The Correspondent, March 1991

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CLUB North Block, 2 Lower Albert Road, Hong Kong.

Telephone: 521 1511 Fax:868 4092 President

-

THUMBS upfrom George Melly as he relaxed with a cigarette before his luncheon speaking engagement at the FCC. Jazz singer, writer and wit, Melly kept his audience laughing with stories of.his jazz career - and even revealed his sartorial secrets âs he held forth in red, green and black striped suit, with white tie and vivid red shirt 11'13

Paul Bayfield

First Vice-President

- Peter Seidlitz -

Second Vice-President Saul Lpckhart Correspondent Member Governors John Andrervs, Bob Davis, Peter Grvynne, Robin Moyer, Chris Peterson, Claudia Rosett, Michael Taylor, Steve Vines

Journalist Member Governors David Thurston, Stuart Wolfendale.

Associate Member Governors Ken Balì, Wendy Hughes, Peter Hunrble, Dorothy Ryan.

Professional Committee: Corrr,zrror: Paul Bayf ield,

Memhus: Pete¡ Seidlitz, Peter Humble, Saul Lockhart, Dorothy Ryan, Wendy Hughes, Peter Gurynne, Stuart Wolfendale, Michael Taylor, Bob Davis

Membership Committee: Steve Vines, Jobn Andrews

Social Committee: Dorothy Ryan, ,l4elrâers: Michael Taylor Corrrerror.'

Video Committee: Corr¿lor: David Thurston, Mernócrs: Dorothy Ryan, Ken Ball, Paul Bayfield

Publications Committee: Colrlsr¿r: Saul Lockhart, P aú Bayíield, Bob Davis, Wendy Hughes, David Thurston, Stuart Wolfendale, Ken Ball

Menbers:

THE creator of Basher, the cartoon character who irreverently expresses each day what most of us are thinking about current events in the colony, shows us the development of Basher since he first drew him for publication eight years ago L9-22

Food and Beverage Consultation Group: Co¿¿¿ir¿z: Chris Peterson, M¿rrä¿¡s: Mike Smith, Saul Lockhart, Jo May.field, Margaret Bryan, Jim Sharv

Club Manager: Heinz Grabner Club Steward: Julia Suen

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GOVERNOR Sir David Wilson, not a man given to frequent exchanges with the press, was our luncheon speaker on February 20, but disappointed those who had hoped for frankness and revelations by turning in a classical diplomatic performance, espousing the causes of democracy and government secrecy with barely a pause for breath L4-L7

ËËË;Ë

O The Correspondent

and from our home in Hong Kong, the heart of Asia. And with cabin attendants

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Opinions expressed by writers are not necessarily those of the Foreign

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TJre Conespondent is published monthly for and on behalf of The Foreign Conespondents' Club by:

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7482

THERE

are plans to make a film of

the battle of Dien Bien Phu. A disbelieving Michael Jones, who spend 25 years in east Asia and knew some of the French troops who fought in this east spasm of France's colonial history, recalls those deadly, desperate weeks and

explains why any attempt to relive them on film is doomed to failure

23-24

DEPARTMENTS From the President

5

HKJA news

24

Crossword

26 THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991

3

OBITUARY

CLUB NEWS

EDDIE DOIùOGHIIE

From the President

-

A tribute by Carl Wilson

has not been an easy piece.

There was so much hope, only to ¡" dashed later with a þeat deal

¡zalhis

I

I

and pay the bill, another who offered

his own computer and yet

another

ready to provide a portable telephone.

This sort of reaction tends to restore faith in human nature.

The generosity and kindness from

of pain and sorrow with the death of a close friend and colleague, Eddie Donoghue.

The Lunar New Year boating accident on Victoria Harbour which left one man, John McDowell dead, and

total strangers moved Eddie and

Eddie losing both his legs shocked us

Marion enormously.

Born in Dublin 31 years ago, Eddie always carried a soft spot for the em-

all.

erald isle.

I was asked, shortly after the accident

if I could write

a piece about Eddie

Educated

for

The Corresþondent. At the time Eddie was in the Queen Mary Hospital one leg having been amputated above the knee and the other below.

I wrote then of his tremendous courage, guts and determination as he came to terms with the loss of his legs and the plans Eddie was making for rebuilding his life, On February 21 Eddie was operated on a second time. The operation had been a complete success. While Eddie was in post-op he complained about pains in his chest. He died from a heart attack brought on by a blood clot which blocked an artery to his heart. It was a chance in 10,000 the doctors said.

For his friends, in particular his girl friend Marion Bourke who maintained a constant vigil by his bedside, the pain of seeing Eddie there in hospital was enonnous. But Eddie showed anamazing spirit and courage to push on. He spoke of getting out of the Queen Mary and his rehabilitation at Sandy Bay and learning to walk again on artificial legs.

Throughout his ordeal Eddie kept his humour. I had shown Eddie the piece I had written for The Coresþondent on Tuesday night. He said: "That's fine, but you don't mention anything about liking children and little furry animals stick to the straight stuff and leave the profiles to me."

And yes, there were the oneliners about cancelling the golf and squash.

But that was Eddie. He was suffering enonnous pain but he kept much of that to himself while friends were with him.

Dr David Fang, the orthopaedic surgeon who operated on Eddie and broke the news of his death, described him as one of the better patients.

"Mr Donoghue, " he said, "had every4THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 1991

in Dublin, Eddie

could

have been many things but he chose

journalism while his friends took up law. It was a trade he loved. He had an

thing going for him. He was fit and, as far as we could tell, mentally attuned to what had happened to him. His recovery would have been very quick."

The question many of us still ask is why? I know it is an old cliche that life can be cruel. But why, after all Eddie had been through and his tremendous

fight to get on with life, was Eddie denied the life he so dearly loved?

Those few days after the accident, Eddie earned the respect and admi-

ration from the Governor Sir David Wilson, who paid tribute to his courage in an address to the Club, and ordinary men and women who did not know him.

On Monday, when he was moved from the intensive care unit, to the public ward,

woman came to see him.

She brought some chocolates and a card. She stayed only a few minutes, saying: "You don't know me but I read about your accident. I just want to say that if there is anything I can do for you or Marion just ask. I live around the a

corner," It is one of those strange things about Hong Kong. No matter how much you may hate the place, in times of tragedy the people of his city have a marvellous

way of banding together and giving support for others.

Like the man who offered to put a telephone line through to Eddie's bed

insatiable appetite for reading and loved opera and classical music.

Eddie's first job as a journalist was for the Irish Præs in Dublin. It was a theatre review which he wrote in perfect longhand, only to be told "',¡/e no longer write our stories out. Go away and use a fypewriter." He freelanced in Dublin for a number of papers before moving to London in 1986, where he

met Marion.

In London he freelanced for the lrish Times, subbed on The Guardian and Daily Telegraþ,Ø and wrote for various trade magazines and papers.

Despite the fact he was making a comfortable living in London, Eddie

wanted to move on. Marion recalled the day they decided to "emigrate". It was winter and bitterþ cold and Eddie was stirring the soup. Cooking was another of his great loves. They spoke about Canada, but ruled it out because

it

was too cold. Australia was con-

sidered, but the paperwork looked too

daunting.

Hong Kong beckoned. The Standnrd was recruiting and Eddie was hired in London to be the deputy business editor of the Suninjt Standnrd. Eddie and Marion packed their bags and headed for the Far East.

By the time they arrived in September, 1987, the Standnrd had undergone some management changes, and Eddie found himself on the subs' desk and eventually in the feafures department, subbing and laying out up to a dozen pages a day. He even did a stint on the

,Bwz, wlich (Continued on facing page)

Standnrd's pop supplement

on his feet and should take more oppor-

It's time'for Britain to reassert say on major policy decisions, the

its authority

most

tunities to speak directly to the media.

While in the war analogy mood, the FCC's speaker three days after the ground war was launched in the Gulf was Caspar Weinberger

-

not someone

known for being weak about military action in the face of the war during his

recentbeingHongKong'snewairport. tenure as Ronald Reagan's Secretary This raises questions about the of Defence. A day later our speaker changing role of the British Govern- wasamanof a ion ¡,11he maior event of this month, ' I 'und the subiect of the cover ment in Hong Kong and, indeed, the - the former to to I story, was t"he appearance of role of the governor and his officials. Hongkong an Hong Kong's Governor Sir David The joint declaration has become Burma Burton Levin.

Wilson at an FCC lunch. This was the irrelevant, in particular the references Also this month, the FCC has been first occasion that the governor had tofreedomofspeech.Onlyalast-minute reeling from the shock of a boating been publicly exposed to the local and flurry salvaged the most recent attack tragedy over Chinese New Year that foreign media since he took up the post on press freedom over the next round eventually led to the death of FCC of talks on the new airport. China had member Eddy Donoghue. During the in 1987. insisted, and Hong Kong had agreed, to accident between a ferry and the pleaproved David to be a smooth Sir operator, handling the questions with a ban the press from attending. In the sure junk on which Eddie was a paspolitician's ease

-

sometimes too

ease. Those looking

much

end, although the substance of the

would

issued

talks

senger, he lost both legs. Over the next

for a definitive remained a secret, journalists were few days he displayed great courage,

statement about Hong Kong

visas.

humour and determination and was

China seems to be acting in a very well down the road to an emotional have been disappointed.

The background to the issues the deliberate, high-pressure way - chip- recovery from his shocking injuries. governor addressed in his speech and ping away at the already crumbling After a second operation on 27 the questions that followed, revolves wall of confidence. It seems to me that February he suffered a heart attack around China's insistance on being the Governor and the British Govern- and died. included now in decisions about Hong ment need to redeploy rapidly to reas- Immediately after the accident the serl themselves as protectors of Hong FCC launched a fund to aid what lookKong's future.

Although events in the Gulf have Kongandtoputforemosttheinterests edlikelytobealongperiodofrecovery. dwarfed the concerns of this region, of the people of Hong Kong as the That fund has been kept in place and recent statements from Beijing have foundation of any dealings with China. will be used to pay for medical, legal realigned our focus with a thud. China Unfortunately, there were few signs and other bills and to transport his body seems to be determined to. remind-throughthespeechandquestionsof any-back to Dublin for burial.

Hong Kong - if that was necessary move towards redeployment. Never- Amemorialservicewillbeheldinthe that it is the boss and will have the final theless, the Governor showed alertness near future. He will be deeply missed.

Eddie Donogþue (from page 4)

for Eddie must have been something of an irony. As far as Eddie was concerned anyone who composed music and had not been dead for at least 200 years

was not worth listening to.

Eddie left the Standnrd to freelance and set-up his own publishingbusiness.

He often said: "It is always better working for yourself, because if you screw up you only have yourself to blame."

He freelanced for British and Irish papers, the South China Morning Post and various Hong Kong-based trade and business magazines. Last year Eddie realised his ambition of being his own boss with the setting up of Pacific Rim Publishing (PRP).

The last six months of 1990 and into this year, he worked non-stoP on a

number of projects short-term and long-term, always meticulous in detail.

Two days after the boating accident, a deal he had put together with a publisher in Bangkok had been finalised. It gave Eddie a great sense of achievement that all the work he had put into setting up PRP had not been wasted.

Those few days in hospital Eddie spoke about getting on with his life, the company and learning to walk again.

Eddie was not one to look back. A-ithough he had one slight regret and that was burning a book he had written some years back. It was submitted to a publisher who liked it but wanted to make a couple of changes. "What, change what I have written? To hell with that! So I burnt it," is how he told the story.

Eddie will be missed, there is no doubt about that. His imposing figure seen around the bar of the FCC discus-

sing affairs of state with friends or upstairs locked in "power lunches" discussing PRP business.

Writing this now, it is still hard to believe he is dead. But we should not

forget those who were on the junk that Saturday night. People like Keith Flint, who fought to tie tourniquets on Eddie's legs and saved his life, and the McDowell family. For Marion, who

clung on to Eddie and comforted him, has not only lost someone she loved, she has lost her closest friend. And then

there is Eddie's family and friends in

Dublin and London.

We all have our own memories of Eddie and that is how he would like it to be, I know I will miss his friendship, his humour, his decency and that mischievous glint in his eye when he had missed his ferry back to Lamma.

"Looks like another drink then, Taipan." We will miss you Eddie.

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991

5

THIS SPORTING LIFE

PEOPLE FCC memv r yhen the lons-time I r|l / ¡"r Nick Demuth ended Y Y almostthreedecadeso[asso-

ciation with Hong Kong Commercial Radio, little had he thought of the possibility of returning to the piano as an occupation. Though himself an acclaimed musician, Demuth's major occupation from 1965 to 1990 was guiding the forlunes of the radio station, mostly as general managêr and over the last three years as consultant. Music and orchestras were just a past-time.

But now? If you happen to be in

Manila spare an evening for Camp Gourmet, a new but popular bar and restaurant, off Remedios Circle at the corner of Remedios Street and Maria Orosa, not far from the historic Malate

Church. There, you will find Demuth from Tuesdays to Saturdays at the piano, singing "Let me stay, let me stay, five minutes more in your arms".

Three times a week Thursdays to Saturdays the celebrated singer Annie Brazil joins him to sing to the tune of his piano.

"I had no definite plans as to what I would do when I retired from commer-

Piano man lt[ick changes key member of the Board of Governors for three consecutive years (1gZg-19S1), during which time the Club obtained its present elegant premises. "Hong Kong," says Demuth, "was home in every respect." Yet it began to decline in his consideration as a permanent base. "I didn't expect that Hong Kong Government would give in so easily to whatever China demanded," he says.

Another factor was that a number of his friends started moving from Hong Kong.

"In

Hong Kong," Demuth

says,

"your life is so much interwoven with your work, so, when you drop of out of work you will find a huge vacuum."

Just around the time this vaccum was

about to emerge another vaccum in his

life began to be filled. During his last years at commercial radio, he met a

Filipina name Zaída, whom he later married. When Zaida gave birth to twins in 19BB the Demuths decided that the Philippines, rather than Hong Kong or UK, was the place to make

cial radio," says Demuth, "though I didn't want to go back to the UK to live

their home.

With this in mind the Demuths visit-

there".

ed the Philippines frequently until they bought a house in Sucat on the south side of Manila, plus a few jeepnies as a family business to be managed by Zaida. It was during those visits he began to discover the chain of specialty

During the 30 years he lived in Hong Kong, Demuth was actively involved not only in media and music but also in other community and professional organisations. At the FCC, he was a

restaurants owned by journalist turned enterpreneur, Larry Cruz.

Whenever he was in Manila, recalls Demuth, Cafe Adriatico on Remedios

Circle was one of the restaurants he would visit. "I did not kn ow Larry Cnn then," he says. But a year ago, when Demuth went to his favourite eatery the place was closed because it was a Sunday. "So I went to another restaurant, named Bistro Remedios, on the Circle and was told that was owned by the same guy."

Thus, Demuth began to inquire about the man behind the classy eateries and learned about his journalist past and

success in the restaurant business.

(Cruz is now president of the Hotels and Restaurants Association of the Philippines.) With that knowledge Demuth was inspired to write to Cnu about an idea he had long been nursing to open a piano bar. Camp Gourmet was just being built then and Cruzfelt that his new place, designed like an old military barracks, could go well with the music of the 1940s and someone with the knowledge and poise to present the oldies.

After Demuth came Annie Brazil who had occasionally sung at another famous Cruz establishment, LarrJ¡'s Bar on De La Rosa, Greenbelt, Makati.

Demuth had heard her sing in Hong Kong 30 years ago and later in Japan.

The pair made a natural team.

Today, Camp Gourmet, an

NO FEWER than26 members of the F'CC Golf Society turned out for a competition at thq exclusive Shek O club last month.'

The winner at the end of the day on

the links was G. R. Miles with 44 Stableford points. Walter Nahr was a close runner-up, only one pointbehind, though he had to put up with much ribbing about his handicap.

Walter also claimed a prize for the best back nine in 25, while the award for the best outward nine went to Ray Cranbourne who carded an impressive

20.

Other prizes went to: Ray Cranbourne (nearest pin at the 4th hole; Paul Marriage (nearest pin at the 12th hole); Robin Moyer (longest drive at the Bth hole); Ross Way (longest drive at the 18th hole).

No prize was won by Napier Dunn, who was so overawed by the servile domination of the ancient local women who were caddying and deciding what clubs the players should use, that he took the safer option and decided to sketch them instead.

l'4ore

Wwyd;\

It"alütig ouø dttb.

Yæ hirfwwu1rep

\Hpeû? I¿tth

t

old wooden house renovated with camouflage, discarded cannon shells and posters, is the place where the young men and women of the 1940s go to

listen to their favourites and where today's young go to find out what their parents' taste in music was like.

Even other musicians come to find out about the English gentleman who is

becomingknown

as

the Camp's British

officer and Official Host.

Some FCC members have patronised the place while visiting Manila, among them Hary Bedi and Mike Smith.

Former Correspondent editor, Viswa Nathan, who moved to Manila just a

few months ago, is a regular at the Camp "trying to understand the Nick Demuth at the keys of his piano at Camp Gourmet.

6 THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991

oldies," he claims.

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991

7

PEOPLE

CLUB NEWS

Birmingham night out for the old boys of BBC

TTIE INNER CIRCLE

From the

The places to eat within staggering or shouting distance of the FCC

Close Encounters of the Exotic lndian 'The lìest¡ur.rnt  lltry.rì gorlmcttlt'lit(.¡r\rjLsy()r¡, (7:0t) p nr L():00 p nì l 'T,rke

Au¡t,s A rleliciou¡ lnrii¡lt lnrlulqcnce Fm l(l:tlo p nì

FCC on the night of February

1

you

would have viewed a gregarious group of old BBC hands enjoying what lifting Beeb boys enjoy doing most an elbow and talking shop.

The occasion was a cocktail party hosted by BBC Birmingham, repre-

-

sented by Jim Dumighan, Head of Programme Development, and Cyril Gates, Assistant to Head of Network Television for BBC in the Midlands.

David Waine, Head of Broadcasting

in Birmingham, due to editorial considerations linked to the Gulf situation, was reluctantly forced to drop out of the delegation which was supporting a

City of Birmingham Trade Mission.

Rumour has it that his wife has not spoken to him since!

Mill which opened in the earþ seventies, is a powerhouse of television and radio production. It has Pebble

won for itself an enviable international reputation for production standards,

I {å

!"-

and a continuing succession of major awards.

The support for the Birmingham Trade Mission illustrates the more commercial stance being adopted by the BBC, which is trying to strengthen its economic base while maintaining its standards of excellence.

Beeb old boys were in abundance.

They included Anthony Lawrence, Stuart Wilkinson, Jim Biddulph (actually in a suit!), Tony Baynes, Keith Jay, Roger Thomas, Tony Crabbe and even Ted Thomas, who claims that he once went on a BBC course in 1897, A sub-group developed inthe form of Geordie escapees Barrie Wiggham, Phillip Crawley, Tony Baynes and Jim Dumighan.

Clare Hollingworth was undoubtedly the star of the evening, with Cyril Gates visibly overwhelmed to meet the journalist he has followed and admired for many years.

The Lord Major of Birmingham, Councillor Bernard Zissman, and other members of the trade mission were obviously impressed with the club's building and facilities. Perhaps one of the most pleasing aspects of the evening was the positive view that the Midlanders had of Hong Kong.

It was amusing to see local media rivals Nick James (TVB), Craig Quick (Metropolitan Broadcasting) and Alex

l()pr r,r( J

1

HEINZ GRABNER ANOTHER year has passed and the time corires up again to celebrate this time the ninth year in the Ice House.

The theme has not jet been decided, but mark the date, Friday ApnI26.

-

Wine and cheese evening: The next of these by now very popular evenings will feature wines from the Easter Sunday, March 31: We will be serving our traditional Easter buffet with plenty of goodies for the children. The buffet has always been

very popular. Book now

to

avoid

disappointment.

Saturday lunch with iazz: On Saturday, April20, the "Continental 6" Dixieland-swing band from Holland will perform at lunch in the main dining room from 13:00 to 15:00, More details

will follow.

Crostic Crossword Both entrants to our Griphos competition submitted correct solutions. Congratulations to

The solution was:

realistically.

At RTHK

a worthwhile

service is merely being decimated.

or for y<lur business lunches in your office, as well as for your boat parties, and, of course , with its piano ambiancc at 8-13, Wo On Lane, lst/F., Central_

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Fine ltalian Food

Provence region of France and will be held on Wednesday, March 20.

of Broadcasting Miss Cheung Man-

government adopted the same forward looking approach to broadcasting that the BBC team expounded. In Birmingham they are facing financial cuts

winner. Hiram Walker

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FOR

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Spices at Paciflc Place is creating a series of special buffet dinners each month to explore the -l'l-, mysteries of Asian cuisine. Here the rare and 'r' extoic ingredients of the Orient chilli and coconut, lemon grass, blue ginger,- cardamom and tamarind are blended to creat€ the classic dishes of Asi¿. Âr$rT6,ln The Oceans of Asla, The Treasures of Siam, Romanc€ of the Rai, A Tast€ of Vietnam, Asian _Æ, Ijeat, to nane but ø-feu .., Spices ât P¿clflc Place, The Mall-LGl, On€ Paclfic place, 88 eueensway, Hong Kong For reservation or furthet ínformâtion, please t€lephone ts * g45 479g.

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Biography is a demanding discipline. A good biographer combines the skills of the novelist and the detective and adds to them the patience and compassion of the priest. Few people want their shortcomings exposed and they go to considerable trouble to hide them.

Clarke, -Of GAge".

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Kitchen, our specialities are nostalgia and tradition, served fresh every day.

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8 THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991

j,rt¡,n¡l)

n()w, catefs for you either at

kindly agreed to provide a bottle of spirits to Griphos Winners.

Warren Rooke and other ex-RTHK staff must surely have wished that the

\,VEtrK

t¡tr,1

h<¡me

Headhunter David Crothers was watching keenly.

One noticable absentee was Director

find the time to join the gathering.

DAì'S()F illt,

h\ ^l,tLnrLùJ ßr¡!!eno'

1q

manager

John Turner in being the lucky

also a shame that Peter Tsao could not

l\/ccleljr,e¡ thr lrìdulgc¡ce too,

\\/e ¡¡e strll tht'rc ¡t 57-i!/ !Vvndh¡ñ 5t, Ccntr¡1, H K, I el aZ4 962i, 52a 57 ¡rrtl .rlso.rt our L¡rand new piact'at Cì/F ConnaugLtt Conrntcrcirl Buil<ling, llls l4'.rnclr¡i llo¡tì, H K, Tcl 1191 llgtjl, ll9¡ 50sl

()PFt\

Kwan (ATV) deep in conversation.

Yee. Obviously the FCC is not high enough up on the social scale! It was

hith Valet l)arkingSr.rr,ìce

bct\{('en 7:00

PLEASE PATRONISE THESE FCC SUPPORTERS

f you had ventured upstairs in the

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Telephone Ingrid Gregory 577933I

LUI\üCHEOI\ SPEAKER

TRIBUTE

Woody Edwards: Ted Thomas pays tribute to an old colleague urmudgeonly; that was the way I used to see Woody Edwards when I first met him in the midDavid Roads had assumed command on the bridge of the AP Bureau in Hong

Kong for a brief spell while the legensome

mysterious mission.

Dave,

a lanky, bespectacled

and earnest young reporter took the responsibility seriously and had called me up to ask if I could give him tips about Royal Naval ship movements. I was building up the Navy's coast-watching system at the time and it was difficult to see the point of Dave's ,inquiry as the coming and going of warship movements were published openly in the newspapers, but I enjoyed the bogus drama of it all.

When Woody got back to Hong Kong he met me and spent an hour blowing foul cigar smoke in my face and teaching what he said were the four cardinal points that go to make a good I recall it there were at least ten points six more than promised but the only one I remember

reporter. As

-

-

rous lot. Some even wore the obliga-

::i"îî:'d"",:å:iiåfiîl'h:"*ät as they dashed from the FCC bar, the old Parisian Grill orJimmy's Kitchen to

Kai Tak to catch a flight for this or that tumtiltuous but exotic trouble-spot.

Even in those days Woody Edwards had opted for the senatorial role of doyen of the press corps and, although he'd have thrown a telephone at you if you'd dared to suggest it, I suspect that he relished the kudos.

My best memory of him was when a crowd of his peers: Scott Leavitt and John Dominis of Time and Life, B:ud Merrick of UPI, Gregg McGregor of the New York Times artd an assortment

fifties.

dary Edwards was away on

tales of derring-do. They were a glamo-

was that if it hurts it's usually the truth.

Woody at that time was one of a gaggle of former war coTrespondents freshfrom Korea. Some were suryivors of World War II, and the heady days of MacArthur's occupation of Japan that followed.

They haunted the old FCC bar up on

Conduit Road and entertained each other by outrageously exaggerated

of other hard-nosed professional newsmen had accomplished a difficult landing onsome troublesome island:Quemoy I think it was.

Bad weather had caused the navy to pullbackbefore all of the newsmen had made it to the shore.

Woody's equipment had gone over with the first wave of correspondents and left Woody himself still on the landing craft, to be ferried fuming back to the mother ship.

The successful invaders now triumphantly ashore on the beach lined up for an historic photograph proudly brandi-

azz singer, author, journalist and wit George Melly promised at the

outset thât..he^would not seduce anybody. Within a few minutes he had seduced his entire audience with a beguiling mixture of scatological jokes, witty observations and charming re-

Gorgeous George

and all that jarz

miniscences.

The vocalist with the Footwarmers repeatedly proved himself a handwarmer, as FCC members and guests burst

into applause at yet another richly embroidered anecdote from his storehouse of self-deprecating memories.

"How," he asked, "did a middle-

class, Jewish public schoolboy come to think that he could start to make a living by imitating an elderly southern

Negress?"

The son of a Liverpool businessman, whose family "made money in the 19th century and lost it in the 20th" , he was

introduced to jazz by a schoolfriend during World War II. The boy put a record on his wind-up gramophone. ("Anyone who can remember wind-up

Story: Ron Knowles Pictures: David Thurston gramophones is over 50.")

The record was 1 Wisk

I

Cowld

Skimmy Like My Sßter Kale by Muggsy Spanier. "I was in favour of it because of its title alone . . ." His friend played it several times, though George didn't understand a word of it. "But by the end of the evening I was a total convert to jazzbased on the New Orleans style.

He was soon listening to

Louis

Armstrong and "even more centrally to the development of my future career" to a 1931 recording of the "empress of the blues, Bessie Smith".

"Bessie Smith was a large woman,

difficult, drank a lot, bisexual a dead ringer for me, really, you might say.

Once I heard her emote on a record with yet another title that intruiged me Girnnte a Pig Foot and a Bottle of Beer - thought this was the most

I

noise

amazing

I had ever heard."

Whenhe joined the navy he discovered that a love of jazz was not confined to his public school. He and other seamen spent their spare time in the chain locker of their ship, listening to jazz. He thought that it was a lost art, but was delighted and surprised to discover in the postwar years that there was a jazz

(continued on page 12)

shing Woody's property: typewriter, tin hat, flak jacket and, (shame of shame), smoking his beloved cigars.

The glee withwhich the prints of this photograph were passed around the

FCC after the pressmen had arrived back in Hong Kong knew no bounds, and Woody, scowling from behind his well-chewed cigar butt had to sit it out.

I said at the outset of this piece that Woody was curmudgeonly, and that seems to me to have summed it up.

But before filing this piece I took the

trouble to look the word up in the directory.

The dictionary definition is "churlish or miserly person", and I realise that I may have done him an injustice.

Mean he was not, although he certainly did intimidate his subordinates.

What he was, was a crusty old newsman, and if that description incenses him as he stomps around that great newsroom in the sþ, then that's just the way that he'd want it to be.

10 THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991

Ready for anything, with a glass in hand, George Melly launches into his witty reminiscences.

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 1991 1 1

\

LUI\CHEOI\ SPEAKER

LUI\CHEOT{ SPEAKER Gorgeous George

journalist who stays up too late, or I must stop being a journalist and not mind about staying up. At the very

revival in Britain, led by Humphrey Lyttleton.

He could not play an instrument, but was determined to break into the jazz

world as a singer.

"In 1948 I saw in the Melndy Maker an advertisement that a gentleman called Mick Mulligan, which struck me as an allright name, was advertising for a piano player, and the piano player

who was accompanyingme atthat time said he was going along to apply, and I said 'I will come along with you who knows he might want a singer as well', which, of course, he didn't. But he had to put up with it."

He turned up at a suburban house in Ealing, where a worried{ooking woman

No! George didn't sing ... but he appears to be giving

answered the door and he was introduced to Mick Mulligan, who wore

girls" who followed the jazz

-

It

was the start of a 12-year stint with the band, "hitting the road in extreme discomfort, eating smelly socks.

rubbish and sleeping in damp sheets in

very cheap digs." This represented a complete revolt for a group of young men from middle-class backgrounds.

It

appalled his mother. He started going out with girls. "I had previously concentrated on chaps, having gone to a

groups was another factor. He dismissed the belief that permissiveness began in the 1960s. These girls in the provinces were now called "groupies" but in his day they were known as "scrubbers".

He described them "as remarkably comforting people." recalled "Mucky Alice", a Bradford lass, and a

-

He

public school."

Manchester boarding house, Mrs Mack's, where a "free range budgerigar" made boiled eggs the favourite

he said, though "the eagerness ofthose

breakfast.

In about 1956 he took over the

'|he jazz world "turned me round",

Oh dear! Was

The truth about George's tailor

warrners was playing. He began singing with them and iealiqed that he had to make a choice.'"Either I go on being a

(from previous page)

it something I said? Anyway

12 THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 1991

.

ing of

a

it all he's got.

strip cartoon, Flook, and began

writing journalism. Eventually he decided to give up jazz singing and become a writer. In journalism they were totally suprised to find thata jazz singer could write. He became, to his surprise, the television and then the

film critic of The

Obseruer.

He then

wrote his first book, a reminiscence of his jazz experiences, and then Rum, Bum and Concertinn, a biographical work about his naval years.

In the 1970s he used to go to a pub in Islington, where a band called the Foot-

moment that one is expected to put on slippers, buy a spaniel and light â pipe, we went back on the road."

Just as in the 1950s he drank enormously and on one occasion at Ronnie Scott's Club "I slid under the piano during the second set".

They began to realise that they must sober up a bit. They did. "And since then it has been roses all the way."

Asked by a questionner to compare the youth culture of the 1950s to the 1990s, he said he though the modern era was "rather dull" for young people.

"I don't think the sixties were I think the sixties were terrific to be young in,

-

but the nineties are a time of

some

anxiety and neo-puritanism. Whereas in the fifties we actually had a tremen-

rĂ&#x20AC;/HO IS your tailor?

George responded readily with details to this

dous time sexually, people are worried about that kind of thing nowadays and for good reason. So they aren't doing much of that." People were not smoking nor drinking so much, either.

They were also eating healthily and "wiping their bum on reconstituted

question.

He is a dwarf in London. George operates on the theory "if he can make a suit to fit himself, he should

paper". He proclaimed the nineties "extraordinarily boring" so far.

Politically, things were better, how-

with the advent of John Major as Prime Minister because he at least looked like "a junior bank manager about to refuse

ever. Melly announced himself pleased

an overdraft."

...

I'll tell you this. I sure

as hell thought

it

It

was much more

be able to look after me."

However George always asks to look at his linings. That's the material he wants for his suits.

His tailor's name? Major. ra

1,,

acceptable to have him leading Britain

during the Gulf War than Margaret Thatcher - "Boedicia, carrying on like Churchill in drag."

was funny.

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 1991 13

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

Goventor's vision of the future n his main address to the FCC, the Governor, Sir David Wilson, speaking without notes, said that restructuring over the last decade meant Hong Kong was becoming a service-orientat-

I

ed economy.

"Services now account for some 70 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product, and if you think in terms of the workforce, about 60 per cent of our workJorce is now in service-orientated industries as opposed to something like 40 per cent in 1979. So there is a clear shift in the way the economy is structured.

"It has created its own problems.

And everybody knows about the pro-

blems. They are much reported. We have a labour shortage, the economy has been growing so rapidly; we need so many more people in the service sector that we don't have enough of the talent we need and we have suffered also from the brain-drain, so those two things go together.

"Partly as a result of that, but other factors too, wages have been rising very rapidly and we have to watch out for the problem of pricing ourselves out of our own market.

"Thirdly, we have been suffering from excessive inflation. We're not alone in the world in that, but it is a problem which we do need, if we can, to try to get under control. But our ability, our levers to deal with that, are very limited.

"But there are two areas which are places where one can look at with a greater degree of optimism, and I'd like to point to those. There are two assets, as it were. One is the connection with China, which has grown enormously over the last 10 years."

He went on to talk of Hong Kong's involvement in China, particularly in Guangdong, which he described as "enormous".

Sir David said: "Something like $7 billion worth of Hong Kong investment going into Guangdong; something like 14 THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991

I Âż

The Governor meets the President, Paul Bayfield.

A left-handed handshake for FCC Board member John Andrews a reminder of the Governor's recent injury.

-

"The number of new

coming into Hongkong is something like, 80 a year."

Sir David said Hong Kong had no blueprints to guide it for the transfer of sovereignty in 1997 and both sides

The Governor and Lady Wilson are greeted by FCC manager lIeinz Grabner on their arrival. one-and-a-half to two million people working for Hong Kong enterprises in Guangdong. It's a colossal asset to Hong Kong that has sustained us in our economic growth over the last few

years. And even if you look at that question of the brain-drain, the drain which is not often noticed is that we have people moving across the border

into China; we've got something like 50,000 managerial staff working in China for Hong Kong enterprises.

"Another aspect of this is that Guangdong itself, southern China as a whole, but Guangdong in particular, is growing very rapidly and we are close-

ly

connected with that area of rapid

growth.

"I don't want to overlard what I say with statistics, but export growth last something like 15.5 per cent, and I think that gives one picture of the way in which Guangdong is continuing to forge ahead as a major centre of the

"For industrial output, Guangdong

membership in his case, he said, were limited to receiving a bill for drinks he had not consumed.

This was a reference to a bill sent to him in error when he was first made a honorary member.

When someone in the audience inquired "W'hat's your mem' bership number?" Sir David replied: "That is an official secret.tt

part of the Asia-Pacific region and that itself is another rapidly developing part of the world. Again, just to use some statistics - Asia-Pacific trade in the latter half of the 1980s grew by something like 65 per cent; world trade grew by only 45 per cent. So we are part of that rapidly growing areaof the world.

And I think there are a lot of foreign companies who realise that and that is

asset."

l I

-

district board level,

municipal council level and, finally in the Legislative Council, with our first direct elections.

"Over the last few years a great deal has been said about the need for a more participatory form of government and the Hong Kong Government has tried to evolve the system to take account of those views.

"Now is the time to see that working

in practice and it needs a great

deal

tical development in Hong Kong.

"This is an important year in Hong

prepared to take part in the political

stÂżnds the way it operates; understands

the way in which we are trying to plan

Kong's history.'We have elections at all

"understands

"In

Sir David went on: "We are a key

one reason why they've positioned themselves in Hongkong.

works and having more contact with people in China. And we will be having visits by civil servants to China, I hope on a regular basis, with one taking place next month."

its

system; under-

process; it needs people who are prepared to take the time, the trouble and go through all the difficulties of stand-

ing for election, or supporting those who do stand for election. And at a lower order it requires people to register to vote and then actually to turn out to vote."

Sir David said those who had served

those decisions.

transport; regional tourism; regional services, that too I think is an immense

contacts increasingly in the future. We need, for instance, in the civil service, to have our civil servants better informed about how the Chinese system

three levels

more than talk. It needs people who are

long-term for the future of Hong Kong."

It was also important that Hong Kong should have an effective and active government which takes decisions and is seen to be the source of

accounts for 10 per cent of the industrial ouĂžut of the whole of China. So we have a major asset in terms of our very close relationship with our next door neighbour, Guangdong.

"But it goes wider than that. The fact that we are developing increasingly as

"The whole process needs a continuous building-up of contacts. But there is room for building up those

Sir David's final point was aboutpoli-

-

China export trade.

a centre for regional trade; regional

However, the privileges of

would be bound to harbour suspicions.

It was important, therefore, "to see to it that China is well informed about what we are doing here; how Hong Kong runs itself; what our own major plans are for the future" so that the China understands Hong Kong better

year in Guangdong was something like 43 per cent; for China as a whole it was

GOVERNOR Sir David Wilson opened his remarks with a jocular reminder that he is a member of the FCC.

companies

reaching this balance between

in the political system of Hong Kong

keeping China well informed about

previously had served the colony well.

"We are now moving to another stage in which people who are going to serve Hong Kong will have to do so in a more

what's happening; having here a government which is effective and takes its own decisions, we will have to feel our way forward over the next sixand-a-half years. "'We are finding on the airport project ways forward in trying to make

sure that China is kept carefully informed. That, I think, is the right way to do it. We need to have a benevolent view from China, support from China for that general project, if it is going to be carried out effectively and economically efficiently. And that, too, is to everybody's benefit.

direct way - taking part in elections and doing things which, perhaps by

custom and tradition, they haven't been used to doing. Taking part in public argument on the hustings is sometimes uncomfortable for people from a traditional background who have served Hong Kong well up to now.

A laugh shared during one of the light moments in the Governor's speech.

"But that is what is needed now for the sake of building up the leadership, of Hong Kong's future."

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991 15

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

Like eating

not get taken by. surprise by major

oysters with

chopsticks t

was like tackling a dish of raw oysters with chopsticks. The Governor's ltmcheon speech to the

FCC on February 20 was bland, slippery and impossible to get to grips

and "I do not believe that the way to deal with them is to ask the present Attorney-General to resign." The key thing was to tackle the problems, and that was being done where they had been identified.

When Reuters' Chris Petersen

with.

Several questioners afterwards tried to add a little sauce, but no tasty morsels were forthcoming. Neither he nor

the assembled journalists got their teeth into anything more than the soup and roast beef served beforehand.

It

Kevin Sinclair ... "sack the Attorney-General. ,'

was a stylish performance for

someone who has not hitherto shown

himself willing to confront the press a triumph of style over substance. All questions were diverted or answered

with that friendly affogance of

the diplomatic, unconsciously self-contradicting charmer who has never felt the need to make the distinction between assertion and argument.

The tone was there from the outset of

questioning, when freelance Kevin

Sinclair, in a typically direct approach, inquired why the series of bungles, disasters and scandals in the legal department had not prompted Sir David to demand the resignation of AttorneyGeneral Jeremy Mathews.

There were problems, which had

their roots in history, Sir David admitted, but they were being dealt with

raised the issue of the ban on press coverage of the following day's joint talks in Peking on the airport project, and the role of Hong Kong in putting forward the ban, Sir David said it was

perfectþ acceptable for "experts" to hold secret talks in this way.

"There have been problems because

of a lot of what seemed to be sidecomment or background briefing by both sides which was not particr.rlarly helpful to the process of trying to reach an understanding. We do have an understanding with China - and this is a clear understanding, there is no secret about it - that this round of talks should be confidential, and both sides agreed that they would not be sidebriefing the press during the talks.

"I think that's a perfectly reasonable and correct position to take, because we want to make progress and these are, after all, nothing more than expert

talks."

If journalists wanted to go to China simply to photograph the opening of the talks, that was okay. "Good luck to

them."

Sir David later told another questioner on the airport topic that there

was "a need for the Hong Kong

Government to do more to explain tó people in Hong Kong about the airport project - to try to make sure we disseminate information as widely and in as much detail as possible."

When another questioner asked how he could reconcile his plea for people to participate in the democratic process

while they were "kept in the dark" about major decisions and discussions

Emily Lau ... a question of confidence.

16 THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 1991

between the governments of Hong Kong and China, he said he could not see any contradiction in this and sug-

gested that participation had its own

informative rewards

for those

most

involved. Confidentiality was a natural way for governments to work all around the world, he said. However, "the more people get involved in politics - the more, for instance, you get people who take part in the Legislative Council -

the closer they get taking process."

to the decision-

Could people in Hong Kong look for-

ward with confidence, confident that their future government would be autonomous and accountable, as promised, rù/as

the British Government telling it woul Peking? Posing thi or

them that

Lau, of the Far

Reuiew, drew attention to the Chinese

Government's recent statement that

things that we are doing here, because I think that could well be disruptive, and we have to at the same time make sure than Hong Kong Government and Hong Kong take the decisions that are within its own framework of autonomy for taking decisions and to try to set the right framework for the SAR to do the same after 1997."

Politics and accountability depended on the evolution of Hong Kong's political system. There would be the chance this year for people to take part in the

political system, and he would like them to do so - "in substantial numbers and right across the spectrum of political opinions in Hong Kong." This was vital if the Legislative Council ',¡/ere to fulfil its proper role under the joint declaration.

But is not the present Hong Kong Government already gripped by a form of paranoia that impelled it to ban distinguished Soviet citizens, such as Prof. Georgi Arbatov, of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, who had been

refused entry to Hong Kong only two days earlier when seeking a visa to enter so that he could address two seminars on the implications for Asia of

recent political changes in the Soviet

Union and eastern Europe?

This point was raised by

Bowring, Editor

Philip

Far Eastern Economic Reaien, after Sir David had earlier dismissed a question by Claudia Rosett of the Asinn Wall Street Jourunl about British Prime Minister John Major's refusal to meet the Dalai Lama by saying that it was a matter for the British Government.

This time the Governor took a difof. the

ferent tack. There had, he said, been a restrictive policy in Hong Kong towards allowing visas for citizens of the Soviet Union and other eastern European countries, but this was being relaxed.

The particular case of Prof. Arbatov had arisen without notice just as the new policy was being introduced and Prof. Arbatov's application was too late to escape the effect of the old restric-

tive policy.

it

Claudia Rosett ... asked about British snub to the Dalai Larna.

alone could speak for the people of Hong Kong and the "fact that there are

no plans for the Hong Kong administration to hand over the reins of power

to people elected by the Hong Kong people."

Sir David said he saw no reason to believe that the promises made in the joint declaration were to be changed by either side. "As far as Britain is concerned there is no change whatsoever in the British commitment to the joint declaration. I have seen nothing to suggest that there is any change on the Chinese side to the joint declaration

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and the promises that they have under-

taken in the joint declaration.

"Those promises include the way in Hong Kong will operate after 1997, and that includes policies for Hong Kong to have a high degree of autonomy. So those promises should remain. They are there on the record - firm commitments by the Chinese Government.

"To put this in a more practical way

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we have to, over the next six-and-a-ha1f years, find ways by which we can both keep the Chinese Government informed of major policy decisions, the way in which we do things, so that they understand what those are, so that they do

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1997 17

PICTURE ESSAY

A PEDDLER'S JOURI\AL At the end ol the light is a tomb-

stone white, with the name ol the Iate deceased. And a tombstone drear: A fool lies here who tried

Leightnn Willgerodt, an

Associtt'te

. ,BASI{ ER.

Member of the FCC, is a sal¿s ex¿cut'iue uith a US multinntiorutl chemiml com-

oF li

þany.

t\

to hurry the East.

ü ü vhen the above lines were i:;iJiåI i''J'tf n:ïJî::î

W

" ' Bv

Cor"rat

-To ÞEFþNs-r,?^1-E '16

ARLE

t"ç-

Sexotttç tYY C¿te'¿'r

PRtgoN.,

f-ql

Buttoning on to every second

sound advice to young Englishmen not

to grind themselves down in a futile attempt to hurry the East. Today the shoe is on the other foot.

I refer to what could be called the "DC syndrome".

example.

Hong Kong is where it can be observed in its most extreme form.

DC stands for "door close". A button bearing that designation can be found in the lower left or right hand corner of every lift. (There is also a DO button, but this excites far less attention).

Now I cannot recall if the elevators in

Take Hong Kong, for

Densely packed crowds moving in all directions fill the sidewalks to overflowing in Central, Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay. Many young executives and salesmen, carrying briefcases and pockets buiging with portable telephones, can be seen darting through the mobs, hurrying to their next appoint-

ment, their faces locked in concentration - presumably on a matter of great

urgency which awaits them at their

the USA were equiped with a DC button when I lived there many years ago. If they were, we rarely if ever

touched them. We just waited passive-

destination.

Similar scenes can be seen in the other great cities of Eastern Asia, with the exception, perhaps, of the portable telephone, which is less in evidence elsewhere.

ly for the door to close in its own sweet time.

The Asians these days just don't have that kind of time to waste.

When I first moved to Japan about 16

But besides the constant rushing

on entering an elevator, would immedi-

about,

I

have also noticed a common

practice in East Asia, which further serves to illustrate the impatience of the Easterners to get to the job at hand.

years ago I noticed that most Japanese,

ately push the DC button. I wondered what could be so urgent that they considered those few extra seconds so important.

Then, when I arrived in Hong Kong,

I discovered the people there are in an even greater rush.

They are not satisfied with only one push. Three or four quick jabs are the norm in this busy city. Then, for good measure a series of follow-up jabs on the already lit floor button is considered necessary. Moreover, everyone tries to get in on the act. Of course, while all this pushing is going on, others are still

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" tz- ts tlosf CR*r'4txÇ -wnf Yoctn Lopeg¡r,p FeEzs . ., .

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pushed the elevator call button, but the lift was somewhere around the 31st floor and showing no sign of hurrying on its long trip down.

Suddenly my colleague turned and began to run up the stairs. "Where are you going?" I shouted.

"To the office," he replied.

"But it is seven flights up," I called out. By this time he had already reached the second floor and was well out of earshot.

The behaviour of my Korean friend is no doubt one explanation for the

A

CELEBRATION of the life of Basher, Chris Young's cartoon creation, who has the habit of making the

\/E'4RS

lqES

point or asking the question we all have in mind, is currently on display in the Main Bar. The little fellow has come a long way since he made his first appearance in the pages of.the South Chinn Moming Postin 1983, as the milestones of his life recorded here will show.

He has also made Chris a Hong Kong

media celebrity

¡

his

Chris then emerged to reveal Basher's

lineage

to Post feature-writer

Zelda

For the first four years of Basher's appearances over the signature-line of "Templar," the identity of his creator was not known to the wider public.

Then Chris Young's cover was

Basher was born during an hour's lunchtime break for Chris at Tsuen Wan town hall. Chris liked the result of and so did the then his doodlings

named the young lawyer as the man behind Basher.

ances.

blown by a local magazine, which

Rut-Es

\

to

Cawthorne.

-

editor of the Posf, Robin Hutcheon. So Basher made his first public appearChris is the first admit that he is not a draughtsman in the classic cartoonist

ITANNIÃ\

,\

much

reluctance.

F

v^\tÊ9-_--,'/

mould and has no artistic pretentions.

As he told Zelda Cawthorne: "Nowadays the emphasis is more on the caption and drawing is simply a device for presenting the point or joke."

Basher has been making the point

with engaging bluntness, but

Chris stays clear of topics such as sex, race and religion.

"I don't aim to offend readers just

-

amuse them," he says. "Besides, I know what the paper will print."

That is illustrated on our pages. A sexual reference in 1990 to the shat-

can be drawn between the frequency of

use of the DC button and economic growth rate. Perhaps not, but I would

growth in Hong Kong.

FoF- -T-WE*trv

Bashing home the point with a daily smile

Korean economic miracle.

I sometimes wonder if a correlation

wager that it serves as a good indicator.

If there is any truth to this theory, it bodes well for the continuing economic

tN oF /aoNÇ tø*Q

-

trying to get into the lift.

I recall one occasion when a lastminute, would-be passenger had managed to get his arm through the closing door. By dint of great effort he was able to prize the door open and squeeze through. But no sooner had he dragged his leg inside than he, too, began to attack the DC button.

It was in Korea that I saw the ultimate in Asian energy and impatience to get to the job in hand.

A number of years ago a Korean colleague and I were on the ground floor of his office building. He repeatedly

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tered fortunes of disgraced Australian entrepreneur Alan Bond did not make it for public consumption.

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991 19

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1991

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 799T 2I

French and Vietnamese film-makers are recreating the siege of Dien Bien Phu, the decisive battle that marked the defeat of French colonialism in Indochina

buar

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Prisoners can be captured this battle

Í 6or u?

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but not

By Michael Jones

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1954: My first year in Southeast Asia, fresh from Kenya and the odious MauMau. The year which can be identified as the

beginning of American involve-

ment in Vietnam; but one remembered by soldiers as the year of the

YlArc HtH-,

",Åi

Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

March 13 until n/Iay 7: Twelve parachute battalions of the French Army supported by artillery and

10

tanks, which had been dropped in parts by parachute and assembled on the

ground.

É

,, ffio?.Ne,((tueBec

A

plateau 10 miles by five

surrounded by hills, all of which were in the hands of the Viet Minh. A French garrison of 13,000 men, seasoned and tough, directed by General Navarre in Hanoi and the flamboyant and heroic Colonel de Castries on the ground. An armed camp situated in hopeless geographical terrain, impossible to defend against an army of more than 50,000

men, which overlooked the French positions and was supported by power-

ful artillery

dragged manually into position and at devastatingly close range. Hanoi, where French reinfor-

r'l Nof

Hts

LÀ\J'(Éß

lqq o ..H€S ry LAU{6s 22'TIJE CORRESPONDENT MARCH

1991

cements waited, 300 kilometres away over mountains shrouded by mist and impassible to a mechanised force. An

airstrip tactically vital as a source of resupply but subject to heavy fog.

Fifty-give days of heroic defence and suicidal attack before it was all over.

The defenders, French Parachutists and Colonial Infantry, suffered casuaities comparable to one of the bloodiest battles in France in World War I 2,200 deadand 6,400 wounded, 66 per cent of the total garrison. The French Commander of Artillery committed suicide during the battle. Of the 10,000 or so French soldiers captured, thousands of whom were wounded, more then half died on the death marches to the vile POW camps, or died later of malnutrition, torture and sickness in

A rare photograph of General Vo Nguyen Giap in the early 194Os, addressing members of the Viet Minh. It was the successors and survivors of these unlikely looking warriors who were to contain and conquer the French forces at Dien Bien Phu 1O years or so later. (Picture courtesy of Far Eastern Econom'ic Reuieu, library).

the camps themselves. The officers and soldiers of "Les Para" who survived, to be released months Ìater, bore that indecipherable stamp of sheer survival common only to soldiers subjected to the hig-hest intensity of closequarler battle, over a protracted period.

Lucien Bodard, perhaps the most distinguished foreign correspondent to cover Indo-China, was in Vietnam from 1948 until 1954. He writes of entering a bar in Hanoi a few months after the

battle and just before the French evacuation ofthe city, and encountering a famous captain of paras who had survived Dien Bien Phu. He describes the officer's glare as being "as blind as a sleepwalker's", and of him saying. "It was all for nothing. I let my men die for nothing - in prison camp we faced the reality of the Vietminh. They were fighting for an ideal, and we were not.

Dien Bien Phu was not an accident, it was a judgement".

Jules Roy wrote the definitive book on the battle, Bernard Fal1, the French historian-journalist fated to die outside

'They were fighting for an ideal

-

we were not'

Hue in the later war, wrote the most penetrating historical analysis. In May 1984, on the 30th Anniversity of their victory, the Vietnamese Government invited a number of journalists back for a battlefield tour, and I recal1 the late Neil Davis tellingme how General Giap, the victor, had scampered energetically over the restored positions which his men had captured at the cost of 20,000 dead.

It seemed to us a costly "beau geste" on the part of the French Army, but as fellow parachutists we admired "Les Paras" and mourned for their dead. Nobody else cared much. In July 1954, at Geneva, the two independent nations of North and South Vietnam came into being. The French no longer counted for anything in Southeast Asia. The year ended sadly

for them as they hauled down the Tricolour in Hanoi.

I was to spend a further 25 years in the region, in piaces where events seemed, at the time, important. The Malayan Emergency, Borneo during

the IndoPakistan Wars, attempted coups in the Indonesian Confrontasi,

Philippines. Nothing ever made

as

THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 199123

t-

JOUR}TALISTS' ASSOCIATION NEWS

Dien Bien Phu (from previous page) much impact on me as did the news, relayed over a crackly radio at our jungle camp, that the French had surrendered at Dien Bien Phu. Half a lifetime agol Many years have passed since I sat in a restaurant in St. Jean Pied de Port in the Bas-Pyrnees alongside the renowned Colonel Cabestan and several of his devoted officers and NCO's, all survivors of the battle, and listened enthralled to their boisterously told stories of combat and cap-

tivity.

After the most serious attempt on General De Gaulle's life, in which certain renegade Para officers were suspected of being implicated, the President ordered some Para units to revert to ordinary infantry and discard their distinctive red berets. Colonel Cabestan led his men in a defiant march at the end of which the red berets, one by one, were ceremoniously burnt at a

huge bonfire in Bayonne. The Colonel refused to surrender his own, and coneven in tinued to wear it constantly bed, as I discovered when I shared his

-

tent.

There is

something chilling about

reading that movie-makers intend to recreate a battle fought within living memory. The survivors and the bereaved are seldom consulted and justice is never served on history.

Of later battles fought by the Americans in Vietnam, Bernard Fall sadly

commented that "the Americans are walking in the same footsteps as the

French, although dreaming different dreams." It is doubtful whether any scene in the film will prove as emotionally moving as the opening chapters of Jean Larteguy's book The Centwrions set in the POW Camps in the days following the battle.

My first year in Asia marked the end of any Western dominance in Asia, and

in that respect sipified freedom for millions. But to anyone who recalls the heroism and sacrifice of Dien Bien Phu, as well as the absurdity and vaingloriousness, it is a forlorn hope that any

film could evoke those dramatic

days between 13 March and7 May 1954, or recapture the mixture of emotions with

which observers greeted the news of the fall of Dien Bien Phu. 24THE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 1991

have been treated with great seriousness and courtesy by the police, and

Ilnion Figþts against airport talks ban

they have made genuine and prolonged attempts to investigate the incidents.

But it is embarrassirig for the HKJA to pass on an allegation by a journalist who is then not prepared to cooperate

THE UNION joined forces with

in the investigation.

Of course, it is an important part of

the

Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club in delivering a series of sharp protests against decisions by the Chinese authorities, backed by Hong Kong, to

ban press coverage of airport project talks in Peking last month.

In joint letters to Mr Lu Ping, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office under China's State Council, and Hong Kong Governor Sir David Wilson,

the HKJA and FCC protested particuiarþ against remarks attributed to the acting Chief Secretary, Graham Barnes, who was quoted as saying that "day-to-day reporting of the talks is not conducive to the airport project."

The letters added: "If this is in fact the position of the

ing the activities of Hong Kong and Macau journalists in China can be abused. Indeed, there have been pre-

vious cases of bans on Hong Kong journalists. One such case, as you well know, involved the Omelco visit to Dongguan and Shunde.

"We believe such tactics have a profound effect on news coverage of China, at a time when reporting from the mainland is vital to Hong Kong. We also feel these tactics are at variance with clauses in the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, guaranteeing press freedom.

"It would be

a sad

day for Hong Kong

if press freedom were jeopardised by implied Hong Kong government acceptance of a media ban imposed bY

Hong Kong government, then there

China.

would seem to be a considerable degree of collusion with China, aimed at curb-

"We would therefore ask You to support our stand, for the sake of

ing the activities of the Hong Kong

press freedom, and to ensure that this viewpoint is reflected fully to the

press. We would point out that press

freedom is considered vital to Hong Kong. Without access to information on matters of public interest, press freedom has no real meaning.

We further believe China's actions are notconducive to confidence in Hong

Kong, and will harm the territory's long-term prosperity and stability.

"We would therefore ask you to clarify the position of the Hong Kong government on this issue. We would also urge you to impress upon the Chinese authorities the importance of media coverage of events, such as the airport talks, which are of intense

public interest."

In a similar letter of protest to Omelco members, the two organisations wrote: "The Hong Kong Journalists Associ ation and the Foreign Correspondents' Club are alarmed by remarks attributed

to the acting Chief

Secretary, Mr

Graham Barnes, implying that he accepted the need for a ban. If this is indeed the case, then it would point to a considerable degree of collution over

a matter of extreme importance

to

Hong Kong. ".We are particularly concerned about the way the Chinese regr-rlations govern-

government."

absolutely no point in making a complaint you are not prepared to carq¡ through.

If

think the police have acted incorrectly, collect witnesses, if there are any, make notes and complain through the HKJA. But do not do so if you are not prepared for the consequent investigation.

If this sort of thing continues, we could hardly blame the police if they

the HKJA's role to act as a watchdog

over police behaviour, but there

an incident occurs where you

is

Training and pay on the agenda THREE members of the HKJA Executive Committee, chairman Emily Lau, vice-chairman Daisy Li and Fong So met three members of the Hong Kong Newspaper Society on January

secretary, Mr Wah-cheung, ol Hong Kong Emnomic Times.

Much of the discussion concerned

training for journalists and the diffi-

of

culty of attracting journalists to attend training courses. It was pointed out that training courses organised by the

a

Vocational Training Council's Journalism Training Board (of which Mr

meeting, Newspaper Society language daily, Wah Kiu Yat Po, invited HKJA representatives to lunch. Also present

by the Hong Kong News Executives Association also had difficully in at-

16 to discuss

training,

a

provident fund,

pay and working conditions journalists.

Following an HKJA request for

Shum is chairman) and courses offered

were Robert Chow of Express and

tracting journalists to attend.

OUALITY

,Jltlcôa¿'s

start to treat HKJA complaints with less and less seriousness.

One idea proposed was that the Newspaper Society, News Executive Association and the HKJA should con-

sider organising training courses.

HKJA representatives urged the Newspaper Society to encourage their staff to attend the courses by paying for them and givingthem time offto attend.

HKJAmembers informed the Newspaper Society that the London-based Commonwealth Journalists Association wants to run a training course in Hong Kong tailored to meet the needs of local journalists. However, since most CJA courses are two or three weeks long, Newspaper Society representatives said many newspapers would find it difficult, if not impossible, to release staff to attend such long courses.

The HKJA members also used the occasion to raise with the Newspaper Society concerns of many front-line journalists about low pay, long working hours, overcrowded working conditions and the general lack of provident funds or retirement schemes.

1st Floor, C, Gee Chang Hong Centre, 65, Wong Chuk Hang Rd., Aberdeen, Hong Kong.

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Complaints must be backed up LATE last year the HKJA was asked by members to make several complaints about police behaviour.

One incident involved an allegation that a policeman tried to pass himself off as a journalist.

In another, a reporter complained that police interfered with efforts to report a road accident.

In the third case a reporter claimed that a police officer encouraged a member of the public to assault him.

After the HKJA had officially raised these matters with the police, in two of the cases, the journalist who made the

complaint refused

to give

evidence when the police tried to investigate the allegations.

In the third case the police claimed

their investigation failed to

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sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation.

In all three instances, our complaints

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THERE'S A1WAYS AIIOEÍ TI THE HONG KONG IRADE DEVE1OPTIEIIT COUNCI1 THE

VTINffiD A BOTTLE OF SPIRITS DONATED BY HIRAM VALKER

NO.9

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