an unobstructed view is most important, And one race fan found an eyrie atop the old, deserted East End

The drivers controlling these powerful machines seem like lunatics, numbing the minds, blasting the ear and electrifying the

brewery (above). For a racing driver, meanwhile,

novelty items. Clapping caps

spine with their decidedly un-Adelaide noise.

w!4

success often depends on

cold calculations about other challengers in the race, and the track itself. That seems to be the concern of 1986 champion Alain Prost of France (top left) as he prepares for the 1987 takeoff. The Grand Prix also generates brisk business for many

35"C heat.

The

,ftW ,I

I' r7 f! r

l I

in Adelaide.

Paul Lloyd wotked in Hong

Kong for ¡re South China Moming Postgroup between 1966 and 1971 Now living in Port Adelaide, South Australiq, Lloyd works withThe

f It F :F

'r jr 1È

(above right) were among the 1987 gimmicks. Then, there

|ttt

chequered flag dances across Pit Straight. The fans go mad too. All week has been but a build-up to this lunacy. On Monday moming, the journos take their hangovers home, workmen startclearing the rubbish, the advertising hoardings, the wire fencing and the grandstands; and, to a general sigh of relief, life retums to normal

Advertiser newspapet in

Adelqide qs its chief leadet wt iter and wine

were T-shirts bearing all kinds ofslogans (below cenu'e). Ãt the end of it all,

columnist As

0 part

time photographer Lloyd is olso working on o book

qbout the Australían

Photojournalist John Lapka (far right) was happy. "Dear God, perfect negs again," he

people His photogrophic work is represented by The Stock House in Hong Kong

seems to be saying.

-l 20 THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

OCTOBER I988 THE CORRESPONDENT 2 I

1988 I

MEET THE, PRESS

The world has witnessed many refugee crises over the years. All, except one of them, are regional problems with regional solutions, says UNHCR's Alexander Casella. The exception is Indochina. Its refugee problem has no regional solution. Faced with the arrival of 200,000 irregular asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, the Middle East and Southern Europe, Casella says, Western countries are no

longer taking as many Vietnamese refugees as

Refugee exodus: We' ll probably have to

live with it!

there

is no political

averse to finding some sort of arrangement by which there would be some compensation provided to reabsorb people who are not recognised as refugees, and who are retumed to Vietnam with guarantees regarding the way they would be treated.

From the staft, the UNHCR was a bit hesitant about the closed-camp scheme.

QUESTION:

bilisation in Indochina. "It's probably a problem we will have to live with," he says.

is the Security Council which is basically responsible toconfront these crises. Butitisbasically a crisis between independent nations. Our states. Within the UN system, it

job is to try to manage

the humanitarian component of the crisis, knowing perfectly

well we have no impact on the root

CASELLA:

CASELLA: Yes, we were involved from the very start; first of all as observers. We've had several people here who have been helping to train some of the Hong Kong officials to do this screening. They (Hong Kong officials) were not experienced in this work, so we have had various training sessions. And we have now come to an understanding with the Hong Kong Govemment by which we feel that there are enough guarantees regarding how this screening is

camps.

On the other hand, they have been done

with a degree of thoroughness which was, I think, offensive to a number of westem visitors. Three rows of barbed wire to keep people in a camp from which they basically do not wish to escape, is,

I believe, excessive.

We did not like the idea of refugees being handed over to any correctional department because we do not think that refugees are to be corrected. On the other hand, we were told there was no altemative because there was no other unit. There is no doubt that, life in a closed centre isdebilitating. There isalso nodoubt that, if you consider the way these people live in Vietnam, the standard of living, from the material point of view, is probably higher in the closed camps than it is for the average

conducted.

QUESTION: You said basically it is a problem without a solution. Does that mean there's nothing more that can be done?

CASELLA: I think

one should do the most when one has problems without solutions. Until now, as long as there is norepatriation possible and as long as a number of people are not accepted for resettlement in third countries, and as long as countries of first asylum will not accept people on a temporary basis who are not acceptable to third countries, it is a problem without a solution. So, the thing to do,ofcourse,istotry to

citizen of Hanoi. However, the element of detention has its psychological impact. So, by and large, we \¡r'ere not very pleased with the whole idea. But, I think, now we are rather happy that a new policy has been adopted. As for paying to return these people, we

don't print our own money, we receive it from the intemational community.

that

believe the intemational community is not

22 THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

Have you or any of your col-

leagues heen involved in, or witnessed, rhe at'tual screening that has taken place on the Vietnamese hoat people since lhe summer? And iJ so, can you commenî on Íhe acrual method of interrogation and the conclusions drau,n, and so forth?

was presented as a humane deterrent. I don't think we ever felt that it was a detenent. If we look at the sudden influx in Hong Kong, notwithstanding closed camps, it's clear that it did not function as a detement. Now closed camps are not the exception, but the rule in the area. So, maybe Hong Kong was hit a bit hard on the issue of closed

sta-

Casella, who was addressing an FCC luncheon meeting on September 27, also answered questions from the floor. Excerpts:

v,ould you descrihe rhe siruaîion in the closed c'amps in Hong Kottg? Is it accepÍable to your agency? And is the United Nations prepared to pay a consider' able amounr of money to either reselîle these refugees in Vietnam, or outside Hong Kong?

QUESTION: Hov'

ffå ïîi,iffi,'ï 3å* :Hä'i,iäiilï"yilli"#

cause

THE FCC video library will be opening in early November.

The initial membership will be 100. So apply immediately to ensure your place. The numbers will be gradually expanded as the video stock grows. The video club will be managed by Raymonde Perpignani of R & R Mobile Video. As a result, video club members will have access to R & R's stock as well as the tapes owned by the FCC. The FCC's stock will include classics, BBC comedies, serials and documentaries, children's programmes, sport, travelogues and TV material from other countries. Rental for tapes will be $10 for one night and $18 for three nights. (No more Sunday slogs to the video shop). Fines will be levied for overdue v ideos and for those tapes not rewound. The video club will be open Monday-Friday

be the drop of

oil

which can smooth the

mechanism, we are ready to do it. But we operate in a very limited context. We operate

ina political context while at thesametime we do

our best to stay non-political.

As I said, as long as the elements of nonresettlement and of non-repatriation, exist, there will be push-backs and refusals at first asylum. The Philippines have never pushed back anybody, they have also a small number of refugees. Hong Kong hasn't had a pushback policy, but you have a problem in Hong Kong. So basically what we try to do is to help within the measure in which it is possible. It is quite obvious that numbers will continue to increase in Hong Kong if people continue arriving. If the Hong Kong Govemment does not adopt a push-back policy, which we do not expect it to adopt, Hong Kong can go on with the screening and will end up with a caseload of screened-out refugees. Okay, what happens to the screened out people?

This is where we try 1o intervene. say try. Ultimately, itis Hong Kong,theUKand

You have a confrontation among sovereign

the ultimate say.

Vietnam, plus the powers around who determine the political climate, which will have

became public many weeks before. Jardines invited him to fire the famous Noonday Gun,

Spackman's outpost in Hongkong's world of ink and newsprint for the past four years, brought ou t a " priceless " ed ition of its front page on September 4 as a collector's rtem.

(three prizes for women and three prizes for men). Free Lowenbrau and practice half-litre

Commenting on all these and the large turnout

steins for combatants and non-combatants.

OCT.20: CLUB LUNCHEON

MANY members of

Bestselling author of Slow Boals to China and long-time FCC member, Gavin Young, will speak. (Time: 12.45 p.m., Price: $85)

assembled in the Club'sWyndham Room on the celeSeptember 2l to bid farewell brated scribe Jack Spackman who left Hong

Sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Thai International Airways, chefs are being flown in from Bangkok's famous Bua Restaurant especially to prepare the a la carte menus for lunch and dinner. There will be a galaeveningonFriday, Oct. 28, with a cultural show by four Thai dancers. Dinner and dance afterwards. Lucky door prizes. Chefs will give cooking demonstrations, free, from 3.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. (Monday-Thursday).

NOV. 17-25: BEAUJOLAIS

NOUVEAU This year's new vintage from France, brought by Cathay Pacific and Parry Pacific, will be served withafullcountry breakfaston Nov. 17. Likelast year, a chef will come from France to prepâre specialties of the F'rench cuisine for lunch and dinner. The week-long tribute to Beaujolais Nouveau will end with a gala dinner on Nov.25.

published in the South C hi na M or ni ng P ost to let everyone know that Spackman did it as a farewell gesture. Sunday Morning Post,

a special menu will feature Schwarzwald and Bavarian specialities. (Time: 8 p.m., Price: $160) There will also be a beer-drinking contest

OCT.24-28: THAI WEEK

of the event and had

took pictures

OKTOBERFEST

The Hans Gerhart Oompah Band from Munich, sponsored by Lowenbrau Hong Kong and the New Bavarian Hypotheken-und Wechsel-Bank AG, will perform in the Main Dining Room where

Vietnam, were there to be some degree of repatriation, if assistance towards the integration of the persons who are repatriated can

farewell parties and goodwill messages since the news of his impending departure

p.m., except public holidays. Please apply as soon as you can to ensure a speedy start to the video club. Suggestions for video purchases would be welcome,

an impact on

diplomacy, quiet or otherwise, one can try to create conditions which might lead to some sort of solution. Now, given the economic problems of

Spackman has been basking in thejoy of

from 12,00 noon to 2.30 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. to 7.30

OCT.

a root cause between two sovereign states. On the other hand, by

PEOPLE

VIDEO LIBRARY OPENS NEXT MONTH

and no international organisation has had

work out asolution. There is nodoubtthat the refugee problems arecreated by political crises. Ourjobis not to solve thepolitical crises, even ifwe were capable ofdoing it.

988

CLUB NEWS

the FCC and guests

at the

FCC farewell, one observer

said: "Spackohaseithermadea lot offriends in the 20-odd years he has been here, or it is that he has ruffled too many feathers and now everyone wants to make sure that he is really

going."

Kong later that month for Califomia.

But Spackman said that he will retum from time to time to look around and see how things are in his old stamping ground.

JUST in time for the racing

season, Steve

ver Kris, Singapore Airlines' inflight maga-

Thompson mounted the saddle ar Racing World, the magazine for members of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club. The Englishman is taking over the editorial duties

ztne, Thompson, an economics graduate from the University of Exeter, entered joumalism after a special course at Oxford Polytechnic. He moved to Singapore after a job in book publishing in London. Now that he's aI Racing Worlcl,he finds Hong Kong "a lot more exciting, and a lot

from publisher and founder Matthew Oram, who found his workload

increasing

as the organisation grew.

Thompson started in early September, and is already working to bring a new look to the magazine starting January. "It will be a lot cleaner, a lot more modem. We're going to be very pleased," he says. As far as editorial changes, he says "l'm still beginning. I imagine there will be some changes, but it's too early to tell." Thompson has lived in Singapore for the past six years. Besides losing much of his English accent there, he also wo¡ked on Si/-

fast-

paced. So far,

I'm really

it,"

joying

ensays

Thompson,

sq u ash -pl ayer who has recently

taken

a new

hobby -- horse raclng.

OCTOBER 1988 THE CORRESPONDENT 23

ESSñonv DOGMEAT

t't'l A J)UeNAusr.T0

_ OTHER. TI{,4Ñ HAVING A ¡|INK

IS I-IAVINÊ

A CRISIS OFCONFIDEl\]ÚE

ASS NOUN/.. ^.18,'òKÍNK'

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ßUILDINGT ATE

ALL TL]OY.

IN TLIE UAY...

LVES HERE /Ai H0NtrK0N&.,.

CLASSIFIED

PEOPLE 0D TS ròÊ_.

Buthepointsout: "Iwant to make themagazine more topical and more people-oriented." He will try to focus the editorial on events that are taking place each month, something he admits will be hampered by the month's lead time. Also the magazine will sharpen its tbcus on the finer things in life. "Fine wines, fine

...OUR

unú¡to Ttdo THREE

ARJNKS ?

ANL UATCH

THE

ÚVELY H,(

SUNSE

is back in town, and out foblaze new trails in Hong Kong's publishing world. After l0 years of global travel as general sales manager for the Far Eastern Economic Review, "a golden handshake" from management earlier this Year sent her on a relaxing holidaY back home outside London. Goodwin, who has spent the better part of the past 20 years in Hong Kong, has indulged in the luxury of having time to reflect on her career

so far, and the new direction take.

After what

pointments a day. If we were travelling in Asia, we'd leave on a Sunday and come back on Saturday moming." She says that she was sad that agement did not want me there

editorial team, for whichshestill feels deep respect and friendship. She still has the silver-framed copy of the Far Eastern Economic Review featuring her caricature done

furniture, fine jewellery,

by artist Morgan

art and music. That's what we

Chua.

Now, she adds, she's been inundated with job offers and is evaluating the various opportunities. "It was a great l0 years and I'm looking forward to l0 more great years somewhe¡e else.

THE NEW

she

managing editor of

H ong K ong Taîler,lan MarkhamSmith, says he's "enjoying every minute," of the new challenge he assumed last month, So far, he

she de-

scribesas "acheckered carèer in airlines, hotel, sales, PR and restaurant management," she has decided that

says, he has had none

"publishing is my field." She speaks of hercareerwith the Review wi¡h a mixture of Pride,

ference

from the

the interadvertising

department that his predecessor, Nigel Armstrong, had. "I've had nothing but sup-

regret. "I had a happy 1O-yearcareer withthe Review, and

fondness and

port." He insists

I attributed to its financial success. I loved the prodit was well known that

he maintains ab-

solute control over editorial and attributes Armstrong's difficul-

gave me the opportunitY to learn about everything from banking to cognac, gas turbines and aircraft

ties to "an unfoftunate clash of personalities". Of course, he admits that, as in any publication,

was

have conferences and discussions, and "there is the fact that I am a new editor and an unknown quantity. "

uct, and loved representing

it.

engines to containerisation. I lucky;I

editorial and advertising

saw the world at the Review's

expense," says Goodwin, who spent about five months out

the

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Graham Jenkins. New Zealand then beckoned, and Parwani moved to Wanganui, where he was chief reporter onthe Chronit'le. But the lure

PEOPLE

wishes

decades

reporting scene, Henry Parwani, a winner of the Joumalist of the Year award and other prizes, has swapped his typewriter for a calculator. He is now the general manager of the Sing Tao group's newly launched monthly magazine, China Rerieu,. Parwani had turned his hand to almost every sphere of newspaper creation -- from reporter to editor, publisher and newspaper owner -- before making this swap. He entered joumalism in the mid-'60s as

a reporter with the Hongkong Standard. From there, he moved on lo The Slar,aftracted by the pace and style of the brash tabloid and worked under the iron rule of

¿nx-T HAVE EwRiltlNG.

IKNOI"], LETS GO

AFTER more than two

every yeat'

Last month, Amstrong told The Correspondent he left the

traveling.

It was not all fun and games, though, despite the traveì opportunities. ''People think advertising people spend their time in luxury hotels and restaurants, but the perks are the reward for some very hard work. Every page I got into The Review, I fought hard for. When we were on the road, we used to get up at 5 a.m. to catch a flight for an 8:30 breakfast appointment, and we used to do about six ap24 TIJE CORRESPONDENTOCTOBER

Tatler because

interference in editorial matters from advertising boss Lina Ross. "I could not accept the fact that as editor I did

not have the final say," Arm-

is grateful, at the same time, for the strong said. generous golden handshake received from Perhaps Markham-Smith's goals for the the Reviev,'s owners, Dow Jones, and even Tatler are more in line with the advertising more grateful for the parting gift from the boss' ideas of what the magazine should be.

fine

clothes, fine

will be writing

about. They don't want to know about the starving in India," he says of his readership,

New Zealand did not last longer than six months. Joumalism in Wanganui, Parwani later recalled. "was at least a generation behind the times." And back in Hong Kong he rejoined The Star which offered no comfort to reporters who are unable to produce good stories on deadline. Covering a most demanding beat -- crime, law and order --

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which totals about 28,000 in Hong Kong. Markham-Smith, who worked his way uptofheTatler from the world of tabloids in London, expects to go to trial early next year, as the result of an interview with Sean Penn, who left a lasting impression on MarkhamSmith. "l was about to interview him, and he hit me overthe head with a rock." He says he

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CLASSIFIED

*l''^*t: ',á

PEOPLE

RESTAURANTS

ter another. He

has

many memories to

recall f¡om those hectic days. Not all his scoops, Parwani says, came from contacts and legwork. Some of the best were in con-

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nection with the sea. He recalls one about three servicemen and a servicewoman who went boating in the NewTerritories and strayed into Chinese

waters. "These were sensitive times and the four were detained in China, while top-secretnegotiations went on for freeing them." Eventually they were returned to HMS Tamar, and Parwani leamt that they wele aboard the patrol boat HMS Hubberston. Undetened by guards at the gate and sentries on the gangplank, he sneaked on board, located the rescued quartet and got a worldbeating exclusive on what had happened over the border. But then somebody alerted the heavies, and the MPs charged into the cabin and "alrresled" the intrepid Parwani. explained to them that it was better to let the story come out as favourably as pos-

sible, and convinced them that I would be emphasising how it was all a terrible mistake.

Parwani recalls. the end they took me to the captain,

"In

and I soft-soaped him so effectively that he not only let me go, but also lent me his films. "We gave the story a terrific play inThe Star. Then the Joint Services PR people called a press conference later in the day."

Live late night jazz, from after ten, till two am. Oldies but goodies, thirties to fifties, every day of the week. Open for happy hour, dinner, late night drinks or just coffee.

Another of his big breaks involved a freighter, heading for Hong Kong, that had sliced through a fishing boat in thick fog, causing heavy loss of life. Roused from his bed in the early houls,

Parwani grabbed a camera and headed towards Lyemun Pass in a rented motorised

sampan. His timing was

near-pelfect; through the gap came the freighte¡ its bows dented and badly scraped from the collision. Parwani forced the sampan woman to keep pace with the freighter while he clicked away

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ship. Then he got her to drop back amidships where he shouted to surprised crewmen looking over the side, "Here, catch this,"

flinging up a rope. The startled sailors grabbed the lope and Parwani scuttled up the side and demanded:

"Take me to the captain ! " The result was an unbeatable exclusive. In the more than 20 years he spent in joumalism, Parwani's pride and excitement, of course, is the English-language moming tabloidwhichhelaunched in late 1979. Many seasoned newspaper owners held the view

that, with three English-language newspapers already in print, Hong Kong had two papers too many. But moving away fromThe

Star affer its founder Glaham Jenkins lost control of it and the new o\¡r'ner, Sing Tao's Sally nw Sian, appointed a young journal-

26 THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1988

.Çå

ism graduate, virtually fresh from university, to manage it, Parwani seemed to have felt that it was his calling to keep the true spirit of ?nfte

Star alive, albeit under another name,The Sun.

FCC member Roger Medcalf - a former hino Mail reporter and now a successful PR man - bet Parwani a bathtub full of champagne that The Sun wouldn't last a year. The Sun struggled on, and on the due date Medcalf kept his word - an old bathtub was C

takenuptothe l5th flool of the FCCpremises in Sutherland House, and lilled with ice and bottles of bubbly. But, then, The Sun didn't make it to another birthday and Parwani moved to Commercial Radio to become its news editor and later to fhe Hongkong Standard whereRobert Chow Yung, afor-

mer coìleague at T he Sta r,

to David Davies, who is retiring after 38 years with the agency.

There were more than a dozen faces fa-

had,

meanwhile, be-

come

miliar to Hong Kong among the 50 or so people who partied on into the night aboard

edi-

Mv Mulgi.

to r- in -ch ief and general

Though a Welshman through and through, Davies and his charming French wife, Marcelle, will spend their retirement in the French coun-

manager, s

ucceedi ng

Alan Castro, Parwani became the Standard's

managrng editor.

IT WAS a case of all old Hong Kong hands on deck when many members of the foreign press corps in Sydney joined an Agence France-Presse harbour cruise to bid farewell

tryside where they have a home in the Grand Pressigny not far from Tours.

Parwani (1el) with Sam Lam, a colleague from The Star

When Chow was later moved from the Hongkong Standard to become general manager of the Sing Tao Croup, Parwani moved with him. Now Chow is busy running the Chinese-language daily Fei Po and the management responsibility for the new venture, China Revieu,, has been given to Parwani.

NADARAJAH KANAGARATNAM,

WhO

held various senior positions at the Hor?gkottg Standard l2 years ago, is now back in Hong Kong -- this time to work with the Sottth Chinu Morttittg Post.

The Malaysian-born Kanagaratnam his career in journalism with the

started

Straits Times in Kuala Lumpur. But in 1973 he moved to Hong Kong -- joining the Hongkong Standard as sub-editor and later moving up to become, successively, its features editor, Sunday editor and leader writer. After three years of service with the Hongkong Standard, he retumed to Kuala Lumpul and joined rhe New Sn'aits Times where he became Sunday editor and leader wrrter. In the past six years, however, Kanagaratnam was managing editor of the S¡ar in Nevt,

the Malaysian capital. In 1985, he was awarded a Nieman fellowship at Harvard.

Davies, who owes much of his

fluent French to World War II much of which he spent underwater as a British liaison officer on a French submarine -- is a

former head of AFP's English services in Paris. He was a China-

watcher based in Hong Kong immediately after the Cultural

Revolution and

en-

joyed two tours of duty to the territory

TOP: Old Hong Kong hands aboard fhe Mulgi (fi'on left):

Marsha Prysuska, Russell Spurr, Rosemary Spur¡

Peter Mackler, David Davies, Tony Patrick, Marcelle Davies, S,K. Witcher, David Mitchell, right-in Joelle Andreoli (AFP secretary), Peter O' Loughlin and Kenelm Creighton. Absentfrom the picture were camera-shy Joe Parkes and David Arnett. ABOVE: David and Marcelle Davies with a farewell present from AFP staff.

during a long and colourful career. His successor as AFP bureau chief in

carvingoutnewpublic relations careers and Kenelm Creighton, former London Daily

Australia, is New Yorker Peter Mackler, who seems to be following in Davies' footsteps. Mackle¡ was AFP's news editor in

Mail correspondent and former Hongkong Standard business editor, who is now a

Hong Kong until 1986, retuming to Paris as head of the English services before his ¡ecent move [o Sydney. The who's who of old Hong Kong aboard Ihe Mulgi included South China Morning

Royal Australian Navy. Also on board were Joe Parkes, director

ost

columnist, author

and

former

Russell Spurr and his wife Rosemary, David Mitchell(ex-Burson broadcaster

Marsteller) and former Hongkong Standard columnist Marsha Prysuska who are both

public relations officer

Sydney

for

the

of the Macau Tourist Information Office from 196'7-76,who now works for Austrade promoting Australian trade, anothe¡ old

Macau hand David Arnett, who is now public relations officer for the Blue Moun-

tains Tourist Authority, AP-Dow Jones corespondent Tony Patrick, the Asian Wall

SÍreet Journal's S.K. Witcher and AP

Sydney bureau chief Peter O'Loughlin. O'Loughlin has been the driving force in the establishment of a Foreign Correspondents Association of Australia (FCAA). After two years of doing the rounds of restaurants in Chinatown, the FCAA now has a room in the imposing new Darling Harbour Convention Centre for its lunch meetings -- usually on the last Friday of each month -- and a "Foreign Conespondents Comer" plaque in the downstairs bar. The FCAA is playing an increasingly important role as a focal point for both work and play among the burgeoning foreign press corps in Sydney.

OCTOBER 1988 THECORRESPONDENT 27

all

NEV/ MEMBERS Tacio Carvalho is TRS mar-

while

keting manager

Herald. He moved on

for

Reuters.

The Brazilian-born Carvalho came to Hong Kong

with

i985

Chase Manhattan Bank, which employed him in the US and Brazil. He describes Hong Kong as "challenging -- we work hard, but we play hard,

a reporter for Íhe Miami 1985 Hawaii. as a

to the University ol Gannett Fellow, then took up the freelance life in Hong Kong and Manila until 1987, when he joined the sÍ.aff of Asiau,eek.

In what he calls a "reverse brain

Christopher Pomery came to Hong Kong five years ago, "looking for something different." He found it, working as a

drain," William J. Charman

freelance writer, and is now co¡-

took his current post with local FEB Finance Company a year ago to avoid repatriation back to

respondent

to,o."

repofter. Before moving

Hong Kong, Watts was in London reporting for the Hornsey Journal.

in Greece,

Journal for five years, based in Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City and

be-

of (HK) Ltd., a

consultant

major

Japanese

David Herratt came to Hong Kong from London early this year as general manager of Skandia Intemational Insurance

Corp., a Swedish reinsurance company, with headquarlers in Stockholm. He has been with the company 14 years. Of Hong Kong, he says "The first six

months a¡e the most difficult, and the second six months, the second most difficult, but it's coming together very well and people have been very helpful especially at the FCC.

Narong Pornpiriyakulchai has travelled around Asia since | 976

for the Tourism Authority of Thailand. A graduate of Thailand's Chulalongkom university, as well as the University of New South Wales. He is currently director of the TAT's Hong Kong Office.

Christopher Vaughan is roving editor for World Executives Di-

(

1983 he was a finalist in

the Pulitzer Prize Competition,

Worthy has been wi¡h Fortune since 1979, first as a New Yorkbased repofer and later as an associate editor in Chicago.

Pornpiri

Joseph R. Yogerst is managing editor for Emphasis Ltd. He has previously edited London's Age C ommunicat ior'rs; freelanced in Africa, North America, Europe and the Middle East for the Washington Post, San Francisco Examiner and London Mail; and

a Sin-

has been managing editor of

with the Beirut Daily S¡¿r, BBC TV News in Bristol and ITN in London.

worked

Pomery

Watts

Walsh

Wurgler

Sou er Americø. He has written Paris Confidential and East Af-

Sharp

advertising. He

Out, and is the author of Makíng of the Kílling The Three Pinr Turn.

Hong Kong.

Gina Doggett is

The Films, and

Catherine Maxwell is a legal assistant for Johnson Stokes Blackett

Campbell

Watkin

Doggett

and Master. Before coming to Hong Kong about two years ago, she was a solicitor in Sydney.

Peter Chan, has been business manager of Newsweek for the

Colin Robert Mackay is a business reporter for the Sunday Morning Post, a position he ac-

past

two years. Before that

for the Hong

Kong

gapo¡e, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the US, El Salvador, Peru, Jamaica, Aust¡ia and Switzerland.

David Sharp has been

firm USB-Phillips &

Dren for

nearly four years, though only one in Hong Kong.

was with Sun Hung Kai prophobbies include

snooker and fishing.

Michael John Shone is

Wright

Balsa

Stephen Ho, divisional manager of sales for Cable & Wireless Systems, went to McGill Univer-

sity of Montreal. He has been back in Hong Kong for seven years, and his hobbies include playing mahjong.

Stanley Watkin is managing director of Educational Film Services,

a company

he started eight

years ago to specialise in the distribution of educational videos for management, staff and technical training. He was first in Hong Kong from 1945 to 1947 a¡ the end of the Japanese occupation.

Sarah Yeung joined the immigration department in 1967 and has held her present rank of as-

sistant principal immigration for the past five years.

officer

She was educated in Hong Kong,

and has also attended overseas courses while immigration department.

short

the

David Wright is a barrister who would like to enter the

club "with a minimum of fuss.

They'lljust

see me sipping wine

at the bar," he says. Elizabeth Sophie Balsa is consul and head of trade bureau for the Brazilian Consulate General,

erties. His

writer/analyst for Comedia Associates. Author of The PLA Forces, he worked in Edinburgh as a repofter for the Scotsman before moving to Hong Kong in 1985.

sight Guide to Egypt.

comes from London, where he worked as a joumalist for Time

subeditor for Express Newspapers in Manchester before moving to

quired after two years as

Yeung

for BBDO

an editor for the Agence France-Presse. She arrives at her present post from theWashington Posr, where she served as an editor from 1984 to 1 988.

rica, co-wrote Insight Guide to Britain and photographed lnNeil Kelly is a creative director

Ewen Campbell is a sub-editor aI lhe Soulh China Morning Posl. Bom in Mirfield, Yorks,

28 THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1988

Worldwide Television news He has been with WTN since 1984, when he began as chief sub and was promoted first to deputy editor, roving reporter, and then

A finalist in the 1988 National Magazine A¡wards,

gapore-based freelance joumalist, is now with the South China Morning Post. Earlier she had

he worked eight years as

Marrriott Hotel. The hotel business has also taken him to Sin-

zine.

Philadelphia.

Anita Blackett, formerly

manager

S. Worthy came to Hong Kong this year to work as associate editor for Forrune maga-

Persona Search

personnel company."

gest.

-'.i

London-born James Thomas is

Southeast Asia producer for

economist with stockbrokerage

Herratt Mary Williams Walsh is a co¡respondent for The WalL Street Journal. She has been with the

'"¿

Rene Wurgler came to Hong Kong in February as general

to sports editor.

gapore, Hong Kong, the Middle East and Europe. After a stint of odd jobs, such as picking olives

decided

, iil.

Yogerst

Stoudt

Carolyn Watts is the photo for China Guides Services. Earlie¡ she worked with rhe Hongkong Srandard

Carvalho

been in Hong Kong a couple of years.

agency since 1979.

Ford

about to end his seven-year slint in Hong Kong. His hobbies are

come respectable, and took up a job as managing director/senior

t1 '-I

Times.

editor

Wanderlust took Dana Stoudt from a farm town in North Dakota to Kuala Lumpur, Sin-

(tI

for the London

Canada, when his employer, Royal Bank of Canada, was tennis and scuba diving.

Michael Shuttleworth currenrly chief sub-editor fo¡ Reuters, has been a correspondent of the

self-employed banking consultant specialising in intemational debt instruments. He has

Robert Osborne Lee came to Hong Kong in 1984 as a solicitor with Baker & Mackenzie. He has just established his own firm, Robert Lee and Co., which will practise commercial law, particularly with Japanese companies in Hong Kong.

OCTOBER 1 988 THE CORRESPONDENT 29

TheSwireGmupEf,l

THE GORRESPOilIIENT

CROSSV/ORD Compiled by Brian Neil

1988

A BOTTLE OF CHIVAS

NO.8

CLUES ACROSS: I

CLUES

Less familiar priest ran German school

[o an extent. (8)

alrnost farnous (7)

7. Decay surely caused

llltl nllrl r llrl

small islands to develop. (4)

have plenty, but has

nothing. (6)

Hold a 150 length.(5)

4. Sorre

Some leel at editorial and become

but

proud.(6) I

l. To run part way

6. a I

14. Pole

wìth nail attached to pile up. (5)

16. Car,

20 Reap pears to make

do this. (6) 17. Ten ran

Printline Ltd,

19. There are, in the

21.

23 Some fun could be rare in Scotland. (4)

House, 7lce House Street, Central, Hong Kong. 601 Fu

2. Entries must reach the office not later than October 28.

U.S., erstwhile ernployers.(5)

22 Unsteady ride is no

joke. (8)

riot about old

coin. (6)

manifestation. (6)

Entries must be sent to:

THE CORRESPONDBNT CROSSWORD,

For Mr. Chan, cream contains an unhealthy element. (7) 16. Some are tired who

Not a particularly appetizing type of pie. (6)

RULES

Hag sat around and was horrified. (6)

3. Type offairy seen on the hob'l (6)

utterly shattered,

could end up in one.(3)

Part ofbeautiful

Athens turns. (5)

up a

2. Best age to put on b¡r. (5)

learn en'atically,

still rnakes

money. (6)

hilt. (3) I

Srnall theatres in which there is a sticky substance. (5)

3. This person ought to

Melodious, but ncit on a grand scale. (8)

Lets lat become

A fruit, we hear, in

perpend icular

position. (5)

24 Batter rib, let's say,

it's really awful. (8)

Entries must carry the name, address and the club membership number of the contestant.

Crossword No. 7 correct solution

4. The firstcorrectsolutìon drawn from the entries received

will

be awarded a bottle of Chivas Regal.

5. The solution andwinner'snamewill T he C o r re spo nde

Fro-

Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific flies to more cities in Asia, more often than any other aidine. Wherever possible we give you a daily choice of departure times so we can fly you to all the places you

be published in

the f ollowing month.

v/ant to go, when you want to go.

For editorial and publishing seryices, contact:

With convenient departure and anival times. It's another way we heþ our

PRINTLINE LTD

arrive in better shape. Publishers of

601 Fu House, 7 Ice House Street,

Central, Hong Kong Phone:

5-237848. Fax: 5-8453556

Any other way around Asia is strictly for the birds.

THE CORRISPOIUIIENT The winner is Keith Shakespear

rtrp conRESPoNDENT

CAT

oCToBER I988

-A

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