The Correspondent, March 1990 by The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong

PRI NÐ for all your

LETTERS A question of honour FEBRUARY 25 was a rainy day

and also a Sunday. Never-

PRINT PRODUCTION work call us

theless, my wife and I being hard working people decided to go to the office. As we were leaving our flat we noticed that we had quite a

collection of umbrellas that we had either bought or carried home from the office. 'We decided to return some to the office. So we each picked up two.

LETTERS As we approached the office, I changed my mind and decided to go to the FCC. At the Club I saw the umbrella rack was full. \{hile wondering

what to do with my two, the thought occurred to me that since I had lost a couple of umbrellas at the Club, why not be a good boy scout and give someone another umbrella. I hung the broken umbrella on the rack by its handle a¡rd took the other umbrella with me to the pool room.

About an hour,

When we got outside, I

docovered that one of mine, a folding type, was badly broken. My wife, having better eyesight and being more skillful than I at some things, checked it and

suggested I throw it on the rubbish heap near our flat

838 7282 Fax 838 7262

disposables. But having been influenced by the Keep Hong Kong Clean campaign a¡rd not wanting to become a litterbug, I carried the umbrellawith me.

few

unsuccessful games and a few beers laûe4 it was time to go to the men's room. Passing by the runbrella rack, I was amused üo

note that

These remarks refer to the omitted clues, wrong numbering, impossible submission deadlines, and other unconventional aspects related to the crossword's presentation. Perhaps the most significant

of these innovative features occurred in the January issue, where the grid that was given bore no resemblance to the one

needed. It was not difficult to spot the problem; what provid-

ed the real challenge was in guessing what the grid should have been in order that the answers could be inserûed.

The derogatory

I had losl another

umbrella!

MervHaworth

where some less tidy neighbours dispose of their

crossword which appears regularly in The Corresþondent can no longer remain unanswered.

A hue punle!

remarks

referred to above insinuate that these novel features are simply a result of sloppy editing or a reluctance to partwith too many bottles of Chivas. The more per-

THE increasingly derogatory

ceptive ofyour readers, however, realise that more important

remarks being made by some

ill-informed FCC members

deveþments are afool Stick-in-the-mud journals

about certain features of the

THE ZCO

such as The Times Persist in boring the pants off their readers by presenting their crosswords in the same old conventional manner. It is a tribute to FCC members lhat The Corresþondent does not insult its readers' intelligence in this

UNEQUAL TREATIES MR. ÞE NG

way. Its readers are required to

guess what each crossword should look like before solving any

fa src

ofthe clues.

Iæt's hear no more of this carping. We are witnessing, in our very own journal, the first major breakthrough in crossword technology in the past fiftyyears. Now that this breakthrough has been made, can The Times be farbehind?

q lll \,

Graham Mead Hong Kong

PS My own guess as to what the grid of the January issue

should have been and, if

tion, is have not solved the problem about receiving the magazine after submission date, but am working on it.

Clare in Borneo

ENJOYED reading Clare Hollingworth's memories of wartime Cairo.

She may not remember me; but I met her when she came to our mess in Borneo

to cover the 'wee' war

(Dateline Sibu 1963). She was

impressive, dressed in full jungle gear: We half expected

THREE'S COMPANY

her to demand a patrol to lead!

MOLLERS' INTERNATIONAL MANAGED FUNDS

George Mackenzie

Managed by James Capel (Channel Islands) Ltd (Member: Hongkong Bank Group) Underwritten by Sun Alliance International Life

I-eura NSW 2780, Australia

to an q<teosive range of investments, with emphasis on equity

shares,

Hurlstone, 268 The Mall

Bill misdirected

international bonds/gilts and cash deposits, giving you the which are tax efficie¡t for Australia,

I PICKED up a photocopy of my January bill on February

Minimum inr¡estrrcnt: US$7,500 or GBP 5,000

correct solution.The regular

26th, well past the payment date for avoiding the infamous posting procedure. The original bill had not reached me because the new billing sys-

tllso regular monthly and annual contributions.

þrize for the correct solution goes to Terry Boyce - Editor

where

Canada,

capitalizæ on the worlds most prornising and potentially profitable markets via products

and a number of European countries.

US$ and Sterling offshore fu¡ds based in the Channel Islands offering tax free

growth.

The Mollers' Inærnational Managed Funds are i¡æmal funds of the Sun Alliance Group, assurence

products.

Å linked to a range of tax efficie¡t Ef"--ay' - -'

.[follers' Llfe & Investments Ltd.

Rmm 1301, Hrourt Housg 39, Glouøær Road, Wmchai, Hong Kong. ïi:lcphone: 865 3228 Tclqt 73757 MINÂG HX Farsimile: 865 2186 PLEASE NOTE: I¡stos æ míudcd that æ a onseqreæ of the çnæel utre of wied ilmtmÐts úd poldblc oæncy æhage or intsst næ fluctutions, tbe v¿Ire of thci¡ iwstmmts ail the yield Êom thm may go

dmæwllæup.

o Graharn Mead is awarded

bottle of Chiaas for guessing the grid accurately and enteri,ng the

Bonus allocation ofbetween 1% - 3% of investment.

For edditional details on the Mollas' Intenational Managed Funds, plæ retum the coupon to us.

Nme

Graham Mead Associates

enclosed (see below).1

opportunity to

Managing Director

correct, the crossword solu-

^âccess

BY ARTHUR HACI<ER

I THOU6HT CHINA WAs OPPOSEÞ fO

tem sent

it to an address

have not lived for

more thal two years.

In the dark ages before we went high tech, my bill arrived

promptly each month at my office address. And, when I applied to get the new bar-

coded computer card. I checked the appropriate box

on the

address

form

continue this practice.

Obviously, someone entered old, outdated addresses into

the new billing system. This

negated the new system's vaunted efficiences, leaving

sceptics unconvinced that its acquisition was necessary.

I know of other members

who had the same problem

Photo Essay TTIE CORRESPONDENT invites professional photographers and other camera buffs to send their best selection of photos on any subject of their choice for this new feature. A token reward of

HK$l000 is ofiered for each essay

published. Submissions should include captions and brief text providing background infoimat¡on on thq topic of the

with their January bills. Would the Board of Governors use

this column to inform members how many bills were misdirected, how the mistake occurred, and how much revenue was not collected on time because ofthis error. Tom Brand

IÆ1IERS. The Correspondent welcomes letters on any topic, whether or not it has been covered in the magazine. All letters must be sent to the editor at Unit B, 18/F Harvard House, 105-111 Thomson Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong (Fax 838 7262) and bear the narne, address and telephone number of the writer. Letters will be edited for clarity and space.

Äddrss

Tel Nq

THE CORRESPONDENTMARCH 1990 5

ROBERT ELEGANT REMEMBERED YESTERDAYS

Flashback Despite West Germany's decision in 1963 to pass the second anniversary of the Berlin Wall in silence, some 2,5OO demonstrated at Checkpoint Charlie in the Friedrichstrasse on Aug 13, 1963. Some of the demonstrators were hurt as police tried to force them

Berlin and the Wall - then

In early 1962, less than a year after the erection of the Berlin WalL Newsweek transferred its Hong Kong-based correspondent, Robert Elegant, to West Berlin. Now living in Britain, the author of several international bestsellers remembers his Berlin experience. HE erection of that monument to

repression, the Berlin Wall,

years ago was, naturally, even more

of a surprise than its gradual dismantling today. Extraordinarily, however, no one predicted that East Germany would try to stanch the haemorrhage of talent from the so-called German Democratic Republic to West Germany with a tourniquet of bricks and mortar. The closest I heard to an earþ warning came from the distinguished author l¡uis Fischer a few months before the monstrosity was erected in August 1961. I was still in Hong Kong lor Newsweek, but had finaliy won a transfer to Germany, happy to be quit of the gory antics of Chairman Mao for a while. I was, therefore, most attentive to Fischer's speculation.

What the East Germans need, he told me, is a wall to cut off their sector from the rest of Berlin. As long as East Germans

can cross freely into lVest Berlin, he explained, they'll continue to drain East Germany of its finest intellectuals, managers, and scientists. The frontier between

East and West Germany was

stabbing his forefinger at a big street plan of the city of Berlin. "How could they possibly cut in two, streets, canals, and even the elevated train lines?" l¡uis Fischer, thus, showed himself a remarkably prescient political observer, even if he proved himself no municipal engineer, which he was, after all, not sup posed to be. The reaction - really the lack thereof - by the governments of the West showed that they had not seriously considered the possibility of the Wall going up, much less what to do about. For several days, while the East German regime - and Moscow - waited nervously for a riposte, ready to back down if

forced, the West did nothing. American tanks rolled up to the barrier, muzzle to mrzzle with Soviet tanks at a distance of a few yards. Then they rolled away again. Such were their orders from President John E Kennedy, who had pledged in his inaugural address to bear any burden and

face any peril to defend liberty against totalitarian aggression. So the Wall was completed, and the

In Berlin a year or so later John

international action had clearly passed.

But in Berlin itself there was a lot of action. When I got there early in 1962, a American and German, was doing its best to make a mockery of the Wall. They were backed by Western intelligence services, but they didn't talk about that. At the heart of the action was James Preston O'Donnell, who had founded the Newsweek Bureau in Germany and had been an adviser to the general commanding American forces in Germany. He was also close to West Berlin's dynamic mayo¡ Willy Brandt, who was then a stalwart of resista¡ce to totalitarianism. [¿te[ despairing of any change in the East,

with the times. Jimmy was freelancing, quite successfully, and was soon to produce The Bunker, by far the best book written on the last days of Adolf Hitler and the

and East Germans to cross freely the invisible frontier z' between the Allied sectors and the Soviet sectors. From West

Berlin, the refugees could

quite freely to West Germany.

"But, of course, they can't build

a wall to fence off the two parts of the city," Fischer addecl,

Hunting for souvenirs As the dismantling of the Berlin Wall began, pieces of that monument of repression became col-

lector's item. Here two young people are seen helping each other as they try to pick out some pieces of the Wall near the Reichstag at Potsdamer PlaU. AP Photo. Courtesy: l/ongþong Standard

THBCoRRESPoNDENT

Standard

group of private individuals, primarily

it would lose most of its more useful citizens to the West, where they were always welcome. In Berlin, however, the the city, allowed East Berliners

IEF?: East Berlin workers repairing the pavement on the "East side" of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie under watchful eyes of the East German border guards - Photos: Courtesy HongÞottg

were not impressed. The time for overt

Brandt sought reconciliation with the East. Now, once again, anti-totalitarian, he has moved

regulations of the Allied Powers,

kn.

Charlie (beloto).

Kennedy declared passionately:"Ich bin ein Beiliner." Aside from a few chuckles at the American presidenf s declaring dramatically that he was a cruller*, the real Berliners

closed by guards, barbed wire, mines, and vehicle traps maintained by the East, which feared

who technically still governed

away (below

Two months earlier, the US president, John F. Kennedy, accompanied by then mayor of West Berlin, Willy Brandt, had visited Checþoint

haemorrhage was stanched. East Germany was, it seemed, to endure as a læninist totalitarian state indefinitely now that its citizens could no longer escape to the West.

Third Reich, Slill

I E

& r!-

Newsweek's

stringer in Berlin, he was gener-

ous to a newcomer who was theoretically his superior as bureau chief for Germany and Central Europe,

Jimmy was also a moving force in the increasing and increasingly successful effort to

help East Berliners

escape

despite the Wall. After the earþ days of smashing barriers at the checkpoints that pierced the \4/a11, tunnelling under the Wall became the chief means of escape. O'Donnell was so deeply involved that he was known as Jimmy O'Tunnel. .

He should have said: "lch bin Berliner" Ein Berliner is asweet roll.

Berlin and the Wall - then (continued)

Whether summoned by a cryptic telephone call for a special guest orjust drop ping in on Jimmy's little flat, I met most of the chief Tunnelkinder, as he called the courageous young Germans who were the moving spirits. Even after many hours of talking with refugees in Hong Kong, indeed throughout Asia, it was eerie to talk

with ordinary looking young men

and women who had da¡ted down a hole in the ground (usually in a basement close to the Wall) and emerged a hundred or so yards later into the freedom of West Berlin - not to speak of the almost rulgar material abun-

dance of West Berlin.

It was even more

eerie when I realised that most were going back under the Wall to help others escape. We never wrote about the Tunnelkinder by name. Practice in disguising the identity of Chinese refugees was helpful in disguis-

ing the Tunnelkinder so that they could continue to defy the institutionalised barbarism the Wall so graphically typified. Nor did we write about the Mauve Network. Many of the boyfriends of the Grepo (short for Grenzþolizei, Frontier Police) officers who guarded the lVall lived by natural choice in West Berlin. They could go back and forth quite freely because they held special passes, just as they and their predecessors had been given free access to SS installations when many of those same

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH I99O

MEET THE PRESS

Berlin and the lVall - then (continued)

officers were serving an earlier totalitarian regime. Those Wallcrossing boyfriends were invaluable couriers, informants, and bribecarriers. A number of

Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church, which had been left as it was in 1945 after bombing and shelling as the starkest kind of war memorial. The political and geographic conditions that had brought the Wall into existence were not merely complex, but trebly complicated.

Flashback Communist border guards had once placed concrete slabs on the sidewalk of the Sebastian Street in the Krekzberg district of the American sector to prevent American jeeps patrolling the area. For these West Berlin children (aboue) the slabs served as playthings. IEFî East Berlin policemen lift the body of Peter Fetcher who was shot down while attempting to

After failing to advance and take Berlin before the Soviet Army could, the Allied Powers had insisted on retaining a Red

foothold in Berlin, which was more than a hundred miles east of the frontier between East a¡rd West Germany. The Allies controlled three sectors of Berlin,

escape to the West in 1962.

Ameriian, one British, and one French. AnyWest German presence was at their pleasure, as was.Willy Brandfs municipal one

Photos: Courtesy llongþotg Stand.ard.

government.

The German Democratic Republic, for its part (and Moscow's) had declared East Berlin the capital of that "independenf' nation. Not only hardJiners, but many West Germans and West Berliners referred to that nation as die Zone, short

centered on

whether Allied military trucks entering East German territory en route to or leav-

many did not recognise East Germany as a separate nation. Further, air and land communications between West Berlin and

their tailgates for inspection by Soviet offi-

in Allied

hands because planes had to fly over the East German territory that trains, automobiles,

ing West Berlin were required to drop cers, who were backed by Grepos, whose

existence the Allies did not recognise. Insisting that Soviet officers could easily see over the tailgates, the Allies refused to

make that gesture, which could be inter-

It was reasonably clear after the ending

preted as obeying the orders of the Grepos thus, implicitly, recognising the sovereign-

1948

ty of the German Democratic Republic.

closed off all access to the city except the air routes, that the Soviets would not use force to take West Berlin. Nonetheless, a continuing series of confrontations made the front pages, as the communists soughts to slice away the Allied presence like salami. Some times it was harassment in the air lanes, sometimes interference with railway traffic, sometimes alteration of the intricate rules, regulations, and precedents that governed the relations between the Soviets and the

One day, however, the Soviets produced a dwarf in officer's uniform and pointed out quite reasonably that he could øof see over the tailgates. As I recall, the Allies still refused, and, after several days'stalemate, the convoy was allowed through, its tailgates proudly undropped. Al1 such petty manoeuvring was also very important - as the denouement last year proved, It was also very confusing, and, I felt, badly in need of clarification. I proposed to the editors of Newsweek tn New York a cover story that would, once

and, even, canalboats had to traverse.

East Germans on one side and, on the other, the Allies, the West Germans, and the West Berlin governmenl

A typical argument

lor die Sowjetbæøtzungzone, the area under Soviet Occupation. Further, West Ger-

of the Berlin Blockade, which in

and the

among top community leaders, despite the fact that many Chinese people had

fled China to Vietnam and

amassed wealth there. I don't say we have any right to demand the Hong Kong people to pay back. That is

Free, yet not happy

The Wall dominated Berlin, even more decisively than did the macabre skeleton of the

Germany were

Here, in Hong Kong though, is this terrrible situation now this attitude even

BOAT PEOPLE

straitlaced scientists and profes sional men owed their freedom to the Mauve Network.

'West

HONG KONG

THB CORRESPoNDENT MARCH 1990

and

for all, clear up that confusion by

explaining lucidly and simply the circumstances - and the importance - of West Berlin in a divided Germany. Themselves also a little confused, the editors agreed heartily that such a story was badly needed. I still remember the upshot with chagrin. I can see myself sitting in front of the typewriter in the big office overlooking the Kurfürstendamm. It was three in the morning, and I had been at the story all day. Finally, at four in the morning, I sent a message to New York. It said, briefly and bitterly, that I was forced to give up trying to write the story. Berlin was simply too complicated to explain lucidly and simply in a Newsweek cover story, or, probably, anywhere else. Besides I was getting confused myself. How much simpler was the story of the Wall's coming down, though the aftermath is already highly complex. I

NEXTMONTH

Graham Jenkins Vietnam, Liberia, Hong Kong

not the nature of Vietnamese people.

\Me are here today

The Vietnamese journalist, 6Gyears-old Nguyen Dinh Tu who was held in a Hong Kong detention centre for Vietnamese boat people, was featured on the cover of Tke Corresþondent iî January, as journalists in Hong Kong, France and the US teamed up in an effort to get him screened as a political refugee for resettlement. Tu left the detention camp last month to begin a new life in the United States. He addressed a professional luncheon at the Club before his departure. Excerpts: IRST of all, allow me to express my deepest thanks to all of my col-

leagues in France, in the United States, in Britain and here in Hong Kong who helped to get me freed. I am leaving tomorrow for the US. Yet I am not entirely

happy because many

countrymen

and in the'30s, many Chinese citizens fled

China to Vietnam because of the war in China. Again in 1945, when battle flared between the communists and nationalists in China, many Chinese people fled to North Vietnam. And in 1949, when Chi-

still remain in

detention camps here. Much as been said about the boat people issue. One problem boat people are facing now is forcible repatriation. I have expe rienced the life of boat people over the pastmonth. I was one of them and I got the opporhrnity to talk to them. I am a North Vietnamese born in Hanoi. I started covering the first Vietnamese war in 1948. I decided to go south in 1954. In that I was lucþ for I could enjoy years offreedom with South Vietnam - not total freedom, but just a little bit of freedom.

Now, as I am about to leave for the States, and there is talk

did not take a boat to Thailand,

to Malaysia, to the Philippines, or to Indone-

sia.

I have a personal reason: I visited

Hong Kong in 1965. Then, again, in 1967, I was sent by my editor on a fact-finding tour and reported on the impact of the Vietnam war on Hong Kong's economy. So I knew Hong Kong and when I decided to leave Vietnam I said to myself I should go to Hong Kong once more to look at the place and its people. My country was a French colony and I witnessed the departure of the French from Vietnam. Hong Kong is still a British colony. As a reporter I wanted

to find out about the departure of the British from this last part of its empire in Asia;, the way the British would

my provisional reason. There is also another reason - an entirely sentimental reason.

Just a few days before

6 I don't think that the Vietnamese people should be seen as a heap of garbage to be thrown away.

about repatriation, forcible repa-

ang Kai-shek's troops were defeated by

tell you the boat people are grateful to the

the communists, many more Chinese people tled to North Vietnam. All these arrivals from China were welcomed by the Vietnamese people. None of

Hong Kong government and the Hong Kong people for the help and protection they have received here. However, I also

plight

go out of here, what they would leave behind for the Hong Kong people. Then I could compare afterwards these two colonial powers, French and British, as it were. And I thought I should not miss this last chance of my life to see the last days of the'(greatest) empire in the world. That is

triation of boat people to Vietnam, I can

know that none of them

in this

because we could not find another way out. Many friends of mine have asked me why I

detention

camps intend to stay here any longer than

necessary. They want to go to a third country. Even if the government of Hong Kong will grant them citizenship, none of them will want to stay here. When we talk about this forcible repatriation, I remember that in the '50s, '60s and '70s the Vietnam war was a source of

wealth, a source of much business, for Hong Kong. I also recall that in the '20s,

us asked about their repatriation. There was no detention camp. All those who arrived from China were f¡ee to settle in Vietnam, free to stay or leave as they pleased. No questions were asked. They were treated exactþ as Vietnamese people. And after they amassed wealth inVietnam many of them left the country with

their wealth. The North

Vietnamese

authorities or the Vietnamese people did not ask them to leave their wealth behind.

left

Saigon I had opportunity to read an issue of Time magazine at a fi:iend's house. There was a pic-

ture inside the magazine

Chinese man standing in front of a row of tanks in Tiananmen Square. I was hypnotised by this picture. Then I was saying to myself, 'who is this man, why is this man so lonely ?'He just stood there, alone, making no gesture, keeping silent and in front of him all those tanks. I recognised this Chinese man, standing alone. I recognised him as any one of us here today. Yes, we

have been fighting for freedom and democracy and I tell you, that picture

should take a place with the pictures of Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Iænin, Marx, Gorbachev, Deng Xiaoping - all of those

Communist leaders. That picture reminded me that we are stronger than tanks. There is a lesson that comes from this Chinese man who stood alone and determinded to challenge. This

THE CORRESPONDENIT MARCH 1990

MEET THE PRESS

man is no more Chinese; he is our ancestor - our fathers, our mothers, our brothers,

our sisters, and his

they

human beings. There is no more nationality, there is just one man above and he is not the

man of the year, not the ma¡r of the decade, not the man of the century. He is the man of all times and always will be. He is each of

50,000

digni\ and

TU: Well, the only thing

!¡/e can do is

let our

heart speak and act.

facing the stupidity and cruelty of man.

serve: man's digmty. Boat people's dignity must not be violated,

Jittery at the threshold of change

beings, with ræþect?

And there is only one treasure for us to pre-

one grouþ helþing ano-

þeoþle still incarcerated in the camþs, what can we ordinary þeoþle do? What can the rnedia do to bring some justice for their case and haue them treated as hurnan

are

us and we are him

SOUTH AFRICA

ther. For the

ancestors are no more

Chinese,

ence of i ournalßt friends around the woild and that's a great examþle of

QUESTION: Were you

6 If the Hong Kong government and the British government are determined to forcibly repatriate us . . . just give the boats back to the boat people so that they can leave the territory. ,

surþrised, as an asylumseeker, when you arriaed in Hong Kong that you had, no access to the

media? And do you

think the journalists

it must be preserved, must be respected. If the Hong Kong government and the British government, are determined to

a heap of garbage to be thrown away. We need not be sent forcibly. We will go at our

der to get accæs to detention centres?

forcibly repatriate us, I have a simple and cheap proposal to make to the governor of

will. We will leave willingly and it will be very cheap, there will be no cost to the

TU: Yes, as a reporter I have always been longing for total freedom ofthe press.

Hong Kong: Just give the boats back to the boat people so that they can leave this ter-

Hong Kong tax payer at all. I am happy that the Hong Kong Chinese people today have the money to buy their security in Canada, Australia and other places. Thank you.

ritory. I will go with them too. What the Hong Kong government and the British government want is to get ritl of all Vietnamese boatpeople. As a human being I don't think that the Vietnamese boat people should be seen as

should

fl.ghting har-

QUESIïON: You say that you would like the Hong Kong gouernment to return the

QUESTION: You haue won your freedort through the interceþtion, þower and influ-

problem. We

will solve this

my hair and beard cut to

our own business. We do not

erçeriences in Hong Kong.

convinced me that it would-

The generous attention

n't be good for me to look like Ho Chi Minh. I complied at once. But then my friends say that while I no longer look like Ho Chi

en route to Seaúle and the

journey could continue only the following day.

Arriving in Washington, I found my suitcase was missing. But I was not worried as I was sure it would be 'f'orcibþ repartriated' to me. The suitcase vyas delivered two days later.

and warm friendship I received from many members of the FCC have been cheerfr¡I. I miss you all and

the atrnosphere of the Club. I beg you all to forgive me for not writing to

you individually; but tell them of my best feelings towards you all.

appreciate very much Mr Heinz Gmbnerrs friend-

ly attention to me and for the lunch he organised the day I addressed the Club.

better oope

wiü Washington

environmenL

wish to be

MARcH

1990

nuisance to anyone.

friends

I now resemble Lenin. So I proposed to shave off my beard completely. But they objected, for I Minh,

might look like DengXiaoping! That, they said, would be even more horrible. Nguyen DinhTu l11l Ingleside Ave Mclæm V422101, USA Telephone: (703) 35G3826

QUESTION: There are many

þeoþle in China who would like to corne to Hong Kong as well, and yet when some of theru come here

illegally they are forcibU reþatriøted to China without much þersonal clncern for their dignily. How do you uiew those þeoþle? Are thel different frorn the Vietnamese who come here illegally?

People who are tired of repression are mostly black people. But white people are also showing signs of being

tired. They feel that you must work for the Democratic Party not on the basis of colour but because you accept the ideas of democracy. They seem to think that we can move away from apartheid but we don't want total democracy; therefore we must locate South Africa somewhere in between where group rights can be maintained. However, black people are not going to accept this view. They want total democracy.

Some people, like the British government and the American government and some of the parties in Germany, have told

us privately: 'Yes, gentlemen, apartheid TU: No; not different at all. QIIF,SIION: Is it wrong

forcibly

reþatriate them to China?

TU: Of course it is wrong. I am not

1O ruB coRRBSPoNDENT

African people.

problem on our own. The main

my friend's home where I live, it is time for recollection - recollection of my

mood expresses the feeling of the South

TU: That will be our problem, our own

Soon after his arrival in the US, Tu sent to the FCC a letter of thanks. Excerpts: ARRMD atlV'ashingHere I am urged to har¡e Now in üre quietness of

on February

Africa today. This

could thqt go?

concern of Hong Kong is that the sooner they get rid of the boat people the better. So I propose this way out. Where we will go is

(Hong Kong time: Feb. f 7) in the afternoon completeþ exhausted. The trip was not good. Due to engine trouble the plane had to return to Toþo after four hours in the air

ERIC MOI.,OBI: There is a very exciting mood in South

boats to the Vietnamese. Where do you þroþose the Vietnamese sail to? Where

A letter from Tu ton National airport

The release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in jail has focused the world's attention as never before on South Africa and its apartheid system. Visiting Hong Kong to discourage the territory from trading with South Africa were two representatives of theAfrican mass movement-Jerry Matsila and Eric Molobi. Matsila, a former Soweto highschool teacher who was forced to leave South Africa in7974, is now based in Tokyo as chief representative of the African National Congress. Molobi, a specialist in education who was jailed for sixyears because of his political activities, is an executive member of the United Democratic Front. They both addressed a professional luncheon at the Club on March 1. Excerpts:

politician, I am a man.

must go but South Africa is not ready; you must accommodate the white people'. We are very surprised that here we have some of the leading western democracies telling us that democracy is not right for us though it is right for them. \Me have told them in no uncertain terms that is

unacceptable. Because it is not creating any

precedence over the army and the

solution, it will only continue to exacerbate problems in the country.

security. He had a wonderful chance to bring political leadership over the army. But he failed. He did not move against

Nelson Mandela sees himself as a facilitator, as a person who can build bridges between the black community and the government to come up with a new solution for South Africa. But he says that he cannot do it alone just as F W de Klerk cannot do it alone. Although de Klerk has actually said that African National Congress (ANC) is un-banned, the Communist party is un-

banned and Mandela

is free,

our

understanding is that de Klerk represents a minorily view within the government.

His enlightened position iS not totally

government position. One goverment official recently told me for instance: 'You know Eric, we're going to release you people; but you must

them, he did not bring them to court.'He

merely arranged that some of the key officers should be pensioned off or were told to resign.

That is not a good sign for

government that needs to reestablish a good rule of order. \Me interpret this to mean that de Klerk is still afraid to move;

o¡ he cannot move because his hands are tied and he mustprotecthis own back. For that reason we can't stop pushing; we cannot stop demanding democracy Our position is clear: We have no hatred for white people; we are open and we always wanted to discuss.

Look at the history of the African National Congress, the oldest movement in the country, probably in Africa as a

not think that what those politicians are saying will hold. If you people move wrong you are going to meet with such anger

whole. We have been knocking on the

that you have not met before.'

pleading that the South African govern-

When I came out of prison I saw that anger - people who were previously in detention were being shot and killed systematically. It was also discovered

At that time the mood and the plea were for a national convention so that all the people of South Africa can decide the

recently that some of the key people in the government, particularly in the police and the army, were involved in this massacre. De Klerk had a chance to prove that the political wing of the government takes

doors of governments of the world ment must come

the negotiating table.

democratic process for the country. In all those 49 years of pleading we met

with resistance and ridicule.l¿ws after laws were passed, our people were jailed or

killed. Only when peaceful methods failed

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 1990

TMEET THE PRESS

MEETTHE

did the African National Congress decide

to South Africa. Nor should Hong Kong

to take up arms to defend our people.

begin trade promotions in South Africa

When Mandela was released he made a controversial statement in terms of businessmen in South Africa. In that he

this year or earþ next year.

said, there are certain sectors of the economy that cannot be left without being

nationalised. On this issue of nationalisation, we have had meetings with all big companies in South Africa and actually generated a movement of progressive thinking businessmen. We have asked them to help build a new South Africa.

Apartheid has created a situation of serious imbalance. For instance: We have an education system which is

almost free for the white community that

is small in

number. For the black

community, it is too expensive to acquire. Besides, it is distorted in content. \4re have a housing problem. Black people have no houses. We have a public health issue because of the terrible shortags of hospitals.

This clearly shows that there are sectors of the South African economy that cannot be ignored. If the government continues to ignore them there will be strife and the people will take up arms against the government.

We think that de Klerk is about to change; he has made positive pronounce

ments. We embrace them, we want to encourage him in what he is doing. But we

cannot fold our arms before processes towards change take place. That is whywe

Thirdly, we are aware that our

countrymen in Hong Kong and elsewhere are recruiting expertise to come to South Africa. We came to say, don't emþate to South Africa now, because you might get a hostile reception from South African black .We people, ask Hong Kong people to stay put until the situation has been created for

black people to also have equal

opportunities. If you go there now we will see you as people coming at the service of the other side.

Fourthly, to appeal to the authorities and trading houses here not to encourage sanctions busting.

I have been involved in many United Nations meetings and conferences. \4/e just

had one in January in

Toþo

Hong Kong is the third country and the last stop in our tour of

East Asia. We have already held meetings with the govern-

,[,1

ments and private

''.1 a

businesses in Japan and South Korea.

In Hong Kong, we have raised several issues. First, an appeal to Hong Kong people not to follow Britain's unilateral decision to

trade with South Africa.'We have made this appeal directly to the Trade Develop ment Council, the Secretary of Trade and

Industry and to members of the

Iægislative Council.

Secondly,

to tell the Hong Kong

government not to send a trade delegation

are also told

undermine sanction packages and

discussing sanction busting. You also talked about reexþorts from Hong Kong, but you

made no mention about reexþorts of

Chinese goods. What contacts do you høue wi,th China on exþorting of Chinese goods to South Africø? A lot of Chinese goods go to

South Africa. and a lot of South Afri,can go to China.What are your cznta.cts

goods

with China and what's their attitude

with China. But we did raise this question with the Chinese authorities. Their answer is: they export to Hong Kong, not to South

Africa and Hong Kong is the one

ments and people elsewhere have made sacrifices for the cause of huma¡r rights in South Africa, for the sake of compassion and human understanding, people here seem to be taking advantage of those sacrifices. We urge that some mechanism should be putin place to monitor and check this trend. We came here to ask them to

with imports. They import from Hong

reexporting their goods. The same thing Kong, not from South Africa. This is their answer. That is why we are asking the

Hong Kong authorities to create

mechanism here to monitor all this.

QUESIION: Taiwan is a strong suþþorter of South Africa. Are you going to Taiwan during this tour?

One of the reports, from the UN, MATSILA: Yes, I agree, Taiwan gives great

assistance

to South Africa in many

of Hong Kong's coal imports come from South Africa. So we asked the authorities

respects. Before the end of this year I will be in Taiwan with a bigger delegation. It is on our agenda.

to consider a special mechanism to tighten up the import of coal into Hong Kong.

QUESIION: tust recently

now exists in Japan, EEC and America

that can assist and contribute towards the education of black people.This yeat Japan will give at least US$l million towards this

cause. We are now appealing to Hong Kong for similar assistance. Hong Kong for ages has been enjoying profits from the sweat and blood of the black people

and, therefore, Hong Kong has an obligation to help the black people.

The last point was to assess the

possibility that Nelson Mandela, during his tour of Asia, could also visit Hong

The response we received here has

year and there will be no promotion of

rr¿s, coRRESPoNDENT MARCH 1990

Humphrey Lyttleton, the evergreen jazz tt ump eter who provided the star turn at the '90 Arts Festival, proved a delightful raconteur as the guest speaker at the luncheon meeting of the FCC in February. MAN of many parts, each one fascinating, the old Etonian, no'w approaching 70, has by turns been a Grenadier Guardsman, Daily Ma.il cartoonist, columnist for Punch, and a lifelong night owl jazzing it up until the wee hours each day for four decades with the best of the blues musicians all over the world.

There is a roguish charm about this urbane Briton whose namesake and great grandfather was executed for collaborating with Guy Fawkes in the famous Gunpowder Plot. He was born on May 23, 1921, in Eton College, where his father was a housemaster.

Washington

Chief Butelezi urged President Bush and other western leaders to li,fi sanctions. You are saying heeþ sanctions. Would you þlease comment on these oþþosing uiewþoinß?

MAISIL{: Butelezi is a paid peasant from Pretoria. Butelezi is working according to instructions from Pretoria. I have nothing much to say about him. But let me point

out that we have black people who

At the age of 15, Humphrey Lyttletor (right) received from his moth-

er a trumpet, a gold lacquered instrument in a velveteen-lined case, and the offer of one free lesson. "The whole

don't think in the '30s it had plans for

den, Earl Hines and Sid Catlett.

leaders ofiazzment"

package in 1936 cost four pounds. I got it on a Saturday and I was due to have my

Lyttleton self-deprecatingly admitted to spending the earþ part of his life

first lesson the following Monday. So I

labouring under a sort of inferiority complex. "I have spent many hours in front of television in recent times, watching my old schoolmates filing in and out of 10 Downing Street. Many times I have wondered why I wasn't among this lot. Was I

Recalling that trip, Lyttleton narrated how the media in Britain responded to the event. Trog, the cartoonist of the Daily Ma.il went to his news editor and

spent all the time during the weekend practising scales. The tutor was very impressed and predicted that I would go

disagree with us on certain issues, we are

places. And, as you can see, I have."

democracy. Eric Molobi who has been engaged with Butelezi for a long time

humour, Lyttleton confessed that his mother did not quite know what was going to happen. "My family did not expect me to become a professional

not

musician. My father was a master at Eton College and so I got free education there. God knows where I might have ended without that. Eton College prides itself on educating people to be leaders of men. I

band in Britain and Europe. It was during that period that Lyttleton played at the first International JazzEestival in Nice (1948)

not unanimous. That is a part of could answer this question.

Kong. been very positive. We are assured by the Trade Development Council that there will be no trade delegation to South Africa this

who has

QUESIION: Mr Matsila, you sþoke about uarious countries !0u haue been to for

measures taken by North America, EEC, Australia, New Zealand, etc. While govern-

'l{e have also asked the authorities here to create a body - like that which

Aman

discourage emigration to South Africa.

MATSIIA: We have no official relations

indicates that Hong Kong not only imports coal from South Africa but reexports it to some cenfes of EastAsia. Now 49 per cent

JERRYII,IATSIIA

14/e

that Hong Kong will do its best to

used as a sanctions-busting route in defiance of the UN Security Council embargo. This territory is being used to

think we are on the threshold. Perhaps, 18

investin SouthAfrica.

Thatcher's lonely path.

towards trade with SouthAf'rica?

shrdy possibilities of some legislation.

people to tell the world, please come and

about to change its policy on South Africa. So, this territory may not fall in line with its colonial power, Britain, and follow Mrs

and in our report we found that this territory is being

are going around the world saying that this is not the time to relax. However, I

months or two years from now South Africa will have the makings of a good government. Then we will be the first

trade activities in South Ærica. And we have understood that Hong Kong is not

PRESS

MOLOBI: I don't have much to add except that every time there has been a need for

somebody

to counter the sanctions

campaign, it has always been Butelezi. So, we are not surprised.

Endowed

with a droll sense

l¡rd

Carrington's fag?"

In the '40s, the Humphrey Lyttleton Jazzbandwith Wally Hawkes on the clar-

inet became the leading traditional jazz

and performed alongside Rex Stewart, l,ouis (Satchmo) Armstrong, Jack Teagar-

convinced

him that he should

assigned to cover the Jazz Festival in Nice. So he came along with me and used to be constantþ on the phone to the news desk in the Paris office of the Mail trying to get a story into the paper. Finall¡ the guy at the other end relented and asked who were playing at Nice. When Trog reeled off names like Armstrong and Teagarden, that didn't seem to make any impression on him. Anybody from Britain? he kept on asking. "That was when Trog mentioned that

there was this trumpet player from

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 1990

t L

t,à

MEDIA

Actors taking part in an exhibition ofstill life paintings in Sydney spent up to five hours a day "on display''.They were harnessed

to a canvas and painted, Photog¡rapher

Will Burgess

was there when young Brooke Hilton had her

hair pulled (aboue lefi) by one of the actors, Dale

Deverer¡x Barker,

THE Year of the Snake brought happiness and success to some, tragedy and violence to others. Many of these moments were captured by photojournalists around the world. And Reuter lensmen were among these on the frontline. A selection of their work was presented in a Reuter exhibition, Focus on Asia, held in Hong Kong on the West Bridge of The Landmark (February l4-\7).It provided a pictorial review in colour and in black-andwhite of the large and small events that touched people's lives over the past year. "Being in the right place at the right time

and developing an instinct for the story about to break are two of the skills our photographers must have." said Bill Creighton, Reuter news

pictures editor for Asia. "The results of their hard work are powerful images, seen around the world, that remain imprinted on people's minds for a long time." The 23 news and feature photographs in the exhibition were chosen from thousands taken by the 40 Reuter photographers working in 15 countries throughout the region. I

In New Delhi,

Malhotra

Sunil photographed

some 5OO Tibetans demonstrating in Septernber (aboue ri.ght) to vent their anger at the arrest of nine

Tibetan nuns in Lahsa by the Chinese authorities.

In Manila, people celebrated Christnas with their

usual fair, despite rumours that rebel soldiers would stage yet another coup

against President Corrn<¡n

Aquino, Many were out in füe parks, the zoo and other

places of recreation. And

Romeo Ranoco took this picture (rtght) of two-yearold Anthony Cruz recoiling

surprise as

giraffe

sticks out its tongue at him atthe Manila Zoo.

16 rsB coRRESpoNDENT

MARcH

1990

t1,.

PE O PLE

FRANCIS PEARCE

TECHNOLOGY

Keyes Beech

Justgrmme the fa¡r ma'am

Improvements to the fax machine have rr¡ade it an invaluable tool in publishing - at least, as long as oné can be found. COURING the western suburbs of

l¡ndon in search

of a fax machine a

couple of Christmases ago, I learnt that they are not as commonplace as life in

Hong Kong had 1ed me to believe. Had I foreseen the frustration to come, I would have sent my story to Singapore from the Cable and Wireless office at Kai Tak before parting for Blighty. As it was, when I arrived in the self-pro-

claimed capital of the enterprise culture and the telecommunications revolution,

proved hard to find anybody who could offer

fax service.

A post office clerk informed me - with a straight face - that she often had to tell people there was no demand for a fax service. I began glumly to contemplate the options of courier, carrier pigeon and Christmas post. Then, by fluke, I discovered an ironmonger's a couple of streets behind the family home that could oblige - after the holiday and for about HK$250. OK; so it's not as if I was trying to file stories from a fox-hole in Kurdistan, but it was enough to convince me that I needed to have my own fax.

So-called portable

personal fax

machines can be bought in Hong Kong from electrical and hi-fi shops for sums as low as HK$4,500-HKS6,000. That sort of

price will get you a simple machine the size of anA4 box-fi1e, weighing about eight kilograms and made by a respectable man-

ufacturer such as Murata or Canon. Repairs and spares for basic models which are not sold through manufacturers' official agents can be expensive though; and with fax, like most things, you get whatyou payfor. An NEC Nefax 2, with a built-in telephone handset and answering machine, is a little more expensive but good value. And, of course, you can spend a great deal more for a larger, sturdier machine, capable of broadcasting messages to a list of numbers, and equipped with optional extras such as a hopper for loading paper.

Both portable and office fax machines are fine ifyou are staying in one place, but

add a fax to your list of mod cons for the mobile - laptop computer, portable printer, cellular phone and battery coctail shaker and you would need more bearers than Boot of the Beast.

One answer is a device called the fax modem, which allows a computer to send and receive fax messages. Text and image a¡e all the same to a fax, since both can be broken down into tiny black-and-white dots represented as electronic pulses

along a telephone line, which can be decoded at the other end.

Newspaper photographs have been sent'down the wire' like this for more than 50 years. A fax modem takes computer code and modulates, or transforms, it into fax dot telephone signals for sending, or demodulates them on reception, turning them into the binary, on,/off language of the computer.

out newsletters and 'fax-papers' using broadcastfax services ofthe type offered by Hong Kong's Fax Communication Corp. Jonathan Weber, who heads Fax Communication claims, "All a customer needs to take advantage of our network is a computer and a modem - there is no need even to use a fax machine. The fax network has over 100 out-going fax lines with a transmission rate of over 6,000 pages an hour to anywhere in the world." They send Fax

Communication their word processing or graphics programs, and the rest, including the mailing list, is done by a minicomputer, he says. No doubt similar services will follow.

modem connects into the plug, at the back of a computer, called the serial port and may be as small as a cigarette packet. An internal fax modem is built on a special electronic-printed circuit board which can

own junk fax service, takes umbrage if it discovers registered fax users sending out

Some fax machines also have fax modems built into them so that you can

send messages from the computer through the fax without printing them out. A fax sent by computer will be clear-

er than one that has been scanned electronically. Most of the fax machines, on the market now, scan with a resolution, or degree of clarity, of 300 dots-per-inch; roughly a quarter the density of a news-

Hong KongTelephone, which offers its

unsolicited messages and has barred some from using its network. There is a potentially lucrative market, however, for fax-based subscriber news and information services. There are probably 100,000 fax machines in use in Hong Kong, given the 80,000 that have paid extra to rent fax lines from Hong KongTelephone and guessing the number of others who have realised that faxes and phone calls travel down the self-same wires. Racing tips? Stock and bond data? Don't tell me. There's no demand for

it.

paper picture.

Sending and receiving faxes by computer has a number of disadvantages. The main problem is that the message is

read by the receiving computer as an image, and so the computer has to have character recognition software which can

Francis Pearce hæ been a journalkt for 15 yars uilh a tuo lear break to studl engineering in the UK. Now based in Hong Kong, he writes for a number of regional þublications, mainLy about technolog.

month at the age ot 76 at Washington's Sibley Memorial Hospital.

He won the Pulitzer

1951 for his coverage

of the Korean War for the Chi,cøgo Daily News.

According to Clare Hollingworthwho knew Beech as a war correspondent, he did not lie back on his laurels even after winning the

PuTitzer.

Vietnam,

recalls Hollingworth, his

despatches r¡/ere fre-

quently unique for he still behaved, in his own

words, like a cub reporter going out to combat areas in search

of news rather than sitting back and being fed with information by the

many senior officers

with whom he

was

friendly.

Says Hollingworth: "Indeed, after Vietnam

his coverage of

Japan

and Southeast Asia was widely read and appreciated not only in America

but in much of

the

English-speakíng world. "But there were other sides to Keyes, who was

no fool. He bought a house in the centre of Toþo shortly after hos-

tilities there

ended,

which helped him later to acquire a charming

'read' the text element of the picture in order for the copy to be edited. Some internal fax modems can send but not

PERSIAN CARPET EXPERT

receive, while others do not allow you to use your computer for anything else while they are working. (A useful comparison of fax modems was included in the October 1989 edition of Asia Comþuter Monthly, published by Computer Publications in Hong Kong.) Despite those potential problems, the combination of computers and faxes may have quite a future in publishing and activities such as public relations. In the United States, a number of publishers are sending

For repairing and washing of all kinds of carpets and rugs.

18 rup coRRESPoNDENT MARCH leeo

respondent,

Keyes Beech died last

A fax modem is likely to cost about as much as a fax machine. An external fax

be installed inside the computer.

ULITZER PRIZE winning war cor-

home in America

and enabled him to feel inde-

pendent of

late Eddie Tseng, gathered at Hong Kong's Hua Hshia Building on February memorial

23 lor a

ceremony. Tseng died of cancer on February 6, last year. Two Club

eulogies at

Quoting Confucius

friendships which are advantageous: friendship with the upright, with the sincere,

and with the man of much observation, Fredricks said: "We who knew Eddie Tseng are fortunate in that we had all

three of those friendships

lOP Eddie's widow, Betty Çront row), with Lawrence and Fredricks. LBOZD.'A section of the gathering at the memorial. embodied in one friend. forward to the time thatwe shall "So, instead of being sad, again enjoy his company in a

let's fondly remember the

happiness that we shared with

our friend Eddie and look

editors

^lel: 544 0227, 547 2439. Fax:854 1135

and died at the conclusion of a successful career some years

Please call:

Z. AIIMAD

Margaret Higgins married a general

ago.

z+r\

€*ù¡

the

that there are three

Pakasia Industrial Co.

for sale.

memorial.

throughout his life. "Keyes made no secret of his affair in Vietnam with Margaret Higins who was quite the most efficient female war correspondent ofthe postwar period. She and Keyes spent a good deal of their time in the front line. 'We were good colleagues and we spent the night together,'Keyes would say adding, 'it was just good, clean sex and no nonsense about love'."

Also some selected carpets

members, Anthony Lawrence and Fred Fredricks, delivered

divinely

entertaining." I

member Kenneth Gott responded with

Kenneth Gott ONGTIME dwellers

place that is fair and large, lightsome and glorious, and

Hong

Kong's Mid-lævels district might recall watching a middle-aged and somewhat podgy gweilo heading home from work pushing a bicycle up Garden Road during the oil crisis days of the mid'70s. As Hong Kong's then financial secre-

tary, Philip Haddon-Cave, announced an austerity budget that included many

energy conservation measures, FCC

enthusiasm. He took to pedal power. Gott, living for the past 12 years in his native Australia, after an illustrious career around the world, died of heart failure on February 24. He was 67. Gott was shopping at the Prahran mar-

ket in the inner suburb of Melbourne

when his heart, functioning with the aid of a pacemaker, failed him. He collapsed there and was taken to hospital where he died in the afternoon. \44ren he came to live in Hong Kong in

THE CORRESPONDENTMARCH 1990

PE O PLE fo Aguinaldo for his suspected role in the unsuccessful December coup which was allegedly masterminded by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and his former aide, Gregorio Honasan. Unfortunately for Florendo, Aguinaldo's supporters took over the hotel where Florendo had checked in. Flo rendo and several ofhis aides were taken hostage. Government forces later stormed the hotel. Florendo was found dead in the hotel lobby with three bullets in his chest. Whether he was shot in cold blood by his captors or was caught in the crossfìre between government forces and rebels

0n the move

the earþ '70s, Gott was employed with

Business International. In 1976 he was transferred to BI's New York office but he resigned two years later in protest when newspaper reports alleged that the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had used certain media organisations, including Business International, as cover. "I didn't want people to think that I was associated with the CIA," he latertold friends. Iæaving New York following his break

with

Business International, Gott returned to Australia and worked in the international division of one of the major conglomerates, CRA, until 1982. Subsequently, he took out an amateur radio licence and turned to ham radio and won the national award in a 1988 on-air contest. More recentþ he was the manager of Ham Radio Awards for the Wireless Institute of Australia. Gott started outwith some apparent disadvantages, according to his son, James, 35. Said James at Gotfs funeral: "He never

knew his father and he grew up in Brunswick." But he had a great upbringing, being looked after by his mother Jessie, grandmother Margaret Davidson, uncle Ernie and aunt Eunice who lived to see her nephew rise to be the very personification ofthe high expectations and attitudes she had for him. She was present at the funeral on March 1. I¿ter, a memorial service was held on March 13 at which Australiars minister for science, customs and small business, Barry Jones, and the

of Canterbury. Not quite; Michael (later

Lord) Ramsey had not been ordained Archbishop of Canterbury in 1941 at the time his sister Margaret was active in the Communist Party at Melbourne University, although he was 20 years later. Ken Gott joked: 'Irve a theory it was the Archbishop of Canterbury who was the ultimate mole - you know, the fourth man or the fifth man or whoever it was they were looking for'." Beth, writes Bone, resigned from the party in 1956, after the Soviet tanks quelled the Hungarian uprising. Ken Gott was expelled in the same year, after he

20 rsB

coRRESPoNDENT MARCH

meninManila.

was appointed editor of Swndry Morning Posf's recently

English-language morning

launched

duly, South China Morning Post.

Magazine, will

AT QUARRY BAY, John Ellsmore, Jon Marsh and Lynn Howlett have left the Posf. Ellsmore, deputy business editor, returns to his native Tasmania, Marsh, news editor, moves to New York from where he will write for the Post and freelance, and Howlett who took over the

In his role as director of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Civil Relations Office, Florendo was popular with news-

go to yet undecided new pastures

he got to know two years ago when she was an intern at the Posl . læaving the

the Post 18 months ago.

Iife on üre ilnny ATPATTERSON who left Hong Kong last year on

doctor's orders to find a suitable climate in his sunset years is enjoying a new wave of youthful energy in sunny San Diego. Now 91, Pat, a legend

in aviation history, was spotted

Before that he worked with Thomson Regional Newspapers where he was a parliamentary O Ellsmore correspondent. Keeping Posted is now being edited byJohn Dykes. Ellsmore who joined the Post in 1988

side on San Diego beach recently by

Stephen Dressler, son of FCC memberJoe Dressler. Stephen Dressler, an associate at Security Pacifc Asian Bank in Hong Kong, took these pictures on a normal Sunday of Pat and his wife, Tyne.

and leaves as deputy business editor, is

taking a rather circuitous route to Down Under. He is to

going

Europe

the

a plane from Heathrow to Sydney. But

he says he has a good reason for doing this. "I want to

Gott is survived by Beth, three - Margaret, a primary school

see the chan-

ges that are O Beck taking place in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe". Accompanying him on this fact-finding mission is his 11-year old son, Níck. Resuming his journalistic career back home is not on Ellsmore's list of priorities. He is more worried about the two

teacher; James, a music teacher; and, Miranda, a doctorate student at the University of New South Wales - and three grandchildren.

Oscar Florendo

1990

TransSiberian railway to catch

children

Jaguars he left behind when he moved to

YING in action early this month was a distinguished speaker at the FCC, Brig-Gen. Oscar Floof the Philippines. Florendo

arrest on the governor of Cagayan Rudol-

28,

umn since he joined

communists to get jobs. Gott was refused work on some Australian newspapers.

stabulary officer was in the Cagayan provincial capital to serve a warrant of

is Simon Beck,

News Dag.

According to Beth, for a long time it was difficult for communists or former

bullets. The S1-year old Philippine Con-

Taking over from Marsh as news editor

who has been editor of the Keeping Posted col-

by the party as a police spy''.

This month, in yet another abortive

Features Section where he subsequentþ became deputy features editor before moving on to become the news editor of the paper.

joinedthe Los Angeles Times as a trainee. She is nor,¡/ a reporter with

action. "\Mhen I was expelled," Bone quotes Gott as saying, "I was denounced

coup attempt against Philippine President Coromn Aquino, Florendo fell victim to

Marsh has been working with the Posl since May 1982. He had previously worked in Britain with the Harrow Obseruer, the Buchinghamshire Aduertiser and Shffield Telegraþh. Joining the Posl as a sports reporter-cum-sub editor Marsh moved up as deputy sports editor and, then, acting sports editor. He was later transferred to

Past, Fan

acknowledge the injustice of the Russian

addressed a professional luncheon at the Club on September 30, 1988.

While in New York, Marsh, 33, will also meet up with Maureen Fan whom

publicly criticised the failure of the

rendo

Peter

Cordingley

was no different.Three each moved out of The Honghong Standard and the territo-

ry's other

Enter-

taintnent Times

when

Australian Communist leadership to

Victorian backbencher, Race Mathews, delivered eulogies. Only days before Gott died, he and his wife, Beth, were interviewed by Pamela Bone of the Melbourne daily, The Age. In her report published after Gottrs death, Bone said, while they were students, the Gotts were part of the Melbourne University branch of the then illegal Communist Party of Australia. Writes Bone: "Ken Gott liked to tell how he was recruited by the sister of the Archbishop

Photo: The Age Courtesy: Reuters

TV &

Z¡\HE turn of a new year is often the I time for change for many scribes in I Hong Kong's daily press. This year

remains unclear.

Betlr and Ken Gott pictured at home last month.

editorship of

fnrr

fatou)l:Sr'rrf" ,rp. Pat and Tyne heading for the beach. ABOW: Just cruising tlre beach. LEFT: Just a nip for the road - a bottle of bear hidden in a brown paper bag.

Hong Kong. "I have an E-type and a Mark II classics. The first thing - both I am going to do is take them off the racks, tune them up and roam around

the countryside."

KOWLOON

BAY,

Richard

Simmonds, David Fox and lan Watson have ended their brief encowter vnth The Hongkong Standard. Simmonds and Fox have joined the Post while Ian Watson has moved to public relations. All three

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH I99O

T o P MY DOCTÔR SAVS

. I'VE 6OTIA ¿ALM DôWN ,. .,..... ./

TOO TENSE

.9URE./ TAKE IT EASY

ToR A WHìLE. HAYE A

BREAK. I 'LI- MAKÉ YOU A NICE COP ÒT

s S

THAI,/KS CHlEt,

NE\M MEMBERS

^JuÂ)'

BUr I LIKE rT sfRoNÉ.

Jamaican-American Mark

USUAT¿V PUf IHE HÔT I/AÍER ANÙ SU¿A{. ANÀ STUFF STR,AIGHT INTÔ -fHE JAß. ......../

Ashton worked in

general insurance for 10 years, before

coming to Hong Kong in September 1985. He is now

¿ÔFFEE. VÔU ¿/{N EVEN HAVE

ÍY

Î4UK,....,

director of Far East Operations

for JAMPRO, Jamaica's

Eco-

nomic Development Agency.

DHLs director of Information Technology, Les Hales, was born in London and came to

Hong Kong

September

1984. He firstworked for Sperry Ltd, which was later merged

with Unisys. Hales moved to DHL in the early part of 1989. He intends to stay in Hong Kong indefinitely.

PE O PLE

Barrister Anthony Kenneth Houghton came to Hong started his career in journalism.

returned after a lO-year stint in Canada with the Toronto Globe and. Mail. ln lhe

Fox, meanwhile, had worked in the Middle East, Zimbabwe and South Africa

worked with the Bulawayo

for the Lynn News & Aduertiser where he

before arriving in Hong Kong. Watson, who is in the process of setting up a PR consultancy, Stenhouse Porffolio, is not new to that scene. Back on his home turf, Scotland, he had represented several major corporations during the North Sea oil boom years. His early newspaper background was with the Glasgow Herald to which he

midjT0s he moved to Rhodesia where he

Chronicle. Watson spenthis earlyyears in Hong Kong with the Posô mostly as supplements editor. Atthe Standardhewas managing editor of special features.

The vacancy created atthe Standard by his departure has been filled

by Hong

Kong-born Scotsman, Martin Laing, 29. He has been working with the Standard for the past three

years.

Snooker champ enters a ne\ry lifesffle

O Simmonds

had earlier left the Posl to join the Standard. Simmonds followed Carl Wilson to the Sunday Standard when Wilson quit as foreign editor of the Posl to become editor of the Sunday Standard. Now back at the Post, Simmonds is editor of W & Entertainment Times. Before moving to Hong Kong in 1987, Simmonds was with a Rent-A-Sub agency in l¡ndonwhich, he said, he joined afterlosing his driving licence while working as features editor of the Motorcycling Weekþ. Ashe ¡ntt it, he was driving home after work when the

police trailing

him with guidance from a heli-

copter patrol clocked him doing 130 miles

a¡rhour. Before that, he used to chase the Royal couple around

Sandringham

22 rr¡n coRRESPoNDENT

HEN the 1989 FCC snooker

from Hong Kong. Speculations are rife among pool bar habitues that if Craig's new lifestyle means a new Craigless era in the poolroom and a

chance for others to get their names on

MARCH leeo

before joining

Tang

Kong in May 1983 and is now with Bunge (Australia) Pty Ltd

Andersen & Co. as a certified public accountant before mov-

as general manager

ing to Hong Kong in July 1984.

Berlin-born Manfred Knuth

from Australia where she used to work as a medical technician

1989 as a counsellor officer. She hopes to remain in Hong Kong for the next two or three years.

O The newlywed.

Canadian

lands, is unlikely. "Tony and Linda were a regular fixture for eight years before tying the knot, and so should be used to each others' indiosyncracies by now'.

worked in l¡ndon

in mid-1988. He is now marketing manager for Eagle Star Insurance. Jones says that he hopes to win the Double Trio at Happy Valley in the two more years that he will be staying in the territory.

government of Quebec until she was sent to Hong Kong in July

the snooker trophy. This, says a many time contestant for the snooker title and Craig's business associate Mike New-

Wiseman Linn

Hong

Rachel Lavigne was born in Montreal and worked for the Ministry of Immigration of the

honeymoon in Sabah. The wedding, which took place at the Methodist Church, Queen's Road East, Hong Kong, was primarily a family affair. More tha¡r a dozen of Craig's relatives and

Williams

Originally from Scotland, James

financial

company in February 1989.

McGahan

Wexford, Ireland, and was, as he says, an "actuarial person" working on the Isle of Man before moving to Hong Kong

tions Ltd., having joined this

asked why he needed it so frantically. After all, several months had passed since its publication. But Craigwouldnt answer. This month, though, he a¡rd Chu were married and the couple soon departed for

friends flew in from Australia to witness

Tomas Jones was born in

was advertising creative director in Melbourne before moving to Hong Kong four years ago. He is currently a managing director of Koala Produc-

champion Tony Craig recently approached the editorial office ofThe Corræþondent for a copy of the picture of him and Linda Chu that appeared in the magazine in May last year, he was

his transition to a new life. Also present were members of the bride's famiþ and a handful of the couple's mutual friends

Kong in May 1981 as a quantity surveyor. But in September last year he moved to practise law and set up his own firm.

Linn

Eric l-ee Ming Wai

is Hong Kong-born but spent 15 years in the United States. He returned to Hong Kong 10

years ago and has been

stockbroker ever since. He is now an executive director of Smith New Court Far East Ltd.

invest-

ment firm in Syd-

ney

in 1975.

moved

in charge of China. He says that his stay in the territory is open-ended, as he is here on his own. Lisa Wendy McGahan hails

at a private laboratory

Queensland. She came to

Hong Kong as a tourist, met a lot of good people and decided to make Hong Kong her home. She has held a variety of posts here, mostly in public rela-

tions, and did marketing for the Australian Consulate until a year-and-a-half ago. She is now

the communications manager of Deloitte Haskins and Sells.

Richard Read was born Weymouth, Massachussetts, USA and came to Hong Kong

in September 1989. He is

consular officer of the United States and expects to stay in Hong Kong for three-to-four years.

Isamu Takemoto was with the Toþo office of Arthur

He is now the audit manager of

this tax accounting firm and expects to stay for the next four to five years before return-

ingtoToþo. Raymond Tang is a partner and managing director of LTA & Company, a management recruitment consultancy fìrm.

Before this, he was with

Wohlrab Hong Kong in September 1989 "to stay".

Peter Wohlrab,

managing

director of Krupp Industries Ltd, Hong Kong, a subsidiary of Krupp Industrietechnik GmbH of West Germany, has been living in Hong Kong for the past two years. Currently busy with organising his company's business in the region, he says that he likes to join the Club's main bar to meet inter-

esting people for a nice talk ates, also in the recruitment and some cold beers. business. Vlhen asked about the future of his company, he said, "It is Join the newest club in town doing very well now Greenlands Club and we believe that it will continue to do so, Best currv buffet so we are going to Lunch: g49; binner: g55 Spencer, Stewart and Associ-

India

keep on doing it for as long as it takes."

oyi

Dr. Ian Thomas Williams was born in Tunbridge

Wells, Kent, but spent about

10 years in Iraq, Baghdad, Saudi Ara-

bia and

Greece to

before coming

64-66 Wellington Street, 1st floor, Hong Kong Phone: 522 5607;522 6098

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1990

OUTDOOR A dream cOmes

Photogråph€r San Chan

'Writer

RichardVines

hue

for golfer Ross lVay FTER years of frustration, Ross Way finally realised his

dream of taking home the Richard Hughes Memorial Golf Trophy. He easily outclassed the rest of the field in the FCC Golf Society's premier event of the year, played over the Discovery Bay cogrse in February. The only thing missing was the satisfaction of beating John l,enag'han and Frank Miller, former trophy winners who have moved on, John to Bangkok, and Frank to Manila. Way had a sizzling finish, with two pars and two birdies for a gross 78 and 40 Stableford points. Runners-up were Frank Casey, 35 points, and David Bateson, 33 points. Other winners: Robin Moyer (best

a The players after the tournament

The Socialist Working Youth League ofKorea marches tñrough þongrang (belon) tn

support of a speech in defence of communism by President Kim Il Sung.

front nine plus longest drive), Frank Casey and Ray Cranbourne (nearest to pin), and Eddy Ktroe (best back nine). Roberto Chard, who was making his first appearance on any golf course any-

oABOW LEFT:A dream realised - Ross Way (rþht) receives the Richard Hugþes Memorial Trophy from Ed Khoe. oABOVE RIGHT: Frank Casey (right) t}re

first

runner-up.

where, won the duffer's prize

the

tremendous relief of several other hackers who justly deserved it. John McDougall made one of the luckiest shots of the day. He hit his ball into a mud hole in a drained pond and when he went to look for it found eight other balls besides his own. Jim Shaw hit a ball onto a cement cart pathway and it rolled unerringly down the path a hundred yards almost back to the tee box. The field of 24 golfers in this tournament was the largest turn-out ever for an FCC Golf Society event. The FCC hackers are to play against a team from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club at Discovery Bay in mid-March, and in April a group will travel to Manila to play in the Carlsberg Media Classic.

oABOVE: Winner of the duffer's

prize Roberto Chard (extreme lefi) arrd winner of the best back nine, Ed Khoe, with Walther Nahr (extreme right).

o RIGHT:Ray Cranbourne who made it nearest to pin. oThere they began: Fromlefr; Derek Currie, David Bateson, Geoff Miles and Peter Ma.

rnr,coRRESPoNDENT MARCH

1990

ORTH Korea is one of the world's least accessible countries to journalists, or anyone else. So it was hardly

surprising that news organisations in Hong Kong

jumped at the chance of joining a charter flight to grongyang. A total of 21 journalists made the trip, mainly representatives of the Chinese-language press, but including journalists from the South China. Morning Post aadReuters. 'What the journalists found during their January visit was a counfy where propaganda is in abundance but information is in short supply. North Koreans- generally do not lpeak Enslish, and offcials who did were certainly not going to be drawn inûo

anything

that could possibly be construed as a criticism of their governmenL

I{ritten requests for interviews with various officials, including President Kim ll-sung and his son and heir, Kim Jong-il, drew a blank, and the only press conference was given by the vicepresident of a government institute. age was added to an overnight train to take the visit to the truce village of Panmunjom, on the th Korea. The visit to North Korea did not produce any great news stories, but the pictures of the "Hermit Xingdo*" prãuide a fas cinating window on a secret world.

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH I99O 25

T the raþ to support President Kim's defence of

communism, some 1O0,0OO people, representing onþ the cream of the Socialíst Working Youth læague, said to have

participated (lert'¡. 11 arryone thoughtKímwould play dovyn his personality cult after the fall of his European counterparÇ Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania, here was the answer.

Atthe foongrang Materity Hospital, 2 4-year old dance instructor, Che Un-hi, sat holding her first

baþ, Su-ryon, with

portraits of the president and his son looking dovm on them. Asked whom she loved more, the president or her daugþter, the young mother said: 'Because the

government looks after me and the people, I love and respect the Great Leader more.t

Á POPUL¿lRtourist A *itt¿o*to üre "Hermit Á lKingdom" is the vÍewÍng torver south of the border at the truce village of Panmunjom. Aboue, a North Korean guard faces a group of tourists in the tower, while a United Nations soldier points his camera, with a telephoto lens, northwards atthe journalists from Hong Kong.

26 mB coRRESPoNDENT

MARcH

1990

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 1990

u T

IT WAS IN THE CARDS + 4rtt¡. Boxing

by Mike Smith

tc! nfl

-T[r

CIGAßETTES

'th

l¿st month "Iron Mike'Tyson got knocked out by a guy he thought he'd already knocked out. Tough.

A SERIES or 50

Likewise tough was Max Baer's defeat in 1935. Reeling from a hammering, Max saw three fighters in the ring and went after the two on the sides. He shoulda hit the one in the middle. In each fight the reigning champ simply lost his title. It was different in 1899, and as the

€ TOM SHARKEY. Tboùr8 J ShÂrkey wa. ln)rn N.ver"hr 26th, l3ìJ.

because there are no private cars and few public buses. However, there are young traffic policewomen at major intersecltons (aboue lefi) who make themselves busy waving their batons at any vehicle they happen to spoL President Kim is not taking any chances on traffic jams. Special lanes in the capital's main roads are reserved for the president and senior

"unquestionably ruined physically" after 25 rounds with J.J. Jeffries. Pugilists pictured:

Sharkey H/wt

JackJohnson H/wt

t)roted hlusell Jefrics' hilgheå otFÌent Their leroìd ñsht, whicl¡ wñ $o[ l,y Jeffrtcs ir 5 rrNrr(ls. r¡ìr¡ttrecti,'r'al,lJ rniled Shsrke) physiBÌly. Ax'o¡rßst ûth€r! Shtr

aoB FrTzsrilMoNs Hoâwu¡l¡ht

cntdr

siu' lÕn ,'K

TOM

1899

chamþ 190&15

Georges

Carpentier Primo

SlìRrk€y

8Àl¡s iil bojglìt, tÌd

H/wt chamþ t897-99

Bob Fitzsimmons

Tom

He i6

seishs âbo[L Ìl st

õli

cards relate, Tom Sharkey was

RrtIt{C jams are not a problem in þongrang,

¿t Dr¡ì'd¡lk, lnleril

BRANCH OF TtsE IMÞERIAL roBAcco co. (oF GREAT

Llt/utchamþ L920-22

Carnera H/wt chamþ

1933

Cigarette cards: Ogdens 1908 Teofani osuouritd 1925 Carreras 1914 Anon Olai't back) 1928 Boguslavsy 1925

Wills

7932

officials.

A 105-storey p¡ramidshaped hotel, still unfinished,

dominates the þong,zang sþline (lefi). T\e French parûrers in the venture withdrewwhen the North Korean side ran out of money to pay their share of bills. Now þongrang is seeking Hong Kong partrers to complete the project, though there are not enougþ visitors to fill existing hotels. No expense was spared on giving þongrang ornate, Soviet-style subway stations (lefr below). All 17 stations, built deep undergfound to double as air-raid shelters, boast huge chandeliers, marble pladorms and granite walls, along with huge socialist-realist mosaics. People in the capital

Crcffi71u5 SPORTS R-ECORDS Second Serle6, Nos. 20.5O

\A¿D.&H.OwlLLS tssuE0 wlHE tÍPERhL fo8rccoco (o¡ cÞEA1 åRrl^rN e tRÊL^N0rtrô

88,-BOXING. Georgs Carpentie¡, the

clebonair youog

Frencha blorv defeated Jæ lìeckett, thus wianing the Drrrolæan

Ihe Science oi Boxi

mrn, \Yithout takiÌg

Senies

21. Rlgñt

Cbampiorship in a contæt

crry

appeared reasonabþwelldressed, as shown by the four women (¿Ø) waiting outside a noodle restaurant for lunch.

ACNUMS Boxing

28 rr¡n coRRESPoNDENT

MARCH leeo

H.nd

Uppercut.

whicb onlv lâsted 25secoilrls

Crclnerrns

rrññPtdrl

RoA

iÊ

SHARKEY

THD

A BOTTLE OF

CROSSV/ORD

CHIVAS REGAL

NO22

SHAI{GHAI \ryATCH & CLOCK IMP. & EXP, C0, LTD,

CIorìprl€d by Brian Neil@ 1990

CLUES ACROSS 1, A second-rate dictation confused HRH's decision (10)

2. Group that plays on water is liable to get in one's hair (7)

8. Vegetable drops average cut (4)

3. Limp elephant can only be partly urged to move (5)

Journalistjoints could be pronounced vehicles (8)

10.

4. Doesn't like some Arab horses (6)

Gossip in bank? (6)

11.Drop it ifyou need support (6)

l2.Holylook?

the sound of

(3)

13.Ate a character backwards? (3)

16.Only these animals would, to some extent, pass established paths (5)

15.Little devils take objects to show off. (7)

18.This fool causes bread to lose

direction (3)

17.

2O.These pages have the right to help produce alcoholic beverages (6)

18.

19.

24.Obviously no longer a lady of the (8)

2.Bnt¡ies must reach the office

to:

cRosswoRD,printrine Lûd, Unit B, 18/F llarvard House

Road Hong l(ong

105-f 11 Thomson

Wanchai,

t¡st

queen ended up working in a

Odd ref was eaten by beasts (6)

21. Strange

April9.

loses two strings and gets

angry! (5)

25.This cop used to work part time (4) 26. Brotherhoods? - not likely! (10)

1. Entries must be sent

(7)

stable (6)

store (6)

Iater than

Former note - pretty but could

kill

22.Devotúlelter writer also owns retail

RIJLES

(6)

7. layout loses turn to navigate (3,2)

tlpesetting shops (5)

Muslimfaith

6. Minders and animals (7)

14.Not often seen in modern

Solution to Cr<issword 21

To provoke an understanding, by

23.Rut to be worth angling for (5)

no¡

name, club membership number of the contestanl

4.The first correct solution drawn fuom the entries received will be awarded a bottle of chivas Regal'

Enties must carry the

address and the

5.The solution a¡rd winnerrs name will be published in ?lre Corræþondentthe following month.

The winner is: Terry Boyce

A ITEM 40th Anniversary T-Sh¡rt Only HK$5O

available at the Club office

3O rsr

coRRESpoNDENTMARcH

O To deal in the import and export business of watches, clocks, timers and light industrial products, stationery and sporting goods, arts and crafts, garments, toys, production equipment and electric meters. O To handle the import business of raw material, production equipment and samples of watches and clocks.

O To execute the business in the form of processing with client's material, processing with client's design, assembling with client's parts, compensation trade and joint ventures. 'We are willing to cooperate with foreign clients in a wide range of areas both at home and abroad. Welcome for business negotiation.

OTHER ITEMS FOR SALE

COLLECTOR'S FCC

SCWEIC's main business scope:

1990

Blank, folded card with picture of FCC buílding, packet of 10 cards............$gO

Umbrella Club tie ....... Sweater with Club logo ......... Post card

T-shirt with Club logo

.$35 each ...937 each ......$gg each $310 each ..$2 each

No. 111, Jiu Jiang Road, Shanghai, China Tel: 329 L3 40, 328 4616, 329 1224, 328 43 17, Tlx: 30 1 66 SWCC CN, Fax:86-21-329 0675, Cable: WACLOCK SIIANGHAI

think of next. Täking great pictures is no accident. lt's a calculated act of art. And the new top-of-the-line Canon EOS 1, with its multiple modes and custom functions, gives the artist a superlative tool. One that offers the ultimate in totally automatic operations. Plus sophisticated manual control for fine-tuning each imãge. All designed to let the phoiographer work more quickly as well as more creatively. It features a new, faster, and more precise AF system with three focusing modes: one shot, predictive and manual. . For much more precise focusing, BASIS, Canon's new cross-line sensor. Even in low-light down to EV-1, the EOS 1 delivers naturalistic shots. Of darkened rooms, twilight scenes and moonbeams. A speed demon, the EOS 1 possesses extraordinary shutter speed versatility. From 30 seconds to a red-hot 1/8000 second. A flash system with synchro speeds from 1/60 lo 71250 second. And a film advance speed of up to 5.5 frames per second when using the power drive booster. From its superb ergonomic design to the litany of extraordinary features, it should be obvious this camera was designed with pros and serious amateurs in mind. So what's next for the camera of tomorrow? With the Canon EOS 1, you can find out today.

eosI

t: F: Ë.:

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-ta'vry

.=e+::-

tgy,"t,J":' CANON lNC.: P.O Box 5050. Shinjuku Dai-ichi Se¡mei Bldg. Tokyo 163, Japan CANON HONG KONG TRADING CO., LTD.: Room 1101-3 &112'l-2 Peninsula Centre 67 lv'lody Road. Tsimshatsui East. Kowtoon Hong Kong