The Correspondent, September 1993 by The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong

COVER STORY FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS'

CLUB North Block,

Palin at the FCC Guest speaker Michael Palin muses on his two epic journeys.

2 Lowe¡ Albert Road, Hong Kong.

Telephone:521

l5ll

Fax: 868 4092

President - Philip Bowring Fi¡st Vice P¡esident - Carl Golds¡ein Second Vice Presidena - Stuart Wolfendale Correspondent Member Governors

NEWS AND VIEWS

Paul Bayfield, Daniela Deane, Simon Holberton, Brian Jeffries, V.G. Kulkami, Philippe tæ Cone, Paul Mooney, Hubel Vm Es

Journalist Member Governors K.K. Chadra, Karl rililson

Watching the media A new television programme, filmed at the FCC, focuses on the media looking at itself. Launch of Dataphile You, too, can gain acccess to the world of BBSs.

Associate Member Governo¡s Kevin Egan, David Garcia, Saul Lækhart, Julie Meldrum

Professional Committee: Convenor: Carl Goldstein

Siege of Sarajevo Don North lives dangerously in Bosnia.

Members: Julie Meldrum, Philippe læ Cone, Paul Mmney, Paul Bayfield Finance Committee Simon Holberton, Carl Goldstein,

V.G. Kulkami Membership Commíttee: Convenor:

Htbt,¡l\a¡Es

Members: V.G. Kulkmi, Kevin Egm Entertainment Committee: C onve no r : Du¡íela Deane Member: Dayid Carcia, Paul Bayfield, Julie Meldrum Publications Comm ittee: Convenor: Saul l¡ckhart

Andy Browne finds his roots in Shanghai.

Bill Bames

Members: H.YanEs, K. \Yilson (Edilor), Paul Bayfield (Co-opted)

and Alan Boyd finds their niche.

Korean'War correspondents remember their dead.

F&BCommiltee: , Convenor : Stuart Wolfendale

Members: David Gæia, Simon Holberton, V.G. Kulkami, Brim JefFies, Philippe Iæ Cone VYall Comm¡ttee:

Retum to the Heart of the Dragon.

H. Van Es

Club Manager H. Crabner

PHOTO ESSAY

THE CORRESPONDENT Àdvertlsing Manager: Kit MyeN Page Make-up: Jme Rqio

Arllst: Ammdo D. Ræio,

Jr.

wallin the FCC's main

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@ The Corespondent Opinions exprcsed by writem ue not nææsarily those of the Foreign Corespondents' Club. The Compondent is published monthly for and on behalf of The Foreign Corespondents' Club by: AsiaPacilic Dlrætorles Ltd. Rm 1301, l3lF, Puk Conmercial Centre, 610 Shelter Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Tel: 511 9331:, Fax: 890 7287 Publishe¡: Vomie Boston Managing Direclor: Mike Bishm Colour scpuation by: Colour Art Gnphic Company Prirted by Elite hinting Co., Ltd., Hong Man Ind. Cenbe, 1403-l,lO8,2 Hong Mm St., Chai rilm, HK.

Pictures on a wall Mary Beth Camp is the featured photographer on the bar.

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PEOPLE

NEWS AND LETTER ......... PEDDLER'S JOURNAL ...........

...... 18 &

The cover photograph of Michael Palin, with co-author and FCC member Basil Pao, is by MarkWexler. Inside photographs supplied by David Thurston, Hubert Van Es and Ray Cranboume. THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

1993

COVER STORY

Pole to Pole and all points in between t is a tribute as much to Michael Palin's fame as to his Prowess as a public sPeaker that his second

FCC, despite short noaddress to the by way of pre-publiclittle very tíce and out' sold raPidlY itv, ' Here, aller all, was one of the compoMonty Python nents of the legendary inspired the less which team the comic couple of generaoriqinal minds of a recite their sketches endlessly to

tiois

at dinner parties as a substitute for

conversation' that everybody It followed, therefore, who he was' exactlY knew room in the is, except for First Vicethat Everybody, who Presídent Carl Goldstein him introducing of task had the of idea sketchY fairlY a and onlY guest of honour's career

By Robin Lynam following on from the Pole to pole senes.

"Pole to Polewas produced by BBC Books and was really my diary of the journey. The photos were taken by Basil Pao and unfortunately we were only able to use about 250 of his photos.

Basil is an industrious photographer and actually took about 38,000." Not wanting to let the material go to

waste Palin felt that a second book devoted to the photography was called for. Basil and fellow club member peter

sing if there weren't any, turned out to have plenty of them. The ghost of Monty python of course was permanently hovering in the wings. Everybody knows that anyone who has been involved in a venture as famous as

that must, after a certain number of years, get sick to death of talking about it, and the early questions were mostly to do with his more recent television work on Around the World in Eighty Days and Pole to Pole. Having been taxed with querulous-

ness on-camera in Pole to Pole, Palin pointed out, reasonably enough, that

the series, shot over five and half months, had not exactly been an extended holiday. "The accumulation of journey fatigue and the complications of filming everyday did get us down in the end. I inadvedently cracked my rib, and that made

the last three or four weeks very tricky and quite painful. When you're like that you do lose your temper, but it never works because really you want to rail

when travelling, but Palin has had to put up with them with the cameras rolling. "Audiences now love to. see you suf-

fering. The most popular section of Around the World in Eighty Days was when I had what I call 'the night of the long bowels' on the dhow, and people really enjoyed that. Diarrhoea was written into my contract for Pole to Pole not that it needed to be. People wanted to see someone travelling in the way that most people do travel, which is not comfortably at all." Another popular scene was at the end

of the last episode in the series when

Palin and his crew, who like Phileas Fogg had embarked on their epic journey from the Reform Club, were refused

admission to its premises to shoot their

grudges however. "The Reform Club was not the only British institution to make it's contribution to a somewhat muted homecoming. British Rail also played its role. "The hardest part of the journey was

sented

visited either of those destinations, Palin was able to tell us that on the whole he prefers the North, which is warmer. Filming at the South Pole was particularly harrowing.

of oet briefed bY a selection who fans Premember Ëoard themselves in the beforehand, Wvndham Room

videotaPes heãvilY laden with to sign [signman great for the a sign of SurelY ino videotaPes? his subject Passing timesl'

"l got my opening piece to camera wonderfully wrong. I wanted to say something about the stories of Scott

tnã

a comforting reminder of his introduced own mortalitY, he

who seems to Palin as "a man out of conacareer be making

obituary writfusing the future ers".

Palin's Post PYthon career

Michael Palin's travel anecdotes kept the audience Wong duly set to work on Pole to

pole-

The Photographs and the star of the show was in town to write the captions and chapter introductions. Having explained the reason for his visit Palin asked for questions from the floor, which, after he had threatened to

After Around the World in Eighty Days,

of course, came Pole to Pole, and as one of the very few people to have

acþr, travelogues' a oresenter of television not having prefor apologising After

getting from Felixstowe to London. They were demolishing Liverpool Street, there

hislorY. to FortunatelY Carl managed

as a versatile He has emerged a bestselling author and

was a bomb scare on the underground and I was told to fuck off by the newspaper seller. lt was good to be home."

the

a diverse one' has indeed been

Chris Slaughter gets hÍs Pole to Pole autographed.

triumphant return. He harbours no

THECORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993

against the Government of the country and yo,u end up having a go at the man

who's collecting tickets." On-camera discomfiture, it seems, is nowadays an impoftant parl of Palin's television appeal. Most of us have un-

dergone disagreeable experiences

and Amundsen and how they'd inspired me. I can remember my Mother coming in saying 'turn out the light, go to sleep,' but I kept reading anyway. . . So l'm standing here, it's minus 50 and the camera has already frozen up twice, desperately keen to get the thing right, and I did it absolutely smoothly, except

that when played back you heard me saying'When lwas young I used to read aboutthe exploits of Scott and Amundsen under the bedclothes at night. . . ' Take two." The scatalogical side of Palin's wanderings is a source of endless fascina-

tion to many of his viewers, and

Palin expresses his horror to FCC manager Christoph Hoelzl. spoke at some length on the difficulties

else because the ice changes colour.

of answering the call of nature at the

Basil couldn't face the long walk so he went just round the side of the tent, and in the morning we could all see where he'd been. lt looked like a sort of landing strip. I don't know how long he'd held that in for." His extensive travels notwithstanding Palin remains essentially English. Asked if there was any country he had visited in which he could settle the answer was

most southerly place in the world. "There's just one small toilet at the Patriot Hills camp and it's just a seat with

a bag clipped on underneath it. All the waste in Antarctic has to be shipped

back, including human waste. Whatever l'd done travelled back with me, 1700 miles. I don't think I'd like to be at the unloading bay." Palin, of course, did not suffer alone. Eventually it all got to be a bit too much for Basil Pao. "You're only allowed to pee at one particular place outside the camp, and you get found out if you pee somewhere

a firm "no". "l could only live in England. So much of my roots, my upbringing and my past is there. I think you only really know the country that you're born and brought up in, so that's why I love going back to

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993

England, but at the same time I love to leave." The most welcome question of the session was probably the one relating to Palin's first love sheffield wednes-the day football team. How would they fare in the league? "They're doing some very dainty foot-

work. They have

choreographer, I think rather than a trainer. They'll be on the West End stage rather than winning the premier league, but we have hopes." Talk of Palin's film career gradually drew the other members of the Monty Python team into the dialogue, starting with Terry Gilliam, the director oÍ Brazil. "Terry had a great battle with Hollywood about happy endings. He wanted

his happy ending - people being tortured and they thought this was not

Finally the inevitable question came. Monty Python?

tortured after a bit

going on in Europe for some reason. lt coincided with the reunification of 'Germany. The Germans got very keen on

so good. Terry said 'but they stop being -

that's happy isn't

it?' lt wasn't quite what they had

mind."

Palin's big screen career is currently

on hold while he gets on with other projects, but there is the prospect of another film with John Cleese on the horizon. "John Cleese is supposed to be writ-

A Fish Called Wanda. Deathfish 2 at the mo-

ing a follow-uplo

He's calling

ment. He hopes to get the same cast but

we'll all be playing completely different characters in a different story which is rather a nice way to do a sequel."

"There's quite

NEWS AND VIEV/S

revival of Python

Python. Perhaps they just thought it was two mad ideas coming at the same time. Always Look on the Bright Srde is extremely popular in Germany." For a man with Palin's comic history the question "What's the funniest thing you've ever done in your life?" can't be that easy to answer, but he was able to single out one outstanding moment. "The fish slapping dance. lt was just one of those things we did on Python which defies explanation. lt was an in-

Watching the media watch itself Zoo night regulars are missing Hong Kong's newest media event Media Watch W programme-'aweekly devoted to the Fourth Estate. Copresenter Steve Vines explains.

stinctive moment. We were doing a

TH=ZOO (v { (

BY ARTHUF. HACKEÞ.

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cussions about the media from

two pilchards, did a small dance and

the premises of Hong Kong's

slapped John lightly on the side of the face at the end of each bit of the music.

leading media clubonce a month. "Outrageous naval contemplation," you may say. Absolutely Medin not, comes the reply from the writer of this article who rapidly declares an interest being both a journalist and co-presenter of the programme which is called 'Media Watch', produced by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) and broadcast weekly on ATV. Media Watch covers a subject which thank goodness, interests a great many people. They tend to be avid readers of

This went on for about 45 seconds and John then produced a huge fish from behind his back, hit me on the side of the head and I fell 15 ft into the canal. Completely pointless, defies explanation, but that I would use as the test for detecting someone's sense of humour. lf you don't laugh at that then you obviously don't like fish." having quipped at the beginning that one of the offers for public appearances in Hong Kong that he had turned down

was "a concert with Madonna", I MAÞE AN EXTRA

TWO HUNDREÞ ANÞ

NINETY,SIX BUCKS ON AAY LAST STORY WHIc'H BEGAN\.HONG koNG...HoNG KoNc... YouR HoNG KoNo!/'

CLEVER./ .. . CLEVER./ ...ARE THÉY STILL PAYING TEN CENTS A WORD ?

Palin was asked how it felt to have passed up

that opporlunity for the FCC. lt turned out that he actually does have a connec-

tion with the Material Girl. "One of my proudest moments was when Poleto Pole cameoutand knocked Madonna off the top of the bestseller lists after one week. So I can actually say I knocked off Madonna!" Then came the giving of the FCC tie. "This is something Madonna doesn't have. Well it's not leather, is it? I shall wear it with pride."

Robin Lynam is a freelance writer and correspondent member of the FCC.

THECORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

1993

round up of strange British customs Maypole dancing and allthat, and one of them was the fish slapping dance. lt took place by the side of a canal. John Cleese stood there with a pith helmet and long colonial shorts, and I produced

have squared the

circle. A weekly programme about the media, produced by media employees, is now broadcasting dis-

newspapers,

or listeners to radio or

watchers of television. ln most cases a combination of all three. Following the media has become part of daily life and it is therefore not surprising that people have become interested in how it works, why it does certain things and why not others and this is why we hold the

meetings at the FCC

- it tends

produce a great deal of comment about its activities. There is also another element, particular to Hong Kong, which should be mentioned at this stage. This is the existence of a bilingual media. Many, indeed the majority of consumers of the English language media, are Chinese speakers, whereas very few English speakers are able to follow the Chinese

Wqtch presenters Claudia Mo and Steve Vines. language media. Oneof MediaWatch's aims is to give English speaking audiences a window on the Chinese media, much of which is provided by our sister programme produced in Chinese, but edited and translated to make it accessible to an English speaking audience. That, however, is not the purpose of the monthly forum discussions at the FCC, the first of which took place at the beginning of August. These discussions are open to the general public. ln practise we expect most pafticipants to be media professionals, more specifically, FCC members. Whén the subject of a media forum at the FCC was first raised by the people at RTHK, they looked rather purposefully at me, saying things like, 'well you do have a lot of people shouting their views round the bar'. Less realistically there were suggestions that the FCC's inhabitants were not habitually drunk and did seem to know a lot about the media. So this august institution was ap-

proached while I happened to be its President. Suggestions of nepotism in this matter should be quickly disregarded

as the current club President is not a participant in the programme, although his wife (Claudia Mo) happens to be the

co-presenter. When we held our first Media Forum in Pacific Place, thanks to the generosity of Swire Properties. However, this act of civic mindedness soon turned sour when one of the company's totally

ridiculous officials suddenly informed the producer that all political topics were banned from discussion and that one of her operatives would march across the stage and pull the plug if this rule was ignored. For reasons which everybody, bar a few government officials, will readily understand, these conditions were unacceptable and it took a direct appeal to PeterSutch, the head honcho atSwire's, to get the matter sorted out. lit should be

said that he grasped the situation a great deal more quickly than his underlings. Anyway we are now sort of installed at the FCC and hope that members willjoin the public to participate in the forum sesstons.

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993

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an appropriate backdrop for the launch of Asia's first magazine focusing entirely on the information services of the information age. More than 150 people attended the

'lì;

Chris Davis toast's Larry Campbell , while co-editor James Riley is with Telecom CSL's Laura Cheung. China Morning Post. "This directory alone is something we get asked for a lot," he said. "A lot of people, from hackers and hobbyists to managing directors of multinational corporations appear to want to log on to bulletin board services, and these are

for subscriptions at HK$100 a year for

Crest, Jardine Micro Systems and even Hong Kong Telecom CSL and Hutchison lnformation Systems have taken fullpage adverlisements in the new magaztne. The Dataphile charges HK$11,90 for a full-page, full-colour advertisement, while a black-and-white full-page costs HK$8,990. The full colour rates for the magazine's inside front cover, inside

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back cover and back cover are

AsiaTech Publications ltd, a company set up by Campbell and Riley for the

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the people we are targeting with lhe

August 6 launch of The Dataphile, a quaderly publication targeted at elec-

Dataphile. "

tronic bulletin board services and pro-

HK$30 per issue, and will be available

fessional electronic information systems. The A4 glossy is the brainchild of technology writers Larry Campbell and

James Riley, filling a wide gap in ihe technology publication market. "More and more people in Asia are using computers to communicate with each other and with other computer users around the world through electronic bulletin board services and international systems like CompuServe, GEnie, Prodigy and Americal Online," said Campbell, who is also chief subeditor in the South China Morning Post's special reports department.

Hayes, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, Fifth

The new magazine will retail for four issues.

purpose.

At 48 pages, the launch issue is respectable for a start-up magazine in Hong Kong, and the advertising response it has been just as good. Large technol-

ogy companies such as AST, Datacraft,

GEnie information service. GEnie is

boards in Hong Kong alone, and these are regularly accessed by thousands of computer users. Yet, there is no publication freely available that tells people how to find these services or use them. "Besides product reviews, news analyses, interviews, and "how to" and question and answer columns, the magazine would carry a directory of bulletin board services in Hong Kong," said Riley, tech-

being launched in Hong Kong on August 1 by Hong Kong Telecom CSL. The Dataphile's initial print-run was be 5,000 copies, and is available through KPS video stores, South China Morning Posf and Uni Hall bookshops, Jumbo Grade outlets and selective computer retail stores. Advertising and subscription enquiries should be directed tolel:791-2446

nology corrcspondent for the Soufh

THECORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

CTASH

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1993

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respectively. A full-colour spot with the bulletin board directory costs HK$9,000. Some of the advertisers have teamed up with the magazine to include special offers in the first issue. Modem maker Hayes is offering about HK$9,000 worth of its hardware and software products for a lucky draw competition in premier issue of The Dataphile. ln addition, anyone subscribing to the magazine before September 15 will be given free registration (worth HK$200) to the US-based

"There are more than 700 bulletin

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NIEV/S AND VIEWS

Don North on the job with the UN and in the streets.

ln 1982, I produced a documentary film on the brutal siege of Beirut. I have often tried to cover both sides of a conflict, as in El Salvador travelling with

The siege of SarajeYo: A year of living dangerously

both the army and guerilla forces

munism and now horribly unleashed by people who can't stand each other. The hatred and viciousness now rampant in the former Yugoslavia has been manufactured to serve the ambitions of a Greater Serbia. lt is not ethnic or religious, but a supremely political war, and as such could be confronted by the

In a year of madness that has written a new chapter in the annals of man's inhumanity to man, Sarajevo may have been destroyed but its inhqbitants continue to defy the odds. Former Asia hand DON NORTH, now based in Saudi Arabia, spent a month in the

ciry recently where 300,000 Sarajevans, out of necessitY or choice have endured a vicious siege that has lasted longer than the battle of Stalingrad during World War II. This is his story in words and pictures.

arajevo stands squarely on the historical dividing line that once staked out the empires of Rome and Constantinople in the 1Oth Century. It is a city where for the past 600 years the great religions of lslam, Christianity, Orthodoxy and Judaism met. ln peace, Sarajevo was the most inspiring example, perhaps in the world, of harmonious co-existence. Now, even in its darkest hours, Muslims, Serbs and Croats endure the siege with dignity and tolerance. Sarajevo, even in ruins, proves the lie

international community if the will for justice was strong enough to impose

of worldly-wisdom that says the war in Bosnia is about ancient ethnic and religious rivalries, Írozen in time by Com-

Vietnamese village the US army said had to be destroyed to save it from the

THECORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

1993

solutions.

As a journalist I have not been

stranger to cities under siege. My first experience of so-called "ethnic-cleansing" was 1967 in lndonesia, when I entered the Javanese city of Solo following the slaughter of thousands of Chinese.

I experienced Saigon during the Tet offensive in 1968 and covered US marines as they recovered Hue block by block. I saw the remains of Ben Suc, the

Vietcong.

order to sort out the conflicting stories of both adversaries. With only a month to work, I opted to document the siege of Sarajevo and leave the Croatian and Serbian story to others. ln Bosnia the world's press has covered this difficult and complex story well.

ln 15 years of Vietnam, 63 journalists died; in the former Yugoslavia in the past year, 44 reporters have been killed

trying to tell the story. Cruelty and atrocities are certainly not exclusive to the Serbs, but to maintain an attitude of equivalent guilt, much as the United Nations does, is not one I could embrace. The siege of Sarajevo began last April 5, when Bosnians encouraged by international recognition of Croatia and Slovenia declared their own independence. Following a positive vote for an independent Bosnia, Serb snipers opened up on a crowd of demonstrators marching to demand their multi-culturalcity be

left intact. Since then, virtually every day, the bullets crack and zing through the streets, the echo amplified by the valley in which the city lies. Between the snipers, artillery and starvation, the Sarajevo death toll now stands in excess of 1 1 ,000 with 50,000 plus wounded. Throughout Bosnia, the toll of civilians killed has reached a staggering 1 40,000, in estimates considered reliable by the International Red Cross. There's a tradition of assassination in these mean streets. World War I was touched off when Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was gunned down by a Serbian nationalist in 1914. Not far from the Princip Bridge where the Archduke fell, I experienced the closest-call in 30 days of running and dodging with fleetfooted Sarajevans. Sprinting across a street open to the hill occupied by Serbian snipers, I came

into the crosshairs of a sniper's rifle. There was a "whiz" as the round passed close overhead, then an earsplitting "whomp" as the bullet hit the pavement 10 feet away, throwing up a puff of cement. Sarajevans on their way to Friday prayers quickened their pace, doing

what is popularly called lhe Walk of Life, as in Dire Strait's the rock ballad. He got the motion, he got the action, ... which in Sarajevo is a crouching, zigzag sprint whenever you have to cross a street open to sniper positions in the surrounding hills. The snipers are perhaps the rñost telling insight into the Serbian military's style of war on the civilian population.

Soldiers who f ire mortar or adillery rarely see the carnage wrought by their shells. ln Sarajevo, the sniper sees his prey clearly through powerful scopes, often as closè as 50 metres. The Serb snipers were trained early in the war by former Yugoslav army experts at a base near Sarajevo.

Streetwise Sarajevans will tell you there are snipers who aim for the head, others who like a neck shot and some who target the heart. Some specialise in hitting fast moving cars that race down Sarajevo's main street, called Sniper Alley. At night the city falls under a cuÉew but it does nothing to stop the shelling. ln the morning when the curfew is lifted, the emergency ward of the Kosovo Hospital fills with the dead and wounded from the previous night's shelling.

THECORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993 9

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THE CORRESPONDBNT SEPTEMBER 1993

Your Future Is Our Future

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Despite the hardships, the news regularly struggles out on to the streets. The dead arrive shrouded in sheets and are carried into the morgue in the basement. The wounded are wheeled in

the front door to the 'triage" room for emergency treatment before being despatched to the operating rooms. The wounded scream freely, morphine is doled out sparingly. Pools of blood and filthy clothes cut from wounded limbs litter the floor.

ln the children's ward nearby,

16-

year-old Elana, had been wounded trying to escape the hell of Sarajevo and flee to her aunt in Vienna. Late at night with her sister, they crawled under the barbed wire at the airport to make a run for it. UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Forces) trained powerful searchlights on the two sisters and they were hit by Serbian machine gunners. Having set them up for the Serbian guns, UN soldiers of the French battalion who secured the airport, then risked their lives to rescue the sisters and take them to hospital. . . Such is the impossible assignment of UN peacekeepers here when there is no peace to keep. Among the dozens of children in the ward the youngest was Wildana, a wide eyed two-year-old. Her face had been cruelly disfigured and her right leg paralysed. A Serbian tank firing into her

family's apartment building, lobbed in a shell that splintered her cradle. The suffering of small children in wars is the hardest to photograph, and even if you lose the negatives, these are the images of war that burn deepest into the computer of your mind and have a strange way of returning years later. Those who die in Kosovo hospital don't have far to go to their graves. Just down the hill from the hospital is a large cemetery that has overflowed into the adjacent Olympic football field. Christian crosses of Sarajevo's Serbs and Croats mingle with the crescent moon markers of Muslims . . .Sarajevans integrated in death as they were in life. For the past year Sarajevans have buried their loved ones, while risking theii own lives in the open ground of the cemetery to hold a brief religious cer-

emony and stand by while the body is committed to the waiting graves. It's a favourite target of Serb artillery

and snipers and many of the grave markers are ripped by shrapnel. From cradle to grave, you are just another target in Sarajevo.

For a journalist viewing tragedy through the lens of a camera, there is sometimes

twilight zone between what you see and what your emotions feel.

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

1993

Some images are so powerfulthey transcend that barrier, and tears well up to obscure your focus. ln the cemetery the morning I was there, a Muslim father and teenage son, thin and gaunt like most Sarajevans, stand with a small coffin only two feet long, while workmen dig a tiny grave.

The father is silently wiping tears, his son is racked by sobs for the a threemonth-old baby sister he will never play

with again. An artillery shell lands just

outside the cemetery fence and the workmen dig faster. Recently a Sarajevo couple tried to flee the city. Bosko Brkic was a Serb and

Admira lsmic a Muslim. They had been lovers since high school. When Bosko's family fled Sarajevo for Serbia, he chose to remain in the besieged city rather than leave Admira. The hell of Sarajevo under siege led them to strike a deal with local commanders for safe passage across battle lines. On a dark night they set out across the Vrbana Bridge carrying two bags and hopes to live in peace somewhere. But something went wrong with the deal and in the no-man's land between Serb and Bosnian lines a machine gun opened up and cut them down. Bosko died instantly. Mortally wounded Admira man-

aged to crawl to his body for a final embrace. For the next five days their bodies lay there, while Serb and Muslim troops, each blaming the other for the other for the killing, bickered over which side would recover the bodies. Finally, the Serbs claimed the remains. At least in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet thestarcrossed loverscaused their warring parents to reconcile the quarrel ... Do with their death bury their parent's strife. ln today's Sarajevo the

tragic death of Bosko and Admira is added to the mounting toll, but their parents rage continues. when peace returns to Sarajevo, thoughtful citizens are not optimistic the lf and

former homogeneous and spiritually uplifting society that evolved here over 2,000 years could ever be revived. The chasm that divides those who left and those who stayed is wide. A profes-

sor of Law at Sarajevo University, Tdravko Grebo, worries about this schism developing and sees it as a sensitive issue.

"l'm thirsty, hungry, dirty and half blind reading by candlelight, but this year I shared the sadness, tragedy, joy and catastrophe here and makes me proud," he told me.

"Still I don't want to make a new type

tise the lessons of this war or to hector

of collective identity. No one has the

the international community into helping Sarajevo. "All Europe and the world is being

right to judge one on his or her decision to stay or go. I learned a lot about how fragile human relations are and we discovered new truths about our friends. Many would share their last potatoes or cigarettes, but often those who had the most, shared the least." Miodrag Trifunov is a talented actor who stayed in Sarajevoto produce plays, classical and rock concerts and even the musical Hair to help boost morale in the city. "Most actors left the city when the war started, but those who of us who stayed are strongerthan ever because we have an impodant role to play in encouraging people to survive," he said. "There will be a line dividing people who stayed and those who left because they can never imagine what we who stayed experienced. I'm not angry with them, but there is now a huge abyss between us." Miodrag portrays the Muslim poet Musacazim Catic on stage in the popular Chamber Theatre where the shows go on several times a week whenever there is electricity. He likes to quote lines from plays, poems or songs to drama-

defended here. lf it's Sarajevo today it will be Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro

and others tomorrow. As in Hemmingway's book... ask notforwhom the bell tolls, it toll for thee." As with Troy, Cafthage, Persipolis or Ankor Wat, the vanished civilisations

that still fascinate archaeologists, in 2,000 years, if events here continue, scholars will sift through the rubble of Sarajevo and ask how it was possible in

the last decade of the enlightened 20th Century, that one of Europe's most beau-

tiful and friendly cities was bombarded into oblivion with most of its people,

while the rest of the civilised world watched and did nothing.

Don No¡lh is a former feature writer on the late lamented China Mail. A correspondent and film producer he has

worked for

fime

magazine, Life and

Newsweek. He has also worked for ABC and NBC television in the US and the BBC's Panorama.

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993 13

I PEOPLE

office. When I got there it just took off. When I arrived the information service gave me a touching lecture on my responsibilities as a foréign journalist and

Andy

the image of Taiwan ... when I left there were demos in the streets and fights breaking out inside the parliament every day."

Browne finds his roots in Shanghai

Browne is now firmly ensconced in Challenge of reporting Shanghai's reemergence. Wife Cindy, who was his next-door neighbour in Hong Kong, is hoping to resume work as a corporate

Andy Browne in Reuter's Shanghai office.

Browne has had a momentous year so far: a change of city, a different job and the birth of a baby daughter. Allthree happened within the space of a few months, leaving Browne with the permanently quizzical expression of a man who can't quite believe his luck in life.

Ask him about the new posting

Shanghai and he gushes enthusiastically; quiz him about the arrival of baby

"This place is stuffed full of feature and business stories just waiting to be written in a lively way. Right now, I'm flying by the seat of my pants - I know enough to stay ahead of the game. Once I have got reporting the markets under control I will be able to do the fun things as well."

Connoisseurs of the offbeat will remember a few of Browne's earlier features out of China such as the Wuhan

by missionary parents, learning Cantonese f rom knee-high level at a Sha Tin fishing village school. Formal education in the Middle Kingdom's history, language and traditions came during a degree course at Leeds University. lt was there that Browne's journalist talent emerged and he used his newly-acquired Chinese character translation abilities to flog stories. "l would cobble together stories and send them to magazines," he says.

Browne says the bureau is the first western-based news outfit to be al-

doctor who invented the penis enlarger, the Guangzhou restau rant which served rat and the plight of Beijing's overworked and underpaid nightsoil collectors. "Beijing was an impossible place to work," he says. "l came in when there was still hostility towards journalists after 1989. I was interested in writing about the Chinese economy and there was no information to be had on that in Beijing. lt seemed to me that if I wanted to write about it I would have to get out of Beijing. "There is a lot of guesswork working in Beijing reading between the lines of

lowed back into Shanghai since 1949,

the People's Daily

posted him to Taiwan, at a time when

which gives unrivalled scope for stories about the stock market, economy and favourite - human interest -andBrowne's offbeat yarns. The first paft, though, was more mun-

though. I think that is paftly a reflection of the fact that the focus is now on the

the country was undeigoing momen-

economic story. Also, for journalists who

were in Tiananmen Square in 1989, it

professional challenge. "l was probably there at the most

was difficult to say anything positive

interesting time in its history," he recalls.

dane, and involved finding an office in

about the government." Browne is a fully-paid up Sinophile,

"There was the lifting of martial law, the death of President Chiang Ching-

but notfrom the gentleman-scholar route

Koo, the formation of the first opposition

often taken by journalists and diplo-

party and the opening up to China." "lt had always been a sleepy sort of

Tessa and he goes into rhapsodic overdrive. 35.

"There comes a time when you have to

settle down and I feel my life has all come together." Wife Cindy Maclean and month-old Tessa have joined Andy in China's largest city, where the newly-established Reuters bureau will be documenting Shanghai's astonishing revival.

the space-short city. He found a spot in the Shanghai Centre, adjacent to the Portman Hotel. "lt's an exciting place to be," he says.

Barnes and Boyd find their niche

mainland China, looking forward to the

euters correspondent Andy

"lt feels great," says Browne,

PEOPLE

. lt is easing

mats. He was brought up in Hong Kong

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

1993

ife is slightly quieter these days for Bangkok correspondents Bill Barnes and Alan Boyd, who were both caught in the crossfire of last year's riots. The pair filed some of the most gripping eyewitness accounts of the bloody events, combining hard news and evocative colour into their joint by-line stories carried in the South China Morning Post. Even rivals agreed that Barnes and Boyd, both 38, provided the most incisive and accurate stories from the turmoil of the Thai prodemocracy protests. Like many successf ul journalistic enterprises, it was a combination of luck and circumstance, aided by solid jour-

lawyer, servicing the growing number of international firms setting up shop. The pair have pledge to find the time for a drink and chat with old friends who happen to passing through Shanghai. The Reuters office is a good place to start a search for Browne, the Long Bar of the Poftman Hotel is another likely location ... assuming, that is, he is not on nappy-changing duty.

Mark Graham (Editor's Note: Reuters is located at Suit 603 The Shanghai Centre, 1376 Nanjing Lu. Tel: 279-7104. Fax: 279-7174)

nalistic capability and experience. I

"One features - Women in China was published in the Guardian's women's section."

z u

I S I

: s u

Barnes and Boyd'belly-up' somewhere

in Patpong.

Barnes had just arrived in the Thai capital to begin a f reelance career when

the riots broke out while Boyd, then a Hong Kong-based staffer w¡th the Pos¿

just happened to be in the city on holiday.

"l was also employed by the Commission for Racial Equality on a project to resettle Vietnamese refugees. I was useful because of my Cantonese language." After university, Browne came backto Hong Kong with empty pockets but full of personal ambition. He was given a job

Their careers have continued in tandem. Barnes, appetite whetted by the excitement of the event, stayed on in Bangkok, becoming a stringer for the Posf and BBC World Service. Boyd saw

out the year in Hong Kong before reto English turn¡ng for his wedding

and to resume a freelance career, filing for Hong Kong teacher Prakin

at the South China Morning Post, moving after a year to Reuters.

The British:based news agency tous changes. Browne thrived on the

Howell Givelin made FCC history recently when he won all three categories (pool, snooker and

billiards) in the FCC tournament. He beat such stalwarts as Eddie Lee and Tony Craig. The late Merv Hayward must have been his guardian angel.

publications and the Business Times in Singapore. During his last Bangkok stint, Boyd became an lndo-China authority, travelling regularly to Vietnam and Cambodia and liaising closely with Burmese dissidents. Contacts for those tr¡ps were often made through the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand. "lt is a club which is attuned to working journalists," says Boyd. "The speakers

are in touch with the issues and there

are regular seminars. ln Hong Kong they (the FCC) should have the same with the topic [being] China, China and more China." As well as the correspondents' club, the pair can be found at other hangouts which have been colonised by expatriate journalists, including the Front Page and the Crown Royal. Another favourite is the Safari Bar on Patpong Road. Both hacks reckon Bangkok is

exciting city to live and work; digging for stories is, however, a little more taxing than in the relatively open society of Hong Kong. For Barnes, beginning work in Bangkok was a janing vocational shock. For the past few years he had been working in london, filing financial repofts for the BBC World Service. "l found London very dull," he says. "Even at the BBC then 90 percent of people had never lived outside Britain. missed the raw edge of Asia." I

Mark Graham

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993 15

PEOPLE

Korean war tt\ryn'ïr"qiliiTi; correspondents remember Marvin Stone described why

Arlington National Cemetery on July 25, Korean War correspondents travel thousands of miles, decade after decade, to renew friendships forged in the Korean fight-

their dead

ing. "l know of no other group such as ours

By Al Kaff

that keeps meeting year after year," Stone told about 50 writers, broadcasters and photographers from the Korean War who gathered in Washington July 23-25 lo mark the 40th anniversary of the armistice that ended Korean fighting, but failed to unite North and South Korea.

Without any formal organisation, committees or officers, Korean War correspondents, now in their 60s to 80s, have met in a number of reunions since the 1950-1953 conflict. Stone, an INS writer in Korea and later executive editor of US News & World

Report, credited this comradeship in paft "to living in close quarters" in the 8th

Army press billet in Seoul and on a

railroad car parked on

a siding

Munsan-ni during the lonçj Panmunjom truce talks. John Rich, an NBC reporter in Korea, spoke about news correspondents in all wars. "Soldiers have to go up to the front," he said. "Correspondents don't, but they do to seek the truth." Retired Col. Dan Biondi, an 8th Army

Carmella LaSpada to provide f riendship and care for persons who lost loved ones in wars or acts of terrorism. A sudden rainstorm forced the cer-

emony to move into a chapel from a nearby oak tree planted in 1986 beside

marble tablet inscribed, "This tree grows in memory of journalists who died while covering wars or conflicts for the American people. One who finds a truth lights a torch." Max Desfor, retired AP photographer and the only survivor among eight Korean War Pulitzer winners, organized the three-day reunion. Assisting him were George Sweers, AP during the war; Bob Hecox, NBC Korea; and Max's

wife Clara, who pitched in while

their wives visited the site of the Korean War Veterans Memorial, located near the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Korean Memorial is scheduled to be completed and dedicated in two years. Robert l. Hansen, executive director of the Korean War Veterans Mmorial, called Korea "no longer a forgotten war but in fact a forgotten victory." The 1953 armistice, he said, "not only stopped the spread of communist aggression to the Pacific Rim countries then, but was the catalyst that led to the demise of communism today throughout Europe." At dinner in the South Korean em-

bassy, Ambassador Seung Soo Han told the correspondents that his government learned some lessons from Germany's reunification. "The cost of unifying East Germany into West German has been high, and

we would not do what Germany did in economic unification," Han said. "We want a more carefully planned unification."

The reunion was attended by one correspondent who still lives in Asia: Bill Shinn, Tokyo, who reported for AP during the Korean War.

recovered from bypass heart surgery this spring. ln Washington, correspondents and

AI Katt was a United Press correspondent during the Korean War and is a

past president of the

The FCC 1994 range of executive diaries is now available at 'club' prices. Each has been specially produced with a'wealth of important information, in either black imported bonded leather or calf skin for the wallet. All feature a discreet club logo and your name, if requested. Ask to see the samples at the Club office. Avoid disappointment and order early as stocks The Foreign Correspondents' Club are limited. Allow two weeks for personalizing l¡wer Albert Road with your name or initials. Hong Kong

public information officer during the Korean fighting, commented on a difference between Korean War correspondents and many of the reporters who covered the Vietnam and Gulf Wars.

A.The FCC Desk Diary. 58 weeks in popular week-to-view format; international public

Most of the American reporters in Korea understood the military from their own experiences in World War ll, either as servicemen or correspondents, Biondi said. Stone, Rich and Biondi were speak-

was sponsored by No Greater Love, an organization founded and directed by

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B.The FCC Compact Desk Diary. New convenient size of 164 x 210mm Popular week-to-view diary;

international public holidays; general information

ers at a remembrance ceremony honoring 18 journalists killed during the United Natons police action in Korea. The ceremony at Arlington Cemetery

THE L994 FCC DIARIES

FCC. @

and lift-out

At a ceremony honouring 18 correspondents who died covering the Korean War, Max Desfor, only survivor among eight Pulitzer Prize winners in the Korean police action, stands under the Arlirgton National Cemetery tree planted in memory of correspondents killed in all American wars.

THECORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

directory

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PEOPLE

lion Simon Twiston Davies (right ), shares

Photographer Terry Duckham, (/e/ ) drank a pint of San Mig in 5.8 seconds. This was good enough for him to make the semi-finals of the

the secret of his

with visiting writer James Clavell. success

We suppose Mr Clavell was Yery

Bert Okuley, seated, second right, died 4 September. His obituary r.r'ill appear in Oclober.

Old hands, warm heart Asiapix's Terry Duckham lined

When Charles met Charles When the Far Eastern Economic Review's Regional Editor Charles uP

some of the FCC's old hands one morning for a picture in the forthcoming book

on Hong Kong, Return to the Heatl of the Dragon. For more about the book see page 20.

Smith, left, had farewell drinks recently, it all got a little confusing

hand to help send him off was his namesake Charles R. Smith, right. The R's Charles first came across Charles R. in Bangladesh in 1971.

The R's Charles was new in town and hadn't registered with the post office to enable him to send telexes. Needless to say he needed to send an urgent telex. Fortunately, Charles R., then with UPl, had registered. So the R's Charles simply said l'm Charles R. and sent his telex. c E 多

A tittle tax deduction Congratulations to Nicola and Ted Thomas on the birth of their son or as Ted described it: "The birth of an 8lb 9 112 oz little tax deduction of the male

San Miguel Beer Drinking Contest in Hong Kong.

impressed.

Image Hong

a o

Kong From October 30 to November 2 Hong Kong will host Asia's premier photographic event

lmage Hong

Kong 93. The second of its kind to be held in the territory, lmage Hong Kong will bring together professional and serious amateur photographers from all

over the world to learn more about their craft in a series of workshops and seminars. This year's event it will be presided

persuasion."

over by six "master''photographers

As we went to Press no name had been chosen although Ted said: "The best offer so far is RuPerl Murdoch

from all over the world. They are: * Ryszard Horowitz from the United

Thomas ... which will at least enhance

using digital technology in photographv;

States who is

his job prospects when the time comes."

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

1993

leading expert in

Photographers planning a shoot in the New Territories.

French portrait photographer JeanPhilippe Jourdrin; * David Moore from Australia who is a world authority on exhibiting and publishing photographs; * J. Barry O'Rourke from the US who is a specialist in photographing women; . British photojournalist Chris SteelePerkins; and * David Stoecklein from the US who is one of the world's leading stock pho-

tographers.

Each of them will hold seminars focusing on their area of talent. lmage Hong Kong 93 is being sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourist Association and Kodak Far East and endorsed by the Royal Photographic Society of the United Kingdom and the American Society of Media Photographers.

THECORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993

The Swire Group

PEOPLE

Return to the Heart of the Dragon WrfiiËrïir,H'r",# up their forthcoming photographic book Return to the Heari of the Dragon inlwo

words, as ". . . very ambitious." The project is the first of its kind for O&4, a firm which consists primarily of Orchard and his padner Paul Andrews. Orchard admits that organising 26 pho-

Offering more space

tographers for a week-long shoot of Hong Kong life was at times chaotic. "When we first came up with the idea, everyone told us we would never get it

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

off the ground. Then sponsorship came in and the project looked more and more

with an extra two inches of

feasible, and we decided to go for it. Since then, we really haven't had time to

legroom on

The assembled team.

look back."

Nine of the photographers were

designer Peter Wong has assembled

brought in from overseas; from around Asia, the US and the UK. Here in Hong

the handsome and enormous mock-up 'for Return the Heart of the Dragon, and

Kong FCC members Hugh Van Es, Terry Duckham, Fìobin Moyer, Joan

will design the f inal product. Other members are involved in the project as well, providing the words to go with the book's

Boivin, Hugh.Moss, Lincoln Potter, Neil Farrin, Richard Dobson, Tim Hall, Holly Lee and Alain Evrard were among those signed up for the project, intended to be a week-long series of shoots, but which for some lasted well into the following week. Each photographer worked to capture one aspect of Hong Kong's daily life on film, following themes such as water, culture, traditions, and the arts. Orchard says the book is intended to be a "photographic tribute" to the people of Hong

Return to the Heart of the Dragon is scheduled for release on December 1,

Kong, along the lines of Time-Life's

and Orchard says one-half of profits from world-wide sales will be donated to the Hong Kong Cancer fund and the

popular A Day in the Life Of. of coffee-table books.

the challenges this project has pre-

Member and award-winning graphic

also on all 747s, you'll find

photo books. Next in line are volumes similar in theme for the Philippines and

Christopher Slaughter

a convenient swivel table

and

fully extendable legrest for

long

distance comfort. What's more, we've dedicated the upper deck of

all our 747s exclusively to

THECORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

1993

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 helps business travellers arrive in better shape.

Community Chest. And undaunted by sented, he says O&A is planning more

new, redesigned seat featuring

Vietnam.

final 300-odd photos. Essays from the nimble typewriters of members Stuaft Wolfendale, Arthur Hacker, Vernon Ram, and Frank Ching are forthcoming. ln addition, authors Jan Morris ( Hong Kong: Epilogueto an Empire) and Robert Cottrell (The End of Hong Kong)willbe penning essays for the volume.

aircraft. And

-a

CATHAYPACIFIC Arrive in better shape.

PHOTO ESSAY

Philippines

politician

Margarito Teves in Mantla.(Billian)

Mary Beth Camp, a Hong

Pictures on a wall

Kong-based freelance photographer, is the featured photographer this month on the wall in the FCC's main bar.

Shohn Kee

Chung was South Korea's 1936 Olympic

Marathon winner. (SporĂ&#x; Illustrated)

Man with turban in Jaiselmere, Rajasthan.

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

1993

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993 23

Chinese painter Yang Yi Ping in Beijing. (New York Times)

Mourners after a Christian funeral in Rangoon.

Think about it! F.C.C. members represent one of the highest earning, per-capita,

consumer spending groups

in Hong Kong. For further information please call Kit Myers on Tel: 577 9331 24

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

1993

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993 25

TRAVEL comforts? Our suite had been redeco-

Our home from home in Macau

is the only publication produced

e could have stayed in a

SPA C= ?ìncl COMM t\Jlc/Yflells sAr= | I l- E and AEJ I = -ÏV r-.1tÌ J

.i OC

MMUNI

A-flofls

deluxe suite (two rooms and balcony) at the Hyatt on Taipa for $3,059 a night. Or we could have had an ordinary double room there for $797 (both mid-week prices: less 30%, plus 15%). lnstead, we tried the new FCC home away from home, the Pousada Mong-ha. There we had three rooms and a balcony for $700. On our next visit to Macau we may well revert to a double room at the Hyatt, with its swimming pool and other facilities. But we would not have missed out our stay at the Mong-ha.

We recommend it to FCC members for a different aspect of Macau at a reasonable prices in clean, newlydecorated, pleasant, and fairly comfortable quafters, in an interesting neighbourhood. ln the end, it was a bonus to wake rather earlier in the

Make an impact on the most' dynamic region in the world. Put your

advertising to work in AsiaPacif ic Space Report For details contact: Brian Jeffries Phone:(852) 577 9331 Fax:(852) 890 7287

except that Portuguese wine is so drink-

able. There were tissues in the airy bathroom, spacious separate shower, as many coathangers as you could wish

within the region devoted to:

-ÈrJIrJ

rated the previous week; the slight smell

of varnish was reassuring rather than unpleasant. There was a large fridge which we could have filled with beer

for, and the balcony overlooks a tropical, sweet-smelling garden. The mattress and pillows were too

By Susanna Hoe suitably exciting history on which Shann Davies helpfully elaborates in An IIIUstrated Guide to Macau. Macau's historical relationship to Hong Kong and China, and its superior ability to retain evidence of its history is, after all, a good reason to go to Macau. Down the drive of the Pousada and turning left along the Avenida do Coronel Mesquita, the early bird comes to the Kun lam Temple, the original of which

hard, however, positively uncomfortable.

The air-conditioning at its lowest was noisy and directed a cold blast straight

at the bed; to open all windows for a through draft was not sufficiently cooling and let in the city noise. But at least

The Pousada Mong-ha and Commissioner Lin Zexa at the Lotus Temple.

morning than we had planned; to be out and about at 6:30 am allowed us to explore in the cool of the day. Mong-ha, not far from

there are mosquito screens. The one dining room is light, airy and Macanese and the

the border, is not only a historic site, but also the centre of a local community maintaining the sort of traditions that enhance a visit. On the driveway leading upwards f rom the main road, past the Pousada, past the Tourism and lndustry School, to the fort, fifty or so mostly older, mostly women residents practised tai chi. However certain you may feel that your own brisk walk is supremely healthy, the sight of this getting of harmony by friendly, sprightly people is always pleastng.

The nineteenth century fort itself is not much to see now, but it allows you to overlook this end of the city and has a

trainee staff are delightful. A was built in the thirteenth century. The garden is not accessible at 7 am but the

temple is empty of anyone but you and the cleaners. The following early morning we picked our way northwards, through dog droppings, to the Lin Fong Miu (Lotus Temple). There exercise and gossip take place in the shadow of a large statue of Commissioner Lin of opium-destroying fame. ln the leafy Montenha Russo Garden you can watch caged birds out for a stroll. lf those are the immediate environs of the Pousada, how about its facilities and

set lunch cost $90 for two. The three courses were not cordon bleu, but the pudding was delicious and the ordinary red wine and port included in the price most acceptable. Give our Pousada a try, at least. Your heart will be gently warmed and your wallet unthreatened. As for the Military Club, to which we now also have access, and which is half

an hour's walk past some of Macau's most interésting historical buildings, I think we must have gone at the wrong

a lovely building, at 6:30 on a Wednesday better

time on the wrong day. lt's admired from the

outside.

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER 1993 27

NEWS

PEN pushes ahead Hong Kong (English-sPeaking) PEN ended its 1992193 fiscal year in fine fettle with 52 paid up members and no debts. Established in November'91, the society has come along in leaPs and bounds in the past year, combining social events with an effort to aid writers

on their way through town and persuaded them to partake in fund-raising events. On the society's forward planning list are plans for a reading series involving local fiction writers and poets as well as creative writing workshops. We also hope to have Richard Wylie, American author (Soldiers in Hiding) and National Book Award winner, talk to us soon. The more members the society can drum up, the better. A mere

HK$SOO

Ong The Hung, for instance, was released from the refugee limbo of Chimawan through the combined efforts of the FCC and PEN in the course of the past year. He's now in the Philipprnes. Since then PEN has arranged with the

Hong Kong government to be allowed to meet Vietnamese writers in detention

on a one{o-one basis.

Meanwhile over

in Burma - or geographically-

Myanmar for the more

correct - seven imprisoned editors/ writers have been adopted bY PEN as

newsletter, notice of any events, readings and, most impofiantly, the chance to make a difference. The society meets

on the first Thursday of the month at AmCham's offices (6.15 pm) and thereafter repairs to the FCC for refreshments. lf you'd like to join PEN, either come along to the monthly meeting or

Buen Vino Tlprs Brn

call Fred Armentrout (525 0165) or

.JI

Marion Bourke (584 4476) who will send

you a membership

form.

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you..

LETTER mention was the high-handed and arro-

gant approach that the UNTAC press

Taking

service had. This is without reference to

words like ignorant and obstructionist

exceptÏon

that would require a Tolstoyian tome to

Itake powerful exception to the views of UNTAC spokesman, Eric Falt being repofted without comment, qualifications

or criticism in the July issue of lhe Correspondent. ln April, I spent 10 days in Cambodia and had the immense misfortune to deal with Falt and his entourage for nine of them. And then I have to read his carping and complaining in Hong Kong. What is this. An attempt to give me apoplexy? What the author of the piece forgot to

honorary members, with support letters going to their families. Unconfirmed re-

Across the border in the PeoPle's Republic, anothpr honorary member, Shaanxi editor Li Guiren, was recently reported released "for medical treatment in accordance with the law'. ln order to raise a few shekels to fund our good deeds and those of lnterna-

tional PEN, an lmPrisoned Writers evening at the FCC and a Women's Committee dinner with Emily Lau was organized at the Hong Kong club. PEN also managed to catch literary luminaries Geoffrey Moorhouse and Terry Hoyt

THE CORRESPONDENT SEPTEMBER

explain fully what a bastard, and I use the term knowingly, Falt was. I really feel that I should get as much space in the next issue of The Correspondent to put the journalists case as well as that of the long suffering people of Cambodia who Falt and his retinue treated as totally incidental.

Michael Mackey

Daisy

Kevin

Committee: Clitl Bale, RTHK Fong So, Nineties Lau Yui Siu, Contemporary Tong Kam-piu, lvan, SCMP 1993

TseChoi-wan, Daphne, WhañCable Mak Yin-ting, Tin Tin Daily News Chan Pik-kwan, Vivien Economic Journal Charles Goddard, Freelance Poon Shui{ong, Sarah

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Close Encounters of the Exotic lndian Kind

(Editor's Note: Mackey's stoty will appear in the October issue)

The following people were elected to the HKJA executive committee for the year 1993-94, from July 1993 to June 1994:

Chairman: Li Yuet-wah, Vice Chairman: Lau Chun-to,

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PEDDLER'S JOURNAL

Hong Kong ahead in cockroach war minority there which has found a use for cockroaches as an inexpensive form of

he Japanese Gokiburl is a marvellous creature to behold. (Also known as aburamushi in the

entertainment. On Sunday afternoons or other fes-

Kansai dialect, cucuracha in Latin America and cockroach in the English

tive occasions the lndians gather at one

of the rural CS shops. (CS stands for

speaking world.) He spends most of his life lurking in dark and humid corners, venturing out from time to time on solitary missions, the purposes of which are known only to him. On those rare occasions when he comes in contact with members of the human race, it is invariably with great mutual distaste. ln the northeastern regions of the United States we find in residence the

German cockroach, an immigrant no doubt from the old world. For some strange reason though, even full grown he is less than half the size of his Japanese cousin. This leads one to speculate on why, in the case of homo sapiens, a diet of potatoes, sauerbraten, cabbage, and bread tends to produce rather large and fleshy specimens, whereas in the cockroach world it is fish, rice, pickles and natto (fermented beans) which has produced the largest, most vigorous, and fleetest of foot reprethe indomisentative of the species

lable GokiJaponicus.

By way of illustration, a few years ago

one of the young ladies in our Tokyo office appeared on a Monday morning

with her wrist and hand wrapped

bandages and finger in a splint. When I asked her if she had been in an accident or something over the weekend, she replied with a sheepish grin that, no, her broken finger was the result of an encounter and subsequent attack on a gokibu ri. The gokib u ri escaped, terrif ied but unscathed. lt would be hard to imagine the German variety causing such havoc. As the residents of this fair city may, suspect, however, the above lines were written before I had encountered the Hong Kong representative of the species. Soon after my arrival in the terri-

tory, at a very early hour in the morning, I went to the kitchen of our midlevel flat

for a glass of water. When I turned on the light, there in the sink before me, was the largest cockroach I had ever seen. He was a living testimony to the nurturing qualitieS of leftover dim sum and fried rice, the Gazat Cantonicus. I quickly realised that I should have taken

my research farther afield before launching into that panegyric of the Japanese variety. The Japanese in their struggle against the cockroach have developed what they call a "hoy hoy house". lt is a simple cardboard structure with doors, windows and a very sticky floor. The cockroach is enticed inside by an attractive smell. (ln Japan a dab of natto does the trick.) I have seen them for sale in Hong Kong but I am sure a more substantial

construction and stronger adhesive is required to contain the dim sum-raised cockroach. Perhaps though it is not diet so much as a hot humid climate which makes the

difference. lf that is the case one can

expect to find even more formidable representatives of the species as one

Country Spirit and those shops specialise in a locally made brew.) Five or more wooden tracks about 5 cm wide and 2m are laid flat on the ground. Wooden partitions separate each track from the other. The cockroaches selected to participate in the games are gently taken from their cages and strings of equal length are tied to one of the back legs of each. They are lined up at one end of the track and bets are placed. At the stafiing signal a lighted match is held to the end of eaeh string. As would be expected a flame rapidly approaching him from the rear generates a degree of nervousness in a roach and so in unison they

scurry down the track. There are no laggards in that race and the finish is invariably very close. It is interesting to speculate upon the outcome if some Hong Kong or Japanese cockroaches were to be entered

Your point of view.

into competition with their Burmese cous-

ins. We may find that a diet of hot curries gives the Burmese an edge in fleetness of foot. But there is another way that group

puts those cockroaches to good use. They remove their wings and winners and losers alike are eaten. My friend sent me the recipe which I would be happy to pass along if anyone is interested.

Leighton Willgerodt is an associate member and sales executive with an American multinational company.

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