The Correspondent, October 1992 by The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong

The Swire Group

CONTENTS COVER Heath opens Press Centre

Photo special on the opening of the Club's new press facility by the former British prime minister Sir Edward Heath.

THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS'

CLUB Nonh Block, 2 Lower Albert Road, Hong Kong. Telephone: 521 l5l I Fax: 868 4092

OBITUARY 4 Francis James I9l8 - 1992 Jack Spackman recounts some early memories of James'

arrival in Hong Kong.

President - Steve Vines First Vice President - Hubert Van Es Second Vice President - David Thurston Correspond€nt Member Governors Bob Davis, Daniela Deane, Carl Goldstein, Humphrey Hawksley, V.G. Kulkami, Catherine Ong, Claudia Rosett. Brian Jeffries

Journalist Member Governors rüilliam Barker, Stuaa Wolfendale Associate Member Governors D. Garcia, L Grebstad, S. Lockhart, R. Thomas

Professional Committee: Convettor: H. Hawksley Mentbers: V.G. Kulkami, C. Rosett, S. Wolfendale, C. Goldstein, D. Deane, C. Ong, R. Thomas

NEWS AND VIEWS I David Bell signs off After more than25 years as the senior spokesman for Swires and Cathy Pacific, David Bell has called it a day. Simon Twiston Davies interviewed him just before he left Hong Kong for Australia.

Cambodia's uncertain peace The BBC's Humphrey Hawksley on the problems the UN has in keeping the peace in Cambodia.

Risking your life for an exclusive A freelancer's story about life and death covering theBalkan

Membership Committee: Cont'ettot : V.G Kulkami

Menbers: B. Davis, D. Garcia, C. Goldstein,

Offering more

space

than ever, Cathay Pacific now introduce new Marco Polo Business Class seating

with an extra two inches of legroom on all aircraft. And also on all 747s, you'll find

and

fully extendable legrest for long distance comfort. What's more, we've dedicated the upper deck of

all our 747s exclusively to Marco Polo Business Class and made it smoke-free. Enhancing the space and

comfort of our cabin is yet another way

in which Cathay Pacific help

business

travellers arrive in better shape.

,f .- -

CATHAYPACIFIC Arrive in better shape.

conflict.

Wheel turns full circle for London Press Club Ted Thomas reports on the demise and rebirth of the London Press Club

Helping journalists to help themselves A report from the New York-based Committee to Protect

new, redesigned seat featuring

a convenient swivel table

L. Crebstad Entertainment Committee: Convettor: tN. Btker: Menber: S. Wolfendale Publications Committee: Conlenot : D. Thurston, Members: S.Lockha¡t, B. Davis, H. Van Es, K. Wilson (Editor), Paul Bayfield (Co-opted) F & B Committee: Convenor: L. Grebstad Menùers:D.Garcia, H. Van Es, R. Thomas, S. Lockhart \ryall Committee: H. Vm Es, Bob Davis, D. Garcia Club Manager: H. Grabner

THE CORRESPONDENT Advertising Manager: Rosemary Little Page Make-up: Jane Recio md Eva Lai

Arlist: Amando D.

Recio, Jr.

EDITORIAL OFFICE: AsiaPacifi c Directories Ltd, Rm. 1301, l3Æ, Pa¡k Commercial Centre, 6-10 Shelter Streel, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Telephone: 517 9331; Fax: 890 728?

@ The Conespondenl

Opinions expressed by wr¡te6 are not necessarily those of the Foreign

Journalists.

BOOK REVIEW

Steve Proctor reviews Roy Greenslade's book Manuell's Fall.

AROUND THE REGION 27 A new column on news and views from foreign coffespondent's clubs around the region.

Conespondents' Club

The Corespondent is published monthty for md on behalf of The Foreign Conespondents' Club by: AsiaPacilic Director¡es Ltd. Rm 1301, l3lF, Park Commercial Centre, 6-10 Shelter Strcet, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. lel: 57'l 9331; Fax: 890 7287

PEOPLE NE\ry MEMBERS MANAGER'S REPORT PRESIDENT'S LETTER PEDDLER'S JOURNAL

t7 29 29 31

Publisher: Vonnie Bishop Managing Director: Mike Bishara Colour separation by: Colour Art Graphic Company Printed by Print House Ltd, Blk A, l6Æ, Aik San Fty. Bldg, 14 Westlands Rd, Quffiy Bay, H.K. Tel:562 6157 (3 tines)

Cover photograph by David Thurston Inside photographs supplied by David Thurston, Hubert Van Es and Ray Cranboume. THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

COVER

ÂĄ

-:r-

Clockwise:

Sir Edward greeted by former Daily Telegraph correspondent Clare Hollingworth. Catching up on old times with former BBC correspondent Anthony Lawrence. Bob Davis maintaining order.

Sir Edward looks over the new press facility.

Sir Edward officially opens the new FCC Press Centre.

Heath opens Press Centre was f itting that the Press Centre was opened by the man who Put Anglo-Chinese relations on a new and far better footing. We wanted a big league news maker to do the job and it was a happy coincidence that the former British prime minister Sir Edward Heath was in town to oblige. The Press Centre contains computers and electric typewriters for the basic business of- so to speak- putting pen to paper. The computers were fitted t

with modems for direct communications with the host computers of news organisations.

The long neglected interests of photographers are recognised in the provision of a light box. While the equally neglected interests of broadcast journalists have been met in the establishment of a mini-studio which is more than adequate for editing and two-way interview purposes.

Additional facilities are in the pipeline. First, we are planning to arrange access to electronic data bases through computers. Second, we will be providing a bulletin board of the day's news and press releases as transmitted to the Club by fax. Other facilities will come on stream as member's needs are iden-

tified. The aim here is to create a work area for journalists. Associate members can,

of course, use these facilities but in times of congestion, absolute priority will be given to the working press. We are not in the business of establishing part-time offices, if there is evidence thaĂŹ anyone is using the centre as an office, they will be bared from the premises. The idea is to provide the best possible facilities for the greatest

ister which must be signed on entry and depafture. Desks vacated for more than half an hour will be regarded as empty, so that other users can move in. The centre will open at 8am and close at midnight and any papers or other material left overnight will be disposed of.

One of the broadcasting rooms is reserved exclusively for long distance phone calls and broadcasts, the other room can be used for normal working but will need to be vacated if required by

a broadcast journalist for an interview. The above might seem slightly bureaucratic but is designed to ensure that the Press Centre serves the purposes it was intended to serve.

Steve Vines,

President

number of people who need to do some casual work in the Club. To this end we have introduced a reg-

THBCORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

OBITUARY: Francis James 1918 -1992 Great Australian Bight. He reaped a tidy

profit when he sold his share to his

A paradox of diverse beliefs rancis James was a reporter and a traveller, a fighter pilot and a prisoner of the Germans and of the Chinese. He was a flamboyant eccentric, a 20th century renaissance man. He died last month in Sydney at the age of 74. For many people, parlicularly conservatives, he was a most puzzling paradox, combining a deeply held Christian faith with unswerving declarations of support for Asian communist governments. lndeed, he was denounced for his attitudes on China and Vietnam by three Australian prime ministers Robert Menzies, Ha-roldSirHolt and John Gorton. He once told a Legacy luncheon in Sydney that the teachings of Mao Zedong "should be read with the Bible by every Australian". Was his tongue tucked firmly in his cheek on this occasion? lt may well have been. lt was often as tempting to him to say outrageous things as it was natural to

news that Australian forces were to be sentto Vietnam. ln 1966 he compounded the offence in the eyes of the Australian government by travelling to Hanoi to report the war. It was quite in character, despite his

public declarations from time to time, that James never joined the Australian Labor Party (ALP) or any other radical or left-wing party. Although he admired

Gough Whitlam, he called himself a Gladstonian Liberal, asserting often enough (and all who knew him needed no proof of it): "l believe intensely in personal freedom."

hats and scarlet capes were a familiar sight in Sydney's Anglican, literary and jour-

nalistic circles, as well as those of overseas capitals.

Grammar and the former Governor General of Australia the late Sir John Kerr at Fort Street. Schooling done he joined the RAAF in 1936 as its youngest ever cadet. He left it a year later having disagreed with his seniors on the propriety of officers talking, as opposed only to giving orders, to non-commissioned airmen. He took up teaching at a Killara preparatory school in north Sydney but dropped

after the war. He was admitted to Oxford on a scholarship and lasted two years before being sent down fol-

And, while Francis James

may not have been entirely

variety of impudent exploits. There was also a varied collection of school mates including Gough Whitlam at Canberra

1939. He took a ship forthwith for England and joined the RAF, f irst as an aircraftsman but later as a transport pilot. He then switched to fighters and only weeks after joining a Spitfire squadron in April 1942, was badly burned and taken prisoner when shot down over northern France. After 20 months as a prisoner, he was repatriated to England. His adventures continued

catching clothes. For nearly 40 years his wide-brimmed black velour

never any doubting his opposition to the Vietnam War. As publisher of The Anglican newspaper he enraged the then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, by breaking the

legend has it, he was expelled for a

that career upon the outbreak of World War ll in

wear spectacularly eye-

serious in his exhortations concerning the works of Chairman Mao, there was

was a Methodist minister when he fell in love with a Catholic woman. Each was warned off the other, and so they married anyway. Later both became Anglicans, he a priest. Their subsequent family became used to moving from one parish to another. For James, the journeylng led to an array of schools, from some of which,

Alfred Francis James was born

Queenstown, Tasmania, on April 21 , 1918. He was one of three sons of an

Anglican priest, the Reverend A.

James who himself was no slouch in the

theatre of eccentricity. An ardent amateur boxer, James senior

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

lowing an undergraduate joke that involved kidnapping

fellow student, quite

possibly at pistol-point, in an effort to encourage him to pay some gambling debts. Returning to Australia, James joined a fishing partnership operating in the

partners, then joined The Sydney Morning Herald as its education correspondent and religious editor. ln his distinctive clothes and driving a 1936 Rolls Royce, he became a celebrated Sydney figure. Later, with The Anglican, he installed a typewriter in the back seat of the Rolls

and sometimes used the car as

office, pulling down the blinds when passers by became unduly curious.

ln 1969 there began perhaps the stlangest episode of Francis James' extraordinary career. He disappeared over the border from Hong Kong into China. For more than three years, until he was released, nothing was heard from him. Mystery still surrounds some aspects of his imprisonment, but it was certainly harsh, involving solitary conf inement and

lengthy interrogation sessions. On several occasions he believed he was about to be shot. Yet he always denied that before his arrest he had been engaged in espionage, maintaining that his visit to China was to research a book on Sino-Russian relations. More than 10 years later James was exonerated when the Chinese admitted that there had never been any charges against him and invited him back to China to receive an apology. Despite his controversial career Francis

James was not an outsider in Australian society in the way the term is generally understood. He was as much at home with establishment f igures in the church and the officer caste as he was with more shadowy individuals in the world of international politics. He had about him more than a touch of the grandee, transformed pedantry into a witty an form and was never dull. "l enjoyed all my life," he said. "But I remember the saying of Socrates; 'The state is like a great steed, noble but sluggish and I am the gadfly that stirs it

on'." He is survived by his widow, Joyce, two daughters Kate and Christine, and two sons, Brian and Stephen. The Sydney Morning Herald

Francis James' moment of freedom.

Francis James: A spy, Walter Mitty or iust a great guy Former veteran Hong Kong journalist, Jack Spackman, recounts some of his early memories of Francis James.

the

avid Bonavia and Dinshaw

For about a year after James was put

Balsara (betterknown as Ballsy) probably knew as much about Francis James story as anyone.

in the slqmmer in 1969 there was no

And Dick Hughes, he knew a lot. But they've all gone to the grave and his secrets are safe with them. The rest of us can only wonder about this chap who for a time graced the halls of the FCC. The FCC or a goodly portion of it, got to know Francis James in 1972 after he emerged from three years imprisonment in Canton. He had collapsed at the border into the arms of John Slimming, GIS director, and an Australian consu-

news on him. Nothing. China had him,

but it wasn't saying. ln Sydney some unkind folk suggested he'd nicked off to South America to escape his debtors. We eventually put together enough of the story to be certain he was behind bars in China and for about two years there were any number of rumours that he was coming out. Then one day, after a brief announcement on Xinhua, there he was at the border, expelled into the waiting arms of Hong Kong and Australian officials and then on to the nurses at the Matilda.

late official and they quickly shot him

The Age had a top man coming into

into the Matilda Hospital where he stayed

handle things and I was given one task: organise a photographer. The best black and white photographer I knew in Hong Kong at the time (and this might start some arguments) was Ballsy. A man who graced the FCC with his sparkling presence all too frequently. So I put him on the job and he came away with great shots of James

for some weeks, a fair wreck of a man. Greg Clark from The Australian goĂ&#x152;. into the hospital room first and knocked off a strong piece for his paper. Francis was a bit embarrĂ¤ssed by it, because he was under contract to write his story 'for The AgeinMelbourne and The Sydney Morning Herald.

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

---r

{

sitting up in bed in a dressing gown, wearing the most enormous black cowboy

hat you've ever seen. Anyway, since Francis died I've seen that Balsara picture in a number of journals and I can only wonder about the stories he told Balsara in those first crucial hours after he regained freedom. Ballsy would shake his head at me

and say, "Your friend Francis, that's some man." I suspect he told Ballsy some things he didn't tell me. After a month in the Matilda, where he and his guests on occasion tested the patience of the matron and her staff, he was fit enough to make the transition to my apartment in Macdonnel Road to continue his recuperation. It didn't take long for him to get suffi-

ciently on to his feet to join me in an occasional noggin at the FCC, then in Sutherland House.

He made

pest of himself on a

couple of occasions. Members in good standing, so to speak, would take me aside sometimes and mutter questions

habìt they acquired in their days as classmates and James made a career out of being well versed in all matters re-

ligious. So here we are at my place, Dick, who

had earlier lived in a flat beneath me, was standing in the middle of the room, draped in a cape wielding a swordstick and dropping the usual plenary indulgence on the good man James who had gone down on one knee and delivered a slobber on Dick's hand that would have made the Pope proud. My view of these proceedings was somewhat obscured at the time because I was just escorting into the room one of the other important guests of the

evening, the Right Reverend Gilbert Baker, Bishop of Hong Kong and Macau.

"Welcome Milord," said Richard Cardinal Hughes, "l hopeyou shareourprayers

reBrotherJamesfrom the hands of the heathen." of thanks at the safe

turnof

know their wines." Meanwhile, after scores of such conversations in the FCC, I was left as puzzled as anyone as to whether the man was a spy, as some uncharitably alleged, or a real-life Walter Mitty, or just a great guy. Maybe I got close to the story one summer Sunday about five years ago, on a day when the FCC was all but deserted. Vicky, the former Bluebelle was there,

and l, imagine, the lawyer from New Zealand and his lady and a few other regulars.

I had a daughter in hospital with an appendicitis job and after we'd cheered her up, Francis and I headed for the FCC where I had arranged we would meet David Bonavia, something Francis had requested. He had, he confided as we made our way down Wyndham Street in a taxi,

in my ear, attempting to check out some

detailon a claim James had made about something, anything really. The man exhibited a broad knowledge base. Derek Davies and Francis saw some matters differently but I have no feelings or observations on their relationship. But Dick Hughes was another matter. Dick had known Francisforyears. Dick Hughes was one of a small group

of dignitaries whom Francis invited to my place one night to thank them for helping him in his climb back to good health and fellowship. Dick, as so many FCC members will recall, was fond of affecting a clerical air when meeting friend or stranger. "A

plenary indulgence, my good man, on the usual conditions of course," he would

orate as he shook your hand and summoned a passing waiter. Dick was "The Cardinal" and he called people Monsignor and Reverend Mother and generally played the religion (lapsed Catholic) bit to the hilt. Francis James, of course, was some

match for Dick Hughes in that deparlment. lt is said that James and Gough Whitlam, the former Australian prime minister, used to correspond in Latin, a

thingthatwaseasyforhim because he had been edilor of The Anglican andhe

documents, one of which he wanted David to read.

had deep roots in religion, his father

Chinese and was on cheap paper of

having been a cleric. But why, I wanted to know, would he desert the compan-

the sort favoured at the time by the authorities in China. Francis assured me thatthe documentwould clear his name over the matter of the nuclear installation in Sinkiang province, a subject of many words and much controversy. David studied the document, observed that it appeared genuine, congratulated James and called for another round. I delivered a happy Francis James to Kai Tak that afternoon and we never spoke again.

ionship of Bonavia and Hughes and Co. to stroll across the road to the Bishop's House, where at that stage, they looked as though they couldn't afford blinds for the windows. He taught me two things about bishops that any working journalist would be well advised to note. Bishops, he said, are great political animals. Everyone talks to bishops, so if you can get them talking to you there's always a chance you'll unearth a story. And, he added as we sat there on the 14th floor wrestling with chopsticks and noodles, "because many of them have foresworn some of the earthly pleasures, they tend to put down a fine table. And they certainly

THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

The document was

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Jack Spackman is an absent member of the Club now living in San Francisco.

Goleridge Cole & Robertson 20e'sherr!"äT:3tu'2r9i?"1å:sãice¡trar'HonsKons Please provide me with more information on your services. I am (please tick the appropriate boxes):

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David Bell signs off After more than 25 years as the senior spokesman for Swires and Cathay Pacific Airways, long time FCC member David Bell has called it a day. Simon Twiston Davies caught-up with Bell just beþre he left Hong Kong to find out what he thinks it will be like to be grounded after

all

them," said Bell. "lt was quite an ordeal." Even after he had been given the

job as the company spokesman, conversations involving senior Swire or Cathay executives would tend to cease when Bell entered the room.

these years.

the wrinkles that go with the job. We were setting up a date

for a talk about his depafiure as

With the greatest tact possible Bell

Bell is about to go private.l would retreat saying he would see what could be done, but making no promises that could be broken. lf there was a good professional reason for helping out his "old pal" no doubt something might be done. "But you get used to these things," said the generally cheery and slightly overweight Bell as he sat in his Swire House office. "Yes, you can get put upon, but it's really less often than you might think." David Bell, forever the diplomat.

Maybe that's the problem with Bell outside his carefully selected innercircle. Forever polite, forever going as far as he dare, but also forever making sure he doesn't go beyond the interests of the firm. Bell, say those who know him

best, is always publicly affable and almost always privately reserved, keeping a little bit back from business matters. But those qualities are probably why Swire Bros summoned him to London in 1967 for lunch with The Board;to check out whether he was the kind of man they

THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

message was out.

Within a short while he had moved to Adelaide as a cameraman and then on to what he calls "news-type" writing for the station. Still young and very ambitious, at the

approached by the Hong Kong Tourist Association. Would he like to join them instead of leaving town? Bell took the

age of 24 Bell was "very lucky" to be recruited by Rupert Murdoch to be programme manager for Murdoch's first venture into television. With his typical flair and cheek Murdoch had established a station in Wollongong, south of Sydney, in order to beam programming into the potentially

ther of BSkyB had been refused a li-

relations man had been quite a' departure for the normally very

cence to broadcast. But with a rare unguarded candour

buried and you can be sure he won't be telling a soul. Extreme

the apparently immutable public

and Hong Kong being as it was, the

cameraman," he said.

"l was, after all, the man who talked to the press," explained Bell. "They still weren't completely sure of me." Hiring a company public conservative Hong. lt took quite a while for the executives to realise he was really one of them and not some sort of blabbermouth. By now, of course, Bell knows where almost all of the bodies are

he phone call to David Bell summed up one of

mouth-piece for Swire and Cathay Pacific Airways for a new life as a David private consultant in Hong Kong and Sydney. "lf you don't mind let's not meet at the Club," he said. "lf we try and talk at the bar, or anywhere else, we are just going to be interrupted. How about the Hong Kong Club?" And, indeed, it's true that for the 25 years that Bell has been the public face of Cathay Pacific his entrance to most watering holes has produced a sight akin to a chunk of raw meat being suddenly descended on by a swarm of blow flies. While Bell is far too polite to make the suggestion, he agrees that many of the conversations have tended to go something like this: "Hello Davidl How are you? Great to see you! I'd been hoping to run into you for some time ... terrible weather isn't it? ... er ... I'm off to London in a couple of days time ... er ... There wouldn't be a chance ... maybe ... of an upgrade of my seat? ... From economy class that is. Of course, I don't want to put you to any trouble ... but I just thought I'd ask."

could trust to keep the company secrets while still acting as a conduit to the outside world. "l think that was one of the most difficult days of my life, facing up to

all kinds of things including working as a

discretion has gone with the job all these years and now it's second nature even though he still considers

himself still to be part of the press in some ways. "Many of my best friends are journalists," he says, listing off the names of the likes of Dick Hughes, lan Stewarl, David Dodwell and Derek Round Hong Kong names from the past. -Theallonly current Hong Kong practitioners he mentions as pals are Kevin Sinclair, Clare Hollingworth and John Elliott, and Elliott, of course, is seen by most as having crossed the great divide into Government. Born in Melbourne 52 years ago, the eldest boy in a middle class family of two brothers and a sister, Bell never finished his college degree having fallen prey to a bug that drove him towards television or movies rather than a conventional career. "lt was a difficult time

when my father didn't talk to me for several months."

job with both hands, taking the opportunity to enliven what was then a pretty sleepy PR department into something close to today's mammoth operation.

Part of the buzz of working in the front

line at an airline is that there is almost

always some form of pressure from unexpected events, said Bell. While

profitable Sydney market where the fa-

Bell frankly admits that he "screwed thatjob up. I was too young and handled the job very badly. I must have had the technical skills but, as to handling people, I just wasn't ready. I didn't do a very good job." Yet with the good fortune that seems to have characterised much of his professional life, just as things were beginning to look bleak Bell was recruited by Air New Zealand to handle their public relations in Australia. From then on Bell's career path was to be more or less set for the next 30 years and in 1967 he was posted to Hong Kong. "One of the first things I did was to join

the FCC. lt just seemed to be the most natural thing in the world," he said. "But

the Air New Zealand people thought otherwise. They told me I should have signed up at the Hong Kong Club, not with the disreputable bunch on the 25th floor of the Hilton." Within no time Bell was established as a solid Hongkonger, addicted to the life, the pace and the style of the FCC of those days and the glorified village feel of a place where everyone knew every-

one else and generally made it their

Bell faces the press hoards in the early 1980s. However, after a couple of years of boosting for Hong Kong as the land of shopping and sampans in 1973 he was ready to go home to Australia. But, yet again, Bell's by then excellent local connections came to the rescue. "l lust mentioned to someone at Cathay Pacific that I was leaving and I was approached by someone else

be-

come the spokesman for the company."

After the terrifying trial--by--lunch in London with the Swires directors Bell was taken permanently on board the stratospheric Cathay Pacific flight that

business to enjoy themselves. Life was

has sedn the company move from being

very good indeed.

a small regional carrier with 11 planes and 14 destinátions to an international player with a fleet of 46 multibillion dollar aircraft and direct routes to almost every major destination on the planet. "l have been very fortunate to have

place in Melbourne television shifting

"But in 1971 Air New Zealand wanted me to transfer to headquarters in Auck-

scenery. "At first it wasn't much of a job, but the TV business was very flexible in those days and quite soon I was doing

said. Bell told a pal he was in a quandary,

Even so he managed to nail down a

Within a short while Bell had been

worked for Swires for all these years," Bell saìd, almost embarrassedly slipping into corporate mode. "l've been very lucky to be doing a job that I have enjoyed for all these years. I know that sounds trite but it's true."

land. lt somehow didn't appeal," Bell

Cathay Pacific never had a major acci-

dent while he was fronting for them, there were plenty of less serious crises. "Just recently the Mount P¡natabu eruption put a certain strain on things here. We had to take all the complaints about our passengers being stranded in Manila when there was really very little we could do about it. We just can't pay for accommodation for so many people. It would cost a fortune. "Then there was a fuel strike in Australia about 10 years ago. A group of passengers were actually marching on to Swire House when the news came

through that we could get back into business. lt was a nasty moment." One of the problems with working for

the Hong Kong flag carrier is that "so many people in this town fly so often, that everyone is an expert," continued

THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

He also remembers a few of

Bell. Countless drinks and dinner parties have been ruined for Bell by people lecturing him on how an airline should work. "Sometimes it has reached

the publicjousting matches such as the recent contretemps with

Simon Winchester over the expression "LBFM" (Little Brown

....ing Machines) describing

the point where my host has had to say that the subject of flying is forbidden ... just like talking about religion," he said. But there must have been

times when Bell has found it difficult to defend the airline or even Swire Bros. There must have been moments when events may have worked against his employers and put them in

an almost untenable position? "Not at all," Bell said, a brief

smile flitting across his face. But for all that his eyes didn't glitter with delight. "Of course,

you try to present a positive image as much as possible. But even someone like Raymond Sacklin (of that notoriBell is off to Australia...and back again, ously aggressive business could have had serious consequences. newsletter Targef says he can't find "But that kind of thing has been rare," anything on us. So we must be OK." he said. So what will Bell miss after all the Then there are the local journalists years in Swire House, when he finally who tried to link Cathay to the Lauda Air leaves in late November with battered crash. "That was just irresponsible," briefcases in hand for life as a small time consultant to Hong Kong and said Bell with a hint of the steel that kept him in place for all those years. "You Australian corporations? can be sure that particular writer won't One thing is that he may have to pay for his first airline ticket in 26 years, but what pleasures will he leave behind? "Well, the inaugural flights were the

be on any freebies

Cathay stewardesses in a guide book to Hong Kong. "Oh that," grinned Bell with genuine humour. "Yes, thatwas fun, even though some of our cabin attendants were understandably, and genuinely, very upset. We had to take action. "But I must add that although we had to tell Simon he wasn't welcome on our flights -- that's what the lawyers felt we should do - my own advice was to let him fly. And we should have given a copy of the book to each of the girls on board. We should have told the girls that as long as they didn't damage the plane they could do what they wanted." So now Bell is off to Australia, at least for a time, with his wife and nine-yearold daughter. "That is where my daughter will eventually live, so that is where she should go to school." But you can be sure that David B'ell will be regularly returning to Hong Kong. On Cathay Pacific, of course.

to far distant places

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THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

Cambodia's uncertain peace ^^.

n the wav to the Cambodian

(,,iî'"',î,

i i' î

l"i;'il::

By Humphrey Hawksley :

"ïl we were scape of Eastern Thailand,

stopped in a queue which explained the quagmire of Cambodia in which the United Nations is now enmeshed. There were five lorries, each piled

high with trunks of hardwood, trees which took generations to grow -- technically an illegal convoy heading out of Cambodia to the timber mills of Asia. A

whiskey and were allowed through to the Khmer Rouge camp on the other side of a creek. The guerrillas wore shabby green uniforms. They were unarmed. Three large painted signs in Khmer and English told us we were in Western Cambodia. lt was controlled by the Khmer

policeman flagged down the first lorry. The driver reached

into his

wallet,

handed over some money, then drove

saying he was busy and had a lot of appointments that day.

But in the few minutes before we were told to leave, Mr. Long Norin said enough to make it clear that a return to permanent peace in Cambodia was not just round the corner and that the UN operation which was to serve as a model for war-torn countries elsewhere might

actually fail. ln hesitant but good English, he said that the United Nations was not honouring the Peace Accord for Cambodia. He pointed to the signs and said there was a problem with

Vietnamese troops and illegal immigrants sill being in

on.

There was no attempt at secrecy. Off the smaller

the country. They

road which runs par-

had to be expelled.

rallel to the border

"lf this is not re-

unmarked tracks run intothe undergrowth and on unchecked

solved, what can we do," he said. "We

to Cambodia,

-- to fight for peace." He laughed as if it

territory there con-

The leaders of the Khmer Rouge -Pol Pot, his brother in law leng Sary and

it's a euphoria with a budget and a time limit -- two billion US dollars and scheduled elections for April next year. No-one's quite sure what will happen after that, but in northern Cambodia, north of the provinicial capital Khompong Thom, there is evidence of exactly how Mr. Long Norin's "fight for peace" is progressing. The lndonesian peace-keeping contingent there said the Khmer Rouge came out at night, firing shells and laying mines. They drove with us for about

ten miles then said they could go

further. Under their mandate they weren't

allowed to enter areas of fighting. Fifteen minutes up the road, there were signs of the ramshackle Cambodian army -- an outdated field gun, two old

armoured personnel carriers, men stripped to the waist, lethargic and

But more and more are expressing doubts. The Khmer Rouge demand that Vietnamese troops and illegal immigrants be expelled is almost impossible to meet. With tens of thousands of Vietnamese settled in Cambodia, warning bells are already ringing of a Khmer Rouge campaign for ethnic cleansing. But there is a more immediate and

raw motive for the guerrillas to wreck the peace process. lt lies back on the border with that convoy of hardwood and the bribe to the policeman.

the brutal military commander Ta Mok - are still believed to be in control. While the organisation has clung to international legitimacy, these men -- who ordered the massacres in the 1970s -- will never hold public office again. Their destiny lies in the jungle. Their wealth comes from logging and gems. lf the UN moves into the Khmer Rouge areas, the men who created the killing fields will lose everything. Until Pol Pot and his colleagues are removed, few believe therewillbe peace in Cambodia. As one senior UN official said: "So far we've been administrating

first

aid.

But if it's to work we need

surgery and shock therapy."

Humphrey Hawksley is a correspondent for the BBC based in Hong Kong.

was a joke. The white military vehicles and blue

trolled by a political organisation which has one of the most blood-stained repu-

flags of the United Nations have been stretched across Cambodia like

thecorruptThaimili- UN: administering f¡rst aid' tary -- like the policeman we saw -- the Khmer Rouge are estimated to make from between twenty five and fifty million pounds a year from illegal gem mining and logging. With that money, they buy arms, build roads and luxurious jungle camps, and win the support of peasants by sprinkling some of their wealth around the impoverished villages. We drove down one of those unmarked tracks to a Thai border checkin

hammocks. We handed over a bottle of

malarial, dozing

bamboo hut. One interceptedìhe Khmer Rouge radio messages. The guerrillas were about two miles north of us with orders to capture that section of the highway which runs to their bases on the Thai and Laotion borders. Back in Phnom Penh, off icials in charge of the UN operation put on a brave face.

mustcontinuetofight

into

point -- just a few soldiers asleep

in hammocks in

create a Year Zero Utopia -- is alive with

the boom of a garrison town economy. With the UN has come a euphoria, but

Rouge -- or the National Army of Demo-

cratic Kampuchea as they call themselves. And that before the United Nations would be allowed access to these areas all Vietnamese aggressors must leave Cambodia. The telephone in the guard hut was out of order and they had to send a runner to get a senior official, Mr. Long Norin, who drove up in a mud-caked but new Land Cruiser. He carried a leather brief-case and in this isolated tropical scrubland kept looking at his gold watch

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

ban-

dage. There are more than fifteen thousand troops and some six thousand civilian officials there with the task of steering Cambodia to elections and a free-market economy by next year. Once neglected airstrips are lined with helicopters and transport planes. With a lick of paint and a portable stereo, new bars open every week. Cambodian and Vietnamese prostitutes hang around in clusters waiting to entedain troops back from the bush. The city emptied by the Khmer Roudge in 1975 with their disastrous attempt to

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

Risking your life I

for an exclusiYe At the end of August the Balkan conflict had claimed the lives of 31 journalists, many of them fi'eelancers out to make their name. British photographer KevinWeaver was one of the

lucþ

ones.

s I lay bleeding in a ditch near Sarajevo airport, expecting a gunman to deliver the coup de grace at any moment, I wondered vaguely if it was all worth it. Jean Hatzfeld, a reporter for Liberation for 25 years, lay in a pool of blood next to me, his right leg in tatters (it was amputated a week later in Paris) after being hit by two AK47 7.26mm bullets. My blood-covered notes and film were strewn everywhere. ltwould be 24 hours before an X-ray at a hospital in Sarajevo

would find the jagged remains of an AK47 bullet lodged in my hip. We had been on our way to Sarajevo airport at 1.30pm on June 29, the day after President Mitterand's much publicised visit, to see the first shipments of aid arrive by air. Reports that the Serbs had withdrawn from the airport lulled us into a fatal false sense of security and we didn't go with a UN convoy.

However, even convoys of the UN were being shot at. ln Sarajevo, ambulances, cars with "TV" and "Press" plastered all over them (like ours) and

Photographers risk their lives for the ult¡mate p¡cture.

Three weeks earlier I had gone to one the English broadsheets asking them

for accreditation to go to Yugoslavia.

had been told that one of their f reelancers had just been shot dead there and they

wouldn't be sending anyone else. The picture editor told me he had a similar conversation with the last freelance, who had, like myself, complained that there was no work in London, forcing

him to cover danger zones to try to make a name for himself. Many journalists have had their cam-

eras, film, flak jackets, and even their cars confiscated at Serbian checkpoints

by drunken Serbs who hate the Western press. As a freelance in Sarajevo I was obviously out on a limb, without the luxuries of the wire service and satellite phone that AP had, or the endless supplies of cars that Sigma had (they had written off four since the beginning of the war in Sarajevo). I was forced to give my film to other journalists, as the papers said

they wanted originals. Only half of my film got back to the UK, and most of that missed its deadlines. Most broadsheets are ref using to com-

mission any photographers for Yugoslavia now, but are willing to take wire pictures from younger photographers who are risking their lives for a fraction of what they should earn on

UN vehicles are all high on Serbian snipers' priority lists as targets. ZUNG FU A Jardine Pacific Busines (Distributor for Hong Kong and Macau), Bonaventure House, kighton Road, Hong Kong. Gl: 895 7288 Tel¡7646919. l22CantonRoad,T!¡mshatsui,Kowloon Tel,T35llgg.ZungFuCarparkBuilding,50PoLo¡Street,Hunghom SOUTHERNSTARMOTORCO. (Distributor for Southern China), 1702 Dina House, lt Duddell Street, HongKong, Tèl' 868 0411 MERCEDES-BENZ AG. BEIJING LIA¡SON OFFICE (Distributor for Northern Ch¡na), 20/F, CITIC Building, 19 Jian Cuo Men Vai Dajie, Beijing Tel, 5003051

Mercedes-Benz Engineered to move the human spirit

US$2O-a-minute satellite phone from Sarajevo and was told to "stay and work with our reporter." I sent my film back but some never arrived and the rest was late so I didn't receive a penny! After I was shot, I spent four days in Kosevo Hospital in Sarajevo and was then flown from there to Zagreb on the first British Hercules. I was treated there for another four days by the UN and then David Fairhall, the defence correspondent f rom lhe Gu ard ian, look pity on me and bought me an air ticket home, paid for by his paper. The Guardian later credited this ex-

pense against payment for pictures I had supplied to it. I have barely recouped my costs for the trip and now can't walk properly, or work for at least another two months. I went to Sarajevo hoping to find a

story, and ended up being the story myself for three papers and one magazine that reported my wounding. My advice to all freelancers is to find a safer path to fame and fortune and stay clear of Yugoslavia. Many established journalists I met there, who had worked in Vietnam, Beirut and Afghanistan and on the Gulf War, said it was the worst situation for journalists to work in that they'd seen.

This article first appeared in Press Gazette.

telephoned one Sunday paper on AP's

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

Welcome to the Zoo, Comrade

Many investment strategists see economic recovery in Britain

Management fees are therefore low, an

being a matter of "when" not rriflr. \Øhen the economy begìns to make

initial

charge of 4%ó on the

Apart from a brief sojourn to the very

loud teenyboppers' Yelts lnn in Lan Kwai Fong, in front of which lvan posed for photographs with his copy of the Moscow Newsvowing to publish it in the well respected, one million circulation

organ, the Russians stayed until the early hours at the FCC. Although language proved a difficulty

early in the evening, by the end lvan and new found friends were talking in whatever that was!

What a load of old junk

sentimenc should be reflected in the Financial Times - Stock Exchange 100 Index, also known as the "Footsie" Index.

The Footsie Fund is a new investment instrument being launched

will

invest

in Britain, byJames Capel Unic Trust Managers Limited, and in Hong

companies

of the

Kong by \Øardley International Management Limited. The Fund

The Footsie Fund

in all 100

FT - SE 100 Index, blue chip companies like British Telecom, BA, BP,

(L-R) lvan Klimenko, Barry Grindrod and MikhailTokmakov.

I/o.

value of the units, an annual management îee of

a steady climb out of its prolonged period of recession, bullish

Marks & Spencer.

The director general and editor-in-chief of lhe Moscow News, lvan Klimenko, was a VIP aboard Aeroflot's inaugural flight into Hong Kong recently. At a reception thrown by the airline he asked aviation journalist, Barry Grindrod, if he could meet other journalists. "You are lucky, it is Friday night which means it is zoo night at the FCC," said Grindrod through interpreter and Aeroflot steward Mikhail Tokmakov. Probably a little was lost in the translation but both Russians accepted the invitation and just for good measure Eric Hotung gave his driver instructions to whisk the trio to the Club in his RollsRoyce during which time lvan enjoyed himself playing with the electric window switch.

does

not attempt to finesse the timing of economic recovery, but takes the

is an index fund rather than an actively managed

fund, which means computer technigues are used to come

One of the more unusual exh¡bitions to be staged at the Club was the work by artists Russell West and Jeny Swaffield called Scrapture ... things made from

opportunity ofonly buying blue chip stock.

junk. The exhibition proved a huge success with most of the exhibits being bought by members.

is likely to appeal most

to those whose end-use¡ currency is Sterlíng. Those who are bullish

as close as

possible to matching the performance ofthe Footsie Index.

about Britain,

in the longer term Ifyou want ¡o have

bit ofBritain

in your portfolio, you should buy The Footsie Fund. Simply

filI in the coupon or call our Unit Trust Enquiry Line

in the Fund

be made on a regular monthÌy basis (a minimum of just

l4O

847 9090 and get in on The Footsie

The Footsie Fund is an ideal vehicle for regular investment, with a view to long-term capital appreciation. Investment

Fund at ground zero.

can

Former Club president Peter Seidlitz thought Swaffield's flying machine was so good he bought ¡t.

each

month) so that you can gradually increase the value of your portfolio

Lump sum investment begins at f 1,000. There is no mryimum.

YES.

I uant

play Footie, I ¡æ it a¡ ax inwtment

fitare, P løte

:end

me more

ìt Britain

andm1

infowtion,

family'r

Name: Address!

The FT

SE 100 Index is widely

quoted.

SØherever you are

TO: the world, you can accurately estimate the value of your investment in

The Mdketlrg Department Wddley Investment Serylces Llûrited

the Footsie Fund

12th FLoor, BA Tower, 12 Harcourt Road, Ceûtral, Hong Kong Telephone: 847 9090 Fax:845 2024

The Footsie Fund requires passive investment management

Inuestors are

rmlntud ,bat

ñayEo doun aseeu as xþ

Russell West's

(Home)

Teleptrone No: (Offlce)

tbe

þdce of unrts and lncorc

theHard NoseThe

Highway jroú ,bø

oCE CE

Art lovers Cynth¡a Hydes and Stuart Wolfendale discuss

Swaffield's Junk THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992 I7

Wheel turns full circle for London Press Club

number of options to ensure the future

of our club. Among these was a geographical base more appealing to our members and potential members as well as somewhere f rom which we could

The Wig and Pen Club fits all "Bernard Coral has agreed that we will retain our name and membership and continue as the London Press Club.

In a recent dispatchfrom London it was announced that the London Press Club is to share premises with the famous Wig & Pen Club in The Strand just opposite the Law Courts. TedThomas; a member of the Wig & Pen

We will have our bar which will house

our memorabilia such as the Edgar Wallace Chair. Any membership drive we undertake aimed at working journalists will be supported by the Wig and

many years, looks back with fondness on the Press Club and what the new union will mean.

for

Pen.

"A communications room to enable

the filing' of copy by phone, fax nd sothe wheelturns

fullcircle

and London's embattled Press

Club has finally come home

to the venerable Wig and Pen on The

li rl

Strand just a few yards from glamorous Fleet Street. The Wig and Pen has been around a long time. The two houses, now knocked into one, were built in 1625 and are reputed to be among the few in the area to have escaped the ravages of the Great Fire of London. But the site goes back a great deal further in history. Roman tiles have been uncovered there and 11th century records show that it was the property of the Bishops of London. The keeper of Temple Bar lived there when the tenancy passed to the Lord Mayor of London during the reign of

roundings. Meals are also served there until late in the evening. A new venture will be a snack bar for those who cannot spare the time for a full meal, however delicious. Bernard Coral adds: "All of us at the Wig and Pen are tremendously proud to be involved with this exciting development for the London Press Club. lt now has the opportunity to develop into one of the leading press clubs in the world, with influence and prestige to match."

and

modem is being planned and rooms will be available for smalldinners and press

conferences.

"London Press Club members will also enjoy equal facilities with Wig and Pen Club members and the full use of the club's bar and restaurant, which are open from noon until late in the evening. "The overseas subscription will continue at Stg25 and the veteran mem-

bers

those who had completely re-

tired and were unlikely to make frequent

James l. A private tenant took over in 1672 when the wooden temple was replaced by stone and the keeper left to live in a new stone building. lt was first recorded

that the two houses were used for the selling of food and catering in 1859 and

club records show that young jurists and journalists started to meet there in 1 908. Those meetings were interrupted by the First World War and it was 1947 before the Wig and Pen came into being. It really took off when Dick Brennan took control in 1951. lt is now in the affable hands of Bernard Coral, who took over from his father, Joe. The Wig and Pen restaurant has gained a name for good food in pleasant sur-

The Wig and Pen Club. News of the move was broken to the 50 or so members of the London Press Club who attended the annual meeting in June when chairman George Westropp said: "Last year, I promised that the directors and committee would look at a

use of the club-willbe pleased to know that the Stg10 privilege subscription will be continued indef initely," Westropp said. I've been using the Wig and Pen for well over 15 years and always found it a delightful, warm and hospitable refuge

THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

The name of the world's in the city which has grown steadily less chummy asthe chilling depression drags on following the departure to pastures new of most of Britain's most famous national daily and Sunday newspapers. Most old London Press Club hands will remember with fondness that the

Mucky Duck (White Swan) in Tudor Street, the favourite drinking spot of generations of News Chronicle and Daily Mail reporters, subs and writers, is really the birth place of the London Press Club. It was there that - a couple of months after the collapse in February 1986 of the heavily in debt Press Club - nearly 100 former members met in response to a call by Johnnie Johnson which was made in traditional fashion ... via the grapevine.

Johnnie told them that the meeting had been called with the specific aim of forming a new club to replace the Press Club. lt was clear that the Press Club could not be rescued and he asked those present for ideas on how a new club could be formed. There was almost unanimous agreement that an attempt should be made, and a working party was elected to make it work. It was Bryan Cooper who found the club its first headquarters. When the

Mucky Duck meeting closed he took the working party to Duffers, then under the railway arches at Ludgate Circus, where

theywereshown a large basement room with a smaller room adjoining

smaller one and members given the right to use the Duffers restaurant.

world.

snooker table in the

The move to Duffers

st MasterCard issuer.

rabilia and library. The Press Club then started its wanderings in the wilderness, first with a

The London Press Club now has the opportunity to develop into one of the leading press clubs in the

and were told it was theirs. A bar was put in the larger room and a

spell at the City of London Golf Club, then to Scribes, which did not turn out to

be all we had hoped. Fi-

nally, the club acquired what had been Hudsons, a former sports club in the

sub-basement of Walker House, and turned it into a

new Duffers, to which all were invited to return, and

where the club has re-

took only four months and on September 16, 1986, a letter went out to all prospective members that the London Press Club was to open on October 9. There would be "a large

bar, snack bar run by Rene Mullis (a great favourite of all members of the former Press Club), a snooker room and at least one fruit machine." The club prospered until the end of 1989, when it was demolished almost

mained until now.

But Walker House is rather off the beaten track and few of the Press Club members used it. So now the Press Club is off to the bright lights of the Strand and almost in Fleet Street sharing the ancient and charming premises occupied by the Wig and Pen Club. It is hoped that the caravan will rest there for a long time to come.

literally over the members heads to

Ted Thomas is an associate member

make way for the lowering of the railway lines so they could pass under Ludgate

of the Club and managing director of

name welcomed at more than 9 million outlets worldwide,

The most important name of all,

Corporate Communications Limited.

Hill instead of above. Johnnie Johnson and David Linton spent a fraught morn-

ing crawling about under the piles of rubble rescuing much of the club's memo-

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THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

Helping journAlists to help themselves he end of the Cold War has signalled new opportunities for the

New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). lndependent and pluralistic media are struggling to be born in many parts of

the world where it was previously impossible for them to exist, and an unprecedented number of journalists are seeking CPJ's help to get them going. CPJ's mandate is, and will continue to be, the defence of journalists' rights around the world. ln our New York offices, we are documenting and protesting more cases than ever before, with particularly intense activity in Turkey, China and Haiti- countries where there is little space for journalists to speak up on their own behalf. At the same time, we are also committed to helping jour-

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efforts.

By Anne Nelson with other organisations, we have as-

CPJ's interest in formulating strategies to help journalists in areas of political transition was discussed with other freedom of expression organisations at a ground-breaking meeting earlier this year in Montreal. One result was the foundation of the lnternational Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), to speed research

sisted in establishing a prototype, to be launched later this year in San Jose,

and protest activity through more so-

Costa Rica, by Guatemalan journalist

ogy. IFEX will also allow participating

Byron Barrera. Barrera's centre will monitor abuses

organisations to develop a more coherent approach to issues of common concern. CPJ hopes that its efforls, pursued both independently and in cooperation with IFEX members, will strengthen the hand of journalists around the globe who are fighting for their rights. Our aim is to make documentation and protest activities more of a two-way street, to regions whose media have much to teach as well as much to learn.

of press freedom throughout Central America, and also will host workshops and other programmes to brief journalists on their rights and techniques for self defence. CPJ hopes similar centres

can be established in other regions, such as Africa, the Commonwealth of ndependent States, and Southeast Asia. CPJ is presently developing its own training programme in journalists' safety. Created with the support of The Freedom Forum, the programme, which will be operational by year's end, is deI

phisticated use

of computer

technol-

Anne Nelson is a director of the Committee to Protect Journalists

signed as a one-day workshop to be appended to CPJ missions as well as to other professional training programmes.

It is addressed to journalists who

live

and work in developing countries. The workshops, primarily lead by CPJ staff, will be tailored to specific regional

conditions, and will eventually be available in Spanish, Russian, Chinese, French and Arabic. A handbook to be produced in conjunction with the programme will include

a quick reference to international

Editor's Note: The CPJ was estabiñ 1981 to monitor and promote of the press around

theworld.

ter Cronkite is the honourary chair-

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THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

BOOK REVIEV/ the-ball competition that was easy to enter but impossible to win. Greenslade should know: he reluctantly oversaw its

Outrage against journalism hen British newspaper proprietor Robert Maxwell went to his watery reward in November 1991, he left behind possibly the biggest IOU in corporate history and a reputation that was to be blackened by almost daily disclosure. He wanted to be a real-life Citizen Kane, a Hearstian powerbroker who commanded fearful respect. lnstead, he will more likely be remembered as Citizen Fagin, a larcenous brute of Dickensian exaggeration who cowed, manipulated and plundered with an awesome zeal. To the public, he was a tireless source of buffoonish entertainment, and in some

those who knew the real Maxwell and his workings is less venial. Too often, they preferred cringe and capitulation to pride and principle. Why were the truslees of the employees' pension fund so mute when Maxwell was using it as a personal cash float? Why were the accountants and auditors so credulous when worthless inventory was valued at ludicrous prices, when all kinds of bal-

ance-sheet malarkey was disguised behind the entry marked "intangibles,"

when assets were shuffled between

downmarket tabloid marginally less scummy than some of its competitors. Since Maxwell bought hhe Mirrorandils

flIAXWELL'S

sister papers in 1984, it seemed a rare day when the family was unrepresented on the front page after some trite occurrence, or when the proprietor's chaotic political or industrial philosophies were not allowed free rein. lnto the lion's den in January 1989 stepped Greenslade, persuaded by Maxwell that he was the editor to restore the paper's lustre and persuaded himself that he could build a

Maginot line against the proprietor's clumsy despotism.

Alas, this was not to be a case of irresistible force meets immovable obFORflIER EDIIOR OF THE DAILY NNIRROR

ject, as Greenslade acknowledges

this entertaining and chilling account of life under the Maxwell heel. Maxwell's Fal/is a good companion to Tom Bower's

Maxwell's Fall By Roy Greenslade

Simon & Schuster pp$|20 Reviewed by Steve Proctor

of the doings of Maxwell and his kin? Cowardice, greed and inertia all played their part. The Maxwell wrath was unbridled and indiscriminate. Senior executives whimpered before it, secretaries fled in tears. Greed? Maxwell operated on the principle that the size of a man's soul is rarely larger than his wallet, and contrary evidence was scanty. lnertia? Okay, the apologists seemed

to say, the man has a reputation for being a bit dodgy, but let's not jeopardise our fees, salaries or interest payments until confronted by something unmistakably crooked. Typically, the British regulatory authorities picked up the scent long after anything useful could be done.

companies with suspicious regularity?

One of the less craven figures to flit across the Maxwell horizon in nearly

Why the docility of editors forced to turn their newspapers into a numbing diary

five decades of chicanery was Roy Greenslade, who for 14 torrid months

The editor claimed some success,

was editor of the Daily Mirror,

ways this gave him the latitude for his nefarious private deeds. Almost everybody sensed a charlatan; a government report in 1971 had made this virtually an officialverdict. But it was hard to keep a straight face as this conspicuous glutton set off on a mission of mercy to the starving of Africa, massaging as much publicity out of the sham as possible. Orto resist a chor.tle as Maxwell snaked an arm round the Queen's shoulders at a sporting festival, like a benevolent employer enjoying a relaxed moment with a chirpy biddy from the cleaning pool. But an unknowing public was entitled to this indulgence. The performance of

nggrng.

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

The Outsider (Mandarin $95). Bower provides the forensic evidence for the case that MaxiÂĄrell was a cheat and a bully; Greenslade supplements it with a character reference for the prosecution. Bower, whose diligent research Greenslade draws on with acknowledgement, wrote most of his book under the eye of lawyers anxious to aveft the

sometimes by duplicity, sometimes by defiance. But the monster wanted a yes-man, a supplicant. The end was in sight for Greenslade when he equivocated about running a promotion for multi-vitamin pills that were supposed to improve the lQ of children. The evidence for this grandiose claim was inconclusive. What was not beyond doubt was that Maxwell had a financial inter-

est in the product. Eventually, after Greenslade had agreed to deparl but was still in the editor's chair, the offer was run under the sceptical headline "Can you REALLY make your kids brighter?" Another battle had been lost. Dumb insolence was all that was left for the prisoners. Maxwell detected a flair for journalism in himself that was invisible to everybody else, but his vainglorious claims about his role as saviour of corporate lame-ducks were treated with rather

more respect. This, after all, was

himself in combat and then forced his way into the big league of British business. ln fact, as Greenslade outlines, he was a lamentable manager. Vanity ruled, especially in publishing ventures promising some publicity. Every hare was chased, usually to expensive igno-

miny. But, undeterred, there was always another great act of corporate statesmanship beckoning. He was the despair of his financial directors. Crucial decisions were taken on an unaccount-

able whim, money was pledged to a range of headline-grabbing causes (though often not delivered), and a lifestyle of casual hedonism had to be supporled from somewhere. The day after Maxwell died,lhe Daily Mirror ran page after page of lavish and unctuous eulogies under the splash headline "The man who saved lhe Mirrol'. Days later, when its past and present staff realised how their pensions had been pillaged, the paper was reviling him as a crook and a liar, both which he assuredly was. This about{ace goes some way to encapsulate how the man

zcc

I,M THEIR NEW

FO REIGN CORRESPON DE NT

usual snowstorm of writs from the liti-

gious Maxwell, and its readability

l-r

peasant boy from a town on lhe CzechRomanian border who had distinguished

flourished for so long. By his unique ability to mesmerise or mangle all who were sucked into his web, he created a conspiracy against the truth in his favour. Only irrefutable evidence, and a silent libel law, stripped away the layers

of lies. As for whether Maxwell fell or jumped

from his yacht moored off the coast of Tenerife, Greenslade argues strongly that suicide is the most plausible explanation. The Maxwell empire was crumbling, the extent of his looting of the pension funds and of his other companies' assets could not be disguised any longer. lf the emperor had any clothes, they had been stolen. Greenslade believes his shenanigans were not the work of a rational man and that when

lucidity was allowed to intrude into his mania, there was only one course of action. Greenslade's verdict: "Maxwell took his own life while the balance of his mind was briefly undisturbed."

Steve Proctor is a journalist with the Far Eastern Economic Review

BY ARTHUR HACKER

YOU,VE REALLY . TOUCHED BOTTOAA TH I5 TIAAEMc LU 3Ă&#x2026;./

impaired as a result. Greenslade, writing after his tormentor's mysterious leaving of this world, was able to let rip

in best tabloid fashion in a

libelJree

zone. The Maxwell outrages against honest

journalism are legion. Not surprisingly perhaps, given his lifelong fearlessness in defence of a lie. But the examples of a corrupt spirit left even the weariest cynics of Fleet Street baffled, bruised or debased. Like the hack covering the lraqi invasion of Kuwait who was expected by Maxwell to act as a gofer in selling unshiftable encyclopedias to the allied troops. Like the Stgl million spot-

(

{

THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

AROUND THE REGION

THORN RENTAIS ÏAKE A IOA[) OFF YOUR MIND.

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As an expatriate you don't he guards at the gates of the Puri Agung, or palace, in Gianyar, a town in south-eastern Bali, were polite but firm. Entry to the palace grounds was barred to anyone not wearing Balinese dress. Members of the international media

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milled about uncertainly. Most were in the normal garb of the wandering journo an un-coordinated set of garments -chosen for familiarity and comfort and plenty of deep pockets to hold passports, pens, notebooks, rolls of film, mini tape-recorders, packets of mints

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and, for those still courting the big C,

cigarettes. The temptation was to tell the guards and the PR person relaying their message to go jump. But that would have meanl having to explain to an office in London, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong or Tokyo, how one had attended the most spectacular cremation in Bali's recent history and not spoken to or taken pictures of the man behind the grand event, ldaArak Agung Gde Agung, the Rajah of Gianyar. Moreover, much of the action was inside or being organised from the palace. Access to the grounds was vital for anyone wanting to write or broadcast the full story. Several hacks ventured thatthey didn't know what to wear or how to wear it. No problem, the PR person proclaimed. Some palace attendants were summoned, money changed hands and within minutes they were back f rom local stores with regulation sarong, sash and scarf. The outfits cost between 35,000 and 55,000 rupiahs, depending on the quality of the material, so the press corps made a modest contribution to the local economy. The real problem was not acquiring the gear, but wearing it. The Balinese male sarong is not the tube favoured in the rest of lndonesia and in Malaysia, which expatriates soon discover is ideal

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leaned over his shoulder to shriek instructions to a cameraman colleague

By Ian Stewart

whom she thought was missing the for house-wear in a hot climate and can be folded around the waist in a way that guarantees it stays there. ln Bali, the sarong is simply a length of cloth, which must be wrapped around the hips and secured on the left side so that there is an overhand of material reaching almost to the ground. The sash goes over the sarong like a maxiskirt and the scarf serves as an insubstantial waistband. The challenge is ensuring that everything remains in place. The troops to a man cheated by using trouser belts to hold up their sarongs. Even so, a constant hitching was required to maintain the symmetry of the three elements. Palace officials did not insist on any conformity in shirts or footwear, leading to a motley array of upper garments and feet shod in everything from cowboy boots to sneakers, rather than more appropriate sandals. As a result, the general appearance of the press corps was more grotesque than usual. The cultural correctness of the sarong was somewhat debased by the Hawaiian shirts, baggy bush jackets and disparate footwear of your correspondent and his colleagues. The sight of TV cameramen tripping on their sarongs as they pushed forward to record the dancers, gamelan players and coufiiers in the crowded palace courtyard added to the general air of absurdity. After staring in disbelief at the barbarian tribe which had been allowed entry to the palace to provide an historical record of the occasion, palace officials averted their eyes and pretended that the press was not there.

However,

a gaggle of energetic

newshounds bent on matching every

action. "Please don't shout," he said quietly. A couple of retainers looked at the woman as if they would like to throw her over the nearest palace wall into the street but in lieu of any order from the Rajah they merely glowered. The Rajah had a message for the people of lndonesia and the outside

world and he was prepared to put up with the indignity of having the international media as guests over a period of five days, during which he allowed them to tramp through the public and private areas of the palace, interview him at length, and join him at lunch. A distinguished scholar, a one-time foreign minister and former ambassa-

dor as well as the head of the

royal

house of Gianyar, which traces its origins back to the Majapahit empire, Pak Agung,71 , combines the cool detachment of the nobility with the wit and charm of the diplomat. He explained with care to each corre-

spondent who interviewed him that he wanted lndonesia and the world to know that the Balinese were adhering to their religion, traditions and culture - the three pillars of their society despite the inroads of tourism and the modernisation associated with the country's rapid economic development. He hoped the spectacle of the royal cremation, to which many of the people of Gianyar made a contribution as participants or aftists, would reinforce the three pillars. The cremation was a little like having a party without the guest of honour. The dead were present only in effigy, the bodies mother - of the Rajah's wife, and four stepmothers having been privately committed to the flames over the previous quarter century.

Paa,

THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

NEW MEMBERS Neveftheless, the colour and splendour of the occasion was enough to excite the most jaded media photographer or cameraman. For those charged with capturing the

event in words alone, it was also a good story. Even worth dressing up in a sarong, sash and scarf. But what do you do with a costume when the party's over? Keep it in the drawer untilthe next

cremation in Bali, I suppose.

lan Stewart is

vice-president of the Singapore FCC and absent member of the FCC

The FCC u,elcomes îhe

I begin this ntonth v'ith a list of

tion with the South Korean Consulate

fo| Iou,ittg nerl members :

the Cluh's management v'hich v,e v,ill repeat regularly so that menlbers knou'w,ho is running each departmenÍ.

General, we will feature a Korean night with chefs specially flown in from The Hermit Kingdom. On December 9 the musical entertainers Norman Castle and Lesley will perform at the Club promising music, comedy, nostalgia, humour and fun.

Correspondent Radhika Chalasani, photographer,

Dateline Tokyo

There is some interesting material

ooo

nnovation may be the middle

Reading

accompanied by "a light meal, instead of a heavy dinner and too much alcohol." Jones'version of a "nooner" has some members howling in protest, but most concede it will lead to a more businesslike meeting, guarantee a quorum and that the meeting will end "on time." Club manager Al Stamp, an advocate of democracy and efficiency, still wonders about decreased bar sales. The controversial meeting will deal with the club's expensive renovation plans and "l want everyone to be clearheaded," the president said.

Jones' other proposal is to have an

or take my Ann, but it sure didn't take him

long. And another Thank God and Greyhound you're gone. Laslly, I don't know whether to kill myself or go bowling. And just one more: The worst you ever gave me was the best I ever had.

Easy facility Partial familiarity Less than partial No answer

The study quotes Nobuyoshi Yamada,

Agence France Presse Elizabeth Cheng, edilor, China Trade Report

Mark Clifford, industry correspondenl, Far Eastern Economic Review David Lague, Hong Kong Correspondenl, The Australian Donald Last, Asia-Pacific editor, lnternational Financing Review Ryuichiro Nakamura, bureau chief, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp) Dong Hee Ryu, Hong Kong correspondenl, Hankook llbo (Koreal Michael Thomas, senior editor, ,Asra

lnc lsao Yamamoto, bureau chiel, Nihon KeizaiShimbun

general manager of the FCCJ, as say-

Meet the Press: Takahiro Nosaka, a graduate student at Fresno State Uni-

versity in California, has completed research on American Foreign Correspondents in Japan: Profile and Problems in Coverage for his MA in mass communications. Much of the work was based on replies by 29 American foreign correspondents here out of 62 who were sent questionnaires late last year.

ing the language ability of foreign corre-

Journalist

spondents stationed in Japan has improved very much. "Few foreign correspondents could speak Japanese flu-

Michael Mackey, freelance journalist Teymoor Nabili, financial news editor, Metro Broadcast Stephen Ward, business reporter,

ently

a decade or so ago,"

Edward Neilan is contributing editor of the FCCJ's magazine and absent member of the FCC

gories to salute the work of Japanbased or regional foreign correspondents. "Withthe 50th anniversaryof the FCCJ coming soon, perhaps it's time to start a new club tradition," Jones said.

earning, per-capita, consumer spending groups in Hong Kong.

My wife ran off with my best friend, and I miss him has been chosen as the country and western theme song for Texas Night lll at the FCCJ on October 23. Organisers are Corky Alexander

Yamada

said.

annual FCCJ Prize in one or more cate-

South China Morning Post

Associate Karl Bakke, managing director Far East, The Adherence Group lnc Ben Beaumont, sen¡or lecturer, City Polytechnic Peter Campbell, managing director, Lion Liaison Limited Athene Choy, managing director, Devlin-Campbell and Associates Mark Friedman, director, Far East Commodities and Trading Co Ltd Fernando Gaspar, managing direc-

theme song; lt took a hell of a man to

1992

General Manager Heinz Grabner Executive Secretary Bonnie Ho Membership Secretary Teresa Kwong FinancialController EleanorCheung F& B Controller Alex Lee Executive Chef Alan Chan Restaurant Manager Gilbert Cheng Bar Manager Sammy Cheng Housekeeper Wendy Wong August began with a move for some of them. The accounts section and the food and beverage control unit moved to our new office at 5/F Yau Shun Building, 50 D'Aguilar Street as part of the overall scheme to improve Club facilities. lf you have any accounts enquiries in the future, please call 521 1708 or fax 526 7556. October will liven up with the Octoberfest on the 16th - the first we have held here for some years. lt will feature

genuine Bavarian delicacies and

I end this month on a historical note.

Our antique brass joint wagon, a masterpiece of lost craftsmanship, which so elegantly blocks the main bar service

Lowenbrau beer. On the 20th the food evening will be

door at present, is for sale to the

lndian.

$20,000.

The very popular Sundowners Bush Band from Australia will perform at the Club on Friday, October 23. November starts with a Swiss food week on the fifth, featuring specialties prepared by lrma Dutsch who is a well known Swiss gourmet and her assis-

tants. The week will end with a gala evening on the 13th. Mrs Dutsch is the

owner and operator of the Waldhotel

Franklin Jacome, managing director,

Fletschorn and restaurants in Saas Fee, Switzerland. From November 19 to 27 we will feature once again French week with the Club's traditional Beaujolais Nou-

Equinox lnternational Enterprises

veau breakfast on the first day ... for

Christina Ko, administration and cor-

those who want to spend the rest of the day away from the office. After his success last year, Fabric Gomet, the

tor, San Miguel Brewery Ltd Jonathan Green, assistant solicitor, Richards Butler

porate communications manager, Merrill Lynch Lim Tam, managing director, Kingstar Shipping Ltd John Watson, counsellor, British Trade Commission

(Tokyo Weekender), Chloe Monroe (Oak Associates) and Glenn Davis (AmerL can Chamber Journal¡... Runner-up for

28 THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

Speaking

Native fluency

tor).

er, administration from evening to noon,

the paper and a solid bibliography, but few surprises. Responses to the perennial question on Japanese language skills of Ameri-

By Edward Neilan

dents' Club of Japan president Clayton Jones (Christian Science MoniJones has shifted the time of the first club general meeting under his rule ...

can correspondents:

name of new Foreign Correspon-

MANAGER'S REPORT

executive chef

of the Hotel Des

highest bidder. The minimum price is

Heinz Grabner

rrr

ln an effort to keep members fully informed about events and

I I I I I I

FAX No: MEMBERSHIP No;:

Ur-

conjunc

I I I I I I I I

suline, has agreed to come back and do

the cooking. On Friday, December 4, in

r--\

FAX NOTE

I I

Thank you

Lìrrrrr-----

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

) 1992

T_ t1___J-L,/-7

L.r1-S

EL]tr THERE'S ALWAYS

A STORYAT

PRESIDENT'S LETTER THE

HONG KONG TRADE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

The thin end of the wedge ord Salisbury (deceased, exminister of Her Britannic Maj-

of a fictional baby to a fictional unmar-

esty) in one of his more bucolic moods declared that the study of maps drove men mad. Luckily for the late lamented Earl, he did not live in Hong Kong where there are plenty of other things to drive men (and women for that matter) quite mad. Consider this: we have a government with a miraculous ability to conjure billions, yes billions of dollars, out of thin air to invest in the nightmare airport project.

Brown a.k.a. Candice Bergen. The vice-president (who's inability to spell is an endearing quality shared by some of the f inest hacks in the land) has

The largest expatriate community in Hong Kong, the Filipinos, are about to be ethnically cleansed from their Sunday resting place of Chater Gardens on the grounds that they have the temerity to be both modest in means and slightly darker skinned in colour. And, just to add to the sum of human jollification, we have been treated to the

delights of one of the richest men in Legco (indeed maybe THE richest)criticising fellow legislators for being too rich and too willing to jump from the cosy bed of the British colonialists to the silk covered bed chamber of the new masters from across the border. The author of these remarks, British passport holder David Li OBE JP, was last seen bowing low in the direction of one of the many old age pensioners who occupy positions of influence in the Middle Kingdom. The Hong Kong Trode Development Council con help you moke business heodlines every doy of the yeor, As

However, I digress, it is, afterall no

o mojor force in world trode you'll find we've olwoys got o good story to tell: no podding, no puff ond bocked by occurote, upìo{he-moment figures ond stotistics, Nexttime you receive one of our press releoses, give it o good

business of the president of a club representing persons as humble as hacks, to venture into territory of general concerns when we have more than enough to worry about right here on our own doorstep.

once-over, You'll soon see whot we meon, Or contoct us if you need detoils on ony ospect of Hong Kong trode, Hong l(ong Heod ollice Wilti

As you will not have guessed I am

Showki Sofieddine Tel: ó85-2ó Gobdello ftonok Tel:1ó6ó47ó,

¡ lslonbul Yokup Borouh Tel: Brogo Tel: 577-04,14 . Mllon . Ponomo Clly Anel E, Eeliz . Singopore Andy LinÌel:293-1977 ¡ Slockholm Morio Peiersson-sondowTel: 4û677, Yomoshilo Tel: 3502 325,1/5 . loronlo Louis Ho Tel: 3óó-3594 . Voncouver Jeff Domonsky

Hong Kong Trade Development Council

referring to the trials and tribulations of Radio Television Hong Kong which used to be criticised for the usual boring old allegations of bias in their current affairs programmes but are now being hammered by members of the Li Peng fan

ried mother, the entirely fictional Murphy

said that the programme provided a

club for their drama productions. I challenge any reader to find a single government-run broadcasting organisation which has not been criticised for bias in its current affairs programmes. Such criticism followsthe natural order of things, there is usually a direct correlation between the volume of the criticism and the political weakness of those offering the criticism. At any rate this criticism falls into the category of "fair comment". What does not qualify as fair comment are suggestions, from the Li Peng fans, that RTHK should not have broadcast its drama

series Below the Lion Rock. They were particularly angered by an

episode which intelligently examined issues of press freedom versus government manipulation in a thinly veiled dramatic rehash of the infamous TVB interview with our old friend Li Peng. Casting aside the artistic merits or otherwise of this episode, the really chilling aspect of the debate is the insistence of pro-Beijing elements that the debate should not have been allowed in the first place. Their response to differences of dpinion is not to discuss the issues but to demand the suppression of debate. Compare and contrast this way of handling things with the antics of the hapless US Vice-President Dan Quayle who happily discusses the fictional birth

welcome opportunity to raise important issues surrounding single parenthood. He has not said that the debate should be thwarted at birth because he was unlikely to like the outcome. But in tiny Hong Kong we are told by Li Peng fans that it is far too dangerous/ disloyal to the motherland/threatening to prosperity and stability etc. etc. to even discuss issues which have the potential to offend China. lf you want to know where the thin edge of the wedge starts, it starts right here. I do not believe that it is possible to make enough fuss to alert the public to the dangers of this kind of attempted censorship. Meanwhile, in the hallowed corridors of the FCC we have moved from famine to feast on the speakers front. No less than three prime ministers and former prime ministers have passed through our doors during October, viz Dr Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, Mr Anand

Panyarachun of Thailand and Sir Edward Heath of Britain. Our modest aim is to become the number one venue for speakers in Hong Kong and, hopefully, we are on the road to achieving this end. We may even be able to perfect the amplification system so that they can be heard with stunning clarity, but maybe this objective is too ambitious. With an enhanced roll call of speakers and a fully functioning press centre now up and running in the basement, we are in danger of confounding the cynics who insist that the FCC's sole claim to fame is that it possesses the best bar in town. Not, I hasten to add, that there is anything wrong with that.

Steve Vines

We Creote Opportunilies

Heod Otfice: 38lh Floor, Office Tower, Convenlion Plozo,

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THECORRESPONDENT OCTOBER

1992

The SLR c

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PEDDLER'S JOURNAL

Cherry blossom yantage point he cherry blossom occupies a

groves spacious enough to accommodate them.

special niche in Japanese tradition and literature. lts appeal to

The demand for space, however, is to

the Japanese stems not only from its delicate beauty, but on a deeper and

put it mildly, brisk. Much like dispatching an office boy an hour or so before

more fundamental level from its fragile and ephemeral nature. lt is short-lived.

to hold a table in a dim sum restaurant, scouts must be sent well in advance to locate and reserve the ideal noon

While still in its full glory, untarnished by decay, it is shed and falls gracefully to the ground. The imagery this creates strikes a poignant cord in the Japanese

site for an afternoon office par.ty. ln many parks, during the height of the season, rather forlorn looking young

psyche. The kamikaze pilots in their farewell letters home likened themselves to cherry blossoms falling from the sky. But perhaps this sentiment belongs to an earlier age. Even from earliest times, however, I suspect that the annual Japanese ritual of viewing the cherry blossoms was more an excuse for a party than to contemplate the fleeting nature of one's existence. Anyone who has visited Ueno Park or other popular spots in Tokyo in the late afternoon when the cherry trees are in bloom will have seen the raucous groups of inebriated men and women clapping rhythmically to some folk song

or merely sprawled on straw mats un-

der the trees. When threading ones way through the revellers, care must be taken to avoid knocking over the stray saki bottle or treading on the occasional paper plate of cuttle fish jutting out into the path. Beginning in March a cherry blossom update is broadcast each night along with the evening news on NHK, the

national television station. Like the weather report it features a map of Japan with a meandering line marking the front along which the trees are coming

into flower. The front makes its appearance in Okinawa and allowing for the vagaries of weather and topography, moves steadily in fits and starts northward. lt ends about six to seven weeks later near Wakanai on the northernmost tip of Hokkaido. Cartoon like drawings showing the blossoms in various

men and women can be seen as early as mid-morning scattered about squat-

season at selected points across the country. These are updated each eve-

ting on straw mats each jealously guarding a tree for his or her mates who will arrive hours later. A friend told me of seeing one such young fellow who had brought with him a stack of files and a word processor to while away the time. He had posted on his tree a notice saying "This plot has been reserved by section 3, planning department 2, Nip-

nrng.

pon Yusen K. K. in the name of

stages of development decorate the map and serve to illustrate the forecasted dates for the opening of the

lwas in Osaka back in Aprilduring the cherry blossom season. One of my calls

was on a small trading company located near Nakanoshima, a strip of parkland bordering the Okawa river, and one of the oldest and most popular spots in Osaka for viewing the cherry blossoms. The yaezakura, a particularly spectacular variety with eight petals to the blossom, was in full bloom. From our window we could see the trees fully dressed in riotous pink outlined against the sky. But we could also see seemingly endless lines of people stretching out like tentacles from every entrancetothe park. Asthe lines merged, their progress slowed to a shuffle and jammed together, like the noon day crowds in Central, they proceeded in solid mass down the path between the rows of trees. Their heads were arched upwards to take in the blossoms.

Kobayashi-Katcho." Guarding a tree just across from him was somebody's grandmother. Sometimes the selection of the site is considered too important a decision to leave in the hands of a junior staff member. I know of one company where the department head always goes directly to the park from his home, arriving before office hours to select the most desirable place. He is relieved soon afterwards by one of his more

dependable subordinates who then maintains a solitary vigil for most of the

day. The department head returns at around 3pm proudly leading his entourage, two of whom he has delegated to carry the components of a karaoke set, an accoutrement which in recent years has become almost derigueur.

Leighton Willgerodt is an associate

The crowds at Nakanoshima notwithstanding, annual company cherry blos-

member and sales executive with an American multinational company.

som viewing parties are becoming increasingly popular and there are still

Jim Biddulph is on leave

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1992

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