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THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNIWRSARY ] 949-1999

TIID

CONTE.NTS

THE FORT,IGN CORRESPONDENTS'

CLIIB 2 Lorver Albert Road, Hong I(ong Telephone: 252Ì 15Ìl Fax:2868 4092 Email: fic@hchk.org

President Diane Storrnont First Vice President Philip Segal Second Vice President Richardson

-Jerry

Correspondent Menber Governors Paul Balfield,John Colmev, Tirn Cribb, Brian Jefferies, Kees Metselaar, Christopher Slaughter, Hubert van Es

essage

Þ1

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I

Jounalist Member Governors Kinrning. Francis l\foriarry

Finmce Committee Tt'easut'e¡: \4¡iÌliam H AresonJr Prof essio¡al Committee Conuenors'. Liu Kin-milg and John Colmel,

Multi-Media Comitteê Conu

enor Brian Jefferies

From the President

Hirtory repeats itself around the bar. fty years in Hong Kong

LiLr

Associate Member Governors William H Are sonJr., I(evin Egan, Carl Rosenquist. Steve Ushivama

from Tung Chee-hwa

Since its first days in Chungking press freedom issues

in 1943, the FCC

has been

in the forefront of

helped along by the odd ale or two. Memorable

characters with memorable stories have littered the years, as the FCC moved around the Hong Kong landscape (seven moves at last count).

Daaid, Roads, Barry Ctrindrodand PauI Bayfieldlook at some of the highlights from the past 50 years.

PlmingComittee Conu enor.

I err y Richardson

Membership Comittee Conuenor Hubert van Es F & B md Entertaiment Comittee Conaenors'. I(et,in Egan and Carl Rosenquist Wall Conuenor,

26 ,n

I

FCC men of notes

Music has always been part of the FCC tradition. Robin Lynam looks back at the muslc men.

Comittee Hubert ran

Es

Not quite 50 years of The Correspondent

Freedom of the Press Comittee Conuenor Francis Moriarq, General Manager Robert Saûders

The Correspondent

Associate member Daaid O'Rearreviews the high and lows of the club's magazrne.

EDITORIAL Saul Lockhart and Paul Bafrelcl, Co-editors Telephone: 281.3 5284 Fax: 2813 6394

Fifty years, give or take

Ernail: lockhart@hkstarcom

Publicatiom Comittee

Conrenor. Paul Bafreld Terry Duckham, Robin Lynam, Kees Me tselaar, Karen Pe nlington,

Economist and columnist Daaid O'Rearlooks at the business and political world

of 1949.

Hubert van Es Opiniorrs expressed by writer. in not necessarily those of The Foreign Corresponclents' Club of Hong Kong.

The Corresþondenl are

The Corrcsþondent is published lÌ ¡ime a year by The Foreign Correspondents' CIub

34 rn

I

'97 Handoverbllrtz

The FCC led the way with Flandover news.

ofHong Kong.

The changing role of journalists

PRODUCTION Asiapix Print Services

'feI:2572 9544 Fax:2575 8600 Ernail: asiapix@hk.linkage ne t

PRINTER

The following stories are based on papers presented at a Freedom Forum,/University of Hong Kong conference on the news media in Hong Kong.

Impress Olfset Printing Factor), Limited

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Ewan Simpson Telephone: 2573 3548 Fax: 2834 3162 Email: ervatak@wlink net

THE CORRESPONDENT WEB SITE

<http://rm

fcchk org>

Copyright Ì999 The Foreign Correspondents' Club @

ofHong Kong

2

36 38 46 50 54

Reforming the news media in Hong Kong What has gone \\irong with journalism...and why Making up the news It ain't the good old days The Internet revolution Couer

Photog'aþhs

b1

John Beard.

/ Pacífc

Stars

(l

Striþes,

Front Line, Kees Melselaar, Mar

\ ùIrz and Hugh uan Es

THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNIVERSARY I 949-1999

CoNTE,NTS Fifty years of members, memories and major

1

0B

coates'view

news events Gauin Coates takes his pen to Hong Kone politics.

A time-line of candid pictures of our club members correspondents, journalists and associates and their activities against a background of major news events in China, Southeast Asia and the world.

Chris Youngjs fabled character of the Eighties lives again.

Llz

Freedom of the press Francis Moriarty traces the FCC's involvement in press freedom issues from Chungking in 1943, Shanghai in

1949, Conduit Road in the Fifties, up to the formation of the Freedom of the Press Committee.

Spike Milligan takes over a TVB newscast

Then editor of TVB's evening news in 1980,

The world according to Basher

Peter

Cordinglq remembers the ex-Goon's antics.

B 2 a.orn the other end of the bar...

I

Saul Lockharl relates how the FCC helped rescue a Vietnamesejournalist from Hong Kong's refugee camps.

a Red Lips?

Founding member Dorothy Ryan, Chief Bag, thinks she has written the history of this unique institution.

Alcoholics Synonymous Former BBC man Anthony Lawrencelooks at the history of this venerable institution.

Geebung Polo Club You will have to read it to believe it. Keain Sinclair takes us to some memorable lunches.

Day in the

life of the FCC

Photographic essay by Kees, Terry Duckham, Tony Nedderman, Jennifer Bowskill and Hugh van Es of the FCC in action: from dawn to dawn.

I02

wine at the FCC

Is the traditional 'drinking' image of the FCC still valid? Keu i n Sin cl ai r inv estigates.

106

rracker'sworld

Arthur Hach¿r's curlicues through the years.

Message frorn the Chief Execuûve

r74 The FCC's incredible, hardworking staff assemble in the Main Bar.

iää

1 1 7 ,o,",

",ï

JulianWakhrevíews the triumphs of the FCC Golf

J'å,

ff

ïjiï,:åï;,ïÍ,iil î,1"T,0, ",

Society.

Associate members share their views of the FCC.

How do I become

The FCC's rinesthour

The story of the FCC logo Arthur Hack¿r reveals the inner workings of the designer's brain.

l2l I24

Thanks for the advertising support

I wish onward to the new millennium

PhiIþ Bowñngand Stuart thoughts on the future.

Wolfendale share

the FCC and its rhernbers

every success.

their

Special thanks A project of this size. requires the endeavours of quite a few people . Most of those involved gave their time freely or with token recompense. The editors and the FCC offer you thanks.

The project would have got nowhere without the tireless work from Baby Fernando and Aira Duckham. Not only for this special issue, but every time The Corresþondenl is produced.

Thank you.

Design Di¡ector: Peter Wong Photography: Terry Duckham, Kees Metslaar, Hugh van Es, Jennifer Bowskill, Marty Merz, Kevin Sinclai¡ Hong Kong Thtl.er magazine, AFP, plus all those members who contributed their own photographs.

Advertising: Steve White, Ewan Simpson and Karen Penlington Club pnesident lliane StoFmont e$c0l'ts Tung

Editorialr Robin Lynam, Kevin Sinclair, David O'Reaq Karen Penlington, Francis Moriarty, Diane Stormont, Dorothy Ryan, Anthony Lawrence, Arthur Hacker, Gavin Coates, Kate Campbell, Philip Bowring and Stuart Wolfendale.

Paul Balfield and Saul Lockhart Co-editors

THE CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH ANNI\,IERSARY 1949-1999

cnee Hwa into the

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For 50 years, the FCC has

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find news from all 50 states with reports from Wall Street to

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the Ma rom the Chinese revolution in 1949 to the travails of Indonesia in 1999, FCC members have recorded historv in the raw. There have been wars. Korea in the early Fifties. Vietnam in the Sixties and Seventies. There have been resurrections and freedom movements and widespread violence' The Huks in the Philippines. The Communist jungle fighters of Malaysia. The Year of Living Dangerouslv in Indonesia. The Cultural Revolution. The Hong Kong riots. Kwangju. Tiananmen.

Pol Pot has joined Stalin and Mao, but Cambodia is still grappling rvith the last of his twisted legao,'. The British have furled their flag and departed. Burma and

North Korea still suffer under the dead hand of an outmoded Cold War dictatorship, but there has been good ner,vs, too. South Korea has jettisoned the strongman rule of the generals. The Philippines saw off a

corrupt dictator. China confounded the pessimists by taking the death of Deng Xiaoping in its stride, Today, journalistic eyes are focused on the Asian economic crisis. On East Timor. On the succession in Indonesia and Malaysia. There's also another Handover in progress across the Pearl River delta.

The methods of reporting hat'e changed dramatically since the Club was founded. Morse code blipped its last this year. Modems and laptops have negated the queue at the telegraph office ancl consigned the telex operator to extinction. Digital cameras and satellite hook-ups have brought an immediacy undreamed of by our founders.

And then there is the mobile phone, a piece of equipment that evokes mixed feelings everyr,vhere and not just around the Main Bar when a reveller scrambles for the door, hun'ched over cellphone clamped to ear. On the one,hand, the chances of a repeat of the famous incident when a quick-thinking rvire service reporter ensur-ed he won the timings over Benigno Aquino's assassination are remote. He paid his stringer to hog the pa,vphone at Nlanila airport, ensuring he got to file first and at leisure. On the other, it means one is permanentlv leashed to the newsdesk half a world away and some editors are notorious lor igrroring time zones.

Techr-rologv too, has opened up the job to a greater number of entrants. Witness the controversy one man, a engendered by the Drudge Report

-

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Checkpayableto:USATODAYlnternationalCorporatìon Handdeliveryavailableinselectedareas N¡ONEY-BACKcUARANTEE:Unusedportionofsubscriptionreimbursedifyou cancel Otfervalid until December3l, 1999 For Hong Kong Deliveryonly.

TËIE (IORRESPONDENT'50TFl r\NNI\T,RSARY

I

949-1999

cnij Asia'ss changing covenng ASla political landscape politica computer and a modem. Los Angeles-based Matt Drudge has infr,rriated many members of the nervs establishment by. breaking various Clinton-related scandals first on his Internet rveb site. His critics fume about falling journalistic standards, although it doesn't stop them picking up his reports. But falling standards is a hoary old complaiqt that's been around for at least as long as the FCC,has been in Hong Kong. he complaints'of today heard around the Marn Bar woqld,strike a chord with the for-rnding members. Back in 1957,I see from one article, correspondents were bemoaning the dearth of the number of journalists and the rising proportion of in that case US naval ofhcers. associates members

- report conversations about Long-time members editors back home not understanding 'the stor1". Of newcomers having it easier than ther.' did. Of par,' and conditions deteriorating. In the Sixties and Seventies, the debate over correspondent versus local journalist statlrs, I understand, was loudly contested.

Sounds familiar? I't'e heard variations on these themes regularly over the past decade and a half. In manv ways, things don't change. A photographer or camera-operator can be equipped with the latest and fanciest equipment available, but unless he or she is there witnessing the scene, there's no stor\'. A laptop can't protect a reporter from a sniper's bullet or ensure he or she is in the right place at the right time, asking the right questions.

Fifty years from now, no doubt the r'vorlcl r'r'ill be an even smaller place news-gathering wise' But I'm sure that u,herever journalists gather. the gossip, lhe warstories, the one-upmanship and even, )'es, even the complaining will eventuallv refer to tvpe. And that's the i

glue that holds the FCC together.

I

I

o

F

tË

he FCC first started in Chungking back in 1943.

It was a 24room residential club and it was here that the much loved Liao Chien-ping started his 4O-year association with the club.

When Liao left for the US in 1977 he was guest of honour at a banquet attended by no lesser personage than the then governor of Hong Kong, Sir Murray (now) Lord Maclehose himself, among many others.

In a tribute on the night of the club's most loyal servant, its most likeable and respected member, Dick "Cardinal" Hughes, reflected on the early davs in Chungking. "Here Mr. Liao began to study English, to learn to cook and adjust to the curious drinking habits of the club members, who were themselves adjusting to the curious local versions of vodka and gin (there was little or" no imported booze in those davs).

"Drinking sessions and cultural exchanges at the bar were fiequently interrupted bv uninvited bombing planes, piloted by non-memberJapanese." \Àrhen the Chinese capital moved from Chungking to Nanking, so did the FCC. Thanks to United Press'Walter Logan, who was appointed president, the FCC acquired a large, terraced Tudor-style mansion and, courtes)'of the Liao-Logan partnership, three jeeps for club use fiom the US Army motor pool at a cost of only US$150 each. Two were later sold to Time and Ltfe correspondents for US$1,500 each and one to the AP for HK$1,000!

From Nanking the FCC moved on to Shanghai and the top six floors of Broadway Mansion. That building still exists, but under another name, Shanghai Mansions. The former FCC dining room on the top floor is now frequently used by local offìcials for entertaining foreign guests. But come '49 and as the red tide of communism swept over the mainland, NIr. Liao supervised the dispatch of the club's records and f,rles to Hong Kong and e'r¡entually Kotervall Road.

Daaid Roads, Barry Grindrod and Paul Bayfield, when reviewing the early history of the FCC, found three basic tenants that still hold good today: press freedom; loyalq of staff to members and first president i¡ Hong Kong) u,ho imrirediately members to staff; approached Chiang Kai- and conviviality.

he FCC rvas formed in Chungking in 1943 as an association of journzrlists

fighting Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang go\¡ernment for their right to cover stories (see Freedom oJ tlte Press þr.tge 73). It's more social natr.rre soon followed. After Chungking, the club moved to Nar¡ing, Shanghai and

shek and startéd I'vhat beiome 36 hours of negotiating with Col. Yeh. Meanwhile, Jenkins and Vine rvere feeling very pessimistic. From the window of their cell they could see into the garden. "Look at that wall, Graham." Vine pointed to the pockmarked wall' "Those wl'rite patches hat,e been made b1'the cones of bullets. This, of course, is u'here the secret police hold their executions. You know," he added, "they only wanl someone's sigature and we'll be up against the tvall."

Jenkins, who later became the editor and publisher of the norv defunct Hong Kong dat'Iv, Th'e Sr¿r and who died in 1996 in Hong Kong, said when he was fir-st arrested: "Thev took me to a room in the basement

u¡as to

finalh', rvhen communism swept over mainland China in 1949, to Hong Kone.

Just before the move to Hong Kong^, the dramatic arrest and sentence of execution of tr,r,o m6mþs¡s Graham Jenkins of Reuters and George \¡ine assistant

editor of the North Ch,ina Dai\

Nezus

(and later

in April 1949, sar'v the FCC srving into Reuters) action to protect its own.':' Apparently Jenkins, just in fiom Nanjing, \vrote abor-rt the Red Army crossing the Yangtze and the imminent fall ol'Chiang's armies. \'ine, n'hose paper subscr-ibed to Reuters,

and I thought I lr,ould be taken to keep

ran the storv plus a map rvhich Vine pul ¡ $¡ ^^.^r t- ^I ^., l,:., together.

Jenkins

hile waiting, he got a phone call from another Reuters man in Shanghai, Monty

,,,..r'vas

arrested first by a Colonel Yeh of the

Sen. Vine was picked up

The fCC

later that dav. Both

-

Gonduit R0ad (above) a¡d lce Housc stneet

refused to name solrrces

and wer-e accr-rsed of rlrmolrr mongering and sentenced to execution.

Indeed news that Melbourne-born Jenkins had be en executed by firing squad made headlines around the u'orld at about the same time he rvas

-

IHE C]ORRìJSPONDINT,'5OTH ÀNNI\T,RSAR\

Parrott, who was later to succeed Farnslvorth president of what was then a very young Hong Kong FCC. "He lvanted to know what was going on and I said I was about to be shot," saidJenkins.

"I must sal'I was surprised that he was allowed to speak to me. But when I told him what was happening the guards cut us off and laid into me, I lost quite a ferv as

Kuomingtang's secre t police under the leadership of "Bloody Mao"

released.

my

appointment with mv Maker at either dusk or dawn."

I9.19-i 999

l- I

Hou,ever. Vine managed to call his wife Ellen

--: rvho immediatell' tried to g'et the British

Consulate to act. The response was slow, although

consular official u'as turned awa)/ at gunpoint later that night as he tried to intervene, so she returned to Broad'rvay Nlansions and found then president Clvde Farnsr,r,orth (rvho six months later became the FCC's ¿i

I IJE (IORRI.I.SPONDENT¡ 50Tl

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teeth. "

Farnsworth fìnally prevailed and they undoubtedly owed their lives to him. Jenkins later remembered him as a "dignihed figure, responsible and with authority,

-

-:::f-:T-lT:'::::-::-ll-::-lg:::l-rl5-"-Ï-"-:\'Bttsed by'ßat Cñndrotl and lale G'rrLlttnJenkìns Noel llnrher's-lhe Fall of Shangh:ri. ott rLtt it¡,tc.ruieu zuith

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Bv NIa¡,, Ceol-sc and Ellen Vine rvere ready to lcave Slranghai. Their fareu,ell partv at thc FCC in Broadrvav Nlansions proved to be the last partv to be helcl at the club. Thc newspapermen had decided to close shop as the corrrntrnist fìlth column, lvhich'r,r,as now operatinu openll', was seen as a threat to journalists. The club's assets \ ¡ere quietlv sold (furniture and jeeps) for the then handl,'sum of US$10,000. George Vine rhen rook the cheque to Hong I(onø. (George Vine didn't linger in Hong Kong and finished his career r,vith Reuters as

the Bonn bureau manager and chief political correspondent in ¡he mid-1980s.)

Cìhien-pine, rvho stavecl lr'ith the club r-rntil 1977. (See Cltunghing' box stor'¡) He r,r,as soon joined bv barman Chiao Chin-chen (knorvn as Ronnie Chow), rvho retired from the clr-rb in 1988. Other staff from Shanghai r'r'ere also brolre-ht on board.

"One dav thcre was a tclephone call from the police on the borde¡" Roads recalls. "On the other- side was Cllanc-, the cook from the Shanghai club. He rvanted

to come over to work for us. He needed a sponsor.

Stan Rich, then secretarl' IAP corr-espondent aÌ1d president in 19651, went to the border to find not onlr., Chang but also six other members of his familr,'. "

Hong Kong Coffee Shop The FCC initialh didn't harre premises

in Hong l(ong, accordine- to David Roads, who was r'r'ith the AP at the time. He later became a correspondent for

the Neu

York

He'raltl TribtLne and president of the FCC in 1966.

"Onc of the

filst meeting

places rvas the old Gloucester Building lounge and later the grouncl-floor cafè. The next locale was the old Dair1, Farm Restaurant on the mezzanine floor of Windsor House. The Landmark nor'v occupies those sites," sa1's Roads.

"It was common to see agencv men like Graham .fenkins of Reuters, Fred Hampson of the Associated Press IFCC president in 1955], Hank Lieberman of the I'letu Yorh I'itnes IFCC president

in

19541 , Jack James

and later Wendell "Bud" Merick of United Press International IFCC president 1959], Ron \A4ritehead of International Ner,r,s Serr,ice, and others, having their coffee at the Dain' Farm after- reading the overnight news report and the mornins mail."

l5 Kotewall

Road

"We first set Lrp officiallv in a small house at 15 Kotewall Road on the condition that rve rvould keep our noise down to a mild roar. But we got arval'r,vith murde¡ as far as noise rvas concerned, from 1949 to 1951," Roads said.

At the time , the club was run by the legendar)' Liao

10

At right, GeoFge Uine, right, celebFates his escaFe lnom execution at the tCC Broadway Mansions (above) ¡n 1 949

The;'rvere

small beginnings indeed, as forrner flnited Press correspondent Chang Kuo-sin recalled from his home in Oregon. Even though Chang, who was a rnernber in the Nanjing and Shanghai clubs, onlv came out of China in December 1949, he was, he said, considered a founding member of the club. At the time there were just 11 full members. Most, if not all of them, had been members of the FCC in Shar-rshai.

THE CORRESPONDEN-l ,'¡IOTLI ANNI\T,RS,\RY I9'19 I999

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A CABLE & WIRELESS COMPANY

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HongkongTelecom What can be imagined, can be ach¡eved.

-F-_

This changed rapidly and Kotewell Road was soon bursting at the seams. Chang recalled: "The premises were too small for us. We only had two of three rooms to accommodate visiting correspondents and the bar was especially too small as more and more associates members joined."

the government entertainment and censorship body), motion. Marsh Stayner of the Civil Air

we set things in

Transport (CAT) started the ball rolling wirh an interest-free cash loan. The rest of us pitched in. The first funds were used to supplement the plates and silverware we inherited, along with a few antique chairs and other pieces of furniture."

rahamJenkins, who was a board member

of the club in early Fifties, recalled

a

manager of the club who had a tendency

to over-imbibe. 'We decided to fire him, but he went on a sit-down strike in his room. It went on for weeks and we had many meetings to try and come up with a solution on how to get him out," Jenkins said. "At every meeting every board member would be reminded to remember, 'not a word to the press'." Eventually the manager disappeared into the blue one night never to be seen again.

Roads picks up the story: "Sometime in 1951, I was sitting in the AP office when the telephone rang.

Peppi Pawzen, our recently hired manager, whose brother ran the Parisian Grill, was on the line. He had found the ideal place for a clubhouse. It was the old Mok residence at 414 Conduit Road. It had, according to Peppi, everything - Italian marble fireplaces, even a ìift from the street-level garage to the expansive lawn. The place was built in such a way that the "vulgar views" from Conduit Road down to the waterfront were blotted out.

'Along with Bob Sun, then with the Pan Asia News Agency and the secretary of the club (who later.joined

oads considers the Conduit Road days as the heyday of the club. "Hong Kong was really a cultural desert at the time," Roads said. "And no matter where one went on Saturday nights, it was always a must to drift back to the club, if only for a nightcap. You never knew who would be visiting. There were times when it

would be crawling with ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) agents trying to see if the journalists and any shipping had infringed the Korean embargo

"Other times, we would rent out a portion of the lawn to various organisations for their annual dinners.

The few correspondents around would always have a table for a drink after the main function was over.

There were also several rooms upstairs that became hand¡" he said. The rooms were rented out to visiting journalists. Roads himself stayed in one of those rooms when he married his wife, Pacita, some 43 years ago.

On a typical Saturday night, "Peppi would starr on the piano when the band left. Marvin Farkas would break out his ukulele, and everything from A Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech to Blue Hawaü was sung ar the top of what was left of our voices until the sun peeped

Ihe uiew fFom the tenrace 0l 4là Condu¡t Road in thc

mid-tlities

over the portals and we topped off with Black Velaet."

For years, the club was the venue for the diplomatic

corps' monthly luncheons and for a newsman, it was always a place to just happen to be to strike up a conversation with some of the diplomats before they sat down for lunch. "Even we were surprised at the tipoffs we picked up," Roads said.

One morning, the speakers at the club began to chatter and order 'all US Nar.y personnel, report to

-Th.

club switchboard was your ships immediately'. promptly besiegéd with calls. Was it true that Russia and China had-declared war? Have the Nationalist Chinese invaded the mainland? Is America involved? etc.

Roads continues: "One news agency began its story

with the sinking of a US Navy ship in the Taiwan Straits, but went on to say this was only a rumour.

Flowever, a sun spot blanked out the signals to

London, and only the first part of the story got through. A headline announcing that a ship was sunk hit London streets. By this time switchboards throughout the colony were jammed, and the price of

Holden was a regular visitor, as he was some years

summer which

later when he returned for the making of The World of Suzie Wongand later for a documentary Holden's Hong

allowed all members to use the

Kong.

pool and showers.

That was one of

gold went sky-high.

'A quick visit to the US Nar.y station ship revealed that the announcement on the club speakers was made only to remind American sailors to turn in their military scrip

as a new issue had been made to counter the black-market operations in occupied Germany.

"The club staff did what they could to calm the fears of the callers, who included those from the government. The club was the first to know the true situation. Who knows what would have happened if the rumour was allowed to persist! But whether or not the club was instrumental in preventing chaos in Hong Kong may never be proved. The club only did its part.

facilities there to turn thoughts into action in more ways than one. UPI bureau chief, and a former FCC president (in 1959), Wendell "Bud" Merick, for example, was married there, Part of Loue is a Many Splendoured Thing (from Han Suyin's novel of the same name), starring William Holden and Jennifer Jones, was frlmed there although the club's role wâs that of a hospital and not a mansion.

(Sez fþd, Thomas aiews on þage 82.)

ong-time American radio and television entertainer A¡thur Godfry once did a series of radio shows from the lawn and worldfamous broadcaster Edward R Murrow of CBS visited the club several times. Clark Gable also visited 4lConduit Road.

Former president [i Po Chün ChanheF Gry Searls (1964) in l961 recalls that when he joined the FCC in 1953 the entrance fee was only $50 and monthly subs' criptions were $30 #",fi;;:.;-::?l' or $35. Searls was special correspondent for CBS News for 10 years, but later became the Mutual Broadcasting's man in Hong Kong.

Most of the members were associates, says Searls, and associate members were essential for the econornic stability of the Club. All major news services had set up headquarters in Tokyo during the post-war occupation, and the Korean War correspondents were attached to the Japan bureaus. There was, however, a steady coming and going of correspondents on R and R from the Korean War which helped the club tick over.

In later years, the club could have purchased the

35 years in Asia

Just afew things investment bankers and journalists harre in common..

Not to mention our shared beiief that ideas are the worldb real currency. And like the unique group of individuals attracted by the FCC, people

who dare to be different, Warburg Dillon

Read does

things differently too. We use every convention available to investment hankers, yet our thinking is an¡hing but conventional.

We are more individual, more ¡nnovat¡ve All in all, like the FCC,

the more intelligent choice.

Dillon Read #Warburg An investmentbank of global intelligence

subsequently, when we were asked to vacate the premises, we took the landlord to court in a bid to stay ãn. gut the site was sold anryvay for over $10 million."

Chamb'ers Li Po Chun the FCC moved to Li Po Chun

And so in 1961 Chambers midway between Central and Western districts. It was a case of "after the Lord Mayor's show" and so began the blackest chapter in the history of the FCC. Resignations were commonplace and by 1963 the FCC couldn't meet its bills. For a few months the club folded. But then the faithful few managed to acquire a function room on the fourth floor of the Hong Kong Hilton. The future, however, was still looking far from bright with few members and getting fewer by the month. But in 1964 Guy Searls was elected president and immodestly takes credit for turning the club around. 'TMhen I took over we were $18,000 in the red, by the time my year of office was over we were $14,000 in the black," says Searls.

Hilton alsooteÏ instrumental in the club moving up Searls was

to the top floor of the Hilton which had spectacular views of the harbour. Searls also got the hotel to rent the club a suite next to the swimming pool for the

the periods of

water ra[ioning, and the 24-howr showers were a real blessing. The club also got the

IiE

now dcm¡llshed Hilton Hotcl

-

the tCC

started 0n thc l0unlh ll00F and endod u[0n tiÊ top

use of a swimming hut at Stanley Beach.

He started regular news sheets and professional lunches. One of the first speakers, he recalls, was vicepresident of the PepsiCola corporation, a former IJS vice president (and president to be, though it did not seem so at the time) Richard Nixon. he year 1965 was a significant one as a new accounting frrin took over the books and insisted the former membership numbers,

that were t{r.r.'bur.d on an aiphabetical syste.;m,'be cha+rged to a number system.

-IStan Rich, of thë Herat(l' Tähu'ne, who followed Searls in 1965 as president, h.ad the distinction of being number 001, but the curfent memt¡er with the lowest numher is 1966 preuTent David Roads with 003. Also in the top 10

and still using the club is former BCC man Anthony Lawrence.

One of the saddest days at the Hilton involved well known cartoonist FredJoss, known in particular for his book, Geishas ønd, Gangsf¿rs. Not a man to be without

E f--

E H

E H E

IJ

E È tr E E E E

E E E tl F E E E Ë

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h

E E È E L L È

l, F

problems of one form or another,.foss one dav emptied his pockets in the club, removed his shoes and jurnped out

of the window 25 floors up.

during the latter days at the Hilton that Hong Kong was hit by the communist riots in 1967, the territory' was big news again and the

It

was

correspondents started flooding back. There was also a little skirmish going on across the South China Sea in Vietnam and so, say the old-timers, the good old days

of the FCC began.

ormer president Hugh van Es (1982) talks with glazed

C¡THAYPACIFIC

vears iu'olvement with the \,var, once in a troop car-rier' and once in a helicopter behind enemlr li¡s5.

"It was really a time for letting off steam, )'ou had

ffi

SwireGroup

mone)'in vour pocket and vou spent it. That meant booze and broads because n'hen you went back to Vietnam You never knew if the next dav was soing to be your last."

Sutherland House

Thanks to the vision of the then president (1967 and 1970) Forrest "Woody" Edwards of AR rhe FCC moved in 1968 to the 14th and 15th floors of

eyes, especially late

at night, about those days in the front line. Former president Donald Wise, Anthony Lawrence, Derek Williams, Saul Lockhart and the FCC's

Mother Superior Clare

Hollingworth were also up at the sharp end of the Vietnam war. "Clare was there telling the generals how to fight the war and she was usually right," says van Es. "She has seen more wars than most of the generals."

"Everything else has to

+

be an anti-climax after

Ë

Vietnam," says van Es, who took the famous picture of the helicopter taking off from the roof of the a building in Saigon as the communists moved in on the ciry on April 30, 1975, which became the defrnitive picture of the end

A young Gilbert Gìeng

with Mn l-¡ao in $utierland House.

Below the loo w¡th a vtew

of the war.

Former president (1976) Bert Okuley was the man who spotted the chopper on the roof from the UPI office across the road and dragged a reluctant and cursing van Es from the darkroom to take the shots. "The only money I made from that picture, which has already appeared thousands of times around the world and, no doubt, will continue to be used, was US$100. That was a bonus from UPI for winning their picture of the month award," van Es said.

"The copyright law was changed the following year which, had it been done a yeeî earlier, would have

meant the picture was mine after first publication. I would have been a rich man.

"During the war, correspondents would spend three months in Vietnam and then come to Hong Kong for R and R, as the correspondents called it, for seven days which we could often stretch to 10 days," says van Es, who was shot down twice during his six 16

Sutherland House in Chater Road. With the Vietnam War being at its height, those early years were never dull. (Ironically, one of the main concerns about the rnove dealt with the FCC's location: was it too far

I

from Central?)

Few establishments can claim its men's toilets on the 14th floor made them famous, but it happened to the FCC thanks to John Le Carre who fearured them in his book, The Honourable Schoolboy. The view from the loo, as it was known.

Indeed a number of Le Carre's characters in The Honourahle Schoolboy were based on people he met at the FCC notably Richard "the Hughes as - Incidentally two orherCardinal" Old Craw. bestselling authors who used Hong Kong as a base for some of their books, James Clavell and Robert Eleganr, were f I lE (ìORRLSPO\Dt-N

fz.i0TH ,\\NIVERSARY

194{r-legfl I lt¡rtbcatr Touchrlos n at rvww cathaypacific.com

:t'F=-æ-'-t¡.Vt

:

RETIABITITY AROUND THE WORTD

members of the club. In fact, Elegant, then with Newsueel<, was president in 1961.

Ice House Street

WESTERTI IMOTEY UilIOTI RATSFER

The FCC mot'ed to its present premises in 1982 after 14 years in Sutherland House. Nobody' was more relieved than Donald Wise. Wise, veteran London Dctily Mirror war correspondent and then with the Far Eastern. Economic Reuiew, related how in early 1980, as president, he was faced with the task of f,rnding a new home for the FCC before September when the rent was to more

ON EVERY CONTINENT people oll over the world choose WESTERN UNION over ony olher money tronsfer service to supporl fomilies bock home, rescue lrovelers in emergencies, oid students in foreign countries ond keep business operoting smoothly.

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here was nothing available in Central and estimates of building a club were pitched at around $18 million. Someone suggested the Murray Building, the old officer's mess opposite the Hilton, where the new Bank of China now stands. The idea sounded good and so Wise wrote to the then governor of Hong Kong Sir Murray Maclehose with supporting letter from Derek Davies, then editor of the Far Ectstern Economic Rzuieu, who seven years later became the club's president. Wise asked, basically, if the FCC could have the place for next to "nowt" in return for keeping it in good order.

It was six weeks before he got a reply from the governor who had other ideas, or one at least, and it u'as a good one. The FCC was offered a five-year lease on the old ice house 17 years later, the lease

-

18

continues. UPI bureau chief Aperfectexample0f belore (bel0ut)andalter(above) Mike Keats, who followed wise as president, was given the job of turning it from an ice house that had become a godown into rvhat it is today, the finest press club in the world.

yeor, Eoch one is protected by our

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Money is received jusl minules ofter il'is sent, WESTERN UNION uses the lotest eleclronic technology ond our unique worldwide computer nelwork for immediote poyoul in more fhon 1ó5 counlries,

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Derek Davies, r'r,ho had two successi'r¡e terms as president between 1987 and 1989, rates it as the most comfortable, least stuff;' watering holes of the lot.

"Knocks London, \A/ashington and New York into a cooked hat," he says.

But today the FCC is more than just a watering hole. It has shaken off the image of the rough and ready day's and today has the image of a caring club with a social conscience. And like in Chungking in 1943, Shanghai in 1949, Conduit Road in the Fifties,

Coll our

WESTERN

UNION holline in Hong Kong ot (852) 2l179088 for more informolion or visil our websile htlp://www.westernun¡on.com.

We now onnounce our service in Combodio: Foreign Conespondence Club of Cqmbodio (F.C.C.C.)

3ó3SisowothQuoy,PhnomPenh,Combodio

Tel:

(855)23210 142 Fox: (855)23427758

Sunwoy Holel, Level M No. l, Street 92, Songkot Wot Phnom, Phnom Penh Tel: (855) 23 430 358 Tel: (855) 23 430 333 Ext, BOBó Fox: (855) 23 430 358 or visif e-moil: interbusiness@moil,com

THE CORRESPONDENT./5OTH ANNIVERSAR'!' Ì 949-Ì999

Finonciol Services

a

phitiþ Bouring, Richard Branson, John Brembridge, George Burir, Roron Callick, Cornell Caþra, Lord Carrington, Hød,d,on Caue, Anson Chan, Mihe Chinnoy, Bo Chung, Iames Clauell, Marh Clffird, Robin Cook, Derek Daaies, John 'Gord,on Daais, Steae Dauis' Lord' Deedes, Jose de Vct'necia, Ed,uarr) d'e Bono, Marc "Dr Doom" Farberi Dame Lydia Dunn, Rod, Edd'ington, Robert Elegant' Gareth Eaans, Richørd Euans, Dame Edna Euerage' Sir Daaid Ford, Ctray, Han Ch Heøth, ard Do him, JeremY

Wi

Irons, Nancy Kuan, Kim Dae Jung, Sir Freddie Lahe't, Emily Lau, Lee Kuan Yew, Martin Lee, John Ie Carre, Peter Fonda,

Alberto Fujimori, Jintmy Lai, Emily Lau, Burton Levin,

the club is not afraid to campaign for a cause (see The FCC's f,nest hour þage 112). T}ae FCC has been busier than at any time in its history promoting

Ciina's Premlen nu Ronnli spoke to thE clu[ ¡n 1990 when he was may0F 0l Snangiai. lil¡th him fr'om ¡eft, BoD llau¡s,

AndPews, human rights and press free dom Jon pnÊsidont Paul issues. More than six years ago, a Baylleld and Saul Press Freedom Subcommittee was [ockhant formed under the leadership of Francis Moriarty. It is now co-sponsor with Amnesty International and the HK.fournalists' Association for the annual human

rights awards for j ournalists and photo graphers.

"In the Nineties, the FCC has shifted very

much to a more professional role both in providing for working journalists and in the community at large," said former president Paul Bayfreld (1990-91). This was particularly so from the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 through to the Handover in 1997. Speaker's lunches, panel discussions, press conferences and seminars dealt with China, Hong Kong and the Handover. Other issues weren't ignored, but this was the primary focus. This culminated with two weeks of intense activity by the club leading up to

and after the Handover. Organised by the then president Keith Richburg and his board, there were daily press conferences (some times four a day) by the movers and shakers of the time, lunch speakers (notably opposition leader Martin Lee on Handover basically day), seminars and panel discussions hugely something happened every day. These were successful and serviced not only journalist members, but also the hoards of visiting hacks.

The club has always provided a platform for debate and gives the rostrum to those who have something to say in Hong Kong and beyond particularly in the - more to say than Eighties and Nineties. Some have others, some say it better than others but the speakers list at the club over the years is a veritable who's who of big names. To name a few: Eddy Adams, Moha,mmad Ali, Daae All¿n, Peter Arnett, Paddy Ashdown, lasþer Beche4 Allan Bond, Martin Booth,

20

Neuharth, PJ O'Rourke, Chris Patten, Sir

Wil\

Purues, Fidel

Rarnos, Etienne Reuter, Tim Rice, Keith Richburg,. Ton) Ridd,et; Mary Robinson, Lord Sandberg, Sir Harry Seacombe, Sond,hi Limthongkul, Willt'am Shawcross, George Soros, Peter

Sutch, Donald Tsang, Daaid Tang, Dennis Taylor, Mark Thatchetr Gary Trudertu, Tung Chee-hwa, Lia Ullman, Sir Peter (Jstinoa, Steue Vines, Casþar Weinberger, Jimmy \\hite' Gough Witlam, Lord Wilson, Wayne Wong, Sir Gordon Wu, Gattin Young, Si'r Edward Youde, Zhu Rongji'

hen the legendary Clarç Hollingworth celebrated her 85th

äüftttt*g

o

birthday in 1996,

chief guest was Lord the man instrumental Maclehose in securing -the club's present abode.

Then governor Chris Patten was there as well to honour the life's work of the from day one of war correspondent to practically World War II in Poland from She received tributes since. conflict every from tribute around the globe.

One correspondents Times' York Swain and the Neu Times' Lond,on Jon the Tohn Burns in Afghanistan, read: "Clare, the tanks you 'ru* .ro.rirlg the Polish frontier on September 3 1939, have arrived here, but without your expertise we're a little lost as to what to make of it all' Could you pack your bag and get here soonest'" All very worthy. you would think the hard drinking' hard living FCC of old wasn't there anymore. Far from it. The FCC continues to be a bar (and now ajazz club) where people eat, drink, meet, argue, occasionally fight and party. And you can still belly up to the bar beside Clare and share a story and a pint or two.

Looking back over 50 years and beyond, the club

has been home

iournalists an fr þrofessionals more names

q ù

vU ü

to amazing characters, brilliant

mentioned, but that would require a book.

dness many

been

Congratulations to the F.C.C. from one survivor to another

I

THE CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH ANNI\,IERSARY

1949-1 999

Astn INc, 9Æ Eastern Commercial Centre, 83 Nam On Street, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2809-2505 Fax: (852) 28094839 e-mail: editors@asia-inc.com.hk Web: wwwasia-inc.com

1949-1950

Presidents The past presidents of the FCC and their Boards have made an essential contribution to the survival of the FCC. In the tough times they provided the glue and the leadership that kept things together, as the FCC's home wandered around the streets of Hong Kong.

Aboue, lrom lelt standin0, Ph¡lip Bowning (l 985/93), Jim Biddulph (1 988), Mike Keats (1983), Hugh van E$ (1982), Donald lll¡se (1 980/81 ), lormeF manageF He¡nz GFabneF and his u,ife Joscpnine, and Denek ltau¡es (1

22

Clro¿

F,qr<Ns\4'ORTH l\rno yorh He¡rild. Tr.ilnntt

1951

NTIoNTyP¡.nnor

Ì952

PInrurn BRIs,qR¡

1953

RIcg,qr.o H¡,Rnts Lontl.on..lintes

t954

H¡Nny R. LtEspnMAN

1955

FntO

1956-1957 1958

Crulc M,tcGRLCloR ltretu york Tintes Fn¡,NCrs LAR{ Agzlrepr.tut.te p¡ csse

ON

H.tir,tpS

Rntters t\gente \rrn.tcc presse

Netu I'orl¡

Tincs

Associ rttetl press

1959

\^¡¡Nl¿Lt- MnntCIf

United. I'r¿s s ht tet nrttion

1960

Fnqxf ROe¡RrsoN

London

1961

RoennT S. Elrc¡.çr

1962

ROY ESSOf'¡,N

1963

I.q,x

Sr¡t,\lurr

1964

GUy S¡¡f.]-S

1965

Sr,+Nt-Ey

ril

Dail, Tclegttett

Nezustuceh

As:.sociaterJ press

l\rettt york.'fi.nrcs

À4utztnl. Brorulcast,i.n,g S|,e¡pr¡

RrcU

Associnted press

1966

D,CVI¡

t967

FoBRlsr'\AtooDy' Eor,t,¡.nts

1968

Eur,t'¡rn¡ TsnNc Centrnl

1969

JOffN HUcff ES Chtistian

r970

FORRnst 'WOo¡y'

1971

Lr,^l

r972

H¡Nny S. H,rwt,¡rno Clni,stkm Science ùIot¡iLor Etl,ticRì \\ru Balti.ntore stun

r973 r974 t975 I976 7977-1978

ROlls

Sratrnnr

Neu york HertLkl.'ft.ibtute AssocirLted pte.ss

n-etus Ågettcl, Scienr:e

Eoft¡¡fus

Monitor Associared press

,\,í?to yorh TtDrc\

K,\IF L\titcrt. p,-ess httenta.tionril K¡trir l(qy CßSrV¿¿,s

.A.I.enxf

BE'nf OIfUI-¡y L\titetl

press

Inren.ation nÌ

1979

ArrHoNy P,rrJL Read,er's D.igest \¡Ic-|onIA \Ârx<lipttLt Lhtit¿tl. press

1980-81

DON-.fr.l \A/ISI

1982

HuenRT \iA.N Es

1983

¡-¿r Ertstenr. Lconrntic Ranietu I.reelnnce

1989

Kt,lts L'r¿i¿¿d p:res s Itl,t e|na Li.oiull Eu,ti+n¡ Tsf Nc Centrnl. Neus Agenq, Pfflllp BOURfNC Far Eastenz Euntotnic Reuiettt Jru Bmour-l+ BBC DnRnf D,tflS Ìitr Eastettt Econontic Reui¿tu SlNn Fls¡t< Agence [rattce presse

1990

P,tUt- Bl\trInI- D I'rn

1991

PET¡B SEIU-I']Z ÍI atzdels !¡ktu

1992

Srnrn \tlNrs

1993

PgIlIp Bot,t'nrNc

1994

C¡,nl- GOIIS-IEIN Far Eastetn.

t994

SIltoN HoI-etnroN

1995

H.fNs \rnf ¡Ns

1996 7997

JouN Gr+NnNr Frcekntce KnnH RtcHgrJRG \4iashington Post

1998

DrA.N¡ SroRNroN'l

1984 1985 1986 1987-1988

MICIf,A.¡I-

Ea,stent Econotnic Reuieu

Tlte Obseraet Fr¿elrurce

L,conontic Reuietu

þ-inrmcittL'tinres

Algenuen Hantlelsl¡kt

a.rL

Ft.eekrnce

S87/88)

THE, CORRE,SPONDE,NT,,'5OTH,{NNI\,TRSAR\'

Ì

949-I 999

The legenúany LanFY Ãllen with Ros$ l¡ìlaY,

!eft, and tetow"Uncle Ray" Gordeino

'd' t\,

The tGG ltflen

of l[ote$ men

he old Pool Bar's new lease of life has a lot to do with a radically different design and

an imaginative alternative menu, but the

decision to name it after the late Bert Okuley reflects,the equal importance of a third element

great live music.

- by musicians rárher than scribbled by Notes played

him play because he was either too modest or held nimsåF io too a high a standard to go public with that particular talent' He alwaYs loved appeared at the cl the instrument. So signal service of introducing Larry Allen to the FCC ¡i.t ln the Conduit Road days (that's the Fifties for the his new members), and who until his death, cheered

p

equent apPearances

o

was

own in that company, but fèw members ever heard lHE coRRLspoN DIiNT,/soTH ANNTvERSARy

Ì949_1999

still dedicating

to do with his decision.

25

Musicians playing at the club have always interacted

Ken Bennett of Kor'vloon Honkers fame slipped into Lar-r1"s Dining Room gig for a while, and worked well there, but r'vas too close to Larry in nhat he did, while beine not enoush like him in the way he did it, to quite fit in dor,vnstairs.

with the membership and Larry'çvas a master at

building and maintainir-rg those relationships. If he ever wearied of performing the Wanchai Bar Girl's Lament or his Bangkok variant on Molly Malone, b.e certainlv ner¡er let an,vbody know it, and successive generations of members during the Conduit Road, Sutherland Flouse and finally Ice House Street eras reliablv got their requests if they rvere being made for the thousandth time.

When he had a quiet moment, and nobody was shouting reqlrests for Irish folk tunes or \rietnam \A/ar barracks songs, Larr,v also loved to play jazz and some thoughtful, often bluesy solos would break up his regular piano bar routine of standard tunes and'r,vell worn jokes. He was always h.ppy to play Thelonious lVlonk for Tony Nedderman. or more than three decades Larry Allen was on and off the FCC's resident musical -Master of Ceremonies.

Most of the other players who appeared at the club were guest musicians or bands on one night only contracts. Back in the days when he played his first gigs in Conduit Road, however, we also had a resident band led by none other than the ever ar,'uncular Ray Cordeiro RTHK's longest serving disc jockel' a¡d the proud- presenter of one of the longest running radio shows in the world.

Towards the end of the Conduit Road da1's, ürþils Larry was tinkling the keys in the lobby, Ray was thumping the skins in the ballroom with a band that included a young Tony Carpio on guitar then still - Godfather learning his craft and now the undisputed of the Hong Kong musicians Mafia.

Both Ray and Larry were engaged by a manager called Buzz Hunt a shadowy figure who few - remember, but who Ray recalls members seem able to

keeping the band on mostly because of

an

appreciation of the talents of their girl singer that went well beyond a mere love of music.

While she fought off the manager's attempts to exercise his droit de seigneur, Rav and the band played everything from swing era standards to rock 'n' roll to a dance floor situated convenientlv close to a poorly lit

outdoor terrace onto which slow dancers would per iodically drilt lor more plivate prrrposes.

Although he recalls the era as rowdy, fights were rare surprisingly given the closing hour which came only -when the last revelers elected to leave. The band started early and f,rnished late.

'We played until the last people went home," recalls the veteran radio sta¡ who has maintained his late night habits with All 7'he Way With Ray but nowadays seldom strikes a drum in anger. "Uncle Ray" however

fondly recalls jamming with Larry, who always liked his time keeping.

"If you have a good drummer you have a good band," he al'ers simpl,v. "If that isn't workins no matter

26

llen Youngblood, or-lr current pianist, approached it differently. There were no jokes little speech at all in fact but he of experience the roonì years brought to

of plavinu magnificent jazz piano in

I

Ztttt ttg

what else is happening you've got nothing at all."

The move from Conduit Road to less commodious premises in Western occasioned a brief hiatus in the FCC's run as a music venue. Since the club couldn't pay the rent it couldn't very well afford musician's stipends, so Cordeiro and his band were "let go" and moved to a more sedate and respectable gig at the LRC. Larry Allen was also off the payroll, but began to

ltr

'",idlþ

¡

rl

rl

tilf,t

Bents res¡dent Fianist Allen Yoüngblood: his own special Fappot't w¡th the audience. (lnsùI)Larry, Charlie Sm¡th and PeteF Annett belting one out

substantial part to the latest in the line of the FCC's music men. Long rnay their tradition continue. I

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF HONG KONG

play for the club again at Sutherland Flouse, alternating with 'Crazy Larry' Nlarriott, a rock 'n' roll

pianist and singer whose band was in residence at that time at the Front Page next door to the Hong Kong Press Club in Wanchai. Alternating with that grolrp was an early version of the FCC's own rock and blues band, Mind Your Your Head, then fronted by norv absent

C OIV GRA:T(T LATI OIV S

member Bill Barker who later sat in at the club on blues harp with Larry Allen.

The two Larrys followed us up the hill to Ice House Street where Larry Allen took up a long residency in the Main Dining Room. It wasn't until he was invited to play in the Main Bar however, that he reassumed his former prominence in the club's life.

Several people including me, although I actually wound up playing -with him there on more than a ferv

ON Y OU R

SOTH AIVIVIVERSARY FROM THE FT

occasions had reservations this change of - that music mightabout venue, feeling not have a place in that secularly sacred room. We were wrong. When Larry left, although nobody believed we could find a replacement as such, the advantages of engaging another pianist were clear.

FINANCIALTIMES World Business Newspaper

THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH A\NI\T,RSAR\' 1949-1999

JtF-__

a

way and at a volume that allowed people either to talk or to listen to him as the,v chose. Soon members were on nights when coming to the bar just to hear him and screened an)'way no rugbv matches'rvere being his rapport with special Allen had established his own subscription onlv audience.

That special relationship of course has now moved dorvn to the basement and r,t,hat is undoubtedly, amons other things, Hong Kong's ltnest jazz cellar. As musical director as rvç.l as house pianist, Allen now orchestrates the whole atmosphere of a r-oom l,r'hich is busy most nishts of the week, and packed lvhen his trio 'n'ith bassist Peter Scherr and drummer vocalist Larry llammond play on Thursdays, Fridavs and Saturdays.

Music- has been an occasional and valued part of life at the FCC since Larry and Rav first put on their tuxedos for their debut gigs at Conduit Road. In Bert's basement bar it is no\\r an integral part of it, thanks in

qu¡tc The FCìC's.journal of record, The CorresNtonclent, has chanqed quite a bit over the years, consistently improving in both the progress

November, 1975

Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong

EoFnesponüent o set the record straight, it is probably not 50 years old this month. There were quite a few years when it was not published,

perhaps because the high standards expected by members could not be maintained during times when the FCC was, shall we sa¡ financially embarrassed. Our wallets were going through withdrawal pains ...or, the editor may have had a few too many at the bar. As for this article, any errors below are purely the fault of the then-Editor(s).

A browse through what back issues are available provides many hours of side-splitting laughter, not only at hair and clothing styles, but also at the people who, in some cases, still haunt our hallowed halls. In the early days, some editions didn't have the date on the cover (or inside), and so one is left to guess thatVol. 2, No. 8, which has an article on the 1977 Christmas party, is from August 1978. That would suggest that the journal was founded tn 1977, but that's not the case (see below). Other issues are rumoured

to be out

there, somewhere. Free drinks for life, courtesy of the editor-when-the-drinks-are-ordered, to anyone filling in the gaps. [In a pig's eyel Ed.l

-

Among othen gem$, Vol. 2, No. 7 reveals

the elusive locatiorr

of the Green Dragon

Nightclub in Peking (sorr¡ Beljing).

A couple of issues later, Saul Lockhart's dog, Macquire, is reported to have "mysteriously acquired a case of the clap."

Thurston, age 14 28

-

there

was

First place for most frightening photo must be the one of David stiff competition in this

category (most notably Marty Merz in short hair and a tux).

It would be unfair to point out the number of distinguished members who, in the days when black-and-white film was king, appeared to have no grey hair.

But, seniously

in

Serious journalism has also been a long tradition The Corresþond,ent. -lhe July 1980 edition has a

report by Tiziano 'lerzani on his trip to Pyongyang (which with a change in dates could have been penned this year). A month earlier we learned from the late cameraman Ian Wilson about the diffrculty of getting to (and surviving) Kwangju as that city faced what is now known to have been a military assault by the South Korean army. Safa Haeri's visit to Tibet was chronicled in Vol 1, No. 10, which may (or may not) have been in ).977.

The history of the FCC also is well documented in the pages of The Correspondent. The 40th anniversary issue recalls the Club's time in Chongqing (The Chungking Press Hostel); Nanjing (address unknown; members with this titbit of knowledge, please write to the editor so that our 100th anniversary issue may be more complete assuming he's still around then); and Shanghai- (Broadway Mansions, now Shanghai Mansions). Our first Hong Kong home was at No. 41 Kotewall Road (1949-51), followed by the legendary 414 Conduit Road (which we declined to buy for the princely sum of $145,000).

Ted Thomas' piece (November 1988) on the Club as it was in the Conduit Road days brings a fascinating part of our lore to life. Subsequent letters to the editor recall the move to Li Po Chun Chambers (196163), the old Hilton Horel (1964-68) and on ro Sutherland House (1968-82). Part of the reason for leaving the latter, and ultimately ending up on lce, was THE CORRESPONDENT/sOTH

ANNIVERSARY

1

949-1999

:

I'

I

the lar-rdlorc.l's illlention to raise the leut 400o/o, to the lootl r.'r irrcelr stlnt of tteal lr 512 I a sqtrule ' Other rrornelìt's in FCC histot-l' recorclecl in The (ìolle sponclent include the f¿rct thzrt.fohn f)i¡4gins rvol the lìirst FCC Yantze Tourtlarneut Perhzrps a record (or- a lack of rccording in previous issr-res) is the.|ul¡'

l9iJ0 list

of'tlo feu'er than 9ô nett' r' etnbers, amonQ

rhenr Cr-orvn Cor-rusel NIr K.H. Egan, NIs

Nela

Sh¿uv of'

'fhe Professional Club and NBC Nett's' Nfr Nlichael CÌrirtol'.

Some things neuer change

Irr nricl-1980,'l-ln Corresþon,d,er¿t publishecl a photo of \/an Es al-rd a cerfait-r Robert Sanders; "Captain Iugb l N,licìrrislit" is prohled as thc tipster's tipster of the I97980 r'acing seasoll. Bob, anl chance of irnproving the

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(lltrb's finances n'ith a little extra-currictllar irlvestr-ncnt? The same issue informs potential rrc'ribels that the Correspondent ar-id Journalist the sarne as it is CuLl¿ìl]Ce lèe is raised to $1,000 - and that Associates ro(12ì\,, ì)Llt 20 times thel953 rate cllalged clquble that anount. Belore r'r'riting

ü

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t

rvill be

LctLe l's

to the Editor on this clisparifi', please cousider

tlrc clil'fcrence in ar,erage incones of thc larious ( 2ttceorics ol'rle mbership. Then tt'rite lour le ttcrs.

'fhosc r'vho ahvals wondered r,vh,v l(evin Sinclair left Ncrv Zealand can fìnd the ansrver in the (supposedlr') inirrLer-rral, November 1975, issue: or-rl;'one mulcler a

journalist make a liling on th¿rt?" he ¡sl<cd. In tìre same issue, thc Club's farnons

yc'ar'. "Ilor'r' can a

T3

Thanksgivir-rg dinncr, alu,a)'s a ìtalsaiu, cost $12

One of tlìe greatesl pleasures iu researcl-iing this article rvas rereadina the I'r'it zu-rd ¡visdor.l.l of an old l'riend, Lcighton WiÌlgeroclt. Lcightou r'r'rote about lifc in Asia 61'çv1'fl1i¡¡; liom behaviour in lifts to life in ¡1¡¡lç¡ the bannel A Pedd,ler's .lotuttrt,l.

Sixties Japarr

Here's to absent friends,..

n one merlorable piecc, lve are rcmindecl

tl-rat

timc does rìot necessarilY change the chat'actcrof the FCC. Some 25 r'cars ago, the esteemcd members of tl-ie club are described to a tcc, much as tìrev are todal': "The corresponclent members are a fablcd groì.rp, uttique in the u'orld, fabr-rlous, elen flabbergasting. Our associate tlerlbers ar-e equallv an asLonishing gror-rp, ran¡çing fronl Fal East sr'r,ashbucklers to sedate tvcoorìs, sua"'e diplonlats to cantankerons information offìcials, rac)¡ PR flacks tcr slick advertising sn'ioothies. " The Correspott.det"¿L reÍains its hoìr' charter evcìì todÐ'.

As the late H¿rrold E,lìithorpe, the first editor, describes tl'ris augr-rst journal, it '\'r'ill be thc sole zrrlcl frec responsibility of the Eclitor...it has ìÌo axes to grind, political, religçious, gastrollorlìic or- astrolosic ...and enjovs

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Bunny was packing his bags for his annual visit. Et'e after the proclamation of the People's Republic ¿ þ¡¿vs China some six months late¡ foreigns¡s were still living

in China.

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underway for another couple ofyears.

China's economy has been growing at 7.5o/o a over the past 50 years, a highly respectable rate but n quite as high as South Korea's B.I% p.a., or Tai\^,an' 8.6% average. China's economy 50 years ago (if we the numbers then... or nou,!) was about 10% of the si of Japan's, a level it wouldn't reach again until I Few expected China would amount to much: half century ago the most promising countries in Asia Burma, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. \Ahich just to show you how wrong economic forecasts can be!

The world's media were focused on wars, cold wa and independence declarations. The Berlin Airlift nearly a yeãr old, and wouldn't conclude until late i

the Summer. Civil war in Greece ended, but th French were having a tough time in Vietna Indonesia declared independence from Th Netherlands, the Federal German Republic was bor

(and NATO formed), Australian citizenship introduced, as was apartheid in South Africa. Indi proclaimed itself a republic, the USSR detonated i first atomic bomb Newfoundland became Canada' 1Oth province and Siam decided itwould be Thailand.

Aside from politics, there were other things to wri about. Cars now had ignition keys and the first 33-1/ and 45 rpm records were introduced. That wa important, as Miles Davis made his first recordin Some Enchanted Eaeningwas the most popular song. Hi movies included -lhe Sands of lwo Jima and All the l{ing Men,w]nidn won the Oscar for Best Picture. This mon 50 years ago.]oe Louis retired, the first automatic stree light probably caused more accidents than it preven and the Lucky Laþ 11 (a US Air Force Superfortress) completed the hrst non-stop trip around the world i 94 hours.

and that the Easter ääl.r"tttt-o would be replaced

The best thing about forecasting 50 years ahead i that few will remember what was written. Without doubt, computers and telecommunications will be intertwined as to be a nuisance. Money will still be i use though perhaps the paper and metal varieties wi have passed into history. Commodities will still needed to make things, but the centuries-lon connection between the price of manufactured and the price of commodities ended some 25 years Those who depend on producing commodities wil never be able to catch up with those who produc manufactured g^oods or ideas. Two examples: th average automobile uses far less steel today than it did i the mid-1970s (i.e., a steel rvorker must produce steel to buy a car); and, the commodity component i the cost of a computer chip cannot be measured wi it's 99.999% knowledge. I any meaninø

-

THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNI\,ERSARY

32

1

949-1

'!d

I E

HUBEAIVN

ES

hat a month it was. After all the build-up the hype, hysteria, the hordes of- hacks flooding in it - be looked for a while as if it would the yawn of the decade. But in the end, the Flandover lived up to its billing for sheer human drama, for emotion and for some poignant moments: Chris Patten's teary exit; the British farewell at Tamar with the rain-soaked but dignified speech from the Prince of Wales; the moment itself when the Union Jack was lowered and the Chinese flag raised; Martin Lee's defiant speech from the balcony of Legco.

At the flag ceremony in the Convention Centre, you felt that the weight of history was in the air; it was a brief, but shining moment not to be missed.

At the FCC it was also a momentous time and - of almost certainly the busiest. Under the leadership President Keith Richburg and his Board, the FCC became the venue for a series of daily press briefings as the main dining room became the key place in town

for the territory's best-known newsmakers. Almost every day for two weeks, the FCC became the place where news was made. Speakers included Legco's Maria Tam and Nellie Fong; Hong Kong transition researcher Michael De Golyer; Legco president Rita Fan; pro-China leftist Tsang Yok-sing; conservatives Allen Lee, Ronnie Chan and David Chu; Credit Lyonnaise's Gary Coull; Ra)rmond Ch'ien; firebrand

34

qt

Emily Lau; Christine Loh; and Martin Lee. '誰Mhy is it you find so much nostalgia?" Lee asked

his press conference on Handover day. "Becau people came here for freedom."

The FCC also had a series of highly successfu social events, but at all times every TV screen in th place had people glued watching the events unfold. dawn of the first day of the new era, there were sti about 40 people hanging around the bar, not wantin to let go. Then came footage on the screen showi truck after truck of PI-A troops crossing the border With that sobering image, the bar emptied. I THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNI\,'ERSARY 1949-

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THE CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH ANNI\,IE,RSARY 1949-1999

The title of this recent Freedom Forum University of Hong Kong conference presupposes there is something wrong with the Hong Kong media, an assumption held by most of the attendees. On the following pages, The Correspondent presents highlights of keynote addresses from the two overseas speakers. Ann lr{ordby reports oes the news media in Hong Kong need reform? About

rvould be up to us to stop the decline b)'ottt ncerted efforts." \{/ong highlighted three reasons:

. If it bleeds, it leads . Total lack of compassion for the victim or the stlrvlvor .Trivia and irrelevance

rnphasing that all members of the local rnedia are responsible and should work to solve these problems, Wong also accused members of the local media of false cries of lf:censorship and conspirac;'.

\{/ong explained that an over-expansion of the mecli¿r in the past decade has left in its r'r'ake a loacl of

300 people from

the media and many allied professions crowded into an auditorium at the University of Hong Kong inJanuary to attend a one-day conference on the issue. The consensus was that yes, they do, and badly. .*: tðEl¡¡sponnU "Media ethics have become a burning issue in Hong Kong recently," opined ;l.rri,¡ltìr -

HKU's Vice-Chancellor Professor Y C Cheng in his opening address. "Many people are beginning to feel that, unless something is done, and done quickl¡ to curb the excesses of the Hong Kong media, journalists are in danger of losing all credibility and innocent people are in danger of being victimized by careless and/or sensational reporting." frD ooRnf,sfx{rHT Continuing the same theme, Yuen Ying Chan, HKU's consultant for media studies and the co-organiser of the event, explained that "18 months after the Handover, the public and journalistic community have become alarmed over the media's ethical lapses, not over meddling from Beijing. Now the universal outcry is for more editorial selÊdiscipline as the major papers compete for the most bloody and most gruesome pictures and tales of crime victims. " Freedom Forum reports indicate the drop in creditability appears to be part of

a global trend, according to a recent issue of IPI Report, the authoritative quarterly of the Vienna-based International Press Institute, a world-wide network of editors and media executives.

'Just about everywhere," according to the informal, IPI global survey credibility has emerged as a key issue in discussions and perceptions of the media," the quarterly said in an introduction to a

36

side of special section devored to news media ...dibih'Il'TiîïÏ.Ti:ï'*::'itîåï'ìi. "¿i,o,.ial journalists must resist around the world. themselves that nreclia agr-eed "When readers express disappointment, the seriopr.essur-e from outside and inside their organisations press is usually the target. They knowwhat to expecti¡o embellisl-r or e\¡en manufacture stories. Set'eral the tabloids: \À¡hat you see is what you get. Clearl¡ an(orrchecl upon the idea of a news council as monito¡ erosion of the public's trust and respect is a sourcerbut all spoke out against legislation requiring the concern for editors in print and broadcasting. Thgovelnment to step in. have given up on love. They are working hard o Daisl' Li, Online Managing Editor of tL'e Aþþle belief."

Daily ancl former head of the Hong Kong Journalists The consensus that media practices in Hong KonAssociation (of which she is now a member of the specifically have deteriorated is prevalent amo¡Executive Committee) called for media organisations journalists themselves, according to the Hong Kont<> stop sr-ring journalists rvorking for competing papers Journalists'Association which announced 77Vo of ilåncl fol-investors to seek out high-quality media. She members believed media practices had worsened análso called for the local schools to include media pledged support for an independent news mediecluc¿r[ion in their curriculum to help consumers watchdog. Radio Television Hong Kong devoted foulcarn fi-om an early age how to pick the good from the radio and television programmes to discussions of tbbatl." need for a press council, while Hong Kong's Chirl The after-noon session focused on a business Executive Tung Chee-hwa weighed in with "thQtrestion Can Hong Kong Become the Regronal Media practices of the media should be monitored by tt(i'llrz?Panellists seemed to think not, and focused on tltc cleveloprnent of cable television, the Internet and public."

"Back at the University of Missouri (|ournalislfilm.

School), I would net'er have gotten into the business(' I(aushik Shridharani, media anall'st and vice journalism if I had known that I would spend fofplesident of Salomon Smith Barney Asia Pacific, said decades in a business I am now ashamed of," saith¿rt Hong Kong is failing to foster the growth of new Raymond R Wong, panelist in the morning sessionìe(li2ì oLrtlets and faililg tg attract new media entitled Credibility Crisis: Who,t's Wrong with Journahttþt'oviclers. S K Fung, president of NBC Asia and the and Hou to Fix it. Wong is Assistant General Manager t(ìal>le ¿rnd Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia, TVB and chairman of the mass communicatioÍexplzrirlecl that Hong Kong has only 20Va penetration training board at the Vocational Training Council. of' c¿rble television, compared to Taiwan's l^¡as 807a.

"How did it get this way?" Wong asks, "and ¡o*.¡ilhc aclt'eut of digital technology will quadruple the it be fixed?" In Wong's view, the answer ,o Soflhtrn'rber of channels that can be carried, keep the questions can be r.r--"d up in four words: "Look¡tlemzrnd for cable television high. The potential for the mirror!" In a free societ¡ we are all responsiblt8t'orvth of this industry is great, but getting cable wired The journalists, the med.ia owners, ,¡. ,r.ltitrto Hong I(ong buildings is a problem for Wharf consumers. Since it's we who have caused the decliú(ìable television and anyone else who enters this of media trust-worthiness, it certainly makes sense thrDiìl-ke t. I 'lHE coRRESnONDENT/5OTH ANNI\aERSARY 1949-1¡! t tt" <:<l¡¡¡¡ISPoNDENT/5oTH AN¡NI\T,RSr\Ry r949-1999

Gneüihility Gnisis Quantilied HKU's Social Sciences Research Centre has been putting the question 'Do you think the nen's media in Hong Kong are responsible in their reporting?' to the public since the end of 1997. In the latest poll, released in January for this conference, less than one percent (O.6Vo) of those polled found the press 'r'er1' responsible' vs. 16.5% who decided the Forrrth Estate was 'quite responsible' (but in the hrst surve)/ in 1997, that figure was 40.8%l).

About a third of the respondents held rhe middle

ground 'half-half', while 38.4Vo found the press 'quite irresponsible' and 3.2Vo lound them 'r'er)' irresponsible'. (The missing 7.47o were'don't knows'.)

Another sur\/ey of the public, this one conducted by Chinese University of Hong Kong's Department of Journalism and Communication in December 1998,

revealed 62% of the respondents believed that deteriorating conduct w,as the main problem facing the media. Interestingl¡-the respondents were equally whether divided on the quesiion of press freedom Hong Kong media-enjoyed more or the same amount compared with pre-Handover days.

All of Hong Kong's 14 major daily newspapers had dropped in credibility since the Handover. The toprated paper was the South China Morning Posl, whose rating dropped to 6.58 from 7.18 (out of a possible 10, the highest on the creidbility scale). Number t\¡o was tjae Ming Pao Daity, whose rating fell from 7.15 to 6.55.

Hong Kong's other English daily, the Hong Kong Standard, dropped 0.88 to 6.23 for fifth place among all the dailies, from its third position at 7.11 in 1997.

Hong Kong's two major mass-circulation rlewspapers, 'l'he Oriental Da'i\ and The Apple Daily remained seventh and ninth respectively in both years, but the ratings of both dropped by about 97o. B,otl't Communist Party-backed dailies in Hong Kong, Wen Wei Pao and Ta Kung Pao (the latter's former editor Tsang tak-shing, now a member of the government's Central Policy Unit, was also a panel member) were on the bottom of the creditability ratings of the list of 14 dailies.

The broadcast media fared better than print. Radio Television Hong Kong, rated number one at 6.76, went down only 0.5 point since 1997.

The biggest drop in credibilitl' by any news media organisation named in the survey was the Government Information Service, which dropped 1.22 points since 1997 to score 6.12. Xinhua came in at 4.94 in 1998, a drop of 0.79 point.

Asked which of 11 named ways they rvould prefer to solve these problems, only 7% selected 'demand lau's

be passed on media ethics' whlle 20Vo supported a 'press council with the power to fine media outlets'' Most respondees supported the formation of a media ethics forum. Interestingly, 69% chose'be more vocal to comment on ethical issues of public concern''

t/

Expect the extraordinürY

,

What Has Gone WFortS;, with Jounnalism,,, and Why? RobertJ Flaiman has just completed a year long studY of the US media for the PoYter Institute for Media Affairs in St Petersburg, Florida, of which he was president emeritus, editorin-residence and senior trustee.

The Corresponden f Presents edited excerpts from his address to the Freedom Forum,/ University of Hong Kong 'Reforming the News Media in Hong Kong' Conference'

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that city is more likely to be a newspaper which carq deeply about the important issues in that city. (Thi situ;tion in US television and radio is even mot j extreme with virtually all stations of any size owned t, large, national corporations.)

Moreover, virtually all of these large news

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the option of taking a smaller profit when business not good, instead of reducing news departm expenses. A publicly-owned company rarely has tl luxury. Atl of this has led, in my judgment, to a loss individualism and character in many newspapers; reduced passion for the communities they serve;

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At the same time that ownership of the media becoming more narrow the actual number outlets has vastly increased, mostly due to tl explosion in cable television. OnIy a decade or Ût ago, the average American owned a television which only received 12 or 13 channels and somer those were not even used. Now, I have a TV in r home which can receive 99 channels and (one) in n offrce which can receive 150 channels - and there ' something on every one of them virtually every hot of the dayl Virtually every one of those channels nr only competes for the attention of the audience, (bu t

fsee nine basic things which have gone wrong, and lwhich are going wrong, with journalism today:

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Until about 25 years ago, most of those papers were privately owned by individual families who lived in the cities where their papers were published ancl who had deep roots and caring concerns about those cities' But

.r.oi. ....ntly, a large portion of those family newspapers has been sold to very large, corporate chains. As of this yeat, neatly half the 1,400 papers were owned by just 25 companies - 321 of them were owned by.iust 10 companies... just three companies owned I43 of them and the two biggest corporate groups owned 120.

-

Sorn" may argue that some of these family-owned newspapers were not of particularly high quality, that they àctually were improved when they were bought by large corporations. I would argue that a newspaper which is owned and operated by people who live in

38

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even cheaper to produce for TV than legitimal professional news is people talking about news aÍ"' news events. All you need in the studio is some char some attractive, articulate people sitting in the chal' and talking, and a camera or two.

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was populated and it was practiced and it rvas guard in many ways, by professional journalists who tried

use their First Amendment powers judiciously'

they didn't alwal's use it perfectly; there lvere m misuses and excesses, and there were many pe who were excluded from the club' But there werc professional standards which were generall¡ to understood and most professionals tried to adhere , elected officials...and then make totally outrageous statements. It was sometimes entertaining, in a simpleminded sort of way., but it was not journalism' The louder they shouted, the more outrageous things they said, and tire more the audiences watched that station' So the next station on the dial had to hnd people who could be even more outrageous, or they would lose the competition for audience".and the competition for

them.

Those standards incl

writing something unle thoroughly yourself. You you trusted and You hacl t so you could use their n There were standards of precluded you from ment was often called a fam newscast.

All of that worked so long

a felì as there lvere only

TV channels and they were controllect b1' news departments. Outrageous things Ìr ' tncY ' by rough men in bars o' ä the street' bttt

in the a public official. The First Amendment is a powerful document and it is responsible for virtually all that it is ' But it is strong and good abo sibl¡ it is available not only to available to

everyone

-

and its

problem.

When journalism was a much smaller industr¡

40

know what you're looking

national and local TV

deemed to be too rude, crude or salaciolrs' w1th. t]re But all of that i-:11::':i the rtse c channels. It was then conipound"d by ajour Internet which utto*, onyolr¿ to call hirnself

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and say anything h"

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World Wide Web. THE CORRESPONITENT/5OTrL\NN

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Z*:triå;îå: When all of this outrageot-rs, unsourced, unbalanced, Lrnpro-

fessional, material started to appear on these new channels ...and then on the Internet...the professional journalism community was faced with a crucial decision:

Do we ignore all of this unprofessional stuff and continue to report the news using the high standards to which rve have alwal,s held ourselves? Or' must we report rvhat is

going on over there,

if it was not gathered and edited by people who use our same standards, or who care about our even

standards, or who even know about our standards?

Those are terribl;' important questions, but I wasnot aware of any great national debate about them,

at that time, US journalism community. A few good newspapers, maybe even more than a few, resisted at first reporting r'vhat was being said in this new, 'subterranean journalism' (although l still choke at calling it'Journalism") r.torld, but soon many reporters were saving to their editors such things as:

Look, that guv over there is saving that the President not only had a sexual relationship with someone other than his l,ife (which the President already has admitted), he is saying that the President also had a relationship with another woman, and that he had a child rvith her. It has been reported on a cable TV programme seen by' hundreds of thousands of people. It has been on an Internet web site alailable to millions of people. FIe says he has a solrrce, but he won't tell us who the source is. In fact, we don't even knorv if has any source. He doesn't hold himself to our professional journalism standards. He says he doesn't er,en belie'r,e in those standards. But millions of people have seen it and heard it and are talking about it, so how can we ignore it? Even if we can't nail it down ourselves, don't we have to at least publish or broadcast something about it?"

At that moment, in mvjudgment there u'as a major geological shift of almost earthquake proportion in the terrain under the feet of American journalism.

News organizations which had always previously required reporters to ha'r'e on on-the-record sources for powerfr-rl, damauing, allegations started to publish

more stories based on anonymous soLrrces.

Newspapers which had always insisted on two or three,

highly-reliable, anonymous sources for those 42

important stories for nhich no on-the-record sonrcg rtr-od¡ctions called docuclratnas could be obtained, now \,\¡ere willing to go r,vith onr iv¡ich are based on real historical anon)¡mous soltrce. Then news organizations starte( c\/er-tts, but 1'hich contain material to publish stories based on the anonymous sources 0 rvhich is patently zrt odds with the other responsible news organizations, even thougl k,,o.,ur-, facts. Is it a documentarY they could verif,v the information themselves. Thel proB-ram, rvhich is supposecl the responsible nervs organizations began to repor 'c,rvs non-hction? Ol is jolunalistic to l)e the salacious rumors and details after they wer{ it ir clrama, rvhich is supposed to be repor:ted in the 'subterranean' rnedia. Ther lhcatrical fiction? The problem is speculation and rumor-mongering became fit materia t¡:,rt it is both, which means it is for publication and broadcast in the mainstrea¡ Dcither-. George Orwell rvarned us media. rvh¿rt c¿rn happen in a society in Toomuchof thepressrushedtojudgmentanddir rvhich the lines between truth and not attempt to nail down the wild rumors swirlin¡ ['icti on become blurred t¡er)' - what around for fear of being scooped b)' a less-scr-upuloq s()olì llo one is sure anymore organization. And just like that, a moment of trutt r¡e tr-uth is. Then the government came and passed. In just a few months in one year c¡¡ Lell the people what the truth is overall professional journalism standards dropped a[ u¡rl thel, la,ill accept it even if it is - will have across the United States. Ethical rules which hac Dot tr-re they guided the profession for decades were left shatterec losL the-because abilit;' to knoy, the on the floor like so many broken beer bottles. The baC clifl'erence. began to drive out the good in the reporting of publit I believe that this blurring of the affairs. lilre be ßveen fiction and non-fiction A group called the Committee of Concerned this nerv idea that the difference between them is (of rvhich I am proud to be a member) did ¡or all that important so long as we tell a compelling .fournalists a study of the Sexgate stories which were published in sroly may be one of the reasons we have seen the fìrst six days ofJanuar¡ 1998 which is when tht incr-easing instances of reporters be ing caught MonicaLewinskystorybroke. Itfoundthat 4I% of thr f'ablicating quotations and even fabricating reporting was not factual at all, but was based on ch¿rr-acters. There has been for several )'ears a journalists offering analysis or opinion or speculation uìo\¡cnìent in US journalism for reporters to adopt the that 40% of the reporting based on anonymou¡ sources came from just a single, unnamed source; that only I-2% of the stories were based on two or morf

literarl techniques of novelists and poets to their work. I laud that movement because I belie'r'e it has led lo much belter-wl itten -

much more compelìing. narralive news stories in newspapers and news magazines. But we must not

er,'er let the use of such good writing techniques blur the line betr,r'een fi ction and non-fiction.

hI" IÐor

addition to the blurring

the line between fact and frction, there has been a collateral

blurring of the line between jorrrnalism and enlertainment.

This has come about partially because many prestigious jour¡ralism organizations have been bought bv companies which

uf,e primarily enterlainment companres.

This comes at a time when the

entertainment media are becoming more violent and more sensational and more salacious, and more rapid

in their quick-cut, fast-paced delivery. There

named sources.

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fiction in the news media. It started 20 or more yean ago with the publication of some books which were ostensibly non-fiction accounts of actual historical events, but in which the authors took some libertie¡ with the facts in order to, as one said, make the stor) line move more smoothly".

We had some years ago many magazine and some newspaper stories in which there were powerful real

characters, with actual names, who helped the journalist tell his story with srunning clarity, Unfortunately as we later found out, there was no such single real person as the one l,vho was named. Instead, he or she was what the author called a 'composite' character which means that the journalist took the lives and quotations of several different real people and merged them into one person, who, of course, did not really exist. This was part of a movement which came to be known as The NewJournalism. I maintail that it was neither new nor journalism, but a form of fiction masquerading as journalism, and one which is damaging to journalism.

We have now on television, and in some films, THE coRRltspoNDENT/¡OTH ANNI\TRSARy

I

949-t

999

is

evidence that the more people watch this stuff, the more desensitized they become to it and the shorter their attention span becomes. They soon become bored with what previously fascinated them. In order

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working-class people. Ma

to hold their attention, you must give them stuff which is even more violent, more

did not have universit degrees and of those wh did, most had not attende

sensational and more salacious and more rapid-fire. Perhaps

the most elite

entertainment world. But what does this bode for journalists and who are trying to report

executives

-

As someone who cam along late enough to ha been fairly well-paid as journalist and quite well-pai

complicated, important, public

issues

which do not lend

themselves to short, quick, sensational, bites of cartoon

an editor, I do not wish return to that time. The that journalists in the US ar in many cases, much bet paid than in the past, rs Among other things, it all us to attract better-educa as

a

delivery?

In addition to the blurring of the line between journalism and entertainment, ...and the blurring of the line between fact and fiction, there has been a blurring of the time period in which journalists traditionally have operated.

Journalists traditionally have

more intelligent, mor talented people into the n business. But something a has been lost. As journali

began to move up on th economic scale, they coul afford to move away fro

operated principally by reporting in the present, on the past. In other words, the

the old, working-clas

neighborhoods and most di

They bought expenstv

work of the.journalist was to telt his or her audience what already had occurred and thus could be reliably substantiated. Either the plane crashed or it did not.

But lately, more and more news stories report not on the past, but on the future. In effect, says author especially political reporters Bruce Feiler, reporters are becoming what weather forecasters always have

-been: predictors of the future. I can testify that in the US often are wrong which leads them to be roundly derided by the public.

weather forecasters

Reporters who try to be forecasters of the fut.ure also are often wrong and they will suffer the same fate as

they damage their

their weather colleagues credibility and, sometimes, can even become public laughingstocks.

E ;:*; 5,xì:å'.,ïîiå,1î;liä ff * trå ; journalists and the audiences they serve. Not all that

certainly many years ago, most journalists journalists were working-class people, newspaper

workers. what we call in the US blue-collar That means they were paid about the same as other commercial or industrial workers or government employees; they lived in the same neighborhoods as these other middle and lower-middle class workers; they sent their children to the same schools; ate in the same inexpensive restaurants; drove the same inexpensive cars or rode the buses and trains with the 44

and othe

professionals.

¡e ¡þsss same people

explain

universiti

which educaLed the natio doctors, lawyers, enginee

this is inevitable in the

houses and expensive cars. They went to bette universities. They sent their children to elite pri schools and to elite universities. They began socialize with the most elite and wealthy citizens their cities. And many lost touch with the comm people. Now, although we do not yet see this i newspapers, we have TV journalists in the US w make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year a network anchors who make millions. I would n deny anyone the dollars that his boss thinks he worth. But I fear that as journalists have left behind middle class which is where most people live have lost something which distances them from t lives of the majority of people for whom they a reporting and editing.

turnl9m

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have cited, has created one final problem. I believe has led to a smugness, a superiorit¡ a snobber¡ an arrosance and a diminished commitment to bei

- fair among too many journalists. Fal scrupulously - have become what we call, if you too many journalists will forgive a slightly vulgar bit of American slang 'smart-asses'. Particularly when writing about politician or an idea with which they do not agree, the| will too often allow themselves what appears to many a 'sneer' in their choice of words or perspective. I THE CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH ANNN4RSARY 1949-

www.heidelberg.com

a decision for qualitY

Also speaking at the Freedom Forum lJniversity of Hong Kong conference on Hong Kong's news media *ur Matthew V Storin, Editor of the Boston Globe, which recently discovered two of its columnists fabricating stories here's an old saying in American journalism: "Freedom of the Press is guaranteed only to those who own one." You could also say that the ethics of the press are ultimately in the hands of the man or woman who

owns one. I think it could be properly said that greater ethical performance in journalism will ultimately be decided in the marketplace, no matter what various press organizations or press councils try to achieve. Which is not to say that those organizations and those of us in

POST THTì \NÀSTIING.ToN

YORK TTMES TITD NI]W

leadership positions have no role to play.

But let's be honest. Throughout the world at conferences like this, journalists and academics make highly aspirational and idealistic statements that have very limited impact. Often the journalists themselves go right back to doing what they have done before, tr)4ng to achieve the highest number of readers or viewers possible while maintaining only the level of fairness or probity that their various audiences demand, for better

of worse.

So I think perhaps we need to be more realistic. In that regard I think we need to keep two points in mind:

r We need to understand that there will always be a market for sensationalism and what we in the States now call'infotainment', entertainment posing as news. In fact, that audience will probably grow. With so many sources of information today, from broadcast to Internet, there will never be an effective means of restraint neither selÊrestrain nor restraint - authority- unless it occurs in the imposed from marketplace itself. To what degree that will

happen remains questionable.

. It is therefore all the more important that there be a quality press whether print or electronic and that we- do a better job of - it from the rest. Because there distinguishing also is an audience

to

ourselves talk and not enough studying audiences to

understand their view of us. They do not have particularly idealistic images of the media. In many cases that are maddening to ethical, high-minded journalists, they lump all of us together the most - radio and tawdry of tabloids and tabloid TV shows, television talk shows and the top tier organizations 46

or

The New York

Times. Bwt depending on which questions you ask them or how you listen, I think there is much to be learned from the public,

ProPoses

just by reading what they tell pollsters but listening your own friends and neighbors, and watching h and where they go for their news and using your common sense.

I had my own experience with the differen between the journalism community and the gene public this past summer when two columnists on m newspaper were found to be fabricating parts of the work. This scandal came at a time of other pr scandals, including the Tailwind story in which CN and Time alleged the Arrrerican use of a deadly ner gas during a secret mission in Laos in 1970.

Unlike nearly all the other scandals, ours at le began through our own editorial oversight. It may been tardy ot'ersisht, but it was our own. I also will as an aside that, thankfully, the only victims of the wor of these columnists were themselves and thei embarrassed colleagues. The particular columns t included fabrications were, in themselves, not pi that made allegations against other individuals an such, unlike Tailwind for example.

But our embarrassment was intense and th

journalistic community rose up in justifiabl

for that.

I think we spend too much time listening

such as the BBC

indignation, perhaps wounded by the notion that r public would feel that every journalist did this sorr thing.

But the public reaction was considerably different.

The public was not particularly shocked, nor were t outraged. In fact, a short while later a study conducted the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center revealed t almost 90% of the þublic said they feel reþort

occasionally ma) use unethical or illegal methods and tuu third,s said, they thought reþorters sometimes make uþ stuff.

I think the public

is used to the moral lapses

THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNIVF,RSARY I 949-

alert to global trends prepares you for the impact they s

and identifies the oppòrtunities and the threats.

will

have locally. The International Herald Tribune detects the early warning

itruight and to the point. Pick up your copy right away. It's never too early'

THE TryORLD'S DAITY NETVSPAPER

politicians, lawyers,

because they sell papers. Of course, they

doctors and even

right to some extent about all of something like that Newsueek

clergy. Tell me why

they should think journalists ar:e ar'y different? It was not surprising then,

publication owned by The Washington

Co. and one that advertises itself serious publication just makes it h serious about quality j ournalism.

colleagues in jour-

In the world in which we live a that in my country includes outrag manipulation of public opinion in poli campaigns dominated by 30-seco television commercials I don't think - with a lot public is going to be taken of high-minded statements. The survey by

nalism thought this was a huge embarrassment for The

I wouldn't

try to convince anyone that it wasn't), many readers praised us for taking what they saw was courageous action by getting rid of these

ASNE reflects very low expectations on part of American newspaper readers. even as I caution to listen to the public

columnists.

ut the

emotion expressed during the whole affair of one of these columnists, Mike Barnicle, expressed when it first appeared thar he might be fired.

Partþ enflamed by his own statements on television, they rallied to his defense. Why? Because over his 25 years as a columnist they had come to like him and what he wrote, whether it was all true or not. Some, like the respondents to the Freedom Forum poll, said they neaer assumed that all he urote was true. They just enjoyd reading him.

I might add that I think my newspaper helped its credibility during this period by reporting thoroughly on the controversies, including criticism from within the staff concerning my own decision-making and that of other editors. I must say I have found it easier to deal with local institutions or individuals who feel aggrieved by negative coverage. I just say: "Didn't you notice what we did to ourselves last summer?' We're an equal opportunity offender.

So what lessons can be drawn from this experience?

Well, internally at t}re Globe it was a case of Live and.

Learn. But for journalism as a whole, I think it demonstrated a certain level of cynicism that the public has toward our profession, and the need that remains for the so-called prestige or elite press to do a better job of explaining or selling if you will the principles of our business.It's not going to be easy. For example, one would hope to include the American newsmagazines such as Time and Newsweek as some of the forces for good in journalism. And much of what they do is good. But what are we to make of Newsweekwhen it puts Nicole Kidman on its cover in a sexy gown and promises that she 'bares all' on the inside pages, though apparently they referred to the interview not any photographs?

One of the major conclusions of a recent survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) was that we make decisions on sensational stories ,18

the marketplace, I also would warn against slavish attention to polls which

greatest

was passion that supporters

as

to convince readers -that any of us are t

that while our

Boston Globe (and

us.

influenced by how a question is worded and what respondent thinks he or she should answer to ap themselves, ethical and responsible.

If you ask the American public what it thinks of Monica Lewinsky coverage, you often get a ne response. Interestingly CNN and other news ou enjoy much higher than normal ratings during k coverage of the scandal. The day that my n printed the entire Starr Report, we received 200 ph calls. Twenty percent complained that we published graphic testimony. Ten percent praised us for publ

s

it. Snmty

þercent call¿d to comþlain that the þaþer was solì, euerywhere and uanted to know how to get it.,

When there is news that people rea-lly need or they are going to turn to the most responsible sou Unfortunately for the news business, but fortunately the countr¡ America is now in a period of incredi prosperity and enduring peace. Readers and vi feel little threatened by forces at home and abroad. most parts of the country even crime is way down.

natural that in such an atmosphere the tawdry

a

sensational sells better than the solid and the detai My hunch is that our world is not really all that safe

the time will return when the public's hunger for appreciation of serious news outlets will return.

In the meantime, we have to hope that our ow and our stockholders will keep the faith. Not all will, course, but hopefully the best will. In my own cou

various organizations of journalists are working shore up resistance to the temptations of this era non-news. I think that will be helpful too. B ultimately the public is going to ger the news media wants and deserves.

The only hope I can offer for those who want to true to their principles is that while so many outlets are heading in the opposite direction, the remains some market in every community for t serrous news consumer who does, in fact, ma distinctions.

I

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THE CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH ANNI\IE,RSARY 1949-I

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The US netwolks, once globally ubiquitous in their search for news, have cút back substanti.ally-on-'foreign news'. ABC News'

young reporter namedandABC News Laurie has just arrived at Vientiane airport carrying a month's worth of television f,rlm for NBC shot by the legendary Neil Davis a month's worth of coverage of Vietnam under communism complete with film of Laurie intèiviewing the last Vietnamese trying to board the last helicopters off the roof of the U-S Embassy; classic

shots of North Vietnam's T:54 tanks crashing through the gates of the Presidential Palace; of the flag of the Provisional Liberation Governemnt hoisted from the balcony of every building.

NBC News is in Vientiane in force. Nobody has ever been in Laos in force, before or since. But in the world of American television, NBC and CBS News are in a dead heat in the network news ratings war. ABC did not count for much in those days and CNN, Fox and the

others did not exist. CBS had no staff correspondent on the ground in Saigon. And NBC lnad a26 year old., shoulder-length-haired youth who had been freelancing for NBC and the Far Eastern Economic Reaieu since 1g72.

in

1978

No matter. NBC greeted him like a conqueri hero. We had a beat on Cronkite (Walter Cronkite the supreme CBS anchor). A speedboat was readied ferry Laurie across the Mekong. A twin-engin charter waited; its engines primed on a runway Thailand. And in Bangkok, NBC News had. charte Cathay Pacific 707 to speed the long-haired. youth Hong Kong. A passenger jet, a crew of eight includir five stewardesses, one pampered passenger and precious bag of news film.

I never asked, but it must have cost a bomb!

American network TV. Nothing like it. My c at the BBC and ITN looked. aghasr at extravagance, all the waste.

Well that was then. And this is now. The pendul swings from one extreme to the other. Oh, the networks still pay big bucks for big stories. Seemin trnlimited money for coverage of Lewinsky, t impeachment, OJ or Diana's funeral.

But foreign forget it.

THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNÑ'ERSARY

I

At the end of the century, the era of hundreds of

Oh, the big

cable channels, the Internet, fractured markets, fewer viewers, reduced profits, corporate demands for bigger profits and down-sized news operations is firmly in place.

Media are scrambling for niches. Focus groups tell American network executives and newspaper editors that 'no one is interested in foreign news'.

Washington Posl correspondentJonathan Randal was recently quoted as saying he used to run into the US networks on every foreign story he covered. "They were everywhere. They had a lot of money, they and the results were weren't shy about spending it terrif,rc. "

-

oday, American network television news is

distinguished internationally by its absence.

Only CNN is expanding, with news bureaus in most countries. The former big three have closed down bureaus everywhere and the

Dlg buck DucK pay big for big Drg sro storie r ror Seemingly unlimited money for coverage of Lewinsk the impeachment, or Ðiana's funeral.

But foreign news forge t it. ¡r

trend continues.

Stephen Hess, a senior fellow a Washington's Brookings Institution, remarks "network television has virtually got out of the foreign news business. That's

case

just an across-the-board, blanket indictment. They've

of Suharto.

forfeited what claim they had to CNN."

And it is not only American television. Charles Overby of the Freedom Forum, commenting on US print media, notes that "newspaper space devoted to world events has droppe d to 27o of the news hole today, compared with 10.2% in 1971. Weekly news magazines have moved from 22Vo international news contenrin 1985 tol3vo in 1995."

In television, the networks devote half as much time to international events now as they did in 1989. Yet network television has more time devoted to 'news' or 'current affairs' each evening. In addition to daily morning and evening newscasts, each of the three American networks have at least three, sometimes four hours a week of 'prime time news magazine' programming. Yet, despite all the airtime, surveys suggest very little of it goes to foreign news.

In 1998, CBS was the champion 23% of its 60 Minutes broadcasts contained a foreign element. At NBC's Dateline foreign news content was 16Vo and at ABC's 20/20itwas less than70%.

In 1998, with more than 465 hours of American network prime time evening news magazines, only one

single 13 minute report appeared on the crisis in Kosovo. Network news, of course, covers the obvious: missiles over Baghdad, nuclear standoffs in South Asia,

the end of Suharto, or major summit meetings. But smaller stories do not stand a chance. Asia suffers particularly.

If you tried to find coverage in the United States on television during 1998 of any of the following Asia stories, you would have been sorely disappointed: Elections in Cambodia or Taiwan; the Anwar Ibrahim

52

in Malaysia or anything on Indonesia after the

Writer Martha Overland quotes one New

Yo

television producer (a gatekeeper we would call hi

as saying "We do as much as we can under t constraints we are under. It is unrealistic to expect to cover all the world's problems and it is unfair we are supposed to have the responsibility to ed people."

Another New York gatekeeper recentlv summed his view of foreign news. "Yeah, thev are 'castor stories. We have to put a few on, but they taste bad."

CNN and the newsmagazines are saved to a by their international services and editions. But and find many of the stories you see or read out h

in North American editions. Good luck! Last ye when Zhu Rongji made the cover of Ti internationally, John Travolta's mug smiled frc North American newsstands insteacl.

Martha Overland was on to something in h Internet story of a yeaî of so ago with her capti Russian tanhs inuad,e Toþo!

If someone

See

þage

G)2

in America today where to foreign news, where to find Asia news, I give them a of my favorite Internet web sites and suggest th listen, if they can, to National Public Radio or the B I think the Oh, and my old home in Vietnam time an American TV network did a-story from th was 1997 when Pete Peterson became the Ameri ambassador, the news peg being that he was once POW in the Hanoi Hilton.

And as to that old Saigon US Embassy where watched the last helicopter depart all those years It was torn down last year. But it did not rate 7 seconds on the evening news. I asks me

THE CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH ANNN/ERSARY I949I

CrmucrNc RorE or Jounxarrsrs

No longer can individuals or political parties or governments restrict the flow of information to their people. The Internet's instantaneous communication bypasses government regulations and censorship.

Stan Sesser, the Asian Wall Street s

f recent developments in Asia are any indication, the remaining authoritarian in the world have something new to fear. This is an enemy so insidious that it will regimes

be upon them before they recognize the threat. t];re Internet.

It

was only recently that Vietnam joined China in allowing their citizens to access the Internet. Both

governments took the step under pressure from business and academia and perhaps most - telecom companies significantl¡ from state-owned which are discovering that their monopolies are rapidly becoming cash cows.

The result is a schizophrenic state of affairs: while the two Communist governments continue to exercise tight control over local media and to confine foreign periodicals to the fìve-star tourist hotels, anyone with a couple of dollars to plunk down for an hour's time

can walk into an Internet cafê ard have the 54

Scl¿n¿t Ll¡t¿ng kÉ Áil$tr| iilks l¡Dran iñ di$uIdkû sùlMsåi såhr pnsnt uil[rk rñnshilbilngkilì nnd¡ ( laDail lailråD h.rkd¡l¡n dcngM Dato' Scri ,\nì!ilr lhn'him Scmor¡ dciltðn iru kirfl akflù scntiasi mcndr Dnil*hir Lcnlil¡ hliå'r \'¡ldr tusaim¡na tr, kaDri hanya rtrolrtâtkiltr l¡¡¡¡r-hnr¡,r tJilg brrm',tù ,\nw{t,iûhs ro bûåo jd nk¿o senri¿sa ditrcrbûhîn'¡ dtri ûâsî kc scEâsil, jadi jilngîil lutà uilNk DFr ¿nldi bookneil sDù Lhãr juÀr ¡!4lEq scnâ gE¡i tcrhad{pilyil

Laman.laman herikut diâtur mengikut susunan abjad

:

Fêrhâtian ¡ N/U bemaksud Not ûpdàt6d (Tidak dikmêskinihan) Eantâr kâd kepådâ tsan ruFOMSI I úilåD seb Adil,

new Technology

Journal Correspondent, reports

It's called

lbrãhln/ma¡n.htm

åndâ sdil

uncensored world at his or her fìngertips.

In Hanoi, I saw three walk-in Internet facilities one block alone. In China, they're sprouting in eve major city, with most also serving coffee and drinks. neither country do users have to show identification even sign up, although China has just promulgated regulation mostly unenforced that all users must show identifìcation and sign in. In order to maintain at least a semblance control, both countries block off web sites frorn dissident groups outside the counrry. China, in addition, blocks some foreign media, including CNN and The Neu York Times. But these 'firewalls' are so easy to circumvent that even an innocent in the hightech world can be reading the front page of The Tirn¿s (or any other paper, for that matter) in a Beijing in less than

a

minute.

Those who have witnessed the startlin transformation of China and Vietnam to more o open at least in places where coffee brewed - offer two points of caution. First, they no societies

-

THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNI\,'ERSARY 1949-

l¡

tlrt, Irlcl-net in both couutries is a medium for tlre the rt'ell-educated, since workers do not ¿rf flLrt:nt ar-rcl or money to use a calé, mr-rch less kttorvledge tlre l¡ryt' the governrnents of China Second, corìtPllter. ?r Io lrrrr, moment are under uo serious the at \/ictnal-n ¿rn<l

i^

tlrrt'lrt li'orlt cuetlies, foreign or domestic' 'l'lrt. trnansrve red question is rvhat would happen if a t)t()t('sI rtìovclììelìt ertolVe d similar to the one l.rrIr.irr:rrirre in Ti¿rrraumen Square? \{/ould thev simply alì Tnternel ¡rrrll tlrt ¡rlrrg:rrrtl block tnursrrtissi,,tls l() íììld from loreign

o Militaryrule of Guam ends years of Spanish, American and

EO

military colonisation.

II

.-r---t¡_

-,¡I1

.-

_- -i\ -^¡,

\r-, -j¡

r¡_

he told me he had read one of

interesring insight into these

.¡,

A Pacific lslarb Abver ture lust 4 hours from Hong l(ong

distributed in rnosques. I have a relative in the rr-rral north rvho doesn't even have electricitr,, but

alaysia offers an

Act which grants US citizenshi

r--

prorninently displaved on the Ann,ar wcb sites. "All over the countr\'," he notes, "the Internet material is being printed or-rt, photocopied, and

otrllll'it's?

r

o President Truman initiates the

/II

hours rve can eet a lar:ge group of people toge ther.', Aìthough Nfalavsia, a colrìlrrv of 22 million people, has just 50,000 Inrernet subscr:ibers, the dissidents I spoke rvith agree that the protest mo\¡emeÌtt owes its vitaliq', if not its very exisreìtce, to the Internet. ',The limited access to the Intcrnet is no problern," savs Sabr.i Zain, whose anti-Mahathir columns and repor:ting are

questions.

Last vear, the countrv t'x¡rt'r'it'ttcecl its orvn version of a massive.

I irrnlur ttt<'tt Sqttitt e

- -.'--F

o The appointment of Guam,s fi civilian Gove¡nor begins a new economic and politicãl developmj o Tumon Bay is released from military recreational use to oubli making way for its future role a, principal site of Guam's tourism

iorlrvicle protest movement, r orrr¡rlctc rvith street demonstlirti()rìs puL dorn by club-rvielding ¡,tolirc', :tilnecl ¿ìt remo\/ing a prime rnitriste r rvho decreed that political o¡r¡-rosition can be a passport to jail. l'r inrc À,Iinister Mahathir Mohamad lt'nrovccl l'ris deputv prime ministe¡ .\nrv¿rl Ibrahim and ordered him ¡nrt

development.

o Guam's population numbers and tourist arrivals are zero.

hy then doesn't

t\Iahathir quell the dissidents bv cutting off lnternet access?

The ansn'er is that Nlahathir has used adt'anced technologv as a cornerstone ln the buildins of Malavsia's econom,v, including

e

j:rilcrl oll alleged charges of t

1999

plans for a Multimedia

ollrr¡ttiou and sodomy. ì\,lahathir- has the Mala;'sian

Supercorr-idor on a huge tract of land near Kuala Lumpnr. To cÌose dor'vn the Internet would send foreign investors fleeir-rg resulting

firrnly under his thumb. of tllt' Anrvar trial are almost ¡nt'<lia

-o Guam has become tourism and duty

.'\ccorrnts ir-i the Malavsian press

Mi

with more thanl.l annually and a ofl o There are l0,294hotel rooms on

hilirliousìy conr¡oluted to hide the rlirnragc irileady done

to the prime minister,

case

itgirinst his former close associate. But to coLrnterb¿tl:rnce the propaganda, accounts of the trial and of lhc cleruor-rstrations against Mahathi¡ as n,ell as stories l-l'orn the foreign press, are appearing dailv on pro,\tltv¿rr- rveb

sites. The initial site,

.r,r,ww.anwar.com,

lt'ccivccl so many hits that the server could not handle

thc c:rltacit)', Now there are more than 60 sites,

ol'['cling both news and discr-rssion, with several sending <lai11' e rrails ro subscribers keeping them up witÀ r

s.g4kayaking,

lcvt'lo1.r

rr

rer r ls.

\'\¡hen

jet

I

n'as

in Maiaysia, I visited the man who

stat'[ccl au\\rar.com and r,r,ho tìo\v runs several of the tvcll sites. The setting was unusual for a clandestine

Hdñ Tel: Fax:

25220772

gvbhk @ netvigator.corn www. visi tguarn.org

in the layoffs of thousands of Nfalavsian rvorkers. Anv such effort to qr-rash dissent ¡vould instead create new dissent, as Malaysia's economv crumbles.

Moreove¡ it wor-rldn't even be possible to bar access to the Internet completelv, since anvone r,vith

compr-rter and rnodem could sirnplv dial Thailand or Singapore, añd log on to an lnternet Service Provider there. Or in the case of China, through Hong Kong.

While China is not so fa¡ dorvn the technological highrval', cutting off the lnter-ne t there n,ould also have profound economic consequences. Vietnam too, buffeted b,v the Asian economic dotvnturn and a sharp

drop in foreign investment, needs the Internet to grow.

The simple truth is that once a ìlation.joins tl-re global econom)/, pulling the plug on the Interuel would produce a calamitl that no governrlent coulcl afford. It rvould yank a countrl"s economy out of the rvorld market and relegate it to the status of impoverished Burma one of the fen' nalions th¿rt - access. continlres to bar Internet Authoritarian governments u'il1 henceforth ltat'c uo choice but to face a challenge fi-orn a netv sot-l of' opponent

s

'2s22 l3ild

II

I

li t:1¡¡¡¡1¡rq1,g¡DENT/,50TrI

Ar\¡-I\T,RSARy

m1,

articles, which had beer-r passecl out ill his mosque that morning." . Zain states flatlv that "r,r,ithout rhe Internet, there u'or-rld have been rìo prolesl mo\'emeltl."

r 949_1

999

-

the free florv of inf'orrnation.

I

)/

'f1 'F,

Emiratêsr A¡rl¡ne of the Ye See ins¡de for deta¡ls' For the second year running, Emirates has been voted Airline of theYear at the OAG awards' Emirates' But to truly urderstand the meaning of this distinguished award, you need to experience cuisine in A personal phone in every seat.Your very own 17 channel video. The finest wines and the most exquisite So

if you're flying to one of our 47 international destinations,

step inside'

And feel like Passenger oftheYear.

BE GOOD TO YOURSELF. FLY EMIRATES'

A Time - line of Candid Pictures of Our Club Members C orre spondents, Journalists

and Associates and Their Activities Against aBackground, of News Events in China, Southeast Asia and the world

Three days after a¡rivins in Kong in 1954, Marvin Farkas writes home to Mom from his new'digs' at the FCC.

Movietone news cameraman Marvin Farkas filming'Trvo Gun' Cohen, bodyguard to Dr. Sun Yat-sen anrl general in the Chinese arm¡ during his visit to Hong Kong in 1956.

Dearest Mom,

Finalþ I'ae settlztl in. I hoþe quite some lime This is a beautiful þlace and the equiaalent offi3.25 a da1 I ht a rootn u¡ilh a balcony ouerlookiny of Hong Kong. A uond,nfut uiau.

South China Morning

Postl949.

The FCC occupied the top six floors of Broadway Mansions in Shanghai until mid 1949 when it was forced to move to Hong Kong after the communist

This famous photograph of Korean War press corps at work taken by Werner Bischoff in lg5l hangs in the club's reading room.

Nationalist soldiers firing from the roof of

is

fina

Charlie Smith

Freelancing like this runs into a d,ough. Things kke þrocessing and enlarging. Thinç I hauen't euen

(left)

and correspondent Roy Rowan in the consulate compound in Muklen during the Nationalist army's

Douglas King (second lzft)

I'ae

and fellow RAF China listeners in front of the Batty's Belvedere

Marvin was a¡rested for his trouble.

yars þhotograþhing euny minute and not get all of it. this place

(seaterl centre)

at the improvised Quemoy Press Club during che Tawain crisis in 1958.

thought about. Iflou ner haae a sþare dollar þing around, smd, it along'cause this being on m1 oun runs into a little exþense. Howeuer haae a job coming uþ so keeþ eu erylhin g cros s ed for me.

Thß place is a þhotograþhn's þaradi,se. I coukl sþend. a solitl tuo

Lifephotogapher

lackBirns

I'm worhing hard, onll trouble

lihe mad.M1

mad,e a

f¿u nice friends ß aluays filled, ctt

listening

hour and, d,innns (bestfood.in Kong) uithaarious consuls and

retreat in 1949.

station on the Peak

atlaches and. of course

Broadway Mansions as the communist troops advance across the rlver.

I

in 1958.

you. Wt1 tlon't you on out. Listen if I can so can yu. miss

good.

Your louòng son,Marain

Clare

Hollingworth and her husband Geoffrey Hoare

Movie night on the front lawn of the club's Conduit Road

Êt

premises

in 1959.

inJerusalem in the late 40s.

They were both based in the

Middle East

from 1948 to 1963. Itwas during this tour thar Clare broke the Kim Philby/third man scory in The Guardi,an.

lllustratìon from the menu cover of the Conduit Road FCC a grand mansion withexpansive lawns, rnarble fireplaces, function rooms, tennis courts, breathtaking views and accommodation.

William Holden was a regular visitor to the club during the filming of Loae is a Manl Sþlzndoreìl Thing and

A scene from Loae ß a Many TÀdzgstarring William Holden and JenniferJones, which was shot in the club's premises on Conduit Road.

Stan Rich (l$,) and his rvife hosting a cocktail party at the

club's Conduit Road visitor to the club

later when

while in Hong Kong fìlming

shooting

Solàin of Fmtune

TheWorld,

premises in 1959.

Stan was club president in 1965.

Clark Gable rvas a

ä" Funct¡on At Correspondents Club

in I954.

of

Suzie Wong

*.

and the documentary Forrest Edwards (ront lefi), cltù president in 1967 and 1970, wirh Ian Stewart (backright), c\tb presidentin 1963 and 1971 together with FrankJordan, Jack Sampson and Ed Hymoff in the Demilitarised Zone in Korea in

Áú.

Anthony

Hold,en's Hong Kong.

¿gr

Lawrence broadcasting for the BBC in

Eddie Tseng (second right) celebrates his 30th birthday with colleagues ar Panmunjom during the Korean War.

"d

*: A young David Thurston demonstrating his earlY interest in photograPhY

1953.

in

60

THE CORRI,SPONDENT/5OTH

ANNIVERSARY 1949.

-r-q

1956.

IHE

connnspo.DENT/boTH ANNñ'ERSARy 1949-t999

i

^*"::v, ¡i-*:.H'

+*.É É* -ütr!:iÊUiÏåJöõ j

1958.

61

Club president Forrest'WoodY' Edwards (right) w\th Hong Ibng Govenor Sir David Trench during visit to the

The Sixties...

IillRODUCTI O¡

Guy Searls

coverrng a Kruschev and Sukarno summlI tn r960.

After losing a legal battle with the Conduit Road landlord, the club was forced into smaller premises in Li Po Chun chambers in 1961.

Laos

in 1967.

Neva Shaw

NE! LUXCHSOI SERVtcE

was a

I rr

,-

::''å/t*

perforrnance

.4.

artisl in Hong Kong during the late 1960s.

i the shed YilI reúbe¡s of the HIII b€ clEcu¡ !ho co¡[Ilt€€ år¡a¡8s¡€nt6 t

The

Corresþond,ent's

earlier incarnation in bulletin form, Vol. I No. 1, April 1964.

The lead story was the

Beach.

in 1961.

Photograph taken

Ted Thomas at the height of his modelling career

by Hugh van Es in 1969 is one of the

club's collection of Vietnam

lbr the Hong Jack Keenan (second, right) at the US Naval in Guantanamo Bay with Cardinal Spel l964just before shipping out to Vietnam.

Kong Tourist Àssociation in the Sixties.

/1

a

Hilton firnction'

rE

The club moved to rooms in the Hilton in late

Photographs that hang in the club's reading room.

n¿¿i" W", Ian Stewart, Frank Wolfe, Nancy Nash and Guy Searls at

ì

much

sought after

*i"i,i:iîïl.I'üt.**;¡ili :l:,:ì:;":.li':i"å'i¿i "'ll3bl3:

club's acquisition of a swimming shed #207 on Stanley Main

Anthony Lawrence with his cameraman in

club in the Hilton

-

(bft) ar'd Marvin Farkas in Bali

Club president Guy Searls welcomes for American VicePresident Richard to the club in 1964 Guy was pleased to

963.

him, but that's just

a

pipe in his pocket.

Saul Lockhart

freelancing in Vietnam in

The FCC's hrst big bash after

1967.

mor.ing into the

Hilton

was a

farewell party

for AIP's Vital Sacharenko by the pool in 1964. Vital's escorts were

airline stewardesses

recruited from

Radio Hong Kong's entire news staff at an editorial meeting in 1965.

ä

Iain Finlay.

Repluse Bay, Beach for the occaslon.

62

Mike Keats, club president in 1983, tntervierving Prime Minister of

THE CORRESPONDENT//5OTH ANNÑ'ERSARY I

'Lee \À/ebberselved as a medic in Vietnarn frolr

Rhodesia Ian

Smith in lg6b. :r

t-

(Wtoright)

Peter Wilkinson, \Marren Rooke and

The 1967 communist riots in Central took place within full view of the club's rooms in the Hil¡on.

Frank Ma¡iano, ABC,s

1967 to 1968.

o-wrnning Indochina

correspondent,

Another- successful Parry at the Hilton'

with a group of Asian tes in 1969 off rtre coast of Vietnàm.

THE

coRRESpoNDENT/r¡TH ANNryERSARY

1949-1999

The SeventieS...

The Thai

Premier Kriangsak speaking at a club lunch in 1978. Seated to his left is club

president Tony

The PPA pair, Peter Cook and Da¡.id Perkins

in Hong Kong

in

d

1971.

Hugh van Es in

É

Ciry during his vist

in

1924. FCC

Hugh van Es'famous photograph of tùe helicopter

correspondents in tow include Clare Hollingworth, Jonathan Shar¡, Franklin and David Bonavia.

Derek Currie and \4/a1ter Gerrard, Hong Kong's first professional soccer players, celebrating their first Rangers'

evacuatlon Al ßi;rff :rnd.firnmY Wei, f'o¡'nler clirector of Taiwan's (ioverlr nen t Information

Jack Spackman

interviewing Hong Kong Govenor Sir

trophy in rheir first season

in

the foreground.

Ted Heath, former British prime is given the grand rour ofthe Forbi{:

Vietnam in 1970.

tr

Paul with Donald Wise

ABC cameramanJoe Lee and soundman Teddy fohn in Beirut in 1976 as the shelling started.

Of[rcc artcl l]r'oadcasting (Ìrrpolation, at the club's 25th :rnniversary ball held at

Murray Maclehose

in 1970.

in

7972.

rhc Hilton

fi7974.

during the fìnal hours of the fall of Saigon in 1975, tsed. on a Time cover 20 years later, now hangs in the club's main bar.

Sir Murrav Macleháse, with club oresident.

Bert Okulev and Mr.' Liao at a club lunch

in

'

1,97J.

Pool tournament at Sutherland House in 1978.

The cast ffrom right) Simon Holbeche,Jon Rittge¡ Jean Chan, Keith Jackson (sñ.oafirzg), Sam Weller, Mrs Steve Edd¡ Les Leston, Mike Foote and Sabine Sloan.

Lord speaking at the I973 with club Al I(aff and Ed

Steve

A busman's holiday

Kevin

- Ray

Cranbourne on

Egan,

.5E.4

DPP to

R&Rfrom

Papua

Vietnam taking

New Guinea and Bernie Ryan, Deputy DPP, farewell colleague Clive Wall in Port Moresby in t977.

snaps of a Cheung

Chau temple in

Hong Kong in 1970

.

The launch parry of Richard Hughes' book Borroued Time, Borroued Place at the ciub in 1976.

Vickers at the 1979 Nathan Road bank robbery - Steve was the arresting offìcer, not the villain

Winners of the FCC's 1976 T-shi¡t party asjudged by the club's i¡:ó, authority of good taste and style, Arthur Hacker ( sitting centre).

Courtney Sheldon, Christian Scienæ

Donald Wise returns to the bridge over the River

Monitor

fiont

page story

of

Kwai in 1978.

President Richard

Nixon's historic meeeting with Mao Zedong in 7972 hangs on the wall of the club's main bar.

I hc

British rrade delsation ro Beijing in lg73 rvirh Zhou En"lai anrl FCC

Hong KongTatlef

s

anniversary celebrations in the late 19?0s

publisher Mahabir Mohindar blows out the candles.

64 THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH AI\INI\'ERSARY

] 9491 999

THE coRRESeoNDENT/50TH ANNr\ERsARy r949-1999

C.H. Tung, now Chief Excutive of the Hong Kong SAR, ancl his father C.Y both regularly enjoYed lunch at Su¡herland House in the 1970s.

65

Capture the Chang Create the Professio nal

Keith Statham (ngàt), newly arrived Hong Kong Arts Festivai director, with Sir YK Pao and Arts Center GM, Neil Duncan, at the Arts Festival Fund raiser in 1981.

Ian \¡ilson, Derek \À¡illiams,Jim Laurie and other FCC stalwarts in Krvanju, South Korea, during the

The cover that causecl all the bul is it conflict in 1997

1980 uprising.

PC?

was shot

New Caledonia

-

in bY

Dinshaw Baìsara (inset) \n 1982 and

I{ogcl Nloore lvith (lolclcn Harvest's

it is still hanging on the wall of the

R:r1'trond Chorv and \rrrlrc N'fot'gan discussing

popular demand.

itc

Cnntton'baLl

main bar by

Run

otrcl clut-ing.- a visit to thc club in 1980'

sc

Muhammad Ali with club manager, Mike Winslow, Mike Keats ¿nd other fans signing autographs afte¡ a cìub lunch in

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Jon Rittger goes down for the first Diaer's Guide to the Phitiþþines writlen bY David Smith and Mike Westlake in

1980.

I 982.

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!

I

IL

Dick Hughes re ceives his CBE from Hong Kong Govenor Sir

Maxim

Murray lVfacl-ehose in

right) Cynrhia Hydes, Kevin Sinclair, Mischa Fleishmann, Dick Hughes andJohn Duffus, shortly after his defection from the Soviet Union

400mm, 500mm & 600mm superlelephoto

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Hugh van Es, club president, lvith Hong Kong

l{t

L

Govenor Sir Edlvard Youde at the opening of the club's present premises on Ice House Stree t in

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982.

in 1982.

Robert EÌegant, celebrated author' and 1961 club president, droPPecl into the club cluling the plomotional tout' for his latest book

Mandañnit 7983-

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Shostakovich

Derek Williams ancl the CBS team in Phnom Penh in 1980.

ANNIVER*SARY I949-I999

The defìnitir.e 1989

Tianan¡ Square massacre

plcture

Hong Kong's leading Karin Malmström doing her Lindblad tour guide in-thefootsteps-oÊDarwin thing in the Galapa.gos Islands in 1988.

hangs

society scribe Karen

Penlington engaging in an in-the-face interl'iew with French movie heartthrob Alain Delon

o4

I

zt 2_

in 1983.

tank remains a mystery,

and on for another

l

Gary Fairman

andJohn Giannini covering the democracy demonstrations

in Tiananmen shortly before the crackdown.

Charlie Smith makes a poinr to Clare Hollingworth on the banks ofthe Pearl River in I{aiping in 1984.

FCC staff take to the streets to protest the

Australian cameramanJ Neil Davis and soundman, Bill Latch, on assignment on the Thai-Cambodia border shortly before his death

in

1g8b.

Tiananmen crackdown.

LAUREL

Tirze correspondent, Sandra Burton, interr.iews Cory

Aquino during her successful 1986

campaign for the

Philippine presidency.

iil

Following a disputed election count, the People power

Steve

Knipp's

o

renowned

o

photograph of Tiananmen

q

protesters outside the

Arthur gets his gong.

revolution topples Philippine dictaror

Govenor David \À'ilson presents

Ferdinand Marcos in Feburary 1986.

Arthur

Hong Kong Football Club ,,t1¿'r.

swimming

pool

{

Hacker with his MBE in recognition of his creative contributions to GIS's Clean Up Hong Kong campalgn.

rç.

Cathay Pacific spokesman David

Bell cornered by the Hong Kong press

in 1986.

Veteran SCrl4p

journalistVernon Ram (lefi) a:nd. t987,/88 club president Derek Davies (nþár) with US Consulate spokesman

Bill

t',

Stubbs at a press

conference in the club in 1989.

68

THE CORRISPONDENT//5OTH

.!

ANNT\,'ERSARY I 949-1 999

South China Morning Post

')

-I

ties...

=

Pulitzer Prize winner Lui Heung-Shing covering the break-up of the Soviet Union in Moscow

á

Eg

ñ

Polz to Potz PhotograPher

Basil Pao lvith author

in 19g2.

Michael Palin together in Hong Kong for the Iaunch of E¡asil's Pole to Pole

the PhotograPhs

book in 1993.

Keith Ricburg, Washington correspondent and

RichardJones, camerman, in a clash with Chinese Security Bureau officers during Hong Kong Govenor Chris Patten's, first and last visit to

Posl

FCC presidenc Paul Bayfield

with Singaporean prime

1997 club presidenr, meeting \4¡irh Philippine President CoryAquino at

Malacañang in 1990.

Minister, Lee Kuanyew before his historic address to the club.

Beling in I Firewalker and US tax consultant, Fred Fredricks struts his stuff in

Charlie Wang, Geoff Pike, Ronnie Ling andJohn Wong together for the launch of Geoff's

KSA's Keith

Dawnin 7993.

Culinary wordsmith Maggie Beale with Hong Kong Govenor David Wilson

in1994.

Statham presents the inaugral FCC Golf Society's Seniors Cup to Eddie Khoe in 1993.

new book Tiger

about 199f änd the Handover i¡r Hong t I{ong through the Nineties; a flafing Siotsman's kilt at the Cenotaph

Hong Kong

.4å4e front Pages around the world; Neøsueeh brought us '97 body arl and the FCC was awash with visiting correpondents and press conferences '

in lggl.

Marty Merz and a serious contingent of FCC members danced up a storm at the

Executiue

magazlne

publisheçJoan

inaugural China Coast Ball in Shanghai in 1991.

Gary Fairman (right), NB¡C camerman, covering the Gulf War in Kuwait in lg9l.

Howley, with Irish President Mary Robinson at the club in 1993.

Tiber and its spiritual leader have been dre focus of much media

The next big news of the

Vaudine England (l¿ft) BBC stringer interviewing Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during her house arrest ¡n Yangon in 1995.

attention throughout the Nineries. TV-AM

a,r¿[,Tl

correspondent, AdrianBrown (\efi.)

t

and camerman, Mark Erde¡ interviewed the Dalai Lama at his home in Dharmsala

in

,'l i Rowan Callick, Australian Financial Rø.tieu correspondent, in papua New Guinea with the

Archbishop of Canterbury

in 1991.

Peter Mann, popularly knolvn the Sheriff ofWanchai (fourth from right), presiding over the first Wanchai Festival as

in 1991.

The photographers and editorial team of the book, Rrturn to lhe HearL ol the Dragon in 1993. FCC membÊrs arçJoan Boivin, Jennifer Bowskill, Riclard Dobson, Terry Duckham, Neil Farrin, HollY Lee, Hugh L Moss, Robyn Moyer and

1991. Associate

member Hira Mahoobani with wife, Padi, daughrerinlaw,Jyoti and grandson, Samir visited in 1997.

Hugh van Es. Govenor Chris Patten is greeted by club president Vines and club manager, Heinz Grabner in 1993.

The first of his visits to club in the Nineties

70 THE CORRNSPONDENT/5OTH A¡{NIVERSARY

1949-

''j rl

Frr r¡t',

l h,: .å*i

+

Kees Metselaar, freelance

photographer with the Hollandse Hoogte agency, with Cambodian

militia in 1995.

llü'

conru,spoNDENT,/b0TH ANNvERSARY

1949-1999

Nineties was Hong Kong's new airporc. AirPort AuthoritY PR Philip Bruce gives OrieøÍ Au i ati o n pttblis}ler and e ditor Barry Grinrod the inside storY at the airport's oPening in 1998.

The club lundn' (FromI¿fl¿)V'G' Kulkarni. K. GoPinath, Vernon Ram, M.P. GoPalan and I(K' Chanda at their regular lunch

in

1999.

J-' .rj gj$ i.þ

'Jg*

#þe

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MUSTBE SOMETHINGRIG

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I õ f.i) 'ûnc2 Ìr0,r, 'ty Human Ri ghts Press Awards. Bozaf r0041rh is rrd1m me:ITIrbe ter IF? ,ci. islrhhee chairman of the club Freedom of the Press committee.

the Pn

C'-

'r,r,as 'n,ritten, mainland journalist (lao Yr-r r'r,as released from prison in Beijing.

Tlie FCC \r,elcomes the decision to free her, sonething for r,vhich we and other.journalists' I I()rganizations have campaigned tir:elesslv since rì('l' itl lcst irt 1993. NIs Gao,.5ô, rvas said bv her lanil;' to llc strf'feling from heart clisease and high blood l)rcsstlrc. FIer release.on medicäl on parole cAme o1l tltt'¡1,s of rhe lunar new l,ear,,shortly before the clcl rrl ltcr-six-1'car sentence ón charges of revealing "state I rt'c|cts" iD an article for æ Honu Kong magazile. lt I tt¡ts llct' secoud stint in jail. On.ftrne 3, f OSU, ¡n., llt'lìr|c the Tiananmen Square massacre,.n.'rro,

s this article

r"ttt'lìrtllsul-Lelated

charges. bf of Hong I(one did

clt'ep concer-n shorvn about fiee press issues ,,,..t,1tt'

l"('toltiQ-tt Corr-espondents'Club llll ( ( )Rr{r sr,oND',\T/5'TH À-\NI\..*'AR'

r9.19 .r999

I

,

not besir-r in 1997, nor did its concern begin in Hong I(ons. It ofien surprises people to learn that tl're F(l(l \'\¡as l'ìot created to socialize, but to form a united front l¡r' correspondents who r'r'ere trving to cover both the r'r'ar against the Japar-rese and the civil rv¿rr tìrat rvcr-e raging simultaneousll,inside Cl'rina.

Continually fiustrated in their r:eporting efforts b1' the Kuomintang goverììment in Cl-rr-rngkir-rg, then tl-re seat of the Natjonalist golcrr-iment, the journalists pullcd toge ther to present tl-reir dclnands. Figl-rting for- the r:ight of reporters and photographers Lo set to thc stor-v, and to report rvhat the1, sarv zrnd hc:rrcl, rvzrs iir","^ro" for Lhe Clr-rb's birth, ancl it h:rs beeu zr battle r've'r'e continued since. \{riting in the Augr.rst 4, 1'L)l¡1 isstte ol' tbe Hortg' Ko n g S t a,n, d ct,r d,, Io n e.-tirl e tn e m b e r NI a r''r'i n F¿r t' ka s called on the then-colouial govertlmcu[ "ltl tirkc a gr-acefuÌ, backu'ard step fi-onr intelfelcttce ivith llrc ring of nervs. The plesent llolicr' gatl-rering press in the gathe llolicl' of ir".. screcning events is decaclcnt ancl c:tn otrll' crtìrìrirratt'

./)

in a totaìitarian dictatorship.

The storf in question involvecl the shooting dou'n of zr Cìatha1' Pacilic Ait'rt'ays (CPA) plane, news of rvhich rvas r'r'ittrheld f'or' 28 hours afrcr it hzrpPened. As Farkas

it: "In the rece nt CPA the i'i'hole rvorld rvhile clisaster, their lovecl one s, of uervs awaitecl abotit the bandied olfici¿rls minor littie bovs zrs much ... inf'or-rnation on arouncl ball medicine a thror'v steered they Skilfuliy tìre beach. the news at't'aY from the nett'smen,

reportecl

rvherc it rvould have done the most good, until the crusl-ring eflèct it lvould I'iave Lrad, lvas ntlllifìed."

He decried the heavr'-hal-rded tactics used: "As citizens of the r'vorld, it is or.rr dlltv to see that this right (to irnpar-t the ner'vs) is not abusecl and that the Hong- Kong press corps not be Prrshed about' To restrain, bY PhYsical force, a member of a noble Profession, is nothine' short of brorvnshirt fzrscisrl. "

repoFteF$

photographen$ to Sct to the story was the nea$0n fon

right to do thcir jobs rvithout interference , zrcldinS- that "instead of rvithholding the nervs, thc goverr-rment sl-roulcl help rvith digging it up and reporting it." arkas' opinions 45 vears aeo still reflect the ,.r-rr. of i-portance that FCìC memJlers hale free alr'va1's ptacèd upon lhe conditions of a focrrsed never have \Ve Kcrug.

Hong ir-tria. p."r, ãn the interests of foreig-n reporters ovcr thosc of r'vho r'vork locall¡ a fact reflectecl bl the con-rposition rve zrlthor'rgh But Board' tire and both our men-rbership are no longer rvorking lrncler r't'artime conclitions' and the colonial gor''ernmènt has departed, the struegle to obtain information and impart it soes on' Ge tting the government to open up ancl provicle the facts is no less cliflìcult todalr ¡þ¿¡ in the past' thc arrest zrnd imprisontrent tn Threc kev events

-

ìlteeing public access

Lc)

, especi'allv personal f,rles' g Journalists Association

(HIgA:) , un orgur.ization that had strong' early

74

the Club,

t 1

ì

\ \ I

Har-rs Vriens,

correctlv observing that frce-prcss issues rvoulcl gror't' in importance np to and after the transition, agleed to the suggestion that \\¡e estabìish a Pr Freedom Subcommittee. As

the

chairman of the new sll cornmittee, I participated irr the

rvorking g-rollP that sought gct the access Bill ir-rto f,egco.

That effort \\¡as partiall successfttl: The governtne agreccl, rvith considerable one might sav traditional reluctattce, to create guidelines lor tl-re access to information tìrat u'ere moclellccl reasonabll' closelY uPon tlte

So¿¿ll¿ OÌ'ti,ttrL Llonting Prtst reporter Grer-r N'Iant attempted to do a sample test of various departn

r'vhen

anci find olrt ho\\/ rvell chey lived up rhetl o guiclelines, the gol'ernment officials tried to fiustÌa : ì"hot th.y perceivecl as a "plot" b1' suggesting tn to the department oificials th¿rt tl secret memo t shoulci actuaìly comply. The effort to sabotage article blelv up rvhen tl-re merrlo surfaced N4ol-eot dcspite the me'mo r-rrging compliar-rce , only a minolitr the departments actuallv provided all that the;' askecl for.

if

push gover-nrnent-h ivzrs begun bv

t about tÌrc same time, the then-president of

I

the Gluh's

servecl the

The

sentative of local -iournalists' (HKJA president, Liu I(in-ming, is one ol' tr't'o clected jour:nalist mcrnbers on the FCC Boarcl)' The tsII$A had PrcPart:cl a draft Bill ancl Legislzrtor Christine Loh, rvho had been aPPointed to Lesislative (lour-rci1 br (lolernor Chris Patten, agrcecl to trl and br irrg it to Legco'

night of

urgcd that both Chinese- ancl En glish-langLrage j ournalists

chairins unde

is rtol t he leltdirlg rcPlc-

tishting for

In eqtiailY strong terlns he

cle

connectiotrs rvith tl'ie FCC and

Chiel' Sccretary Anson Chan promised Publiclv the gr-riclelin es \r'e re shotvtl to be workable'

-nÊ..l*åù

tl (

administration rvould consider making them latç' are stilì r,aiting. h¡s remains, as itr.,.th.L l.tlc Mainlancl lvrdrrrr.Lr inside the LIrIB rrròruc Reporting II.CPOI - sir'r." ih" FC-C's inception, a serious problern l"'.i:l)', lrrc corresponclents and local .journalists' The inciclelrls

ïu.o,,n'.,, :i,-"äi;,'ïii;i;;*;;,ä (r\ì\'"""':';;;;tvorking ll Lllrrc t u LLò, r arrSrrr<

¡ I cren's cietention. TV urlrrrrrurr. ..,¡l prolorrgcci pl'ol()lìg(u ".]'il,,i,.,t \'l ('t\ " t orcl" r-ure roLltin c lv follor've cl ; tlìe ir in te r ",'o Tl

tF,

(lOÌìRLSPONDE\-] i¡0'l

Fl ANNI\rERS'\R!

l1rl1rt1"

irru Pao iorrlnalìsr Xin r'rrru' I Mainland-bot

-arrest- was- ilot announced tor t)' :11: he rvas.sentenced t/rr rYrorvrr --- 1ee4, ä^;;rcnt8 jail tn Charge S Of to 12 Years in "and '

,.

':?Ï*^iil:

"probi p,""...D in-to _ ;r.oi'* doirrg se('rets". He ll¿cl been :.^ô. Ìii^ì *r,,.r., w ar d ri n an:^'l t ""i: ^f

1;

tn" up" îtd ftl- seized' but often go i'-t tt-tt scores' are knorvn to '-"'*tt"' prefer to åtgt"izations' *l]tn leasl unreportecl by the ""'i' \À'itñirr recerrl *:ltht'at to scttlË matters qt'ietty' had (and iif* seize d FCC member r-t"t'r-'tä crer't'

and detainea,

as essentiallv orter'

as he was )' Xi Yang's a major focus Provided Ëcc't Press Freedom there r'r'as to accredit

one the t"^yl rvhen,police^took iettison more along '* detained' 'ir-t fo, custodv' 't'"t"tf"t"ï -""-tb"' 'was improper to t*it" an admission'of tl-rreatened, forced

Ï.,"* ;;

:".:ïL :";'1

t:îï

an act, had

åå: :1 :î:" ::", r r: i: å i:\i ali sts j

t the One trnrrla and set a dangerous in Hong ters ilr n of rePorters ividual rePorters and in tools used-bv China

Ko g o11 i; liil'-);'"; ää *t t" " gO.:l:: t^i"Ì1"1ì1".7

tain d detarn"o r e de rl,e t't,ere "

n

tfl y r'i t"i t.,l':.'l)_,;à

1

t

"ntr" ;;;"; the'triat of fung 1

ü :: "Ïï:iì:ì il.ï tïåî: ; i*i 1-r¡ local Political ed ^'1 bv

good Mttit-tland ties' ã, Uttt little has been his careel covering events

and cameramen questioned ouestioned; tl-re reporters These incidents

*,".. ",

Total Pages

shui

iï,J,1¿tr"#i"åt::.i.i:;;ì"";ì"-"'r"'-'dGardens

190

triple mur-del')

oue occasion a couple û l-l u'c 'ted the ?l]:Íi:.^"*:;,; Board for a to'r rnvr Chinese province

-rc^i^lc hrrt with *'in, "tT'11: ìn(l a LrrarrL åi., :lä';':rt^lî",i ::'-ï:l rnember' ole vrtv particular Boa'd trrat proviso that the prot'rsu

t, . -L r 'fimes, ^,.^o,.. o1 the^ London Mirskl Dr. Jouathan ^-ñ ,a^,r orata in the come as ""-;;ryo;;,r.rttu 3,'.*i'Jï: could not þ3¡.i, deilined the cor-rntry. The Boar

H"

ï'ii'

:'ï "îîn

i :i:

ñl ince the Hong Kong Standard was I \ r'ru¿ to be second to the South Chin L) p.opt. in the advertising industry **t¿ n"uåt pass ihe South Çhina Mornin circulation

-

but not anymore'

onlyoneyearaftertheestablishmentofthespecialAdministrativeRegion,theHong KongStandardhasbecomebrandleaderintheimporlantcategofyofCompanyNotices and Announcements'

with Prov Pruv charged wlLrr Gao was chargecr

Her al across the border' Xinhua a Shishen, implisonment forwith a coPy ot a 76

Arnold Zeril Forum on a oû panel panel ott

luding a successful

of lìbel

lar,r's bY

region' rh"jj,gioo ar'otrnd the _.^^po\(-' --'- i11fê,-esfs inrerests uro.,rrct go\/ernmenß ancl TFIII CIORRESPONDENT

'r-)01

tl

ANNÑa'RS'\RY 19'19-t999

247o* Post readership figures fellby During 1998' the South China Morning

*

1998 January and December Source: ACNielsen RARD reports'

The highlight of our Year is the Human Rights Press Awards, cosponsored with the HKJA and Amnesty International (Hong Kong) ' This will

FGG

Statement on Gao Yu's Release

be our fourth year giving recognition to local and foreign reporters, editors, photographers and cartoonists who

iruu. do.te outstanding work in the area of human rights. More than 700

entries have t¡een received from locally based journalists, in both print and

broadãast media, since the awards began, and theY have alreadY established themselves as a prestigious and highlY coveted Prize'

t must be mentioned that tr'vo of the most brutal and outrageous attacks

upon journalists in local memorY were launched against two FCC members, Leung Tin-wai and Albert Cheng. Leung, the editor of SurPrise WeeklY, was attacked in his off,rce bY a Pair of assailants wielding butcher knives,

and suffered severe cuts to his hands and arms that required extensive surgery' A similar attack

I

occurred against Cheng, the well-

known host of tb'e Teaþot in rt' Temþest talk show on Commerical Radio, outside the studios in Kowloon Tong. He was severelY chopped, nearlY bled to death,

!

narrowly escaPing being

permanentlY criPPlerl. No clear motive for either attack has been established, nor have any assailants been brought to justice, desPite multi-million dollar reward offers' The FCC has joined with other professional groups to protest against toth attacks, for when one journalist is targeted for brutalitY, we all are'

Threats to Press freedom will not diminish, any more than will threats to the rule of law.

Whether

it is Police manhandling

reporters in the days of Marvin fark-as at the Standard, or the dubious hands-

on jostling of journalists during

ùtö(

3

{qêE

H*

I I

¡!- t¡¡

ENË

üå

Vtr l'

demonstrations (e'g', the Handover), or the ongoing hassle of extracting from the government the most basic facts, fìgures and comments' the work of fighiing for our rights and the public's right to know goes on' It's just keeping up the halÊcentury tradition we were born to' I I949-1999 THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNIV'ERSARY

nearly an article she had published in Hong Kong' She had served her of five and one-haEyèars of her six-year sentence at the time release. facility Ms Gao was given medical parole from a Beijing detention disease heart on February 15änd is said by her family to be suffering and high blãod pressure. They said she will receive hospital

treatmént after the Lunar New Year holiday' before she was to She was arrested on October 2,lgg3, one week Columbia leave for the U.S. to take up a research fellowship at She was City' York New in ofJournalism School University's secrets sub.equentþ sentenced to a six-year term for "leaking state ab.oaå" in an article published in Mirror Monthly' a publication owned by Xu Simin, áveteran pro-Beijing frgure in Hong'Kong' A..oídi.tg to her famil¡ Ms Gao still hopes to take up the fellowship at Columbia.

It was her second arrest and detention' OnJune 3 1989' on the then deputy eve of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Ms Gao - the and custody into editor-in-chief of the Ecoiomic Weehty -was taken down closed was held without charge for 15 months' The publication by authorities afterJune 4.

79

t{

ú

t

=

Ï

U

Ø

tdhen

I

it

comes to

channeLs,

time to

put youf'

foot dor,ün.

å

f.

As editor of the TVB's evening news on the E,nglish-language Pearl channel, Peter CordingleY

remembers the ex-Goon's antics' A reminiscence t rvas the attaché case that gaYe the game awav' Lookinq back norv, I should have spotted holv to cletennir-recl Spike N{illigan \vas to hang on

on ml' rlind and took just the former (ìoon's fondness for tl-re bag as the not another of his eccentricities' It l'as

it. But I

l-rad too much

fìx a microphone to his lapel' "I lvon't need that"'r't'as there the repìr,. Ii was getting to be t'nore than odci' but room' control the into Back ,uu, ,-tá time to haggle. \A/hen newsre acler Richard Bellorcl came on camera, the purpose of the attaché caser became nose' obvious. From it, Spike rernoved a long plastic an $'ith heacl Richard's it to He then carefulh' attached British rvas Richar-d back' the elastic band arouncl does-in al-rd there is only one thing a British newscaster Richard did' such a situation. He reads on' That's what from the character a ìike looking fbr all the u'orld report' I a tape for time r'vas it Lf.,ppår. Mercifulh', to persuacle' tried and set nelvs ..oài.¿ out to the Goon threaten and push Spike off it' He rvas a tough ancl t'r,ouldn't buclge.

r'r,ith enouB-l-r survivinS- brain cells to take

theil memol-v

back to that remarkablc evenins in 1980' Spike 'r'r'as in torvn for a cabaret rlln at the Sl-reraton a good chance, it seemecl to me' for reporter t-iotct item Ian \A¡hitelõ'to speak to hin-r for-an arnusing little to run at the end of the neu'scast' But interlierving ran Spike Milligatl is not an easy task, and Ian su'iftly

into the Blitish comeclian's

zat.rit.ress

and bloodr'-

mindedr-ress.

"Hor'r'long are vou in torvn, SPike?"

"About 5ft' 8 in., iust the sarne as rvhen

I'm

il-r

Ian \Âhitelel', doulrling as ne\^¡scaster that night' was a the next victim' Spike popped up behind hirn eating his over script the inciuthing banana ancl silentlf But at le ast shoulder. It rvas bacl and likelv to get worse theY knerv so this' doing rvas rt'ho \,ieru'ers could now see hands' our on rve had a celebriÛ'madman Live fiogs? \A4rat else might Spike have in that case?

"Close out' hnd to needed Sex tovs? I decided t òbodv and music the came Up the nervs," I told the director'

.l,r.i,.g credits and on came Spike for his finale' Squatiir'tg between Richard and Ian' he g*rabbed the r'r'ay Richarcl's ne\\¡s scrlpts and stacked them in wa'v the Bnt busl'' look to order nervsreadcrs do in last The directions in all flv Spike clid it macle them

.'i"*.r,

sarv

of l-rim, lan and Richard was througl-r

I

og ra ms

nvo

your v

a

snowstorm of Pink Pieces of PaPer' I didn't."Ë Spik. again' He must have made a clash for the cloor as f dealt r'vith the mavhem of a thousand

TVB phone calls, some of them from fairlv irritated astonishinglv' but, of course, executives. I r'vas sacked, to take was reinstatecl after a strike threat looked likelv Pearl Nervs off the air.

Spike didn't do his show at the Sheraton tì-rat night' Unonn,r.,n.ed, he took a flight back to London' tt'here

tLy

ne

t

':'?':'':t

wa

bers '

Discover the facts for yourseLf. CaLL AnYa McDonatd

80

f

HE (ìORRESPONDIIN] / 50TlT ÀNNIYERS¡\RY 1949-1999

* Cabsat Asia/

Ac Nietsen, June 1998 -Phi l-ippi nes/Sì ngapore/Tha i tand/Ma Iaysi

a

'

at

(ó5) 548-0544 or fax (65) 548-0549.

EXPLORE YOUR WORLD"

nro*lott Benn It

probablY has something to do

l* *:: but;^ :i

J

iä.": :i"::

i;"

odY.journalist, I'm an which is whY I don't sked to write articles'

;

each of mY restaurant off with lunch started adventures

25 years,

So why

there.

Some 10 Years ago, after a fine repast, I was walking toward Lan Kwai Fong and watched a fellow hanging a 'For Lease' be a sign on aîearby building. I thought that.it had to

location io, ,o-.ihittg. Not knowing for what' I was a asked to see the landlord. The third storey space The needed' longer no linen warehouse which was

pii-.

did I join a club founded

bY

corresPondents?

St;ll *;shun, than the

When I first arrived in Hong Kong in 1978, the late Max Lucas' a

t"flil then boyfriend's, now ex-husband'tl bo::..t" 'n", drink?" to like ;";;;#.",, asked "does your girlfriend one or Wiitr tne response "she's been known to have Hugh FCC' the to two," Max offered to introduce me van Es and the me, but deigne or so later and the best bar in

million and an idea' When I told people that I was going to open a tapa: bar they all said"You can't have a topless bar in LKFI" I'm happy to see that La Bodega is still going strong today after a few owners.

weeks with $3

r,o*lirn Eckes

I've always regretted I did not meet Ithe late Richald Hughes' the lrcc't Former doyen õf foreigtt correspondents, sooner. I met him

in the world. in Twenty years later I calculate I've spent well who those than excess of $t'million, but I'm far richer have never had an FCC in their lives' Hugh has become a friend - I served on six Rert's wake' Boards of Governors with him' I danced at I founded the Red Lips and have encountered people from all walks of lifé, many of whom have become close friends.

p,o*Têd Thomas 16¡

for thá frrst time at a farewell lunch

in the mid-Eighties.

Our connection, which Dick knew nothing about, was through a former Fpàtti.ur .ator Rayborn 'Pac Monro"'"1?3 I T:: Pat when I was a lifeguard in New York in late Fifties' a spent we and attack was recovering from a heart reporter' a nts couple hours every day discussinS ]if¡.a¡ Wtrite based in Japan, he befriended Richard Sorge' also who turned out to be a spy for the Soviets' Pat was 1941' in Saigon arrested by theJapanese in to Fast-forwarding to the ìeventies, I was surprised Eastern Far the in column read of Monroe in Hughes' I Economic Reaieu. Zipping ahead another decade' fine in was who Dick, found myself at a luncttiith Pat' spirits, able tell him of my connection to.his friend "I replied' Dick carefully Very He looked surprised. remember the name of your friend, but it has been too long... I've forgotten about Rayborn Monroe'" 82

S,II-OMON SV tf H B,\RI\EY

Deen l'\'e been sys¡ five Years I've

l* :.uz

ï, r",ìio,zz',",

:'i::

that it's such a chore to write

-

it's

more a question of what to leave out' My frist visit to the FCC was in the mid-¡'ifties. Even in those days, Dick

Hughes was a budding doYen of correspondents and the tired old hacks ol the,Koreal the next Wu, w.r. still hanging around itching for days those in Road Asian war. We were upln Conduit the on beautifully so in that lovely old hous", depicted I clubhouse' today's photographs on the stairway of Merick's Burl during ie.oltåt bick uughes confiáing woman wedding reception", that "the love of a beautiful colurnn three page' i, worih more than a front

Thi, or"o"ìon reminås u" of the continuing'importance of o ,n"pon"iLln frnn prnæ orá o t'orr* t'or its expression.

We raise o glor" b the FCC oná it, *n*bnr" in celeLration of .thn "luL'" 50th Anniuersa"g. Corgrotulaüons.

exclusive."

h

I blushingly recall my own unforgivable boorishness ;;;;;-t""á un ".*tíu'' fee" when 'rovie star Bill THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNÑERSARY

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1949-1999

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Moscow

. New York . Fujian .'Wenzhou . New Delhi . Yiwu . Newark .

Pittsburgh .

Holden accidentally filmed me on the lawn during a CBS special on Holden's Hong' Kong Lo celebrate his appearance in A Ll[a,n1 Splendoured I'hing ar'd The I(orld of'Susie

Wong.

The next move was to a defunct nightclub opposite the Macau Ferrj., where stale nicotine fumes from a

hundred 1'ears of smoking greeted vou at morning coffee. Then onto the nou' defunct Hilton Hotel then -to memorable fist fights there, even a suicide Sutherland House, where resting and recreating war correspondents from Vietnam could enjoy the best view in the world whilst taking a pee.

Hasty fumblings at the bar under fashionably short mini-skirts, sweaty knee-tremblers in the corridor leading to the toilets, explosive violence at some real or fancied insult and blood on the floor. lVIv own suspension for fighting lasted only four months and enabled me to save enough mone)'for a holidav in Phuket.

Broker-r heads, broken hearts, and sorell' bruised the FCC has it all. Some of the closest and egos most enduring friendships, formed and nr-rrtured over 40 years there. Marriages and lor-rg-term love affairs, old hatreds renewed or dissipated with the clink of a glass, flying fìsts, furious vendettas, torrents of booze, bonhomie and bores, laughter and occasional tears.

The FCC has provided it all for a great

conglomerate of kindred souls, and

I for one, shall

be

eternally grateful.

pro*Dave Garcia Two hundrcd words on my view I fro- the end o1 the bar'. No I .w"ut I thought. But I was nursing a hangover at the time and really rvasn't thinking.

I

What do I see from my end of the bar, which in fact is the same view as enjoyed by the correspondents? Let me think, I usually hit the club on a Friday night coming from a trip somewher-e or straight from my hamster wheel at the office.

I come in, flag a waiter and order a pitcher of fruit margaritas. Let's see, Hugh van Es is there, Kees, Bob Davis is floating around mumbling about which ferry he is going to take, Tony Nedderman is across the way

trying to finish his crossword puzzle before the big crowd hits and in the mist at the far end of the bar stands Kevin Egan discussing.the da1"s court activities.

Things regress, thr-ee pitchers have come and gone.

The Zoo Night crowd th.ickens. My wife Celia arrives, Annie van Es and Iq'Davis appear. The weekly meeting of the Cantonese mafia has come to order.

The three horsewomen of the apocalypse are now holding court. All English conversation in that area has ceased as r-apid Cantonese takes hold. Some English words pepper the conversation; mostly pronouns describing their respective husbands: he, him, it, they...

It's the fifth or sixth, maybe seventh pitcher...

THE CORIì.ESPONDENT/5OTFI À\NryERSARY

I 949-1

999

things are a blurrrrrr. I(evin is only a misty forn-r, the they need Judl Cantonese mafia is getting restless One thing a Chinese does not- do is miss a rneal.

Hugh never eats on Fridays, Annie always eats. This fìve foot not-ver).manv-kilo dvnamo can methodically eat her wav through a buffet rvithor"rt missins a beat.

The same discussion takes place every Zoo Night: "Fud. No fud. Blah, blah, blah. Yanga, vanga, \'anga.".

Fud r-rsually wins over, I frnish m), ng gee murya number of pitchers of margaritas and go where I'm directed, often upstairs, to fbrage for fud.

r,o*Keitln Statham t's

I

har

I ït? .

d lor me to imagine Hong

-J:T::f:

i::i i';'j'iTi

inuent it.

I guess my attitude to the FCC is a bit like most expat's attitude to Hong Kong itself. You can love it an{/or you can hate it at the same time, but it's difficult to keep out of either placel A second,.honie? Wetlí hardly, but sometimes it feels a bit like it, ãnd where else can you find such a cosmopolitan,.weak-minded bunch of (mostly) friendly drinkers with little or no will-power to turn down onefor-the.road? "After this one, I'm definitely going!"

Compared with many club stalwarts, I'm a new member. I joined in 1981. I can't remember rvhl', but it was probably Bob Davis' fault... a lot of things are. It seemed like a good idea at the time and he probably caught me in a weak moment on the Lamma Ferrl'.

But no regrets. Far from it! Where else could I spend the afternoons? If the club wasn't here I'd have to go back to the officel An¡va¡ congratulations to all of us on the 5Oth anniversary of the FCC in Hong Kong and here's to the next 50. "After this one, I'm definitely going!" p,o-Idrar.en

Penlington I

lter lhe second time I left Hong

ll their m', "lnï;'"'i !ïl

ï ! : ;",1 : :J Public Relations Manager. lhe rotten swine Nigel fu rnstrong persuaded me that the Press Club -was the meeting place for media professionals, that if I took mY job seriously I ought to sign up forthwith. Furtherrnore, I would gain major brownie points if I helped olrt as as

Club Secretary.

"But isn't the FCC a better club for rubbing shoulders with important press?" I lvhimpere d.

"Nonsensel" he shouted (or words to that efTect). It didn't take me long to work out that I had been dupecl.

I duly convinced the then very llew General Manager of The Pen, Eric Waldburger, that oue simpll' had to join the FCC, especially if one rvzrs the PR of the famed Pen' He agreed' It'tvas oull' after the hotel put

85

up the entrance fee in those days that it - $17,000 was tersely pointed out to him that the establishment never pays for individual memberships.

I left shortþ thereafter and set up my own business,

but remain, over a decade later, eternally grateful to Eric and The Pen for affording me the means to join what has since become mv second home.

r,o*Mitch Davidson he original Long Bar in the old Rafll es Hotel in Singapore, Tanamore's in Jakarta, the Firehouse in Manila and the FCC Hong Kong.

They are (or were) the 'Great Bars of Asia'. If you had to capture ,[= the dynamics of a city in a ba¡ these establishments would fìt the bill to a tee.

That the FCC is run by a series of committees (I think 12 or more at the last count, certainly far too many to mention by name in less than 200 words) and still manages its lofty ranking, is quite remarkable.

I don't wish to be negative about the good work carried out by our committees they put in many long unpaid hours on our behalf,-but perhaps Richard Harkness of ttre Intnnational Herald Täbunewas close to the truth when he said about committees: 'A group of unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary." \A/hat then makes the FCC Hong Kong one of the 'Great Bars of Asia'? I suspect it has something to do with the members. So I'd like to prepare a 50th birthday toast to all of us ¡¡srnþs¡s past and present - the committees past and (the unfit) and of course present (the unwilling) for not screwing things up.

Cheers from the end of the bar!

rromLytrtt Grebstad I t was 1992 and they were headv I davs for the FCC. Herr Seidlitz I *u. on his crusade to turn the Club into a haven of fine dining, which included transforming the Verandah into an Italian restaurant.

The lovable Hun was committed to improving the Club's so-called French baquettes, and to inflicting his favourite Italian

walkman on, transcribing meeting minutes in front often had to tell me to 'keep it down a bit' as I roared with laughter at the repartee of Hugh van Es, David Thurston, Paul Bafreld and David Garcia with Steve trying to maintain order. It was a

-of the TV. My husband

morning sessions, I began to rather enjoy them.

I was subsequently elected to the Board with Steve Vines at the helm and, once again, found myself taking the minutes. This, I have to say, subsequentþ provided me with many happy hours of evening entertainment

86

til irirral tl rugu ay li¿r\u

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f ight vears ago mv lriend tool< F ^. to play pool in an historic E buil¿ing where cows used to live. I liked playing pool there so

p lsa¿r

much that I begged my friend to get me into that club. On a late night in

iu'ar

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the smoke-filled Main Bar, he introduced me to ftvo awe-inspiring, albeit inebriated correspondents, who signed my application form without even taking their eyes off the beer in front of them.

Since then, my life has not been the same and the friend who got me into this has skipped town.

After eight years of the club, I have learned a great deal. For instance, I have learned that you can drink yourself silly every night and yet be productive in society. Correspondent members also inspired me to give new meaning to the words 'alternative lifestyle'.

Don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are I even married one. By rubbing correspondents shoulders with them, some intellect rubbed off on me and I landed a job as a columnist, making some extra

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Board members.

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marvelous, memorable year, and one which has resulted in lasting friendships with my fellow FCC

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money to pay for bar bills.

From talking to correspondents, journalists and other media personalities, I have realized the importance of basic human rights and Iearned important historical facts such as women and blacks having gained their rights to vote in the seventeenth century I might have gotten the century wrong, but you get my drift.

My only question is: "\À/hen will associate members be allowed to vote in the election of the club President?"

n omTotry

just always seem to have been an aspect of my life for the past half century. Funny, it doesn't seem that ¡,-t \

long.

ln Hong Kong, when I arrived in 1965, anyone expecting there to be clubs was well catered for. Having belonged to a dozen or so before arriving here, I joined four right off and, as my pursuits waxed and waned, four more (the FCC was in the second round), not to mention various secretive societies on Kennedy Road. t\

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ir¡rl.VcrdcCil)r l¡¡rlsCe ini,

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l[rrLerk¡Rrcolìonra ìyancla'l' 'iLank¿rSt.ÌÌ go'lìrrkrrreu

Samo¿ù

ndosBcl

Nedderman I had not thought much about our I club until rhe editor asked me ro I do .o. They (clubs, not ed.irors)

I

ega lSevcl relle azil antlSrvctlarSl

a;\nguillaAr cutin

cuisine on to unsuspecting FCC members.

Up until then, it seems, they were quite happy with their frsh stew and chilli con carr'e, according to Mike Smith's survey. I was drafted on to the F&B Committee

as 'someone who knew a thing or two about good food' although why a PR executive is automatically presumed to know about these things escapes me.

Flowever, once I got into the swing of the weekly

r'¿ril4onacoMr¡r or t oNlo apua \ crv(.tti trea l'itra i uga¡rolcS Lolak iaSlor

THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNN/ERSARY

1

949-1 999

nl-esolhoLatv s I'l cxicoM o ¡r a coI' ïrarPa kisLarrPana lla

'1r:helìes

ìr'cdtìnSr' ngtlprrrUr

[¿Ar u

r{âna lr

RicaCuL lslan<lsI lTaitiHon r.ialesot te

klslancls ancerFirL sHrrne¡r

"lronn'ili o v aì\T exi coNlolt kistarrP¿rtr¿ nt ell esSicr I al,eo

i\'T

ar

entinaAt ulgarìal3

l

Pa

In a recent survey by Global Finance Magazine, DHL was voted the world's most global company. That's why we're proud to be associated with another great global team, the Foreign Correspondents Club. Congratulations on your 50th anniversary.

-EF-LWOR¿DWÐE EXPRESS@

I think I joined the FCC because I had awife at the time who worked in Central and it (the club, not the rvife) possessed a pool table.

I did however notice

that

that some of the members seemed faintþ amusing must saY later some of them still are three decades I suppose. somethins for the ethos of the FCC, It seems to me that the FCC's greatest attraction, and in this regard it must be unsurpassed anwvhere in the lvorld, is that one can find someone to talk about any subject under the sun. Whether the recei't'ed opinions make sense or not is, of course, another matter, and in any case totally irrelevant.

The large majority of members seem to use the FCC for one purpose or anothe¡ and exclusively for that purpose. There are) on the other hand, and we no doubt all know and recognise each other, some of us

bars and dining who use the club for everything rooms, club lunches and functions, pool, cards, quizzes, music, private functions, health centre and just generally hanging out.

I certainly spend more time there these days than in any of the others. Mui'b. my only claim to fame is that I have not been kicked out of any of them yet.

Are you getting vour subscription's worth? Don't spend it in vour spend your money all over town club instead and do yourself some -good.

r,o- PEtÊr Bennett I t was 1968, not long aft er | ,.,.r, n"o rrom a rwo-year soJourn I i. B.rrr-r"o.

A bright, autumn day in pre-

T

polluted Hong Kong, the vietv from the top of the Hong Kong Hilton looked out across the green of the Hong Kong Cricket Club to the ornate four storeys of the Hong Kong Club, adjacent to the levelled site of the old Sutherland House just behind New Mercurl'FIouse, the corporate headquarters of Cable & Wireless.

"Yes," I said to my old mate, Frank Wolfe ( who had just signed a chit for our lunch totalling HK$21), "I think I would like to join the FCC".

I had been to the pre','ious club house as a guest back in the early Sixties. Those were the days when the China Watchers in the US consulate and in the American press would kill for any shred of news from the PRC. China was in the grip of the Cultural Revolution and I had smuggled a couple of rolls of black and white film out from one of my regular trips to China (not before being apprehended by a Young Pioneer and fiog-marched to a local Peoples' Constabulary post for an uncomfortable shakedown). Loren Fessler of Time paid good money for the pix, but I can't say the FCC premises in Li Po Chun Chambers made mrrch of an impression on me at the time.

But 1968 was different. The Club was going through a realwar a rebirth. There was a uar on -Veet-nam, the use the jargon of the American's fìghting it. The

FCC in those days lvas where it was happenins. Not safari suits and all only the real, live correspondents and just but politicians, spooks, camp-followers -plain opportunists were a.ll hanging around. In

addition, Hong Kong's large advertising and PR fraternity included lots of colourful characters. Great speakers at Club functions, great parties, five-hour liquid lunches, the occasional spectacular Friday night slugfest, chance meetings, grand reunions, sad farewells and some memorable rvakes ...the FCC in Sutherland Flouse had it all.

Later, when that particular American war in Vietnam was over, Asia in general and China in particular had become the Good Stor¡ and the FCC continued to thrive as the centre of communications, rumollr and innuendo, hard news and fast gossip. The move to Ice House Street in i982 coincided with Hong Kong's transition to a real international city, with all the attendant presslrres, costs and economic realities.

Throughout the headv Eighties and the dramatic Nineties, the FCC faced good times and bad, managed with varying degrees of effectiveness by a dedicated bunch of elected individuals. and, after 50 vears of the Good on you all, I say

-

writers and the fighters; the boozers and the cruisers; the diners and the whiners; the bold and the old; the sinners and the winners, it's still the best damn club in town.

p,'mM:îrtin Merz

j;: îï"'ïi^î Iur:ïi,r[il In the mid-Eighties, I went to Beljing for a holiday. At the taxi rank outside the International Club it was explained to me that the 50 brand

TUERE'sArv¿lYs

ABIG

AT CLSA

new Citroen taxis had completed it was 11 a.m. and would their quota for the duy - I saw a different - taxi out of not take any more fares. the corner of my eye.

I ran like a madman to catch it and bounced off a slightly larger madman than my,self who also needed a lift. We quickl;' established we were heading to the same location and gladly shared the car.

My fellow traveller told me of an earlier incident at the same taxi rank when he too was told that there were no taxis available. He went into the office to investigate and upon discovering all the drivers playing cards he let his temper get the better of him and hurled their Ghetto Blaster through the offìce window.

"It felt good at the time," he said, "but then I had to write a lengthy self-criticism and pay for the Ghetto

ffiCLSA

Blaster and the window."

Some time later Hong Kong we recognised each other in astonishment across the bar at the FCC. It was then I learned my taxi companion was the late David Bonavia. We never shared another taxi, but did share some good taxi horror stories whenever we bumped into each other at the FCC. I

G

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88

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forthcoming with the arrangements. Daisy Leung Moorfoot returned for a lunch sporting her newly

I

acquired Australian citizenship.

In December 1993 the Hot-rorary Treasurer advised she had entrlrsted our funds-in-hand, all $32 of it, to neither a bank nor the stock exchange and called for donations in support of the Hong Kong Societv for the Protection of Children. Fines r't'ere imposed for underdressing, ot'er-dressing and au' method by which 'n'e could support the charity. Lizzie had recovered from

A

an operation for- cancer and returned to the fold.

Laurel, our last remaining Miette de Pain was married that October. It r'vas suggested we were all Leg'endresses in our own Lunchtimes.

Honorar;, Treasurer Rowena left Hong Kong in December 1994. Replacing her has proven fo be an

s.)

impossible task.

was recently asked this question' The response ts

easy: rvait to be invited' Howe't'er there are c".iain rules of conduct, none of which will become clear in this articlel The inaugural Red Lips Christmas luncheon was' we think, itt f g8g. At that time we had no official name we were just a group of six or so ladies celebrating

n June 1996 Lizzie composed both Red Lips Anthem and if that wasn't enough adapted a popular song into a Red Lips favourtte We're Loohing Ouer à I'c¡dha Soda. She repatriated to Danvin in 19$6 (and established the Darwin Chapter of many o\/erseas of Red Lips in-August 1997 chapters) and,I headed Down Under that I)ecember

-the festive season.

Sometime in

1984 a young Australian lawyer commented: "Look at the Red Lips up there" - the reference being to our age, at that stage from our early 30's to early 50;s of the 'girls' of the famed Tsimshatsui bar. It i, iumoured the same girls offering their services night after night worked at the Red Lips during the Japanese occuPation!

FCC Red Lips were, not necessarily in fhe "tiþinal order of ujt ot senioritl" Cynthia Hydes' su Villiers' Marilyn Èood, Irene O'Shea and me' We were enjoying a quiet drink at the south end of the Main Bar of Jn. fbC when our collective name, and a nerv collective noun, was established' Rowena Young, newly married (and now, like many

of us, divorced) joined us for the 1984 Christmas lunch. Avriel (Marco) Gerber, future secretary, became

a Red Lips

in 1985. Many others, whose time of

inaugurati^on has faded with our memories, swelled the ranks over subsequent years' Recollection of other lunches of the Eighties is hazy' I do tecall lunches were only at Christmas ãnd the cost of gifts exchanged at the

taúle escalated, in accordance with inflation' from HI,,$ZO in 1983 to $100 in 1998.

In the early Nineties observant FCC patrons and we began to regard the Red Lips Brigade as a serious or['anisation. The lunch became known as the Brfade's Annual Gathering or BAG for those unable to utter long phrases' A selÊappointed committee was established' I' as

.

too. Marilyn aésúmed the lofty office of Chief Bag.

Ori'ginally a Christmas lunch, the BAGs now became known as Chief Bag (Sac-en-

Iunch conveno¡ Chef), Rowena as Treasury Bag, Wendy Richardson and later Avriel as Secretary Bag and Marilyn as Membership Secretary Bag. Other members were categorised as Life, Honorary, Full Bag, Baguette and Miette de Pain according to age. It was agreed some French titles were in keeping with our collective elegance and sauoir.[aire.

he highlight of each gathering occurs when

all members are required to identify themselves b)' tu-" (current and a,ll previous), rank, any change of status, bra cup size and any other relevant biodata. During one such proceeding it was revealed that one Red Lips had an IQ of 185 (before lunch) and one had a shoe size larger than her bra size. Some didn't (and still don't) e\/en wear a bra! One claims to wear a training bra.

Men, signihcant or otherwise, are invited to join us for port and cheese at 4 p.rn. Few are sufficiently brave to accept our generosify. Meetings are never formally closed, but usually proceed well into the night and occasionally into the next morning.

For reasons lost in the mists of antiquity, it was decided to hold a summer BAG on June 26, 1993 with the theme of A Midsummer Night's (Wet) Dream. This

proved to be too much like bloody hard work although Rowena would have been Helena (fair of face) and Lizzie Loft:us cast as Hippolyta (full of grace). The rest of us could have only been a bunch of miscellaneous

fairies, which the Chief Bag felt was not a fair

representation of such an elite group. At this pointJo Mayfìeld commented "Oh no dea¡ they've justjumped in a cab and gone to Harry Ramsdens". This related to the men with whom we had shared our statutory sips of Seppelt's Great Western prior to lunch.

t this meeting the Treasurer's Report nil; cash receivable nil; cash expended - HK$138 (we know -not on what). A biannual - subscription of revealed cash in hand

$10 was introduced. Membership Secretary Marilyn

Hood asked if this was tax deductible and whether credit cards \rere acceptable. We collected $170 after

which the Honorary Treasurer stated the excess of $32 would be utilised to purchased shares in the next PRC company floatation'

inr'ìted'äll delegates to stage the DC and perhaps a Bagjet Washington, in next BAG lànd in the grounds of their to arranged could be (actually the Hong Kong government's) Bathesda mansion. The then colonial government was not Ma.r,is \ÂIiggham

convene at the slightest excuse. The gatherings are not restricted to members. We have entertained numerous guests, some of whom were never to be seen again.

Others return to Hong Kong especially for the occasion. Still others schedule their flights through Hong Kong and demand a gathering. Lunch is of cor-lrse still preceded by a medicinal dose or three of Aussie bubbly. Handover year (that's 1997 for the hermits reading this mag) saw five Red Lips enamel-plated gold gatherings. Red Lips brooches lunch. At the Handover Avriel for by organised were -that time, I was also elevated to Paramount Bag. can't The 1998 lunches have been and gone as did that year left but how man¡ recall Joan Jutta Howley so there probably were a few. I do, howeve¡ recall our AGM, at which very little was achieved. (So what's new?) There is never any cash so a financial besides we never replaced our report is superfluous meetings are illegible of previous Minutes Treasurer. rests entirely upon meeting the next the date of and So much for available. excuses become what as carefree?)

(Don't all they were you wish AGMs. Marilyn is setting up the Red As for the future <wuu.redliþs. orgt is the site site.

Unfortunately Lips web "house".

Onward to the new Amsterdam of an millennium! I

ut usually proceed well into the night

M;åä""sååíåå THE CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH À\NNiTRSARY I 949 I999

IHE CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH ANNN/ERSÄR\'

1

949-1 999

il

I

I

I

By Anthony, Lawrence

OUR QUEER LANGUAGE (Anon)

istorical events of great moment have often passed almost unnoticed aÍ the time they happened.

For example, The Marshall Plan put-

'When

the English tongue we speak, V/hy is break not rhymed withfreak Will you tell me why it's true We say sewbat likewise/ew; And the maker of a verse Cannot cap his horse withworse ?

?

ting Europe on its feet after World War was hrst mentioned only somewhere in the middle of a single speech; Julius Caesar

II

crossing the Rubicon started the Roman Empire; Tunku Abdul Rahman saying he didn't trust Lee Kuan Yew became a yard-marker ending

Beard sounds not the same as heard; Cord is different fromword; Cow is cow but low islow; Shoe is never rhymed withfoe.

Think of hose and dose and lose; Doll and roll and home and some; And since pay is rhymed with say, Why not paid with said, I say ?

the merger of Malaysia and Singapore.

And it was mild rebellion by the regular boozers in

Conder's Bar back in 1955 that brought Alcoholic Synony'rnous into being. They objected to the custom of throwing dice to decide which individual should foot the bill. They decided to form a separate group whose members would each pay the bill in turn, leaving dice-throwing out of it.

This group (it is a somewhat informal club) has survived more than 43 years. Its members, less than 20 at last count, meet on Saturday lunchtime in the Albert Room. The French have this saying that its the temporary, provisional things which last.

We have blood andfood and good;

Mould is not pronounced like could.

Wherefore done but gone and lone ?

Is there any reason known ?

f,

And, in short, it seems to me Sounds and letters disagree.

If you would like a word (werd ? wurd

S, as

Hffi ?)

with us,

call Keith Statham or Flora Chan at KSA Public Relations, Keith Statham Associates Ltd., on (852) 2810 8108 fax: (852) 2810 l19I or e-mail: keith@ksa.com.hk

it

is fondly known, has known many changes.

J.Î ï"J

i.i :: iåå iä *ï

i3;.i,1

ilîåli

admitted. Absentee members, moved to distant places, have suddenly shown up again on visits. Tastes and emphasis have changed. Nowadays there is less hard liquor consumed, more beer.and more animated talk.

There have been times in the past when the choice of meeting place has l¡een unfavourable and attendance

and membership dr.ôppdd accordingly

but

somehow newcomers här'e always hlled the gap.

The precise date of th'e club's formation in 1955 is offrciatly November 5th, an anniversary celebrated by the British with fireworks as the day on which Guy Fawkes bungled his plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But AS was rìever concerned with treason, bungled or otherwise. As the narne makes abundantly clear, the prior-ity was, and still is, first and last, convivial drinking.

The first AS constitution ernphasised this. Principal TFIE CORRESPONDLNT/5OTH

ANNI\/ERSARY

1

949-1 999

aims, it says, are "to gather its members together for the purpose of imbibing alcohol; to promote the relief of hangovers acquired during the previous 24 hours; and to encourage members, who by accident have not acquired the above malady, to offer consolation to those who have done so." Membership was confined to "those who derive pleasure from imbibing the nectar of the gods in the company of the group."

Those rules were, ,drawn up by Wendell (Bud) Merick, a formidablè American scribe representing UPI (who was alsö the clttb president in 1959), whose devotion to his'job thrived on a strong liquid diet. I still recall the,b.Ar.at Kai Tak with stewardesses (as they were called in those days) pleading with Bud "Please, won't yóu board now Mr. Merick". And Bud saying "yes, as soon I finish this othermartini."

llther ghosts from the past, affectionately I |..-."ïrrered, materialised into vigorous life. The llb.o,,r. heaã of Richard Hughes, that most generous and humour-loving of men, looks challengingly across the FCC's main bar to remind survivors of lively sessions to which he would bring such guests as the classic humourist of the Nan Yorher, Sid Perelman and writer Ian Fleming (he of 007 fame) who had the impression that to become a club member demanded drinking 16 bottles of beer in a row. This dangerous untruth had been fed him by Bud Merick in an elated mood.

The la"te Jack Conder, the large genial publican was the Club's first official host. His famous bar (up an alley next to Wyndham Street in Central but long since demolished) carried every brand of beer obtainable in the world. He had been sergeant in the Shanghai Police Force and later served with the firm of Butterfield and swire' when vichl' took over the French concession in Shanghai, Jack, under the very guns and binoculars of Japanese warships, organised the defection of at least 500 crew members from French ships and smuggled them to Singapore.

Later he was imprisoned by the Japanese in the POW camp at Lunghwa, but escaped on September 24, through 1,200 miles of 1943 and managed to reach turbulent Chinese provinces in 210 days and a paratrooper friendly territory. Then he became his bar.

He to open frnally descended on Hong Kong the running officer later found out that the Japanese 93

regr-rlar member, as rvas Bob Drr"rmmond, an American who

l,unghlva prison camp was a

consul serving in Canada.

Arr Alcoholics meeting warmll' approved a letter to

him from Jack, with

The Erand ChuÍka and ni$ G0hont$ FecitG the tale 0l ô

Funaway Face hon$e, WalteF GeFFard, tiFed and emoli0nal,olten c0ulín't be undeF$tood uunen he Fecited gFipping tales 0l

had spent many years as a teacher at a Chinese University.

His friend was Stephen Zhot,

a

l,r,ithout his permission. The

who was allowed to join although allergic to alcohol but then his talk was as lively -as

delighted Japanese consul

several glasses of champagne.

two exchanged Chr istmas cards, via the club, until .|ack's death in 1976.

llllfi'.l,J;j'ï'î#}T*:it

Christmas card, apologisine

for leaving the prison camp

Glasgouü'$ ladies ol the evening.

replied in similar vein and

Jlv this time the club had moved se\¡eral times. For llinif. it met in the old Windsor Flouse in Queer-r's IlRou¿ Central, then later at the nearby Cafe cle Paris. Jack Conder had been keeping the club's records, but when he set up a new establishment in Kowloon, the job was taken over by Ian McCrone, the amiable New Zealander who headed the Reuters bureau in Hong Kong. In March, 1966 the members met in Cosmo Club, on the fourth floor of the Gloucester Building where the Landmark now stands.

Later the venue was changed to the Foreign Correspondents Club fìrst in Sutherland House and then in the nearest -building.

In its earlier days, the club membership was mainly British, but this gradually changed. Captain John Babb, formerly of the United States Nar,y, was a very

British, Australians, and Chinese. There are businessmen, lawyers, writers, diplomats and government servants some of them retired. Membership is confined to men, but from time to time the Club arranges a so-called Wing Ding a dinner or picnic held at either some attractive restaurant or member's home, to which ladies are invited. These occasions are always greatll' enjoyed by those taking part.

So this strange club, now not so closely related to alcoholism and hangovers but much concerned with conviviality, joins in thanking the FCC for its hospitality and rvishes it all the besr on its 5Oth annir.ersary. \Me have no grandiose aims apart from the enjoyment of good company o\¡er a few drinks.

That might even ensllre our survi'r,al into the next decades.

I

fr.fl

ody could understand him either.

Poetry in the FCC? Read on Keuin Sin clair reminisce

John Lenaghan is

as

s

ilence fell in the Wyndham Room. The Great Chief Grand Chukka was about to speak. John McDougall of the Geebung Polo Club, Hong Kong Chapter, rose with dignity as befits his lifetime appointment and uttered the immortal

words of the great Australian bush bard Banjo Paterson.

There was moaement at the station, for the uord had got around, The colt from Old Rzgret had got auay.

He had joined the wild bush horses, he was worth a thousand pounds, And all the crachs had gathered to thefray.

likewise

lenged both by one or two glasses consumed over lunch and with the

ripe accent of Ulster, he is only modestly more understandable than the Big Buffalo, as Gerrard was known to millions of Hong Kong football fans when he kicked a round ball for a living.

For a decade, the Geebung Polo Club held its regular meetings in the Wyndham Room. There never seemed to be any rules, and all decisions on dress, manners, conduct, consumption and proceedings were the total dictate of The Grand Chukka who under the constitution of the Geebung Polo Club, Hong Kong Chapter, had more powers than a Mongol Khan.

McDougall's word was law. Those laws stated that everyone had to drink and everyone present had to

recite a poem, sing a song, play the piano or do something else of an entertaining nature. The scope was comprehensive.

South China Building, 1-3

Central, Hong Kong.

ley Road, T.S.T.

Tel:2376 0327 Fax:2317

Tel 2526 5293 Fax: 2801 5006

MOVING

WITH

THts

TIMES

SINCE

51,75

1928

There would be rvild applause as the Australian bush ballad The Man From Snoary Riaer carne to an end.

McDougall would wipe a stray tear from his eye and modestly raise his glass..It wgs 4 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon in the FCC and the monthly gathering of poet fanciers was in full crY. Now up strides Walter Gerrard, the intellectual's answer to wine merchants, to lecite a moving tale of love in the back streets of Glasgow. As Walter is extremely tired and emotional and as his accent becomes thicker with every wee dram, nobody has a clue what the hell the poem is about, but everyone is much moved.

Then Arthur Flacker, who invariably wore the ofhcial Geebung Polo Club tie, would gravel a ditty THE CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH ANNryERSARY

I 949-1 999

The Geebung grew out of McDougall's early life

as

a merchant mariner. Standing long watches as his ship

rolled across the Pacific, he would recite poems that he had studied in his bunk. Scottish-born, but as Australian as a gum tree, he loved the bush ballads that told of stockmen and drovers and life in the Outback.

The Geebung Polo Club was one such saga, the tale

of a bunch of stockmen who formed a rag-tag polo team and played and beat a team of toffs. It st.ruck a sympathetic note in McDougall's larrikin heart' He and his buddy and business partner, Ross Way, would be having lunch in some Central watering hole and John would burst into poetry. Inflamed by Carlsberg (quaffed with ice), someone suggested they should

95

t

J

:

\X/HEN YOU BUITO FOR THE FUTURE, NEVER FORGET YOUR ROOTS. least half a dozen drinks

meet regularly for a cultural lunch, and by some meta-morphosis well

fertilised by ale and whisky, The Geebung Polo Club was born.

It was a disparate group and it bought out some talents that were

unsuspected. McDougall had a phenomenal memory and could reel off not only poems about runaway race horses, but also huge chunks of Shakespeare. Charlie Smith surprised many who had known him for years by disclosing

an unexpected knowledge of

Rudyard Kipling. Gerrard's stock of bawdy rhymes was endless. 'Crazy

Larry' Marriott, who boasted with some pride of being Hong Kong's most deranged pianist, and Larry Allen would take turns on the keyboard, depending on who was in town. Ronnie Ling would also tinkle

the ivories, adding a touch of to the repast.

class

David Gilhooly would join McDougall in crooning about their

until they

entered into the true spirit; lunches never ended until 5 p.m. and often

'lt was

-

ran well into the evening.

Events were recorded for

somGwhene up

posterity by the official Geebung photographer, Ray Cranbourne, and recorded by the Geebung

the countru in a land of nock and scnub, that they fonmed an ¡n$titution Galled thc

historian, yours truly.

The heyday of the Geebung was the decade from about 1985. Ross Way's long battle with cancer threw a dark shadow over the jovial proceedings. Crazy Larry moved awa¡ and then Larry Allen retired, too. Charlie died. Tony Paul moved, returned and moved again.

Other members were transferred, migrated, retired or departed for the great poetry reading room in

Geebung Polo Gluh.'

the

sky.

The long, friendl¡ sometimes

uproarious, but seldom dull, lunchtime sessions in what is now the Hughes Room are now a thing

- Banio Patenson

of the past. But on a rainy Thursday afternoon as you come down from

birthplace I Belong to Glasgou would echo- out over Wyndham

the main dining room, you might

Street and waft downstairs enveloping the main bar.

just hear

Visitors from abroad were bemused and it took a careful reading of the Geebung constitution and at

had gotaround.

whisper on the starrs....

There was movement at the station, for the word a

I

FCC BOOK 1997. EYEWITNESS ON ASIA - UP.TO 1997 AND BEYOND c 248 PAGES .6'14 IMAGES . A COLLECT€RS' ITEM

+ 'a -7

in 1886, the 'ù7harf Gloup's main business lelies on long-term core investment projects in Hong Kong.

However', as we pursue other investment opportunities, we are committed to developing propel'ty, communications and infrastrnctut'e projects similar to the ones we have successfuliy completecl over the last 100 years. It is this simple philosopl-ry of always remembering oltr roots that we tell or-rr investors ali around the wolld.

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WHARF COPIES AVAILABLE FROM THE FRONT DESK AT HK$250 OR CALL 25211511 / FAX 28684092

-ß@ U

f

IHE (ìORRLSPONI)ENTzoOTH ÀNNl\/liRS,\RY

19,19 1999

THL CORRESPONDENT/5OTFI ANNI\/ERSARY

I 949- L 999

A Day ln

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Ha lffE of lho F€t

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E'r¡ L

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JENNIFER BOWSKILL

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TEBRY DUCKHAM

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KEES METSELAAF

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TONY NEDDERMAN

HUBEFT VAN ES

100

THE CORRESPONDENT/50TH

ANNI'V'ERSARY 1949-1999

To subscrìbe, pLea:ie catt

(852) 2572 5688 or vísit

us ai www.fortune.com

Wine TheF Is the traditional 'drinking' image of the FCC still valid?

Keu in Sin clair inve stigate s 'rvine tasting is generally a subdued and civilised

affair, u,ith polite and genteel folk sipping vinl-ages ancl gir irrg discrete opinion.

"Interesting," people ma\¡ murmllr. "You get the hint of passionfruit"' another may sa)/ while tasting a delicate r'vhite. "It's got the wet-dog svl-rdrome," some oenophil may

comment about

Boarcl asked me to gile a list of sr-regestions abottt locallv alailable wiues rvhich mieht be t'vorth adcling to

our 'cellar'. The ins[ructions rvere that thel' did not have to be cheap, but had to be robust, hard-u'earing, hale distinctive character and be good rvines to drink

nith food.

I'm no wine

Ijust quaff but I got togetl-rer a bunch of rvines from various

Edelmon PRWorldwide creotes effectiye public relotions progroms

expert the stuff

importers and these were opened and perused. Some met the criteria, in the opinion of Board rlembers, and are now featured in the net'r,

madeonly but man

world's leoding comÞonies. Dedicoted solely to the þroctice of Þublic relotions, we provide multinotionol orgonizotions with seomlessly integroted seryices in

every key business center in the world.The only fully independent globol PR firm, Edelmon boosts 36 offrces worldwide, ring services thot deliver

We succeed by þroviding

wine met1u..

It's worth takilrg

a

methodologies:

a

large, musty red.

Not so at the FCC not tasting! testing

:

Edelmon Brandcare - Managing brand image,vúith public relat¡ons Victor

of a- dozen or so -r'vines rvhen the

Htrg-o in Les Conl,cmplalions

Convergence Marketing - Blending consume; industry knowledge

food and Beverage Committee rvas slurping a global

i' said

one stalwart, committee "this one smells like

Busíness Advontoge MorketÍng - strategic process for

cat's piss. "

True, that's

Reputotion Monogement - affirming corporate image with stakeholders

astute member's

comment u'as correct.

We movecl on to the

contended' Argentinean Mal He, like the ce. \A/ell, you can since the reds e rest of us, has be rvines best the that insisted GM Austrian era rvhen our of heart the in homeland his came from in the world wine Austrian e.g. best the and that only Europe, was good enough for FCC members. Like it or not, that's what we got.

I recall one dav Liz Eckersle,Y, the former Club

Steward, opening a bottle of this soft red and a puff of gray smoke emerged. True. That was the time when 'r,r,ine

world was horrified about stories of anti-

freeze being added to alpine wines to give them a bit of taste. Terri$ing, but dutifully, we drank it.

These days, ¡¡itt*t are a bit more svstematic' The

dç,

business-to-busi ness marketing

à

common expression given to some sharp )'oung whites. The

102

expert¡se w¡th

loyee communications during

their cor-rsideration.

the

í.rt"ting

obilizing audiences to influence legislators

selection of rvine s I had got together for "x#ff%

þr the

CrisÍs PreporotÍon ond Response - lnternet-based crisis management solutions FoFmeF pnesident Jonn Giannini, Managen Boh SandBFs and KaFin Malmstnöm

look at what Members are drinking. Recent statistics compiled b)' th" offìce shor'v tl'¡at 52% of all beverage sales are no't'r' wines. That means we are following, if not leading, the trends evident in five-star hotels ar-rd top restaLrrants. Members are drinking more ¡vine r'vitl-r

Ede

3701-2,37 TEL: INT+

(HK) Ltd

fiouse,3l I Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong 1338 FAX: INT+852-2804- I 303

www.edelm

their meals, largelv at the expense of beer'

Interestingl¡ a ftrll third of all wil-re sales are house u,ines by the glass at the bar or carafe at a table. This shows the selection of the house wines the red and white Cl-rilean vintages from Montes ($30 a glass) and an Italian Pinot Grigio rvhite and a French Calvet red, both at $27) are palatable. The prices are reasonable about half as much as )¡olr are charged dou'n too

-

THE CIOIIRESPOND[,NT'50TH .\NNIVliRST\RY 1949-1999

#'

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Wiflslotv in slllÌ0¡'lafld ll0llse days

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ll t,

the road in most Lan Kwai Fong outlets.

Club Manager

Wine is the best

Bob

Sanders wittingll, refers to the

cheap plonk as "freelancer's "

wine and the slightly more expensive wine by the glass

as

"correspondent's " wine. I'd like to see another ranking of house wine in a slightlY higher price range which would greatly exPand

selection

-

glasses 1n

an "editor's"

wine, perhaps?

hat Chilean wine is particularly good

Slvift.

Beer is still big, as you rvould expect, u,itlt 20Vo of all beverage sales. More than 25 brews are stocked so there is plenty of scope for the thirsty palate, from China's Qingdao to Ireland's Caffre;"s.

In the spirits categor)', that's liquor to oLrr American members, rvhisk;' is way in front with 6% of total beverage sales -lvith Scotch leading the pack followed by gin and vodka, each with 3.5%, and 27r' for brandy and cognac.

What do the intelligent people sip? The magic

Jonathan computer reports that value. It's grown b1' a juices, tonics, soft fruit Chileno of Italian descent, a drinks and aer-ated waters most affable fellow called 13% of bever:age about sales. comprise Aurelio Montes, at a place called Curico. This is Though many felt that FCC drinking patterns 240 kilometres south of Santiago and a couple of would change lvith the opening of Bert's, the new.jazz thousand feet up the flanks of the Andes. The clean, bar in the basement (which replaced the quaintly sun-washed air helps the grapes grow to perfection' called 'Downstairs Bar'), the pattern seems to be Other beverage statistics clearly shorv a changing they holding, according to the club manager: "Half the pattern in what FCC r\Iembers like to drink as beverage sales are still of the grape varieÐ'," he intoned gather around the Main Bar and solve er"ery problem at press time. I in the world.

104

fl

'IHE CORRESPONI)ENT,'

fiOTH -\NNI\ßRSARY I 949-1 999

How would you like to be in his shoes?

-l Name Donation

Tel

Amount tr 5100 tr $300 tr g50O n

For some children even a single step is a struggìe. But you can help through The Community Chest.

n s1,000

120 Charities depend on us...and we depend on

Other (Pìease specify)

you. Every dolìar you give goes straight to those

Address

who need it. We take nothing for expenses. o.

Make your cheque payable to The Communìty Chest of Hong Kong CPO Box BBB, HK.

ä frr

Don't turn your back on them. Give.

THE ZOO WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THE ENGLISH -LANGUAGE PRE,SS IN HONG KONG

BY ARTHUR HACKER

TâT-- ZOO

BY ARTHUR HACKER

ONE PAPER THREE TI^^ES THE AMOUNT OF ADVERT IS IN G

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(852) 25225073 È'ax: (t152) 2õ21 8127

ÍPressure was on and Hong Kong's Mandarins did not like the amount of attention Tu was generating.

Hong Kong was under a lot of pressure on many fronts

about the refugees. The basic response was always that everyone was fairly screened. But here was an obvious case that fell through the cracks and was causing embarrassment. The US Consulate, for it's part, said it was powerless to do anything until Tu was declared a political refugee. At that point, they would step in and

whip him out of here. And they did. Tu was unexpectedly whisked to the newly completed

\.{/hitehead Open Camp for screening. All Tu would say about his hours and hours of screening interviews is

that his questioners were rude and uncaring. But he flying colours and one day he called us to say he was back in San Yik, but on an Open Camp floor. Sinan, Mikç and I rented a car and went out to meet Tu over a dim sum lunch outside San Yik of passed with

-

course.

nd what a witt¡, gentlemen we discovered. He conversed with us in fluent English and somehow managed to fìnd some humour in his trials and tribulations. Tu had only a few possessions so we bought hirn.a couple of FCC sweaters and shirts and

Saul Lockharl relates how the FCC helped rescue a Vietnamese

journalist from Hong Kong's

li

made certain he had enough money to buy other

refugee camps

necessitiês. Right then and there over lunch we asked him to address an FCC professional luncheon which he

T ,'t nol often that individuals ot' organisaf ions save I a life, but that is what happened back in late 1989 I u, the FCC was a keystone of a world-wide effort to

did a few days later to a full house and a standing ovation. At that time, we also presented him with a copy

of his obituary, written by Richard Butler in his book The Fall of Saigon. And would you believe Tu riposted with a version of Mark Twain's famous quotation:

free fellow Fourth Estater Nguyen Dinh Tu. Of the tens of thousands of hapless boat people who made their way to Hong Kong, reporter,/editor

I

Tu was a genuine political refugee. He paid his dues with the fall of Saigon serving 13 years in various reeducation camps because he wrote for the wrong side.

Believe it or not, in a tale of bumbling bureaucr-acy invol'r'ing various departments of the Hong Kong government and the UNHCR, the price the then 66year-old Tu paid was not enough to qualify for refugee

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Desperate, he put pen to paper. In his time, Tu filed in Vietnamese for the Saigon dar\' Chinh Luan, in French for AFP and in English for UPI. His hrst letter went off to former AIP colleague Jolynne D'Ornano care of AFP's Paris headquarters where it languished becauseJolynne had left AIP and was living in the US. Eventually someone had sense enough to forward it.

Jolynne immediately contacted former Baltitnore Sun Vietnam hand, and ex-FCCer, Arnold 'Skip' Isaacs, who was teaching at a university. Skip wrote to me and thus began my and the FCC's involvement. Not hearing from Jolynne, Tu also penned off a letter to UPI's former general manager in Hong Kong, and exFCC president, Mike Keats.

The Board of Governors moved quickly and President Sinan Fisek, coincidentally of AFP, fired off a letter to the governor, Sir David Wilson. Backing us up

"Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated."

was Hong

Kong English-Speaking

P.E.N. and the

Hong Kong Journalists Association. As expected,

\4¡ilson passed the letter down the line. The gist of the various con'r'ersations with the government were that

the decision was final, he'd been given a fair interrogation and besides, e'r,erything is up the

UNHCR. In fact he hadn't been screened yet. \Â4-rat rve didn't know at the time is that they lost Tu perhaps temporarill' misplaced him is more acclrrate in spite of the fact that we provided Tu's boat -numbe¡ bunk number and any other lDtype number he provided us.

ater, as the mix up unravelled, we discovered that Tu. like all refugees, was first taken to r Green Island.

But due to cholera outbreak, he was quickly (faster than the paperwork that is) moved to the wretched confines of the San Yik Factory Building which was run by the Correctional Service Department as a combined closed and open camp, depending on the floor. Tu r,r,as locked up on the third floor with 300 nerv arril'als, but no one in the Secretary

T II

for Securit)', the Immigration Department, the

UNHCR, the US Consulate no one could first say - was finally located, where he was. And when he no official could say when he would be screened. With talk of sending Vietnamese back involuntaril¡ we were worried that he would be given a cursory interview and shoved on a plane. Offrcially we hit a bureaucratic wall of bricks.

nofficiall¡ we started a telephone campaign which reached the highesr levels of Hong Kong's officialdom,.at home and in the office. The word spread and:oon journos in a dozen countries, were calling, preferably in the middle of the (that is Hong Kong's) night, asking for updates on Nguyen Dinh Tu. Locally, the pressure was kept on by Iocal journalists, and in particular t-he Hong Kong Standard and foreign correspondents alike. Isaacs, who

lives near \ÀIashington, DC, was able to attract the interest of Senator Clayborne Pell's Senate Foreign Relations Committee who in turn took up the case with the State Departmelìt. New material was received in Garden Road which forwar-ded it immediately to the Hong Kong government.

e repaired to the downstairs bar after lunch where Tu quaffed a good part of a bottle of

cognac, with the rest of us assisting of course. But something was bothering Tu. He was worried about the US Consulate because he hadn't heard from them. Enter stage left, dead on cue, Bill Stubbs, a.retired US consular official, and former FCCer, who just happened to be passing through town.

And what did Bill do with the US government for his last decade or so? Work with Vietnamese refugees.

A quick phone call to his ex colleagues in Garden Road ascertained that everything was ready and the;, were wondering where to deliver Tu's departure package. The FCC of course. And he was out of Hong Kong in 24 hours. We journos are a cynical lot, but I know I speak for Mike and Sinan, Skip andJolynne, the rest of the FCC Board, our colleagues in the HKJA and in P.E.N., when I saylve were very proud to have had a part in springing Nguyen Dinh Tu from the clutches of the most insidious of enernies, bureaucracy.

I

Postscript: Tu liues in Alexanclña, Virginia, just ontside Wash.ington, DC. He uriles for Vietnamese magazines þublish.ed. ir¿ the US. We

all auaits ltis

¡nentoit's.

,

112 ll rl

THI' CORRESPONDENT,/5OTH ANNI\ERSARY

1949-Ì 999

II'IE CORRÈ],SPONDENT/5OTH ANNI\tsRSARY

I 949-1

999

113

The fCC

$tall have been an integral part 0l the club s¡ncB 1943 and there would not be a Glüb w¡thout tnem

FFI==trItrTrvl FEtrUrvl F;Ef FIÉTT,

'

Ëf E ÚFÉËCIT FII.E TFIÊT

International Division Chris V/ells, Senior Vice President Joan Mower, Intemational Program Manager

?a'p'pa

4 tata:crcnaanq 7OO

News media and news

media-related

organizations may use the Center conference facilities (seating up to 100 participants) without charge (except for use of after-hours air conditioning) by making a

Asian Center

reservatron.

Arnold Zeitlin, Director

The Asian Center also offers computer and Internet facilities for the free use by journalists, journalism students and news media organizations. It is possible to read any Online newspaper or other periodical in the world fi'om the Center. Simply stop by

The Freedom Forum is a non partisan, non profit, international media foundation dedicated to free press,

free speech and free spirit, and to enhancing understanding between the public and journalists.

The Freedom Forum Asian Center, which opened in January 1994, is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a series of conferences, symposia and exhibitions on issues of concern to journalists in the region. The Center

also sponsors training programs for Asian journalists and provides information about fellowships and research in the United States and internationally.

The Asian Center maintains a journalism libraly

Phitip Morris Asia Limited

or call ahead to make sure the facilities are available.

SAIIPElI.TGRIlIO

Online The Freedom Forum online news service, FREE!

is on the internet as www.freedomforum.org. This service is a timely source of information about free

CHAMPAGNE

press, free speech andjournalism issues worldwide.

Vewe Clicquot

You can reach us at

with books and periodicals on the news media, current

# I50l-3 Shui On Center, 6-8 Harbour Road

Hong Kong, Asian and U.S. publications and a videotaped record of some of the center past

Vy'anchai, Hong Kong

proceedings. The library is free to all users.

The FCC thanks the following sponsors for supporting the 50th anniversary party

Tel: (852) 2596-0018 Fax: (852) 2598-8818 E-mail : freedomforumasia @ compuserve.com

+EÉft.ffi.Æ.^d NORTHWEST AIRLINES

¡:.i i::: i.i

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li

'lÐ

Now, on permanent exhibition, a collection of Limited Edition lithograPhic fine art prints by Pat Elliott Shยกrcore Featuring thirty truly unique pieces in which details from the original agreements ceding Hong Kong "in perpetuity" in 1842 and extending the territory under lease in 1898, have been transformed into near--abstract images of stril<ing colours and subtle rexrures. Signed and Sealed has been exhibited at the FCC, LKFthe Gallerยก the ChinaTee Club and the lMFWorld Bank Conference' Each piece is issued in a limited edition of ninety seven unframed lithographs, printed on to soft, hand-torn paper with wide borders, and embossed with the printer's imprimatur.

G A L L E RY

opus

ei

1

5,

I

F

www.artasialink.com

EI

rl E E

was

he FCC Golf Society had its origins in late '79 ar'd was an attemPt to give

finally on its way.

Along the way the society has gained official FCC status and expanded its activities to regular overseas tournaments and inter-society tournaments at home as well as monthly FCC games' Ross has retired to the US,John to Australia, Lenaghan

privileges were taken very seriously. Nobody seems too

sure which came first or whether both sprang spontaneously into life together, but the same gentlemen who brought the Geebung Polo Club to the FCC were also responsible for the FCC Golf

Socie John ball r

ugall, Rossie Waยก ddie Khoe got the immediatelY ran

into a problem.

Donald Wise ihe incpming club president

opposed making the fledgling golf society an official FCC society thern play wi bend-the-rul established tradition of the FCC Golf Society, the boys enlisted the support of Dr. Mike Smith, dedicated dentist and ardent golfer, to the cause. Mike was a member of the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club, as were Charlie, Ronnie and Eddie. Four was the magic number of Royal Hong Kong members to get the society play.rng privilegei and so the FCC Golf Society THE CoRRESpoNDENT/soTH ANNTvERSARy

1

949-1999

to Thailand and Eddie and Ronnie to the Bar. Charlie Smith is no longer with us but Dr. Mike Smith is still a regular playng member and the society's membership is now 150-strong.

While most of the society's members are high(ish) handicappers there are also several very competent golfers to be found in our ranks. But seriousness has never been a particularly relevant part of our game and the FCC Golf Society will not be found in the f,rnal play-off of the annual Dunhill Golf Society Tournament (first or second division) anytime in the near future. We have lost count of the number of' times we have come second in two-team matches, but then we have won a trophy or two over the years as well. Nonetheless, we are masters of the complex rules of this ridiculous game and have within our membership some leading exponents of the more esoteric regulations, such as how to play the "only just out of bounds" ball or the "drop no nearer the pin unless no one's looking" provisions. More importantlยก we do manage to have a lot of fun, perhaps just 117

tone or two drinks and

the odd adventure along the way lo liven rrp convelsation back in the Main Bar.

not as yel acquired i l"s ince the own golf colrrse we are obliged to travel to our games. I years gone by this could be FCC has

resides

in the club's trophy cabinet dorvnstairs in

Bert's.

Then we have our regular overseas fixtures. Each

spring we go to Guam where we play with representatives of the Guam media and tourism industry over a three-day tournament

somewhat in

Pacific Daily News

convenient

entourage of caddie, ball-girl, umbrella- girl, cold-torvel girl and beer-girl ( the caddie was also pretty cute); or

ani

any other of the antics generated by Derek Currie's Carlsberg Media Classics trips to Manila.

the Guam Visitors Bureau that we are yet win. In the autumn

and expensive but the establishment of Hong Kong's magnificent public golf course at Kau Sai

In recent years we have had to endure the reincarnation of Terry

we go to Thailand for

the Bangkok Overseas Challenge Trophy and have in recent years played at courses in

Chau in Sai Kung has

made travel relatively painless and golf relativell' ( by

Hong Kong

sponsored by

Airlines Continental

Kanchanburi

province. This year. for the first time, the

stan-

dards) inexpensive.

The society now plays there quite regularly and often returns by junk to spectacular views of the sun setting over Hong Kong island. We still continue to travel further afield and in a year we will play three or four of the major China courses, as well private clubs in Hong Kong and

FCC won the trophy.

For many years we also played in the Carlsberg Media Classic at Canlubang outside Manila, but Carslberg dropped the sponsorship in 1997. We did manage to win that once or twice. Derek "Carlsberg" Currie still leads a group down to the Philippines every year and

Macau.

this year we are hoping to organise a regular

The Richard Hughes Memorial Golf Troph¡ the society's annual tournament, was initiated in 1988 as a part of the Carlsberg Media Classic in Manila but has since returned to home ground. Ray Cranbourne took the honours that f,rrst year and a lengthening list of illustrious names now adorn the silver bowl that

tournament with a Manila club.

Every two years or so the society organises an extended golfing tour to one of the world's great golfìng destinations. Our first trip was to Scotland in 1993, followed by Ireland in 1995 and New Zealand in 1997. Australia is slated for our next trip.

MemoFable noments: Mitch in gFass sk¡Ft; celeiFati0ns in Manila, ab0ve, and the winning team in the Bangkok oveFscas Challenge TF0phy, Below we even made headlines in Gïa-m

the

-¿

here have been many memorable moments or.er the years, most of lvhich have long been forgotten and few of which have much to do with golf. But who can forget the steak & kidney pie we ate in Pattaya (near-warm f,rlling with cold raw pastry smothered by gallons of 'grary'); the day the bus to Mission Hills never shorved up; the five immigration stops for one round at Lakewood because someone thought it would be fun to have dinner in Macau; my eagle on the 10th at Kau Sai Chau; or the explosive rainstorm that nearly washed us all awav on another occasion at Kau Sai Chau; Mitch Davidson's performance in grass skirt, complete with coconut bra, in Guam; Charlie Smith's formidable

Duckham as a golfèr man)/ of rvhose shots he would be the first to describe as 'interesting'. Stella Ng continues to win every ladies competition we ever have.

'Cuddles' Cranbourne remains the reiiable centre back of the team and Murral' Burton always manages a good joke on the l¡rrs.

We'r,e seen some spectacular performances fromJames 'yes I really do put in all my cards' Fu. Ken Bridgewater

has the seniors comþetition HtrADLINÐS sown up eac.h, yeãr and our

newest member club, chef Stephen

'I can',t

society's'

colourful char-acter.

¡niss

it from

here' Warren' (he did), promises to add to the Fancy a bit of fun and the

occasional walk in the sun?

New members are alwavs welcome.

I

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he art of designing a successful logo is to come up with a pretty design and work out the rationale afterwards.

Most clients have tin eyes and all they really want is a logo that is a conversa-tion piece with an original concept that they can

claim was their idea in the first place.

Sometime in the early 1960s, one of Randy Feltus' artists designed a coat-oÊarms for the FCC. It had a strange shaped shield with a compass in the middle and a pen attacking two broken sabres pictured right.

I felt at the time that the concept thar a single pen was mightier than two swords was a bit ofjournalistic selÊ engrandisement. Above the shield a Chinese dragon.

The design brokejust about every law ofheraldry. \Àrhen the FCC moved to Lower Albert Road, I was

asked to design the menu for the main dining room.

This gave me the opportunity to adjust the Feltus coat-oÊarms. I eliminated one sword, put the dragon crest on a helmet with some curlicue flourishes above a tilted shield. The drawing was envisaged only as a design for the cover of the menu. It was never actually meant to be a logo.

The inside of the menu was decorated with old

Illustrated Lond,on News wood engravings of Hong Kong. One of the more interesting things about the

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course meal for only $25, and an Irish coffee cost a paltry nine bucks. I Arthur Hacker

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123

a

Two FCC stalwarts, ex-President Philip Bowringin Hong Kong and Stuart Wotfendale peer ahead into the year 2000 and beyond ocation: 39.40 degrees north, I17.20 degrees east. We are in a giant gossamer dome. It protects us from a the heat 43" Celsius and a dust storm swirling outside.

But inside excitement is rising despite the noise and dust as giant bulldozers strip awav lay after layer of sand and rock and what appears long-

decayed and pulverized concrete. In some places, the

ol' finest jade? Tomb paintings of a million slaves following his every command?

This has been an epic search but one only made possible as a result of clues provided b1, Mzee's father's discovery of the secrets of the curious pictorial writing used b1' the ancient Han inhabitants of the now desert region. It had been made

possible as a result of evidence from translation of'

Han scripts. This was only

outlines of old stone walls are

possible because of the discovery in an ancient gravevard in the southeastern port city Bukit Laut

already visible.

The chief archaeologist Mzee Bongo is sweating from

excitement. His infrared

(then known as Hong Kong) of a stone inscription carved in three languages, English,

probe has detected an oblong box rvithin 'rvhat is believed to

be a larger structure, itself part of a vast complex of

Malav and the Han characters. Even then, it had taken the best efforts of man

buildings.

The fortifications a few

miles to the north are famous enough around the

and computers two decades to decipher.

world, even though only t

is now known from the extensive writings now translated that the Han people thought themselves

fragments remain above the

ground. But evidence of palaces and tombs is still scanty. It is also well southeast of the central desert where a million copies of the sacre d Red Booh rvere found. Archaeologists speculate that this mound was at a camp of the famed

and most in the world and r,r,ould be so

Red Guards and was erected

writing system similar to but more elegant than their own. had preceded them in the

the oldest

advanced civilisation

forever. Thel' had been loath

to acknowledge that the ancient Egyptians, who had

in commemoration of the defeat of an heretical sect led by one Linbiao.

after sweltering summer by Prof Mzee Bongo. Could this be the tomb of the fabled Emperor Mao. Would his embalmed body be still there? Or was the tomb robbed long ago. Was he buried with his favourite of a thousand mistresses? Were there statues of gold, copies of tlre sacred Red Booh made of rubies? Dozens of gates 124

We hate to point out the obvious but all you have to do is double click and you can manage your sailing schedules, cargo booking, shipment tracking and Bills of Lading

from the convenience of your desktop. We even have a hi-res photo library,

.?tpany profile and industry news ready for instant downloading.

discovery of so many arts and

It's the lnternet. Cot it yet?

sciences. Thev failed to notice that even the most advanced of cir''ilisations like those of Egypt, Babylon and Islam were not immortal, and r'r'ere prone, like all things human, lo cot'rrrption

By

o here were are at thrs great dig which could be the culmination of 20 years of work, slunmer

PhiliĂž Botning

a

and decay.

The Emperor Mao lived at the beginning of the penultimate Chinese dynasty. He was responsible for a brief revival of Han power, driving out Angles, Japs, Yar-rks

and other invaders. But his cruelty and antipathy TFIE CORRESPONDINT /5OTH ANNN/ERSARY 1 949-1999

Wc takc

North America (1) 925 460

4800

.

Asia (852) 2833 3888

.

it pcrsonallY

Europe (44) 171 786

6622'

www.oocl.com

e very base of

rs the empire d then into a ,rlation also eference for

ìof females.

>aric social vers of the

n empire skinned

pon a giddy and

godless yobbery, the Millennium will have an effect for a few weeks up to New Year's Eve 1999 and for a couple of days afterwards until they finish throwing up.

Most people in the neo-Christian West, being sensibìe, know this one-more-click-on-the-bedsidedigital signifies nothing in their lives beyond a 'lie-in and a day off'. Some rnay puzzle over what to do on the Millennium. But having neither the imagination nor cash to do anything unusual, they will watch, irritated, the rich and pointless doing it for them on

from ,.rrown aS tfìe south as far as the - -,rr -. -dLef on population pressures drove rnrllions from the lands along the lower Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers to seek a better life in the east.

Absorbing fìrst the Burman areas, they dominated the country north of the Viet lands and extending beyond

It is too much to hope that this discomfort will lead to social upheaval, the invasion of TV studios and the garroting of jolly anchors and anchorettes at their

the Long River.

desks

bes

Later still, well armed migrants arrived by sea from the Malay speaking lands to the south. They gradually dominated the southeast part of the country.

As a result of these various migrations, by the end of the 23rd Century Han speakers were to be found only in a remote hill areas. The script died out entirely.

The majority of the population were still predominantly Mongoloid in appearance but with new, darker admixtures from the south and west.

Meanwhile the northern formerly Han regions gradually became deserts as a result of the deforestation and air pollution which resulted from the policies of the Emperor Mao's successors. Several shoddily constructed cities crumbled as a result of earthquakes.

rcheologist Bongo is from Douala, capital of the empire of Gaboon. The Gaboons have

been sending archaeological and other scientific teams to these deserts since they took over the administration of the whole region north of Long River, as far as north as the tundra. They rule through local princelings but are gladually bringing order and

civilisation to a part of the world long sunk in barbarism. The Gaboon globe-spanning empire is rivaled by that of another people who originated as neighbours of the Han but subsequently expanded across the ocean to establish their own empire based in New Paekdu, formerly Belem, at the mouth of the great Kimazon river.

However, now that relations between Douala and New Paekdu have improved, tourism to ancient sites on both sides of the Long River is growing. Prof Bongo says that eventually the gossamer dome could house a

hotel for visitors to the tomb. He was already negotiating with potential developers. But first, he had to find the embalmed body of Emperor Mao, hopefully some jade and mistresses. I Phikþ Bouring 126

the television.

on camera.

- so, we in the West can only look on that date Even change as a time of threat. President Clinton spoke of his own presidency as a bridge into the 21st Century.

Did he not know that trolls live under bridges?. On his way over, two have already come over the parapet and snacked on his genitals. This is a time for us to beware.

But not of Y2K. Reading about that bothered me until I realised I was reading Time, where Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said hebelieved in it and that the President was concerned. Then I knew we had nothing to worry about. Our problems lie with the disaffected and dispossessed in short, pissed-off foreigners.

-

postcards from Thailand announcing the year as 2542? Buddhists were whooping up rheir Millennium in the middle of the English \A/ar of The Roses.

Moslems and Jews (this is rhe year 57bg in the latter's calendar) merely tolerate as an international convenience a date system centred on the time of a Roman tax census in 'first-century'Judea.

Those Catholics and Protestants are starting to li re up theil celeblations.

Let's not forget that even those poor head-scarved

Orthodox don't

course would have taken a week to convey.

"How about Wednesday March 3rd?,, the

Ostrogoths could have suggested, taking up another rveek.

"Fine by us," the Visigoths would have said two weeks later.

Do not forget that such was the animus that could exist between the Vicars of Christ that pope Gregory II totally altered his predecessor Julian,s calendar, putting us another five or so months out of kilter.

When it cornes to justifying this historical brouhaha to non-Christian folk, we haven't got a sundial to stand on.

The Millennium is an olrtrageous exercise in Western cultural imperialism and economic domination. It's asking for trouble, I tell you. For example, have you noticed that d.atemarks on THE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ANNryERSARY

1

949-Ì999

(As lve go to press, Holbrooke's in Belgrade again.)

ha'r,e

The second problern

qr-rite the same calendar

is urgent. Before the Nerv

as more fashionable

Year, give Alexander

Christians.

Lukashenko, President of

\Arhen Hindus lift themselves out of the Ganges for

Belorussia a lot of money, a Mac (PC?) and

a minute, they won't be declaring. "2000 years plus 6 days ago was baby Jesus

a pony ...an)¡tlìing...

immediately. Belorussia is an economic t,r'ashout.

born! "

A mark of its desper.ation

is that it proposes melging with Rrrssia.

esentment is going

to be intense. Not

Lukashenko is a crypto-

least because, if I did give voice to it, the FBI would surely come calling.

But the likes of

fascist megolomar-riac who evicted most foreigu ambassadors

ace

terrorist Abu bin Laden, an

he wanted to add the diplomatic compound to his garden. Belorussia, the last time I read about it, had 19 medium range

make

ballistic rnissiles.

somewhere orr Millennium

Night.

e are told that many of thern have 'probabl)" rusted irr their silos, u'hich shoulcl not make

A much more interesting retaliation which I would endorse would be an insistence by non-Christian societies henceforth that, their orvn dating systems be used in all commurrications u'ith them, prorninent overthe Gregorian system. The world would become a sort

Lls feel car-efree

tl-rat havetì't. I c¿tn irnagine Lukashenko returning to br-otvnedoLrt Minsk, late Decelnber fuming frorn a vodka-binge rorv rvith the

til'\,

\¡.er)/

urgent matters to be taken in hand. One mr-rst be dealt

By Stuart Wolfendale

as

First, Serbia must be deconstructed. I do not know rvhat Byzantine mess the Serbs were sloshing around in at the begir-rning of this millennium, br-rt I know what they rvere Ltp to at the beginning of this centlrry they r,r'ere causing ferment in the Balkans, assassinating

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and hair--triggering Tt IE CORRESPONDENT/5OTH ÀNNIYERSARY

I 949-1

999

rvorlcl's rnost porvelftrl aìcoholic in Moscorv.

Something snaps. As

soon into the decade as possible and the other, in the next few months.

rvith

as

puppies abont the ones

ol caìendar Qrrebec. '

There are two

from their

homes recently because

extraordinarily resentful piece of r,r,ork in his o'r,r,n right, certainly needs no ad'n'ice from me on the

impact he could o begin with, the moment of the 'Christian' Millennium is an utter celestial fiction. It is difficult to believe that, after the fall of Rorne, they even knew what day of the week it was. In a rare moment of truce, the Ostrogoths may have sent runners to the Visigoths asking them just that.

"Dunno," would have been the reply, which of

First World War, r,vhich led to the Second \A/orld \A/ar nhich led to the Cold War" and hot r,r'ars like those in Korea and Vietnam. As the centlrry began, so it seems it is ending. The Serbs are at it agaiu!

Ambassador Holbrooke must be given clear guidelines b1' the \A¡icked Witch Albright. ,,Richard.

You see the example of Kosovo? Take it on frorn ther-e. Tiny, tin1, component parts. Ok?"

tl-re

gollop 'tinnies' in anticipation of an Ol1'mpi.r, as the batt1, $¡i¡t dance like Drr-ricls l-otrnd their daft Dome altd Nerv Yor-kers literalll, dr-op the ball in Tilnes Squar-e, Lukashenko stalts a .çon el S)'dney-siclers

luntiere shorv all his orvn.

Let \{icked Witch Albr-ighr cur-l her lip rouncl rhar orÌe

-

fast.

!

Sturn't l4/oUettdale

127

Where are they now?

Some of the FCC members who are featured in our 50 year tirne-line on pages 60 to 71 have since passed on, but many are are stitl with us, Quite a few of our older members are still actively pursuing their professional carreers and are regular members of the club. In order of appearance:

Jmes Pringle ancl wjf e Millie tive in Bcijing, where

The Fifties Muvi¡ Fukæ

can be foun<l

in the club when

he

isn'tjogging around the Peak He stiìl ìir.ing and rvorking iu Hong Kong.

Clue Holliogworth lives ald works :in Hong Kolg ..._ shc still fìlcs rcguìarly for t\e Lorulon Dail¡ Tblzg'aþh and is a clai\, risi tor to the chrb Im Stewrt lives in Kuala Lumpur and strings for tJle SCÀf4 among other publir ations Louis Thomæ is a regular at the bar aud has the clouble distinction ofhaving led the FCC 1999 Trailwrlker team rnd being oldrst rompetitot, not onl), to compete but to complete the arduous Maclehose Trail course Douglæ Kirg, an olcl Asian hand but a reccnt member of the club, is the Guam \risitors Bureau Hong Kong represenLative Tony Lawence stilÌ lii,es in Hong Kong and is an aclive correspondent for the BBC. David Thuston recentìy left Hong Kong and norv lives in Phuke¡, Thailand, rvith his rvilè Angie, rvorking as a freelance photographer and

journaìist

The Sixties Guy Seæls is retired and ìives on Cheung Chau Islan<l in Hong Kong and is still àctivcly invoh,ed rvith the club Wrren Rooke lives in Macau with his n.ife A¡ita aud publishes MacauTrauelTalh He also runs the r\lacau Information Office in Hong Kong Jack Keenm and his rvife Jan are regulars in the club He is consultant to the Hong Kong cinetna

indnstrl, Ted Thomæ is one of Hong Kong's leading PR

Saul

1998,

Lockhæt

is the current editor

Corresþon¿enl, a Leacher

of

The

ofjournalism and busy

freelance wriLer Iæe Webber lives

Micronesia

in Guarn

s Parif

ancl is the publisher r DailS Nnus.

Maine

Al Kaff lives in Connecticul and is a contributing editor to the Overscas Press Cltb's Bull¿tin Kevin Egan is one of Hong I(ong's leading crirninal bar¡isters and staunch supPorter of the FCC from the legal comer of the nain bar Tony Paul and wifè Arn lii,e in Bangkok, whcre he is a correspondentfoÍ Forl.une, Mn Liao lives in San Francisco Arthur Hacker is the club's resident historian, T: shirt desigle¡ cartoonist and graphic arlist He Iives in Discovery Bay rvith his books Steve Vickers retired from the Hong Kong Police Force to pursue a career as a securitv consultant He lives in Hong Kong and is the regional director of K¡oll Associates (Asia) .

Jean Chan is the chief information and publicity officer for the Hong Kong Police Force.

KeithJackson runs a Thai restaurant in Brisbane.

Les Leston lives in retired splendour in England Jon Rittger rvorks in Hong Kong and is an FCC regular-.

Mike Foote lives in Sydne¡ Sabine Sloan lives in Australia Mahabi¡ Mohinda is still the publisher of Hong KongThllø.

C, H, Tmg is thc Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR and once again a member of the FCC.

The Eighties

personalities Mike Keats and wife Sybil live in Washington, DC, where he runs the IPS news agclcy.

Nmcy Næh lives in Horg I(ong and devotes much of her time to environmen lal causes and Tibet.

Frank Wolfe lives in New York.

Neva Shaw was one of the club's more striking Friday night persoualities until she moved to the

UKin

he works for the Lond,on Tim¿s Ray Crmboune lives in Hong l(ong with his wife Nida. Ray is Black Star's man in Hong Kong and China and a busy freelance photographer rvhen he's nol on the golf course John Rich is retired and lives in Cape Elizabeth,

of

Raymond Chow is still Mr Golden Harvest.

Andre Morgan is au independent fihn producer in

Hollryood Terry Duckham is based in Hong Kong and , togcther with his wife Aira, oms and oPerates the Asiapix photographic agencv and design studio Derek Willim rvorks out of Bangkok as a freelance cameraman and is a partner in Asiaworks Televisior, Jin Iauie is ABC's bureau chief in Hong Kong Keith Stathm and his rvife Flora Chal run Keith Statlram Associates in Hong.. Kong Cynthia Hydes moYed toJamestown, New York.

Duffu is the HI(IA's he ad of internationaÌ events tourrsm Kevin Sinclair is a freelancejournalist based in Hong Kong and a SC¡14P columnist.

Robert Elegmt is still a best-selling author'.

Krin Malrutröm lefL a career as a fie elance travel writer to work as corporate PR for Mercedes

John

The Seventies Hugh vm Es and his rdfe Annie are FCC stalwarts.

He is stiìl active as a freelarìce photographer as wclì as a FCC board member Peter Cook still runs PPA Design, -just around lhe

Bill Stubbs retired frorn the US Statc Departmetrt lo Flo¡ida and lectures on cruise ships

The Nineties Paul Bay{ield is a freelance edi[or and rrri¡er ancl is still acti\e on the FCC Board.

Keith Richbug lives and rvorks iu Hong Kong as ùte I¡y'rc hington P osf 3 So u th east Asia corresporìdent Maggie Beale is a lreelance food and beverage

writcr an<l

S(,',44P

columnist based in Hong I(ong

Eddie Khoe has retired ro London Romie Ling has recentl), retired to thc US, but stays in touch ryith his FCC friends Geoff Pike is lives in S),clne); but is a regular visitor to Hong Kong and the club He is currently, workiug on his nerv Hong Kong novel Mæty Merz spends his tine behveen Hong Kong and China rvhere hc has rnanufacluring interests.

Rowan Callick is the Hong- Kong and China correspondent for the ,4u\ltelian Financial Rnieu.

Peter Mmn lives in Hong Kong and is still hanging out with exotic lvomen rvhile pushirg papers for the Hong Kong Civil Serr.ice.

Mrk Erder and Adrim Brom are parlners in a regionaì telerìsiou and documentarv production company base<1 in Hong Kong Hi¡a Mahoobæi is tbe managing director and rhairrnan ofa Hong Kong trading companl: Bæil Pao lives in Virsinia in the US ancl is currcntlv shooting for Nlichael Palin's tralel docurncntary The Hemingwal Trail.

Simon Twiston-Davies lives on Cheung Chau IslancL in Hong Kong and is tbe Asia Pacific cditor for Baskerlille Cornrnrurications.

Fred Fredricks is an old Hong Kong hand and runs a Hong Koug bascd US tax consultanc¡,.

Dime Stormont is the current club pre side nr and is a corrcspondent for London's

l)ai\

Telegraþh.

Jom Boivin is a freelance photographer Hong Kong.

based in

Jennifer Bowskill is a freclancc photographer bàsed in Hong I(ong Richæd Dobson recently reLurned to South Africa where he works as a freelance photographel His assignments reglrlarly bring him to Hong Kong Neil Furin recently mo\/e d lo New Zealancl lvhe re he is directing a millenniurn book and photographic project in New Zealand.

Holly Iæe is a lreelance photographer and dcsigner base<l in Hong Kong Hugh Moss lives in Singapore and rvorks for ESPN Rob;n Moyer is publishing g-olf cou-se guides il Maniìa and still shoots for 7ìø¿ Joan Howley has moved to Australia and is tbc marketing director of a corpora[e events promotioì coìnpany on the Queeusland Gold Coast.

corner from the club, l'hile David Perkins

China

Philip Bruce hanclles PR for the Hong Airport

retired from PPA and lives in Lonclon lvirh his wife Elaine Derek Curie retired from professional football to become Carlsberg PR honcho and sPorts commentaLof, He still works as a corsultatlt Lo Carslberg and telerision commerÌtàtor-.

Walter Gerrud also ìvenl into the booze busiuess and is thc Hong Kong Hirarn'rA¡alker mar about touu. aud Jack Spackmm is still working as ajournalisl lives in Oakland, California Derek Davies lives in London ancl is an active

Karen Penlington is a PR consultant in Hong Kong.

Guy Fairmm and his r.ife Thao live in \4¡ashilgton, DC, r'here he works as a freelance cameraman John Giamini live s in Paris rvorkilg as a fre elance

Au thori tv.

f¡eelance writer.

Jonathm Sharp still lives in Hong I(ong wife Bett)' and works for Rculers.

128

vith his

photojournalist.

Buton lit es in Hong Kong, and is an autlìor and a contributor to fir¡¿¿ David Bell has retirecl to Sydney where he has a PR consultanc¡' and clabbles in the wine Smdra

busincss Steve Knipp rece ntl1, lelt Hong Kong to work tòr N t¿t.i ona I C eo g raþ hi c'frau lle¡ it \4¡ashin g to n, DC. Vernon Ram is a freelance rvriter in Hong Kong e

Bæry Grindrod is the editor and publisher of On¿ul Ariation Vaudine Englmd, author and freelance rvriter for tlre SCi144 is based in Hong Kong.

Kees Meßelaa is a Hong Kong-based freelalce photographer Steve Vines is a Hong Kong businessman and correspondent for the Indepentlenl V. G. Kulkarni is a freelance editor in Hong Kong I( Gopinath has rer¡r(d to lndia M. P. Gopalan is the eclitor of Ho??.g Kong Bttsi.ness K. I{- Chmda is a freelarce business ancl shipping

writel

Congratulatingthe FCC on sOyears of intoxicati journalism.