The Correspondent, June- July 2001

TIID

In Defense of the HK Press Tung vs the World's Newspapers Manila: People Power II $ -. Þo !",.dt'^\V .1û f*f

f: sc c ,

{P'' I

&

,

^Qr$

o'd

THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS'

CLUB 2 Lower AÌbert Road, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2527 1577 r'u; (852) 2868 4092 E-mail: <fcc@fcchk.org> \4¡ebsite: <uw.fcch k. org> President

I aurie

-Jim Kate Pound Darvson President Ray Rudorski, - ) (Hon Sec

Fint Vice Prqident Second Vice

Coüespondent Member Governors Paul Bayfield, Thomas Crampton, Hubert un Es, Luke Hunt, Akiko Kato, Mark Landler, AnthonyJ Lawrence,

COl.{TEb{T.S

2t

rr"r"

I 3 ,ro^ The President I 4 ro Activities r "t 4 AGM f¡s¿5¡¡sr's 5 6 7 8

Sarah McBride

Journalist Member Governore C P Ho, Francis Moriarty

and President's Reports

Election Results Music Chess CIub

& Golf Society

Wine

Associate Member Governors Kevin Egan, David Carcia, Martin Merz, Marilyn Hood

Finmce Commiltee Conumor: I\ate Pound Dawson (Treasurer)

Professional & Entertaiment

Comittee

Conamor: 'lhomas Cramp ton

myth in Hong Kong

Mæketing Comittee Conumor: lim Laurie

Human Rights Press Awards 15 Sixth Annual Human Rights Press Awards 16 Winners of the Human Rights Press Awards 2001 17 Judges of the Human Rights Press Awards 2001 18 Anna Wu An Agenda for All

Constitutional Colrmittee Convenor: l(ev\n

Egat

Membership Comittee Convmor: Hubertvan Es House/F&B Comittee

-

Conuenor: Davtd Garcra

Lunchlines

Freedom of the Press Comittee Conu enor : F rancis Moriarty

Comittee

Wall

Co-conamor:

Iftl:ert

van Es

General Mmager Gilbert Cheng

The Correspondent O The Foreign Correspondenn' Club

of Hor:g Kong

2ó

r

The Correspondent is published 6 times a year Opinìons expressed by writers in magazine are nol necessarily those the CIub

Kroll Associates (Asia) Limíted - 1702

Àliror

Employee Risk

Financial Risk

I

Harbour Road

Wa nchai

E-mail: lockhart@hkstar.com

Hong Kong Tel: [8szJ 28847788

'Iel

Fax: (gsz) 2568 8505

Website: www.Krollworldwide.com

Technology Risk

Contact Persons: Harry Godfrey lll or Tim Davies

Production Asiapix Print Services 257r.9544 Fax: 2575 8600

E-mail; asiapix@hk.linkage.ne t

E-maÌl: krollhk@krollworldwide.com

Security Risk

Terry Duckham

Editorial Editor; Saul Lockhart Tel: 2813 5284 Fax: 2813 6394 Mobile: 9836 1210

Central Plaza 1

Saul Lockhar¡

Pro rLuction:

I&oll

The Risk Consulting Compony

Printer

.NewDelhi-:NewYork.Newark.Par¡s.Pittsburgh.SanFrancisco¡SaoPaulooShanghai.Shantou.ShenyangoShenzen.Singapore'Ti¿njin'Tokyo'ViennaoWenzhou.WuhanoYiwu

34

Swimming the Mekong Miss Saigon Hidden CEOs, Crouching Scribes 'You SayYou Wanna Revolution

Travel

All Rightl"

Chilling Out in Balmy Nha Trang

-

Watering

37

Book Review

3,9

Around The FCC

4L

Professional Contacts

44

FCC Faces

I

I

Advertising Enquiries Steve White Tel/Fax:2987 ).777 Mobile: 9326 5884

I

Website

I

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNEJULY 2001

25 26 28 29

Sex

- India's Technological Revolution rvVhy I Write Fiction Michael Vatikiotis Xu Xi The Unwalled City Eat Cook Hong Kong Nell Nelson *"utu

I 3,5 I

Impress Offset Prinring Factory Limited

<w.fcchk.org>

DrJudith Mackay Narayana Murthy

30 Voxpop 32 Spellcheck 33 Tung vs the World Association of Newspapers

Publications Committee Conanor: Ltke l{tnf Deþuty Conumor: Paul Bayfield

Suite 1701

Business Risk

of

19 21 22 23 24

Hole

-

-

-

Finding the Best Bar Down Under The Proving Ground

Karen Penlington Cover Photographed by FredericJ Brown

/

AFP

FromJeff fleselwood, Associate Member 5435 I have been writing to (and for) this publication since around 1987. My chief complaint has always been, "If we are unable to get it right, what chance has the rest of the world?" There is no such word as "restauranteur" (Barry l(alb) and we do not have a "Marketing Manager; \,e employ a marketing manager.

The late Ralph Pixton's book is called On The Line, not " Open Lind' . There are many more with which I will not bore readers. \Arhen I was editor of The Correspondent (1996-97), we engaged a meticulous proof-reader. I suggest we do so again.

Editor: When

the gremlins

hit, thq attack in

numbers. As

a matter of fact, ue haue "engaged a meticulous prooþeader"

COCOCABAIVA

Aílretæ dfntltø'

ízw

l,4e

/a't

Wa'ru

Jeff, though he did not see the ad for Ralþh's booh. His worh is in addition to members of the Publications Committee who ako assist by þroof-reading, (There is ahuays room for another

dictionarl auailable through Refdesk.com only lists the uersion without the "n". Lihewise my old Collins and eaen older Webster's. Let's end with a comment from Xrefncom t1uoting The New Fowler's Modern English Usage; "The spelling "restauranteur" (with internal "n"), though increasingly colntnon, is erroneous". Good catchJeff. Thanhs.

Volunteers Wãnted

The Corresþond,ent is seeking volunteers to contribute to the FCC's inaugural Year Book.

Articles and ideas focusing on the year just gone and the one ahead, along with photos, would be appreciated. The Publications Committee is also collecting photos of all members taken in wild and exotic locations. These will be incorporated into the 2001 timeline. Photos can be addressed to Saul Lockhart, Editor, and dropped off at the Club in a

Hong Kong's newest venue for al fresco dining and Located on the beach, Cococabana offers a laid back Mediterranean-style atmosphere. Enjoy our exotic cocktails and balcony dining set against the soft sound of waves on the beach and spectacular views over the

Bleak, ain't it? \A/ell ma1'be not.

This member, who joined the club in 1975 just after I emerged fiom covering the end of the American \A/ar in Vietnam, sees the Club presidency as an opportuniw.

I rvas a one-issue candidate. I want the FCC to be seen as thevenue in Hong Kong for the region's most interesting speakers, most celebrated celebrities, most informed guests and most newsworthy ner,r,smakers. If you haven't spoken at the FCC, you haven't spoken.

Coming to the FCC is an opportuniq'.

The array of gr-rests who have spoken here range from China scholar and Tiananmen Papers co-editor Perry Link to film star and cosmetics CEO Isabella Rosselini to the HKSAR's new Chief Secretary Donald

South China Sea

to Hong

Kong. Live Latin music and

Salsa padies can also be enjoyed on a regular basis.

be

reached by ferry from the Aberdeen Fishmarket or byjunk, Our own boat, Le Junk, is available for hire al avery reasonable price.

Cococabana can

Also at CuÞana great Cuban sounds like Candela, Carretero, Chan Chan and more, A real taste of Cuba, Music by the HavanaLibre Quartet every Thursday and Sunday

night from 8:00 pm. Reservation recommended for tables. Everyday Cuba, everyday Mojito and great Salsa.

For reservotions pleose call 2328 2138 Procluce your FCC membersbip cørcl ønd. receiue a

free Søngria upon arriuø|.

Rio

2869

9631 Ind,í,qa 2526 8889

BrazilicutChtm'asco ThebeÌicac¡'RestctLn"ótnt Ad Øelle êpoque 2537 9381 Cubøna 2869 1218 Frencb

2

Cttisine

Cubatt Cttisine

Special Notice Bird Flu

to put everyone's mind at ease. The -Just chickens used in the FCC are imported from Europe or the U.S.

MSG

to put everyone's mind at

Our -Just chefs do not use monosodium

ease again.

glutamate (MSG) in the preparation of any dish for any menu.

NewlunchMenuin the Main Dining Room- Have you tried it?

More New Menus

The dinner menu for the Main

- the general menu for Dining Room and

Chinese

In the next fe'rv months, ü,e expect headliners to include billionaire financier Ceorge Soros.

Restaurant are coming soon. Watch this space.

Tsang.

These rooms still double Chinese Restaurant as function rooms. When not in use for private functions, they revert to the Chinese Restaurant.

Now available. Have you New Banquet Menu considered entertaining the FCC? You'll hnd prices are very competitive and we can handle anything from a single table to a giant celebration. Give the Banqueting Department a ring and find out what you're missing.

Nextyear marks 50

In our continuing effort to provide members with the highest standards of food and selvice, your comments and suggests are always rvelcome. Help us help you.

200

1'ears

since our Club's incorporation,

¡¡¿mþs¡ 53 years since its founding. David Roads says the Club in its number 003 who joined in 1949 - drinking club in early davs \\¡as seen as "the hardest town." Still true.

Tlre BBC film Of All tlte Gin Joints (which if vou its on sale at the Ofhce), haven't seen you should described us as having "a reputation for high living and boozy cameraderie." (sic) One rather unkind old wag described us as a Club "for women with a past and men r,r'ith no futures." Arhgg!

Qn"lity & Service

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE_JUII.

become president of the FCC?" It's a question much asked of me in the last month or so. It certainll'sounds like a thankless task.

Article 41 of the Articles of Asociation (ha'r'e you read them?), says )'olr will "receive no remuneration for services rendered to the Club." You are mainly there to be on the receiving end of members' complaints. You must preside over endless meetings often over trivial issues. Two-thirds of the membership don't even know who you ar-e. And the other third who do, don't care.

it had been five years since there u,as a contested election for president testimonl'to the populariW of the post?

lahunt@hotmail.com.

great padies.

hy rvould anyone \\'ant to

Gilbert Cheng, our highly able Club general manager and repository of all Club knowledge, reminded me that

marked envelope. All other corrrespondence cari be addressed to Saul at lockhart@hkstarcorn or Luke Hunt, Publications Committee Convenor,

Come to Mo Tat Wan on Lamma Island and discover

From the President

on the PubCom, should )ou care to assist. ) I tahe resþonsibility for the tyþos, just as you did in your day. Funny thing about the word "restauranteur" (as distinct from "restaurateur"), MS Bookself 2000 lists both uersions of the word in its American Heritage Dictionarl', but the online uersion of the same uolunteer

Itleuertheless, as editor

Hey',

let them mock

membership numbers so that our distinguished old \¡enue maintains comfortable space for all. \AIe may have reached the point'n,here a seat in the FCC mav be as much sought after as a rvinning Mark Six lottery ticket! \A/ell almost.

Still, we have a good group

THE CORRESPONDENTJUNE-IULY 2001

correspondents, local

journalists, associate members,- drawn from all areas of business and sociefi'- gathering at our Club.

My job as president is to help enhance or-rr status and reputation and serve all our members. Our new board, with a number of ner'v faces, will help me to ensure continued growth.

Our prioriq, action in the next year will be to sign a new lease for our historic building. To get readv for the nel lease, we have witnessed some important renovations o'r,er the past year (See the February,/March edition of T'he Corresþondent).

For the first time in year:s, these

premises are now 100% compliant with government requlrements.

Thanks to the hard work of two previous boards, we

will remain on sound financial footing. Alex Lee, the man with the super-computer abacus, projects strong sales for 2002. To keep our hnances strong we will be rigorous in ensuring all our members pa)' their share fully and on time. In addition, we shall be revising joining fees and examining cases where certain members may be manipulating their place in membership categories to avoid fees.

We will continue to improve our food and beverage services. \Â/e have appointed a committee to exanrine the upgrading of our physical fitness facilities for those r,r,ho seek to redress the excesses of the F&8. And we n'ill be a Club lor ctll: men and women in the world of media and those who are not, alike.

Oh and there is one more thing. This reporter o\¡er the past 30 years has survived wars and conflicts in

Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon, Somalia, Rwanda, South Africa, Croatia, Bosnia, Chechnya and Haiti.

Hor'v dangerous could being FCC President be?

us!

There are more than 1,550 of us now. We are strong.

I

We are growing. We are considering putting a cap on

Ji

Election Results

Annual' General Meeting President's Report irst, please accept my apologies for not being able to be present today. I had to attend a meeting of another organisation in London and it was impossible to cancel or postpone it.

As for my time as president of the Board of of the Foreign Correspondents' Club, as you know I had greatness thrust upon me. The incumbent, Karl Wilson, changed his professional status from Correspondent to Journalist and so could not continue as president and I stepped into his shoes.

It has been a very interesting time for me, largely Governors

because this has been a time of very grati$ring progress for the Club. Many members have commented to me on how much better the food is under chef Alan Chan.

Not only better, but a greater variety, including Indian and Chinese. I think that in the past hvelve months the Club has been better managed, under Gilbert Cheng, than for years past.

Treasurer's Report am pleased to report that the FCC has now returned to the black. Even after a second consecutive year of renovations, including some badly-needed and expensive maintenance work, the Club now had nearly $13 million in the bank as of March 31. Happil¡ even with the pronounced slowing in Hong Kong retail sales in February and March, the Club's sales held up extremely well. We saw in 1998 that the recession greatly affected our turnover, but now that the Club features more attractive dining areas and Bert's, as well as improved food and wine, business just keeps getting better. Thanks to a continuing campaign by management, food costs remained low and drink costs fell two percentage points this year, so we're making more money from every dollar of sales.

Should any of this money be given back to the members? To an extent, it has been, in that we've declined to raise most prices for some two years, and

Votes

President

Jim Laurie

Second Vice President Rayrnond A Rudowski

Correspondent Governors (8) Mark Landler Akiko Kato Luke Hunt Sarah McBride

6/

Paul Bayfield AnthonyJ Lawrence

54

are even absorbing the increased duties on beer announced in the most recent Hong Kong budget.

staff, though we have to watch the depreciation position.

\Àlhat many members often forget is that although we

Davicl Roacls

And also the problem of bad debts. Though I personally feel this is a problem that could be dealt with by making the proposer's of new members responsible for their nominees' debts if they fall into arrears.

We've achieved a great deal in increasing Club membership during the past year and we are now very close to the limit of what the Club can handle. From

are tenants on Lower Albert Road, we are responsible

membership. We don't need to tout for members.

We have spent a great deal of money on maintenance and renovation. The structure is in excellent shape, but we have a constant problem in meeting the interests and wishes of all the members with regard to facilities.

Regular users of the Health Club are worried that the kitchen space may be increased at their expense. It is

certainly not the intention of the Board that this popular area shall suffer, even though the kitchen is badly congested, especially since the start of the Chinese restaurant. Some changes in the Club's interior appearance have met with criticisms, especially from more conservative members. The answer will probably be that, when important changes in the various rooms and areas are contemplated, they will have to be approved by a special general meeting of Club members before being proceeded with.

This is an excellent Club with a special atmosphere of its own. I hope to be allowed to serve on the Board in the year ahead. In any case, I look forward to using

the Club,

as

I have for the past 41 years.

Anthony Lawrence

4

Es

81

CPHo

6/ 175 138 118 117

Marilyn Hood Martin A Merz

168

70

Journalist Governors (2) Francis Moriarty Associate Governors (4) Kevin Barry H Egan David P G:arcia

77

Thomas Crampton

reflecting great credit on the treasurer and the financial

now on the emphasis should be on quality of

B1

First Vice President Kate Pound Dawson

Hubert Van

The excellent financial position speaks for itself,

I

Board of Governors 2001-2002

65 60 56 52 46

Robert L Fienberg Robin V Sears

81

Thomas E Goetz

5t

Nigel C de Boinville Ben Beaumont

50 36

Voting Breakdown Correspondents

110

72

I3

Journalists

180

Associates

Spoiled Alec D B McCabe David O'Rear

45 2b 53

9

3r2

Total

for all maintenance and repair costs. As part of our expenses we take a depreciation charge of some $269,000 a month. It's not enough just to make a small profit on the food and drink after paying our staff costs, rent and utilities: We have to set aside more than $3 million ayear so thatwhen the roof leaks, we have the

cash to fix it, and when we need new furniture or uniforms, that those are within our means as well.

Last year's operating profit was not enough to meet this depreciation charge, but through new member fees and bank interest we managed to make a net profit of $1.65 million. Should the economy worsen further and those new memberships stop coming in (or should we reach the point that we can no longer accommodate new members), we would be either in defrcit, or very close to it.

For this reason, I have recommended to the Board over the past year that we refrain from reducing prices or monthly fees, though Boards in the coming years will have to make their own decisions on finances as the months go by. Circumstances never stay the same

for long.

As I am retiring from the Board at the end of this year, I would like to a say thank you to my colleagues on the Board as well as to GM Gilbert Cheng and Accountant Alex Lee, whose cooperation and professionalism made the job of Treasurer not only eas¡ but fun too.

PhiliF Segal TIjE CORRESPONDENT JUNE_JULY

The counters At 3 p m on May 23rd, the counting began for the 2001-2002 Board (L-R) Club accountant Alex Lee, office secretary H L Chan, former Presidents Diane Stormont and Philip Bowring, former Vice President and Corresponden¿editor Saul Lockhart and General Manager Gilberl Cheng, Taking the photograph was Office Manager Rachel Chan,

Corporate Ladder An exclusive directory of appointments throughtout the region.

Take a preview at: \/\/\/\/\/\/ rl rl rj rJ tJl t)'t 'c)i, r; l;t LIL] t'ili.

iil

#øÊ##ffifrÊflffi""" 2001

C P Ho, Paul Bayfield, Huberl van Es, Kevin Egan and David Garcia (Front row) Mar|in Merz, Jim Laurie and Marilyn Hood (Missing) Kate Pound Dawson, Luke Hunt, Akiko Kato, Mark Landler, Sarah McBride, Anthony Lawrence and Ray Rudowski

ADVANCTNG

tNFoRMAToN powERtNG

).il succESS

;

j^,

__ -

rÑ

'YEYUÐYY".ÍE ,/\ t /l\

A Look Behind the Music Scene For the past couple years, members and their guests have been enjoying worldclass entertainment in Bert's. FCC musical director, jazz pianist and bandleader Allen Youngbloodwrites about the people who made it happen. ocal, regional and international artists who have performed at Bert's come from diverse countries like Cuba, Vietnam, Philippines, India, Australia, Canada, the US, the UKand of course Hong Kong.

I thought it would be a good idea to give you a peek at the people behind the instruments.

BassistJohn Von Seggren (US) continues to work on his Masters Degree in Music at the Uni'r'ersity of Hong Kong (HKU). His thesis is on music and the Internet.

He is also co-founder of the Digital Cutup Lounge with Stephen Ives. They use MP3 f,rles and hvo laptop computers to produce music. Their CD, Digttal Cutuþ Lounge as. Allen Youngblood, is a co-project with yours truly on grand piano and was released inJune.

I was performing the other day with Hong Kong's master guitarist Eugene Pao and he was absolutely ecstatic about his participation in the 1st SingaporeJazz Festival. He told me the lineup, attention to detail and

sponsorship were truly

first class and that the major

concerts were sold out. Too bad an international city like Hong Kong does not seem to have the drive to stage its own jazz festival. Eugene will be performing in Copenhagen next month as part of a promotional tour for his new CD.

Drummer Anthony Fernandes from India also in the Singapore jazz Festival performing with the Thomson Big Band. They were performing his big band arrangements. He is currently on a concert tour with top Cantopop star Andy Hui. Ethnomusicologist Manolete Mora (Spain), r,r'hen not leading the Cuban group Son Xango, continues played

teaching music at HKU.

Saxophonist/Vocalist Vastine "Wink" Pettis (US) just completed a live TV concert in Taiwan with Vanessa Mae, Jackie Cheung and the Japanese group Dreams Come True. He continues singing and playing on many well-known advertisements, such as Blue Girl and the HSBC Premier card. If you're walking through Pacific Place and think you recognise the voice singing Men in Black, it's Wink. He, along with Flynn Adams, Daryl

Strodes, Ray Vaughn and Gordy Metz, recently performed as an a cappella group called New Rules at the closing ceremony for this year's Rugby Sevens.

Guitarist/composer Gry LeClaire (Australia) recentþ performed at a three-week workshop in Banff, Alberta, Canada. It is one of the best gigs in the worìd and I'm sure he will enjoy learning from some of my old friends: bassist Gary Peacock, vocalist Jay Clayton and drummer Jerry Granelli.

Trumpeter Mark Henderson is starting a Hong Kong-basedjazzlabel, MHQ,.He plans to release a pair of original CDs and develop acts for future recordings.

Drummer/vocalist Larry Hammond (US) is also working on a CD project with Roel Garcia. He, Paul Candelaria and myself recently performed at a few events of the Fortune Global Forum, the highlight of which was being invited to perform at the Grand Hyatt's Regency Club for former US President Bill Clinton and 150 VIPs. We had a sax ready and waiting for the ex-prez, but his minders wouldn't let him on stage to perform. was not lost, as least for me. The event organiser even purchased my CD Bloodlines (which, if you will excuse the plug, is available at the FCC Offrce) as a gift for each guest.

Larry, incidentally, still continues with his 'day job' as a Project Design Engineer and has worked on such projects as the extension to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in and the Sheraton Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Los Angeles-based saxophonist David Sills will released his new CD on the Xanos label inJune. He'll be holding forth at Bert's sometime in August.

There you have it- a quick look behind the scenes at the people bringing you the sounds at Bert's. if any of you new members haven't been Oh yeah to Bert's, you- don't know what your missing. Try it and see. And while your at it, introduce yourself. I'm the cat on the B8s. I

ut all

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

I

0he$s

Gluih

he first round of the FCC Chess Club 2001 Championship got off to a typical Hong Kong start: we had contestants in San Francisco and Taiwan on business, and a third turned up missing.

Only two games were therefore played. Bob Behull tried an unorthodox opening against Chris Champion and then won with an orthodox fork on move 10.

Manju Nath and Feng Chi-shun wrestled fiercely lor 27 moves until Chi sacrificed his queen unintentionally and resigned intentionally. V G Kulkarni scored the forfeit point against his AWOL opponent and therefore assumed co-leadership after Round I despite leaning on the bar and drinking whisky all night. Nice move, VG. Chris Champion, Convenor champs@netvigator. com

Standíngs after Rotrnd I Games

Points

played

1 1 1 Anthony Mitchell-Heggs 0 0 Graeme Hall 0 Albert Shu 0 Sarah Henderson 1 Park Jessica 1 Feng Chi-shun I Chris Champion Nath Behull VGKulkarni Manju

1

Bob

1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Eolf $ociety n May 17, the FCC Golf Society went to Kau Sai Chau (South course). It was a larger conftrmed players contingent than usual -24 along for the ride and one spare (Cuddles) who came and managed to get a game

as

well.

As on just about every other occasion we have played at Kau Sai Chau we were very unlucky with the weather. Not only did it rain, but it stopped and started about 20 times during the round and there was a cycle of drizzle, sun, drizzle, torrential rain, sun, drizzle and so on. It was not long before we were all soaked through and the conditions made it very tough going indeed. Inevitably there were a few who decided to take an early bath. But most persevered, although they generally wished they hadn't bothered.

However there were nonetheless a few creditable scores and the winner on the day with 35 stableford

which given the weather was points wasJeremy Glen indeed. Lucky for quite an impressive performance him that he didn't receive his new handicap certificate since if he from the golf association till the next duy

had known what his real handicap actually was he might not have done so well.

Best ìady golfer of the day was Stephanie Downs, nearest the pin was Robert Carmichael and longest drive went to yours truly. Another tradition on such visits

to Kau Sai Chau was that despite being in the hallowed presence of such a large number of professional photographers there was inevitably not a camera in sight to record any of the misfortunes of the day. After drying off we returned to Central byjunk and managed to enjoy a few beers on the boat; until they ran out.

Julian Walsh j pwalsh@jpwalshco. com

Maintainittg hile is blessed with some of the most perfect wine-growing conditions in the rvorld. In the past decade, its wines ha'r,e gained great recognition abroad for their drinkability and affordability. In the 1980s, the country's winemakers decided to show that they could produce great wines as well as merely good ones, and their efforts are now papng off. Premium Chilean wines still at very reasonable - becoming available in prices by world standards are Hong Kong and elsewhere. The reds are complex and

finely balanced. The chardonnavs show the true flavour of the grape, which u,ill be a pleasant surprise to those who came to know chardonnay through the te rribly over-oaked'r'ersions of California and Australia.

The better wines, not surprisingl¡ have resulted from collaboration between Chilean winemakers and their more experienced counterparts in Europe, the

United States and Australia.

For example, Californian Robert Monda't'i has teamed up with the Calitera rvinery to produce, among others, the Errazuriz label. Their "resen'a" wines are

rich, bold, full of personalit¡ just plain excellent: the syrah (which is touted to become Chile's premier red-wine grape), is something not to be missed. All three will be available at between $325 and $360, which is what some Hong Kong restaurants charge for quite marginal house wines. Miguel Torres, the most famous of the Spanish winemakers, owns Chile's Santa Digna winery, and produces a lovely cabernet sauvignon that will be priced at only $160.

The list goes on. During July, we aim to give the members the opportunity to sample the range of Chilean wines, from the modest to the memorable, ar a fraction of what it would cost for a Bordeaux that, frankl¡ probably wouldn't be as good.

In the heat of August, we'll feature the delightful white wines of Germany. And in September, we're going to blow it out with a detailed look at the marvellous wines of Ital¡ accompanied by special Italian menus from Chef Alan Chan.

Barry Kalb

Balarrce

By David O'Rear

hen is a balance a surplus or deficit?

When journos get it wrong. The case in point is the balance of payments (BoP), a snapshot of a country's trade, earnings, investments and other capital flowing with

the world. By definition, it is a 'balance': there is as a 'balance of payments deficit' or 'surplus', except in sloppy thinking.

On one side of the BoP is trade (the current account), on the other investment (the capital account). In theory, they balance: when one rises, the other falls, and vice versa. (In practice, there are minor discrepancies, but who cares?) The current account measures trade in goods, services and incomes; and payments across borders such as aid and money sent home to Mom. The capital account covers everything else.

no such thing

On the one hand ...

Goods are 'merchandise', or (in the technical jargon) 'things you can drop on your foot'. Services include shipping costs; banking, brokerage and insurance fees; royalties on patents, trademarks and copyrights; school fees; and other non-merchandise stuff. If you drop services on your foot, you'll miss.

Services are sometimes called 'invisibles', (to confuse

SUNPAC GOLF HOLIDAYS

0

non-economists).

Income trade is when you pay rent to your landlord

Canada, earn interest on a bank deposit in the Isle of Man, or get a dividend check from your wildly successful dot.com in Silicon Valley (ha!). Taken togethe¡ these three items, goods, services and incomes, are the broadest measure of trade.

in

lnclusion: 1. Round-trip economy class ticket on Garuda Indonesia 2, 1 night accommodation at Grand Central Hotel (SIN)

3.

4.

5.

6.

7, 8.

9.

10,

2 nights accommodation at Batam View Beach Resort

Daily Breakfast 2-way ferry transfers (Singapore to Batam & v.v.)

Transfer(Airport/hotel/golfcourse/ferryterminal)

...and on the other hand

2 rounds L8 holes golf game Single room supplement at $300 per golfer / non-golfer Weekend surcharge (depart on Thur - Sat) at $500 per golfer Rates apply to a minimum of 4 persons

The capital account is, by definition, everything It comprises the shoe factory you built in Guangxi, the TT to your broker to buy shares of Shenzhen-listed dirty pictures.com, those savings bonds Grandma gave else.

you when you graduated from school, and all that money you lost on the NASDAQ last year.

Make a punt on the Irish currency falling out of the euro and that shows up on the capital account. Buy a

SOCCM SEVENS OFFICIAL TRAVEL AGENT

pint of Guinness and you are affecting the current Lic No

SUNPAC TOURS & TRAVEL LTD.

350481

E-mail : commercial@sunpac.com.hk

8

Office Office

Hong Kong

: 4/F.,

Kowloon

:

Winway Building, 50 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

Room 1402, Taulus Building, 214-8 Granville Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon

Te1.: 28 I 09300

Fax:28452933

Tel.:23669590

Fax:23664990

IHE

CORRESPONDET.\T JUNI,-JULY 2001

a

account (not to mention your own sense of balance).

Whenever one or the other of the two sides of the BoP gets too big for its britches, the economy needs to correct. That is the case in America toda¡ and when it corrects, it is going to hurt. Bad. THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

Fit tab 'C'into slot

14'

Last yea¡ the US exported US$773bn worth of merchandise and $290¡n worth of services; she also earned ('exported') $345bn worth of income from things like the profits and dividends from old investments overseas and the royalties on Mickey Mouse watches and Microsoft software. Hey, somebody pays for this stuff or Disney couldn't afford to invest in Hong Kong and Bill Gates wouldn't be so rich!

Since Americans like to shop (and the consumer manufacturing sector isn't so hot anymore), imports totalled $1,223bn; and because not all insurance companies, banks and brokerages are headquartered in New York, services payments (i.e., imports; the US paid for it) ran to $215bn. Right away it is obvious that the US ran a merchandise trade defìcit of $450bn (773 minus 1,223), and a services surplus of $81bn (296-215). If you are writing about trade, call it a 'goods and services deficit of US$368.5bn', and you won't be far off.

Enough with the numbers alreadyl Suffice to say that the end result was a shortfall in trade with the world including income earnings and payments of $435bn, $1.Zbn a day, or HK$107,687 each and every second of the year. (This is not good.)

OK, now we have half the BoP, the current-account.

On the other side is investment, and that is where America shines (so far). Investment into the US is usually larger than that going to any other countr¡ and last year it hit a record...of $435bn. If that number looks familiar, it should: it is the current-account deficit, reversed.

So, money in and money out and it all balances. The problems arise when one or the other gets too big, and that is where we are today. If foreign investors decide the US dollar is a bit too over-valued, or the Shanghai stock market just a hair more interesting that your broker's latest dot-bomb story, the investment flow into the US will slow. \Àrhen that happens, the trade deficit (the current-account balance) must head back toward zero. Since it is unlikely that a sharp drop in investment in the US is going to lead to a huge surge in American

exports, the odds are that America will, one of these days, stop importing so much from the rest of the world.

And that's going to hurt.

I

Dauid O'Rear drinks American current-(t ccount deftcit.

beer,

to helþ

ease the

Capture the Changing World, Create the Professional Excellence.

Nikon F5 The World Awaited Sensation Since the launch of Nikon's firsl F SLR in 1959,

FGG

Photographcr of

thc YeaF AwaFds 200 I

followed by the F2, F3 and F4, lhe F series has been recognised as lhe slalus symbol in lhe

wofd of photography.

The new Nikon F5 ìs now here to bring you into a new era wilh ground-shaking innovation in lechnology and design,

The FCC, in association with the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Cathay Pacfic Airways, have launched a -ujor photographic competition for Hong Kong's professional photographers and FCC members. Robin Lynam talks to the judges. he idea of the competition is to recognise

the high standards of

World's First - Cross Ranged 5 Area Autofocus Sensor Dynamic AF mode can lrack any fast moving objects, ensuring clear piclures,

World's Fastest -

I

Frames

per Second Fæus Tracking with Lock OnrM enables you lo caplure quick moving sporls and aclion.

World's Exclusive - 3D Colour Matrix Metering The sensor evaluales not only each scene's brightness, conlrast and distance, but also colours, enhancing 3D effect and sharpness in lhe exposure resull.

3ô-exp lilm re',l/ind in 4 seconds, selldiagnostic double-bladed shutter, 3D multi-sensor balanced fill flash, 1/4000 sec FP High-Speed sync capabilily, verlical shutter release bullon, personal computer link system, solid aluminium-alloy die-casl body and lilanium viewfinder housing,

Comprehensive Camera Control System 4 interchangeable viewfinders, 13 focusing screens,

MF-28 mulli-control back, MF-27 data back, SB-27 and 58.28 speedlighls, lull range of Nikkor lenses including lhe new AF-S 300mm, 400mm, 500mm & 600mm superlelephoto lenses,

3-Year Free Wananty *

Nikon F5 catalogue is available, please mail to

Nikon Hong Kong Ltd w¡lh your name and address,

professional photography in Hong Kong and at the same time to give all the photographers of the FCC professional and nonthe -opportunity to really show professional alike what they can do. We have an enormous amount of talent in the club and this competition is a way of both stimulating and recognising it," says Terry Duckham, chairman of the judging panel for the inaugural FCC Photographer of the Year Awards.

Given that we do have that talent pool in many ways the surprising thing about this competition is that it hasn't been done before. Having hnally Terry Duckham got around to it howeveq the FCC is certainly doing the job thoroughly. Sponsors have been selected who are pertinent to the competition, and an impressively qualified panel ofjudges includes some of the Club's most prominent lensmen.

Anyone intimidated by the credentials of the judges, however, can take some solace from the fact that they

The HKTB is co-sponsoring a special section of the co

mp e ti tion with the theme "City of Life - Hong Kong

"Obviously Ír'arry of our

photographers are inspired by aspects of Hong Kong and the

HKTB is keen to encourage

images which present the place in a positive and imaginative light. This is a great opportunity

to do that."

Other sponsors of the competition are Cathay Pacific, media sponsors Aþþle Daily, Hong Kong iMai| Action Asi4 RTHK Radio 3, and Colorsix Laboratories and Crown Pacific Moving. Each media sponsor has been invited to appoint a judge, but several have waived the right so as not to compromise their staff enteries. "\Me'r'e split it into two sections," explains Duckham of the competition's organisation. "The professional Bob Davis

section is open to all professional

photographers and photojournalists who are resident in Hong Kong, irrespective of whether or not they are members of the FCC, and to all

won't be able to enter. Amongst those who have forgone the right to compete in order to judge, apart from Duckha:trr, are Hubert van Es, Bob Davis and Leong Ka Tai.

Other judges include Peter

active and absent FCC members

Cook, managing director of PPA Design Ltd, Associated picture editor Vincent Yu, and Sin Wai Keung, chairman of the Hong Kong Press

Press

Photograph e rs Associalion.

Also on the panel is Tourism Board Communications General Hubert van Es

lvinOnl

,,*orroru*oNcLTD.

Manager-Marketing

Communications, Tony Tse.

THE CORRESPONDENTJUNEJULY Suile100l,10thFloor,Cityplazaone,11l1

King'sRoad,TaikooShing,HongKong

Tel:28823936 Fax:25045689

2001

is it! ".

"This is an opportunity for the Club to make a contribution to Hong Kong,s drive to promote tourism," comments Duckham.

irrespective

of whether or not

they are resident in Hong Kong.

Ka Tai

The non-professional section

is

only open to FCC members and members of their families who do not take pictures for a living".

Each of the competition's divisions is organised into sections with the 'City of Life' theme being common to both. The professionals will be asked to submit images from Hong Kong or from around Asia classified as 11

either "News," "Magazine features", "Advertising" or "Corporate".

Tony Tse, Hong Kong Tounsm Board General ManagerMarketing Communications speaks to Saul Lockhart.

The first sponsor to sign

on the dotted line for

the

FCC Photographer of the Year Awards 2001 was the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Tony Tse, Generzl Manager-

Marketing Communications, immediately saw the advantages of turning Hong Kong's first rate photographers professionals alike

professionals and non- on the HKSAR. loose

In honour of- the board's enthusiastic

participation, special City of Life: Hong Kong is it! categories have been created on both the professional and non-professional divisions.

"The 'City of Life' theme provides a very broad

structure

for

photographers

to explore

Hong

Kong's most hidden layers," Tse noted.

Pretty much the entire HKSAR government,

from the top on down, is behind the two-year campaign so the FCC is good company. It is organised jointþ by the Tourism Board, the Home Affairs Department, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Tourism Commission in association with the18 District Councils and the

Hong Kong.|ockey Club Charities Trust.

By being in such elite company, the FCC's inaugural

photographic awards competition is assured global coverage and access to exhibition space and local publicity that would otherwise elude the Club.

"This photographic competition reinforces not only the large international events like Shopping Festival and the Dragon Boat Races, but also allows participants an opportunify to capture the everyday street charm of the city, explained Tse. "It will allow photographers to capture the spirit of Hong Kong."

Tse is a

I

I l

is

the Year Awards will promote and showcase contemporary photography in Hong Kong and of

Hong Kong.

12 t,

firm believer that "Hong Kong

layered" and that the HKSAR will reveal itself in a kaleidoscope of culture to those who make the effort to "peel back the layers, one at a time."

The end result is that the FCC Photographer of

I

on-professionals are invited to focus on "The Wonderful World of Travel" and a special section, 'Young Perspectives of Hong Kong" will be open to children of members who are under 16 at the time

of the competition.

So what qualities will the judges be looking for in the entries?

"Something new," says Leong Ka Tai, an award winning photographer in his own right and a past chairman and founding member of the Hong Kong Institute of Professional Photographers.

"If somebody is going to enter a competition obviously they should be technièally competent, so what I'll be looking for is something I haven't seen before." llubert van Es advises, "I'm looking for spontaneity, and newsworthiness. Obviously the technical side is important, but if it's a news shot and it's a one off, you don't look so much at the technical aspects. \À/e're all hoping for a good quality and quantity of entries."

Peter Cook, who is accustomed to directing more structured photographic shoots for the clients of his design agency, will be bringing aî àrt director's eye to bear on the entries, while Bob Davis, who has already collected his share of awards, points out that there are certain standard criteria for assessing photographic images, and that the judges will be looking for pictures which excel in all areas.

"First we'lI see whether the picture frts the category, whether it's a simple then look at the content - Then we'll consider image or one that tells a story. the composition, the technical elements, meaning essentially how well it's been shot, and finally consider the overall impact of the image," he explains.

For Terry Duckham technical considerations are secondary. Like Leong Ka Tai, he will be placing a high value on the photographers originality and imagination.

I'm looking for is the photographer's "eye".

A photographer's job is to paint with light, and we'll be looking to see how well that's been done.

While technical expertise is important, it is only a small part of an award winning entry," Duckham "\A4rat

explains.

What nobody doubts is that Hong Kong and the FCC have the talent to make both sections of this competition a very close race, as Duckham points out.

"As well as the professional photographers, we have a lot of photography enthusiasts who make their living doing something else, but nevertheless have skills of a high order. We're hoping to attract the full range of photographic talent within and without the FCC. I'm expecting some very good entries and I'm looking forward to seeing new skills and standards of digital imaging". I THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

a myth in Hons Kons Arnold Zeitlin, the director of the Freedom Forum's Asia Center, takes issue with a US State Department report on the HKSAR. he Hong Kong press has taken a bad rap for selÊcensorship since the territory reverted to Chinese sovereignty four years ago.

The elusive topic of self-censorship has much like the become an urban myth

- is a shopper's undying myth that Hong Kong paradise (which is true only if you're from price-inflated Japan).

Almost inevitably, the first question asked by visitors interested in the news media in Hong Kong is the extent of selÊcensorship. They seem to take for granted that it is widely practised.

The latest to perpetuate the myth was the US State Department, which cited the issue of selÊcensorship several times in its latest human rights report on Hong Kong. "There is a widespread impression among both journalists and the public that it is prudent for the press to engage in a degree of selÊcensorship. The pressures ... are subtle and indirect," stated the report, which was issued in February.

It also said: "Some journalists and ner't,s media conTHE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

tinue to practise a degree of selÊcensorship, particularly in mainland-related reporting."

Strikingl¡ howe'r'er, the report offered no persuasive evidence to support its claims. Had a newspaper published a story on the basis of such slim documentation, it would risk being condemned for poor journalism. The State Department report, moreover, manages to give the topic a sinister twist by stating: "Chinese-language journalists report a pervasive, if tacit, understanding that editors expect those reporting on China to be particularly certain of their facts and careful in their wording."

How about that? '\À4rile the mood of this portion of the report is grim, to say the least, the statement really should be grounds for celebration. Just imagine:

Editors in Hong Kong actually expect their writers to have the facts and write about them carefully. That's

hardly self-censorship.

The State Department does cite the widely publicised case late last year of Willy WoJap Lam, who was then the China editor for the South China Morning Post. Latr' 13

Covnn Srony was dismissed from that position and later quit the newspaper. Previously, the Posi's majority shareholder had criticised his reporting. Lam spoke afterward of "disturbing signs" that Beijing was intensifying efforts to intimidate Hong Kong reporters. ut he also said: "In spite of the psychological warfare and intimidation tactics, I think Hong Kong reporters will remain quite defiant." That they have.

Under its American editoq Robert Keatle¡ the South China Morning Post continues to report news about China openly and with balance. The notion that selÊ

censorship exists and must be commonplace probably is derived from the assumption that there ought to be selÊcensorship, given the peculiar and delicate situation in which Hong Kong's freewheeling press finds itself.

But the assumption is contradicted by reality oq at least, by a preponderance ofevidence.

-

\Mhenever a m{or stor¡ particularly one about China, lands on the front pages in Hong Kong, the Freedom Forum Asian Center & Library routinely checks the seven or eight English and Chineselanguage

dailies that comprise the territory's independent press.

(We eschew the three or four newspapers that reflect the views of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese central government).

Never have we seen any evidence that on these issues the English-language and independent Chineselanguage press pull punches in a way that could be interpreted as selÊcensorship.

Coverage in the Hong Kong press has appeared unrestrained in all sorts of stories: the forced ìanding of a US surveillance plane, tensions over Taiwan, crackdowns against the Falun Gong spiritual movement, repression in Tibet, arrests of Chinese dissidents, protests and violent demonstrations in rural China, and harsh words from the Chinese leadership, including PresidentJiang Zemin, who has pointedly assailed the Hong Kong press.

News reports about such matters are played on page

one, often above the fold. And they are the basis for commentary and editorials that often criticise Chinese policy.

Hong Kong's press deserves credit for its balanced reporting of sensitive issues coverage that continues despite stepped-up criticism- over the past 12 months from mainland sources about coverage of China, Taiwan and related subjects. But the fact is that the Hong Kong press has covered Taiwan and other sensitive topics in a balanced manner. The latest example was a lead story about Beijing's demands that the United States deny a visa to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, who stopped in the US on his way to Latin America.

SelÊcensorship, to be sure, is almost impossible to document unless the perpetrator speaks out.

When the Hong Kong news media miss stories, the 14

explanation is generally rooted in journalistrc inexperience and incompetence, rather than the urge or compulsion to censor oneself.

A story not seen in Hong Kong is the working of the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong since July 1997. But even the US consulgeneral has characterised this subject as not a signihcant development. There is no reporting in any concentrated

of the Chinese government's moves in central Asia to suppress Muslim insurgency in Xinjiang. But you don't see that kind of story in the Western press, either.

way

owever, stories do appear in the Hong Kong press about Tibet and the Dalai Lama which are touchy topics for

Beijing. -Much of the reporting of dissidents and protests in China is left to a human rights group organised by a former mainlander, Frank Lu. Lu has developed a wide network of China contacts who report to him at his Hong Kong base, and local and international news organisations based in Hong Kong routinely cite his information.

The Hong Kong news media have their problems, to be sure. SelÊcensorship may be one of them. But no

one, certainly not the US State Department, has demonstrated that self-censorship is widely practised, systemic and harmful to coverage.

I

Stop Press SelÊCensorship? Ãs The Corresþondenf was in production,

the

SC,44Pbroke a story on the front page of itsJune 1st edition that both TVB and ATV referred to Taiwan's

President Chen Shui-bian as "Taiwan Leader" when covering President Chen's trip to the US and Latin America. SelÊcensorship? Both stations denied it.

TVB's assistant controller of news, Cheung Chi-kong, was quoted in the article as saying, "TVB advocates the 'One China' principle and the way we address (Mr Chen) is just to embody this principle."

AIV's deputy head of news, Tong Tak-chuen, was quoted by the SCMP as stating: "If we are (practising) selÊcensorship, we would not report any news about Taiwan." RTHK's Edwin Mak Sai-leung, head of corporate affairs, stated in the same story that the government station always referred to Mr Chen as Taiwan President. Frontier party legislator Emily

Lau, a former chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was quoted as saying, "The changes are to please the Beijing authorities." On June 6th, Ma Lik, a columnist and National People's Congress local deputy, was quoted in the SCMP as saying government should issue guidelines in the wake of the T\rB/AfV controvesy.

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNF.-JUL\

2001

$ir(th Annual Human Ri$hts Pne$s AwaFds Sponsored by the FCC, the Hong KongJournalists Association and Amnesty International (HK), this year's awards set records for the number of entries in both English and Chinese. Anna Wu, chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission, spoke at the Awards lunch.

Jonathan Sharp reports: ong Kong gets a "below average" grade

for its awareness of the importance of human rights compared with the rest of the world. That was one of several sobering messages conveyed by Ms Anna Wu, chairperson of Hong Kong's Equal Opportunities Commission, during the Sixth Annual Fluman Rights Press Awards announced at the FCC on June 16.

It was an admonition addressed not just to the media, which Ms Wu said had a powerful role in getting the human rights message across.

In her keynote address at the awards and in remarks to reporters during a recess in the

formalities, Ms Wu stressed the role of the government, the courts HUI}IANRtG and business in ensuring that PRESS RT}S individual and community rights were not merely promoted, but also enshrined in law..

"I think one of the problems that we have in Hong Kong is the lack of benchmarks for ourselves," Ms Wu told reporters. "We keep on talking about Hong Kong as having done something. But the question is, has Hong Kong done everything that we should be doing? We have a problem and that is created by comparing ourselves to the less worthy. \Alhat I would like the Hong Kong government to do is to compare ourselves to the best in the world, and look at those standards and see how far we are behind.

"To the courts, I would beg them to please look at (rights) not just as promotional and aspirational rights, because in the end we want the courts to take a position to enforce these rights for the individual. It is only when they are enforceable that these rights make sense."

Speaking about race discrimination, she said, "If you THE CORRI,SPONDENT.IUNE-JUI

Y

2OOI

accept there is discrimination, you have the responsibility to get rid of it. The only way to do so and protect the victims is to legislate." Her words had an extra edge to them coming only days after HKSAR Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa had questioned whether legislation was the best option, saying education about the evils of discrimination was a preferable solution.

Ms Wu was the first guest speaker to be invited to the annual Awards ceremony, co-sponsored by the FCC, the Hong Kong Journalists Association and Amnesty International (Hong Kong). Another milestone was marked by the

introduction of an Online

Category in the competition.

The number of entries in both language categories increased this

year, with Chinese-language LffiffirÃæ submissions rising nearly 13Vo

to 97, from 86, while Englishlanguage entries grew by more than 23% to 76, from 61.

Competition judges Fred

Armentrout and Ronny Tong paid tribute to the quality of the entries, which covered events not just in Hong Kong but elsewhere in Asia, and including subjects such as rights abuses on Mainland China

topics not calculated masters

to endear the authors to -Hong Kong's in Beijing.

While competition was keener than ever in most a drop in the number of photographs submitted (30, down from 83) meant that entries totaled 203, down from last year's 230.

Photography judge Hubert van Es was at a loss to explain what he said was a drop in the quality of entries as well as the quantity. But he had characteristically blunt words of advice to remedy the situation. "People ought to get out there and pull out the stops a bit." I categories,

15

_T

HuueN Rrcnrs Pnnss Awenns Ì

WinnBFs 0f The llumîn Rights PrGs$ ftwands 2001

!

iJ ô

I T

l

o l

o o

he following are the winners in the Sixth Annual Human Rights Press Awards, co-organized by the FCC, the Hong KongJournalists Association and Amnesty International (HK). This year's competition was especially keen in all categories. Prize-winners in each category received engraved plaques, and the merit winners were presented with personalised certif,rcates. Awards are given at the discretion of the judges and there may not be recipients in all categories.

I !

Merit Certificate Girl Soldier, Srì lanka Crampton also won an award for writing

Enslish-[an$uaS;e Gate$oRie,s

Merit Certificate lnequalily

Bnoadcast - Teleuision

Winner "Insurance discrimination against people with disabilities"

by To Po Ke| Ming Pao

"Seized land" byJennifer Lee, Star TV

Merit "Helpers in need" by AIan Buchnea, TVB Pearl Report

Newspapen - Featune

Winner "The courageous survivor

Genenal News

Winner "Charity warned over political acts", "Tax office using double standard", "Tax status review pledge" by May

Ch'i, Ming Pao

-

Lee Hung Yin" by So Mei

-

Bnoadcast - Radio

Merit "I love the world - interview with a Hong Kong Social Worker on the Indian situation" by Jace Au, RTHK "Political debate RTHK

Magazine

- public order" by Chan Yin Ping,

Sin-mi Iìon, South China Morning Post (SCMP)

Winner'

Phetogl',aphy

Merit "Children toil in sweatshop"/"McDonald's child labour scandal" by Martin Wong, SCMP

"Appeal for prisoners who are sentenced to death" by

Winner "Falun Gong petition" by Cheng KokYin, SCMP

Newspapen - teatunc

Winner Falun Gong petition

Sze Wai l|ding, Eastueeh

forbearance" by Thomas Beal, AWSJ - commentary "Funny business in Hong Kong" by Michael DeGolyer,

Winner "A wall of contention" by Sherry Lee, SCi\4P

Cartoons

"Schools fail South Asians" by Linda Yeung, SCMP

"An exploited underclass"/"Shameful payers may be rejected" by Ella Lee, SCMP "A Tamil guerrilla's story, starting at age 7" by Thomas Crampton, International Herald läbune Magazines

Winner "Taking on the system" by Terry McCartþ, Tìme Asta

0nline

Merit "A tale of two portals" by Bruce Einhorn, Business Week Online

Merit

"Freedom of religion" by Danny Sit, RTHK "News at 6:30

T\rB News

Gommentany & Analysis

Winner "China's judicial psychiatry" by Robin ll{unro, Asian WalI StreetJournal (AWSI - commentary

The

-

.

One child policy" by Ng Hiu Tung,

¡

Newspapen - Genenal News

.

Winner

"The police misuse pepper spray " by Frankie Wong

"The Chinese need capital and condemnation" by

and Phyllis Tsang, Ming Pao

Mark L Clifford, Business

Merit

- cornrnentary (For body of work) "Sharing fears in Dushanbe", "Release Rebiya Kadeer", "Missing one monk",

16

¡

"Cry Alone" by Poon Tat Pui, RTHK

Merit Weeh

. .

"Arrest student protesters, challenge to the Public Order

Ordinance" by Lui Tsz Lok, Hong Kong Economic

Merit "Higher rent protest" by Wan Kam Yan , SCMP "Public Order Ordinance protest" by Dustin Shum, "Activist Leung Kwok-hung injail" by Robert Ng,

"Girl Soldier"by Thomas Crampton,

SCIì4P SCÀ4P

International

Hetald, Täbune

"Inequality" b)'Peter Parks, AFP "Rich man poor man" by Peter Parks, APF "Refugee - prayer" by Peter Parks , APF "Restraining order" by Garrige Ho , SCMP "Helpless in the city" by Garrige Ho , SCMP "Cult protest" by David \Arong , SCMP

JudgG,$

Bnoadcast - Teleu¡s¡on

Bernstein, Business

II" by Choy Chi

Special Prize for Journalistic Courage "We thought this type of activity was history" by Chan Yat Kwan, Ming Pao

Ehinase-Lan$ua gc CIatc$,ories Winner

"Wages of hatred" by Michael Sharí, Business Week

Merit "Vibration from Wong Fung Chiu Keung, Sing Tao Daiþ

Winner "Shoe shining" by Cavin Coates, Hong Kong iMail

Merit "The Great migration"/"Workers in bondage: "A Life of fines and beating" by Dexter Roberts with Aaron Week

Open Magazine

Gommentany and Analys¡$ Award of a special prize for outstanding Human Rights Commentary to To Yiu Ming

AmCham Magazine - analysis

Merit

"Government unable to define cult" by Lau Yau Hay,

"Climbdown on human rights", "The limits of

Fred Armentrout, president, Hong Kong EnglishSpeaking branch of PEN International Catherine Babe¿ researche¡ Amnesty International, Asia-Pacific Regional Offi ce Father Stephen Chan, parish priest, St Bonaventure Church, Tsz Wan San Mark Landler, correspondent, The Neu Yorh Times, FCC board member Angela Lee, AmnesÐ'International (HK) Section

board member Jacqueline Leong SC, former chairperson, Hong Kong Bar Association

.

MakYin-ting, chairperson, Hong KongJournalists

.

Dr Bryce Mcln$re, associate professo¡ Department

.

ofJournalism and Communication, Chinese University Joyce Nip, assistant professor, Department of

o

Journalism, Baptist University Hubert van Es, photographer, FCC board member Sin Wai Keung, chairman, Hone Kong Press

.

Association

Photographers Association Ronny KW Tong SC, former chairperson, Hong Kong Bar Association Rose Wu, director, Hong Kong Christian Institute

Times

THE CORRTSPONDìjNT.IUNE-J ULy

200

ì

I

H L CORRESPONDEi\iTJ UNL,-I

UL\

2OO

I

17

l

HunraN Rrcnrs Pnnss Aw¡nns

x

sexual behaviour, Dr Judith Mackay MBE, discusses her new book, The Penguin Atlas of Human Sexual Behaaiour. Excerpts from her dinner speech.

enda for Atl The FCC was honoured to have Anna Wu, chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission, speak at the Sixth Fluman Rights Press Awards. Excerpts from her speech. he term human rights is so commonly used these days that often we don't stop to think

of what it really means. Human rights by definition belons to everybody and have practical applications in everyday life. These rights are human and it is the individual lives that give meaning and expression to these rights.

If human rights are to have any meaning, it must make a difference to individual lives. If human rights

are so basic and so universal that governments are willing to guarantee them through covenants, then they must also t¡e enforceable by ordinary citizens in the ordinary courts.

Of all forms of human rights, nothing can be more basic than that of the right to life and to survival. A natural extension to these rights is the individual's right of development.

Fluman rights must make a real difference in the quality of life of the individual. For what is the right to live or to survive if an individual does not have the means of sustaìning life? \A/hat is the meaning of living without the opportunity to develop and to improve one's quality of life?

Development of the individual leads to greater self suffìciency and self sufficiency leads to less dependency on social security. Anti-poverty measures are directly pegged to the capacity of the individual to develop.

The ultimate value of economic, social and cultural rights is to enhance the human capital and to sustain the development of a community.

The process of globalisation has had a dramatic impact on the world economy. In recent years there has been a backlash against globalisation because economic progress is not evenly dispersed. The gaps between rich :

,i

il

obligations. Rights must be jusÈiciable and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights explicitly requires tl:rat "any person whose rights or freedoms are violated shall have an effective remedy...".

The concluding observations of the (UN)

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights after the hearing on Hong Kong in Geneva last April also made it clear that the provisions of the covenant constitute a legal obligation on the part of State parties.

The Committee urged the HK(SAR) government not to argue in court proceedings that the Covenant is only "promotional " or "aspirational" in nature.

The Hong Kong government gave "assurance that all rights enshrined in the Covenant contain certain justiciable aspects." The Committee also noted "with satisfaction that the Covenant is invoked in Hong Kong courts."

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has also made it clear that the government's failure to enact a race law is a breach of its international

obligations. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination obliges the government to prohibit discrimination on the ground ofrace.

rofessor Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel Laureate for Economics, argued for c o n c e n trating on the equity and efficiency of social arrangements in promoting freedom to achieve objectives and capabilities of individuals. To borrow his words:

"The rewards of human development go well

beyond the direct enhancement of quality of life, and include also its impact on people's direct productive

countries, have grown.

shared basis."

Increasingly, the courts are expected to be an agent

18 lir

seem able to agree on a definition of the word. Twothirds, for example, ofAmericans

abilities and thus on economic growth on a widely

for the enforcement of international ti

hat is sex? I have to say that this is surprisingly confusing. We don't even

and poor countries, and the rich and the poor within

Human rights considerations have now begun to impact upon global regulatory bodies and international trade negotiations, in corporate boardrooms and in courtrooms in away thatwill make them notjust relevant but, hopefully, binding... covenant

Hong Kong's very own international expert on

Human rights is about the business of people.

Human rights is notjust an agenda for some, but must be made a business for all.

The media has a powerful role to play in heightening awareness of human rights and in the process to demystify human rights. We will all be enriched by making human rights commonplace. I THE CORRESPONDENT.IUNE-JULY

2OO1

who were surveyed last yeaq reported in tlte Journal of the American Medical Association that they agreed with Clinton, that the ex-President's practices did not constitute having sex. About one in five thought the same about anal intercourse. There are about 120 million sex acts everyday in the world...

lead(ing) to about a million sexually transmitted infections, almost a million conceptions and about 400,000 live births.

In the UK, the average person has about five partners in a lifetime, they have sex about 2,580 times in their life... The answer as to why we have sex is not a very romantic one....it helps us avoid parasites. Of course, you get a few parasites from sex for sure, but actually the mixture of genes tends to protect us against invasion by parasitic infection. But luckily, nature handed out sex appeal and romance to make this process of avoiding parasites a little bit more romantic.

One of the big differences I found...was about sex among young people. The number of people under the age of 20 who have sex on dates...is under 10%. It's still really very low in Asia. So when we read reports in Hong Kong from the Family Planning Association that sex is increasing in young people, it's increasing from an extraordinarily low to a little bit lower.

I don't know whether this applies to journalists, but more and more, face-to-face requesting somebody to come and have a date with )'ou is being replaced by e-mail, by pagers, by voice mails on phones. And you can see that still face-to-face is in there, but it's still now only 40%. This information comes from the US. What do journalists do in bed? I have to say, frrst of all, that except in very few countries, we absolutely have no idea what anybody does in bed. And those five countries are North America, France, Britain, Australia and Finland. Those are the only countries in the world that have actually done a national survey on sex. Every-body else has done surveys that are very, very fragmented and very, very inadequate. And even in those countries that have done national surveys, I think we have to view some of their data with great susprcron.

I think it's worth mentioning

that people who are not that sexually active are actually quite a big proportion of the population. For example, in the US about onethird of all adults say they never have sex or they have sex only a few times ayear.

That's particularly true of older people. Arrd I think this is really important to know because you read these surveys...you think everybody is having sex about 3.2 times a night except me. I think there is an anxiety and a worry about that. And I think it's really important to

know that where they have done national surveys, about a third of adults almost don't have any sex.

wrne,.,the wine cleoring house Unlike mony internet wine sites, sellers olike,

wineflow hos been creoted to ossist both buyers ond

One con tronsoct ononymously in on ethicol ond secure environment, li s on eosy woy to buy ond sell wine 24 hours o doy, Sellers con octively ond cost effectively monoge lheir own wine stock, The ostute buyer con find o ronge of quolity internotionol wines whether single bottles of older vintoges or coses of current releoses, with no commission poyoble.

To

tqke q look ql the new d¡reclion of w¡ne lroding go to

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNEJULY 2001

WWW.WingflOWnel

19

I

ne of the things rve kno'r,r, is that married or not, people do tend to have less sex as thev ge t older...But having said that...the amount of sex vou have as )ou get older actually depends on your circr-rmstances, rather than your age. If vor.r are in the same partnership as l'ou hale been for the last 30 to 40 years, then yes, sex tends to be reduced.

But as r've all knorv so typicallv that if somebody', a man or a wolTìan, finds someone votrnger or a nelver partner, then the level of sexual activity tends to increase again.

So it's not so much a factor of age as the factor of familiariq,' and nervness and all of those othel issues to do with partners.

If r,r,e look at rvhat turns people on, we find that men, much more than \'vomenJ are actualh'turned on by watching their partner undress, receivins oral sex or giring oral sex, or haling gror-rp sex...I think it is trr-re to say that wolrren are much more turned on bl' issr-res of love and romance.

If 'çve look at orgasm, then the per-centage of frequency of or-gasm during sex lvith thc primarl partner again this is a study from the US (which) seems to research these sorts of things far morc than (you) find that men have more orgasms anvbodv else than do \'\/omen...Nou, I have to say that mal¡' societies don't think this is a problem at all. In fact, if you look at female genital excision and some of the issues of constraining women, the u'hole point is thev actualll. don't have an orsasm and rhey don't enjoy sex...

If lve look at rvhat Hong Kong men...do lvho are problcm Ìrere becatrse only 27o/o...practise saf'e sex, i.e. alu,avs with a condom....\Alhere do people carrr¡ condorrrs... har.'ing casual sex, I think we have to sav there is a

(they') rvent into handbags and pockets and all over the

place. The;' had this cateeor\/ "other" (rvhich) for e\/er\. other cor.rntrv was I-2Vr¡. But in Hong I(ong it was something like 60%. \Arhere do Hong Kong men carrv their condoms.... in their shoes! I am not quite sure to this dat'rvhether thel' actuallv lr'alk on them... (nhether) the;' pr-rt it just into their shoe or lhe shoe has a bottom u,here the)' put the condom. But apparentlv this is a quite uniqueness in Hong Kong in terms of rvhere men carrY their condom.

But whr,' do I nor'r' finish off by shon,ing the moon?

-îhe Journa,l of the British Interþlanetrtrl, SocieU recentlv devoted its entire issue (speculating) about what columnists 'r'r,ould do when thev get to the moon.

Because in the much weaker gravitl' of the lunar hotel room, sex will last much longer, people's bodies lvill move more slowh' and everv lover r'r'ill be six times lighter! I Penguin Atlas of Hurnan Sexual Behctuior

By DrJudith Mackay MBE

lndia's Tec Reuolution Narayana Murthy is CEO of the Indian software bluechip Infosys Technologies, a Nasdaq-listed IT company which is one of India's largest. Excerpts from his talk: hanks fbr the nice h.rnch.

I

knor'v

there is no fiee lunch so I r'vill speak on the Indian software industn' - rvhere it is todal', r,r,here it is r,vanting to fì'o, n,hat are the problems and challena-es.

The lision of'the Indian software industrv is to make India the cor-rntry of choice fbr clevelopment of customisecl sofïware and the maintenance of all

kinds of soft'l'r'are. The proof of'potential in this particular qLre st are three: fìrst the technical competence; second, the deliver-v capabilitr,, that is, all the project management, abilitv to hanclle large softrvarc projccts, ctc.; and then third, the business model stabilitr'.

The Inclian softrvare industrv has shor'r,n a compoundcd annual growth rate of 52% during the last eight or nine vears. Of course, wc arc all now talking of lon'er gror,r'th rates...this vea¡ thc vcar 20012002, tt is expected to gro\\r an\"vrdrere betr'vccn 4045%...-|he industry has established partnership u,ith more than 250 of the Fortune 500 companies just in the US alone. To gir,e \,'or-r an idea, 18 of the 34 companies in the 'rvorld which have been certified at the highest lelel of quality standard are from India.

The industry depends on 'n'hat's called a Global Deliverv NIodel. I define globalisation as sourcirrg capital from r'vhere it is cheapest, producing rvhere it is most cost effective and seliing lvhere it is most profitable rvithout being constrainecl bv national

ISBN 0-14-05t479-l PB US$18.95

s?¿¡x ¡¡qgso

boundaries. Easier said than done, right? Norv based on

the globalisation model, the Indian soft'rvare industr;' has split up or partitioned the entire task of developing

CAUSEWAY BAY

G

/F., Clevetand

softrvare into those activities that have to be necessarih' delivered near frhe customer or at the customer side, like studring of the pr:oblem, presentation of the pr"oblem s¡¡¡ly, user interface design, functional design etc. Then

Mansion (Fashíon walkl

5-7 Cleveland Street,

Hong Kong

TeL: 2890 2616, Fax:28903552

(it's) taken back to India to do the actual sofir,r,are developmert, detailed data base design, etc. Then we take thc softryare back to the customer (to) install it and get it approved. We pr-ovide Rapid Reaction \A¡arrant), for a fèn' montlìs and then finally' take it back

s simply irresistible )?noon to 3:00 pm & 6:00 pm to 1 1:00 pm in SoHo on Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays

20

TLtE CORRESPONDENTJUNE-JUr.\'

200Ì

THlj corìRISPoNDENT JLÌNl1-IULY 2001

to India lor long-term $¡arrant\i In this business about 20-30o/a ol'the total efÏort is delivered at cr-rstomer side, rvhile 70-80% is deliverecl from cost competitive economies liì<e India. That's r,vhv I said it is based on the globalisation model.

lct mc talk about\vhat it is that the Indian softrvare industrv is looking at as far as the future of IT services is concerned. Às I said right in the beginning, \^¡e are in the business of or,r,

developing customised softr'vare. Nor'v, that busrness, rve believe, has tremendous opportunitl' because lve operatc in an area rvhere the onh' constant is change...

Thanks to increased competition in the enablins of cor-porations, the convergence of Internet broaclband and u,ireless technologies, 'rve do see ubiquitous computing as u,ell as mobile decision-makinc- becomins extremeh/ popular. B), mobile decision-making, I n-iean having a device bv which volr can access all the information that you need "anvtime, an¡vhere, anv platform". Take the decision from r'vhere )'ou are...volr don't have to be sitting in the office...It's not so mucl'l mobile r'vireless telephon;'. It's much more mobile decision-making. That's r'r,hat we feel is the future opportuni¡' for tire h'rdian companies. I 21

htll

The Un\trælled Cit

p'*tg t-ictiB,ft

Michael Vatikiotis, Editor of tl:e Far Eastern Economic Reaiew, has just published Debatable Land, a collection of nine short stories from Southeast Aia. Excerpts from his talk:

Novelist Xu Xi spoke about her fourth novel, set in the time just before the handover. Excerpts from her talk: ir tl

I

ï

As a journalist with the Far Eastern Economic Reaiew, I had a privileged ringside view. I got to cover the boom,

facts and bitter truths. Perhaps also because realism and the realm of ideas have been divorced from the modern world of fiction. Contemporary frction seems

the bust, the winners and losers, the players and the victims. However, being at the centre of things meant neglecting the majority. Those for whom, sitting on the margins and watching the elite in their folly, nothing

to be all about entertainmenL

and voyeurism, about peering into people's lives and seeking titillation

bit like Hollywood, really.

Well, I'm old fashioned. I like to read fiction as a n.arrative form of history that helps explain important aspects of our human condition. I guess I have been lucky enough also, because in the Asia that I have lived in for the best part of two decades, these have been exciting and tragic times.

When I frrst arrived in Thailand as a student in 1979, Southeast Asia was a tropical back¡vater languishìng at a war the the butt-end of the Vietnam War When I Americans lost and felt ashamed about. first reached Thailand, a lot of Western flotsam and jetsam sat around in bars drinking too many beers watching bootleg videos of Apocalypse Now You stayed at seedy hotels made of breezeblocks where a lot of GIs once humped bar girls on R&R and ate bowls of noodles at street side stalls. The air smelt of two-stroke fuel and fish sauce...So, fascinated by the contrast with my own Anglo-American and European upbringing, I embarked on a career in journalism, returning to the region towards the end of the 1980s, just as prosperity kicked in.

The late 1980s and the decade of the 1990s were times of great change and upheaval in Southeast Asia. The shade trees and untidy street stalls disappeared. Up went neat rows of tinted glass towers.

In came the BMWs and Mercedes. Suddenly everyone had aircon and business people wore proper shoes, suits and ties. Development and progress spurred movements for reform. Some people got rich a good many more people got a lot poorer. Economic growth meant more contact with the outside world and pressure on governments to be tolerant and open. But, to a lot of people's surprise many things just stood still a

and resisted change...

22 I

correctness which in my mind is one of the bigger untruths that have been perpetrated on humankind.

Now the fact that I didn't say mankind is in itself

really changes very much and probably nothing will for a long time yet.

Then there was my discomfort with some of the new trends in journalism. Modern journalism is a prisoner of values. What was once a way of presenting naked facts and the unvarnished truth for others to judge has

become entangled

in the modern world's obsession

with what is right and wrong. Globalisation has brought

with it an effective form of cultural and moral

homogenisation. Instead of simply observing and reporting, the modern journalist is compelled, almost by convention, to weigh up and judge what he sees.

This forced frltering bothers me, a bit like being forced to see the world through tinted spectacìes. In search of an antidote, I turned to frction. Fiction became a means of escaping the strictures of modern political correctness. ere in Asia, where freedom cannot always be taken for granted, written expression is avaluable antidote to tyranny. Writing is to culture what arteries are to blood supply and some of us believe that culture is what determines

the relationship between individuals, society and politics. These, to my mind, are all political statements.

And they should, I think, remind us all of the scope for creative writing in Asia as a chronicle of these turbulent times.

I Debøta.ble Land

By Michael Vatikiotis

Talisman Publishing Pte Ltd, Singapore

rsBN 981-04-2623-2 PB HK$85.00 THE CORRESPONDìj,NT JUNE-JULY 2001

I tt

quite PC. The cast of characters in my novel The Unwalled City are not nearly quite so coy. They don't have to be. They are not in a public forum where they might get misquoted. They are just ordinary people whose opinions are their own and whose lives are as politically correct or incorrect as ordinary lives tend to be.

How do you get around being PC. Well as a certain sporting brand says, you just do it. My characters say what they will about China, the Hong Konþ government, the handover...they do all of this with impunity because they don't really exist. Right? Of course, anyone who believes that needs only to think about Salman Rushdie to know that fiction can be quite potent in offending the wrong people. But in my case, these fictional characters behave rather like ordinary people, which means that they can ignore the handover if they choose to....

Anyone who has ever been married knows that the marriage proposal can be a completely different story depending on whether the bride or groom tells it, never mind the first big fight of married life. So the important advantage of fiction is not having to be obsessed about the actual events, just about the lives I am trying to create. What I need to borrow of real events, these all will already be in the archives and I have to just research and pull them out. llere, I need to backtrack a little bit and tell you that when I first began the novel, it wasn't in fact about the handover at all. I stood at this very Club and said to (a) novelist (friend), "I am writing my women's book" and he replied, "How frightening." I think, he might have just as easily said, "How politically correct..."

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY

2OO1

My Hong Kong novel doesn't have a single British protagonist. This probably stems from my personal

experience because I can write only about what I know. I had been away from Hong Kong for about nine years or so. And when I came back to visit in 1991 originally, I was quite startled to find that the American population was actually outnumbering the British population. Then I returned to work a year later for Federal Express, an American company, and this was quite a contrast to my earlier life back in the 1970s when I worked for Cathay Pacific Airways... It also struck me that so many Hong Kong people who chose to live abroad, many for the passport insurance, would go everywhere but Britain.

Now again this is an advantage of fiction. You don't have to care what Hong Kongers are supposed to be about. Just what it is. And the social reality I saw had more locals and non-British foreigners than not. I did get one minor British character in and a German .just to give the Europeans a shot, and also an American of Cuban descent, all in minor roles. I suppose in fiction, absence speaks as loudly as presence....You don't have, for a moment, to pretend that a novel is objective. In fact I think the more entirely subjective it is, the better. I can't imagine writing without a point of view, which to me is the whole purpose of writing. As a novelist and social obsen'er, a certain oþectivity, of course, matters which is in part how a women's book can turn into a handover novel.

I

The Unwallecl City

ByXuXi Chameleon Press, Hong Kong rsBN 1-387-80214-0 PB HK$129.00

23

Eat Cook !

J o o

õ

worked as a food and travel journalist in Hong Kong for seven years, including a weekly food column for the SCM Post. She taught a cooking class at her lunch while describing her book.

Nell

lr{elson has

at Cook Hong Kong lives up to its name: It is a 120-page, full-colour cook book with recipes, shopping advice, cookery schools, private caterers, a restaurant and bar listing, written for residents and visitors to Hong Kong. The stunning food photographs

by A. Chester Ong and charming illustrations by Rachel Brebner only add to the yum factor.

The book reflects Hong Kong's wonderful stir-fry

cuisines,

its cultures and people: Chinese,

of

British,

Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, French, Australian and Japanese.

It

contains more than 60 recipes collected

l

o m

lo

from local residents, chefs, cooking classes and visiting chefs and as well as from her travels in Asia.

Most important, the information is presented

in a livel¡ user-friendly manner divided into six chapters. I Eøt Cook Hong Kong

By Nell Nelson Asia 2000, Hong Kong rsBN 962-7160-98-9 PB HK$138 Spot the dot Somewhere in that mass of heads (/efl) is Denis The "V" sign l¡efore (top) and after (above)

Bp,nny Bnoç

s.

Runn

Denis Gray, AP's Bangkok Bureau Chief, went to Phnom Penh to swim the Mekong River. His tale.

FrNe \4¡lsn Ct-ris

he Sixth Annual Mekong River Swim was

billed as a race for "sturdy swimmers and romantic amateurs" but nothing was said aboutjournalists trying to fight off middle age. I decided to give it a go anyway, armed with some pool work in Bangkok and a secret training memo from Nate Thayer, the former AP and Far Eastern Economic R.eaiau reporter who had scooped the world when he intervierved Khmer Rouge leader

Tel: (852)2110 1680

Fax: (852)

2ll4

0996

www.bbr.com.hk

Pol Pot.

The hard-living Nate, who competed in the inaugural event, offered two tips: "Don't stay up drinking all night (like he did), and keep rigidly to a course straight for the finish point, or the currentwill getyou." So, like a good journo, the night before I restricted myself to a beer or three at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Cambodia with old friends.

The next morning, gathered on a grassy bank north of Phnom Penh, many of the 90 other THE CORRESPONDENT.JUNE-JULY 2001

THE CORRESPONDENT.JUNE-JULY

2OO1

competitors looked formidable, and au,4ully young Cambodia's top marathoner, a Dutch woman I -mistook for Olympic superstar Inge de Bruijn and a clique of Frenchmen strutting around in black bikini trunks.

Cheered on by Chris Decherd and Andy Eames, of AP's Phnom Penh bureau, I stuck to my game plan, paying due respect to mighty Mother Mekong, and from the corner of my eye saw much of the freld being swept downstream. The last 100 metres were punishing, and best of all, those but I survived to emerge llth in sight. were nowhere French show-offs swollen ego was late¡ my considerably A few days

deflated when my father, long used to my adventurous escapades, wrote: "MuÈ. by the time you're 70, yott can manage to win the race." I The Setenth Mekong Riaer Swim is scheduled for

AþriI I,

2002. All are inuited.

25

The Man Who Toolr

.) o c l o

T

I

T

o l m

radiocast that da1.. He had no idea of the significance of what he had just sent.

"To me it was just another evacuation picture. There was so much of that stuff going on. It wasn't until the by telex next day that we started getting reports back in those days that we had absolutely -taken the enemyJ which was the Associated Press, because they didn't have this. Every newspaper in the United States ran it front page, some of them across six, seven or eight columns," he remembers.

tograph, but still had no idea of the resonance of the image he had captured. The picture has been regularly in print for more than a quarter of

By Robin Lynam

for the issue marking the 25th

Saigon evacuation One of the most used pictures of the

In Hong Kong he finally caught up with the show to see that staging of the picture he shot on April 29,19?5 which 26 years later is still one of the most famous news photographs of the

taken.

The simple stark image of a

war ever

helicopter tal Mlss Salgon

helicopter about to take off from a rooftop, pursued by a desperate mass of humanity swarming up a ladder

in a doomed attempt to climb aboard, is the defining Press

a century. 'llime used

Van Es shot the chaos around the embassy and returned to the IJPI office to process his film. He was in the dark room when somebody shouted. "There's a chopper on the rool'.

Although most people believe that the helicopter he shot was the last to leave from the US embass¡ according to van Es that is a misapprehension based on the assumption

that there were no evacuation points elsewhere in Saigon. In fact there were several, and the UPI staff had already speculated on whether the CIA apartment building they could see from their office

might be one of them.

"The ladder had been there for

ages

and the top of the roof was steel plate reinforced. Then all of a sudden the chopper showed up, so Ijust rushed out on to the balcony, grabbed the camera and put the longest lens that I had on it which happened only to be a 300mm -which was not half long enough. The more expensive stuff had all been taken out in the evacuation," he observes with an air of professional dissatisfaction undimmed by time.

image of one of the defining moments of the twentieth century and van Es, who was working for United

e only had time to fìre off a couple of

(UPI) at the time, shot it almost International

frames before the helicopter pulled away.

As he remembers it only about half the people on the ladder got on. The rest

by accident.

"I was the only Western photographer left behind with the photos at the bureau. It was the day of the evacuation of the American embassy and everything

stayed there waiting

very chaotic," he remembers. "\Me went to the embassy and a bunch of the UPI guys left from there, but the grolrp that stayed behind, including myself, had already made up our minds to see out the rest of the war."

Annoyed that he had not been able to use the right lens, Hugh knew that he would have to enlarge the central image and crop the picture before sending it, which he duly did, getting it back to UPI on the 5 pm

was

26

came back.

^ couple of lawyers. Then old Mr

Betlmann soìd the enlire

an Es knew then that an important news pho-

Vietnam War

everywhere since."

company, and only had

-

but the helicopter

never

TFIE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

it

archive

observes philosophically.

Some of the consolations of authorship transcend the financial. He takes a quiet

as a cover shot

satisfaction in the fact that one

anniversary of the fall of Saigon, and it was run again in many

if not of his photographs remains his best technically most one of the world's

newspapers when the 26th anniversary came around this year. He has no idea how many thousands of times it has been reprinted.

"It came to be the image of

recognisable images.

"This isjust guesswork on my

part," he says, "but I think the people who wrote Miss Saigon were somehow influenced by that photograph. They maþe saw it in 1975 or perhaps even later because it's been reprinted so many times. Maybe it even had something to do with the that idea for the musical must Anyr,r'ay it sense of panic.

the end of the war in Vietnam. It still is and it's still used all the

time. There are helicopter pictures from the embass¡ but

for some reason they're not

to a

company called Corbis, owned by one Bill Gates who has a legal department with about 150 lawyers on the payroll. There was not much point in pursuing it," van Es

he had taken

Picture $ee$ the $how hortly after the musical Miss Saigon opened in London, veteran Vietnam War photographer Hubert van Es, who was visiting from Hong Kong, dropped into the Reuters office to say hello to some old friends.

"I walked in," he recalls, "and the fìrst thing the photo chief said was 'You're not going to believe this, but I went to the press showing of Miss Saigon last night and all of a sudden in front of me, onstage, is your photograph including the helicopter.' He offered -to arrange tickets for me, but I was leaving the next morning, and I've missed it

rights to the picture. A window of opportunity seemed to have occurred when the UPI archive, including the picture, was sold to the Bettmann Archives, a photo eventualit)/ he says was definitely not agency but in the end covered in the handshake deal nothing came of it.

"The UPI archives were sold to Bettmann and my lawyer was in touch with them. Bettmann had millions of photographs, but was not a very large

as

Star power Deedee Lynn Magno, the star of dramatic, maybe because people Miss Saigon, with photographer Hubert van Es on couldn't get close enough, and opening nlght also because there weren't all have had an impact." I these people on a ladder. There it was controlled. The panic was outside the embassy where people were Reþrinted with þermission from Asian Wall StreetJournal. trying to climb in over the walls and the gates and being beaten back by the marines," he explains.

Footnote: As many FCC members uill be aware the "somePhoto editors around the world know who shot the body" who shouted "There's a choþþct on the roof' uas the late picture, and sometimes van Es gets a credit alongside þYC President Bert Okul.e1, the man lor uhom Bert's, the Club's or instead of the agency that now owns the image. jazz bar; ß named. To haue explained his role in the storl in the \44rat he never gets for the re-use of that timely frame ÃWSJ þiece uould haue been a digression for uhich sþace did rs money. not alktw, but in-|he Correspondent it should be acknowlzdged.

Back in 1975 UPI gave him a US$100 bonus for Something eLse Hugh told me for which I did not haue sþace, the picture's success, and since then it hasn't made him a cent.

"I wish I had the rights to the photograph which I don't have. I think I probably could have retired," he observes ruefully. "I shot it for United Press International so they owned the copyright, but there was never anything formally agreed. Everything in those days was done on a handshake. There rvas

no contract."

For some time he had a legal adviser looking into the possibility of asserting the original photographer's TIIE CORRESPONDENT.JUNE-JU

LY 2OO1

but would like to mention here, is that his fauourite reþlication in a Dooneshurl, striþ of of the þicture is in cartoon form which Gary TTudeau sent him the original.

Van Es, Bob Dauis ancl I attended the first night party in the Peninsula, at which time Hugh discouered that not euerybody is grat{ul to him for taking that shot. Cameron Machintosh, the show's þroducer, told him that setting uþ the helicoþLer tor shows uorld-uide has cost him

he wishes

it

a

fortune, and

had neuer been tahen. Van Es thinks he was

joking. RL

27

Hidden CEOs,

o q

z o

T

Crouchittg Scribes

Veteran freelanc er Dan Kubiske reports on the trials and tribulations covering the recent Fortune Global Forum

\ V/t/Y

f::åT i:il:'.

Ëi ;i:.i'ä"1'.

S'îii^1

people and to re-establish old friendships.

At least that is the one thing the 1,300 journalists covering the event were able to do without the inter-

ference or permission of the sponsoring organisation.

While the rich and mighty met in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, thejournalists were locked away in the Press Centre. Our colour-coded badges made sure none of the hoi polloi got anlwhere near the CEOs and government officials who paid

outlets with more than one person accredited to the conference went outside to see how the demonstrators were doing. They also had people woiking the phones trying to line up some local experts to talk about the issues raised in the public sessions. But those of us who are new to the Hong Kong scene and one-man bands did the best we could.

We attended the post-panel press briefings. At least

we weÍe then able to get more detailed questions answered by the panelists who had agreed to meet with us. And we attended the Hong Kong government

US$5,000 each to attend the event.

press briefings to hear how the security

isolation, the logistics hadn't been thought out completely, leaving several reporters grumbling about the problems. To be fair the Fortune people understood the problem and brought in more extension cords the next day. Then there were the phones. There were a handful of phones for international calls as long as you had the right kind of card to make the call. The SC,44P reported that one out oftown reporter r,r,ho had asked where to get the proper

measures were proper for the

In addition to the

card for the calls was told to go to the 7-11.

FORTUNE

28

circumstances, how Hong Kong will benefrt from this conference and how

the copyright infringement war

is

being won.

And we got to know each other better and share war stories from events

gone by. We also learned there is a beneht to us when a speech has to be appro'r'ed by a committee.

We were able to get advance copies

GLOBAL FORT]M

But those were just logistics. \Mhat was clear was that we could not interview the participants. And we were kept away not by the Hong Kong government, but by Fortune, itself a media outlet. We were kept almost as far away as those pesky pro-democracy demonstrators and yellow-shirted breathers. We could "cover" the conference by watching video feeds of dre sessions.

When we asked for a list of participants we were told it was not being made available. Could we have the promised list of participants and speakers who said they would be a'r'ailable for inten'iews? Blank stare.

Glimmer of understanding. Got the list. Mostly sponsors and a few participants each with a number of a public relations officer. The juicy possibilities of interviewing key Mainland officials on the list evaporated when the contact numbers were for Beijing only.

We listened to the sessions that were piped in. News

\

of

of PresidentJiang Zemin's speech just minutes before it was delivered. \Alhile Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and former US President Bill Clinton did not provide copies of their speeches.

t was at the end that I realised how much I envied my newspaper and wire service colleagues. Because I write for a specialty publication, I could not write about the demonstrations or the security methods. So

Fortune got what it wanted. We reported on what people said at the e'r'ent and mentioned their name every time we did so.

As for me, I did get a lot of business cards from fellow journalists and a couple of offers to write for other publications in the near future.

Oh, yeah, one last thing. The free coffee they provided in the media section was terrible. I Dan Kubishe is a freelance journalist coaering trade and enuironment issues for the US-based Bureau of National Affairs and other þublications.

Tr-rE coRRrspoNDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

$ay You

lution

All Rl$htl"

The Asian Wall Street Journal's Brett M. People Power II. His observations: learned a thing or two in Manila during the long

weekend in late January when Philippine President Joseph Estrada was toppled. Above all was the novelty that revolutions don't have to be bloody. They don't even have to be necessaril;' in fact they actually can be rather fun. threatening This is not to say that the so-called People Power II was an occasion for dinnerjackets and dry martinis, but most of the middle- and upper-class Filipinos responsible

for giving Erap the boot did seem to have a pretty good the time of it. This year's rallies at the EDSA shrine site from which the 1986 uprising to oust Ferdinand were marked mostþ by a Marcos was also propelled 1960s festival atmosphere. Rock 'n' roll blared, teenagers danced on top of cars, strangers hugged and passed around bottles of booze, and street vendors hawked everything from "Fry Erap" T:shirts and bumper stickers to designer drugs and black market condoms.

Funloving debauchery is not the usual stuff of political insurgencies in developing countries. But this carnival ethos epitomises the Philippines. It is impossible to avoid the distinctly Filipino love for melodrama that colours all aspects of national life, including revolution. Soap operas rule the airwaves, local music is very Shakespearean-sentimental and everyone is histrionically opinionated about everything. A leader's approval ratings can go from 85Vo to below 10% overnight. Approximately 50 THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 200r

Decker was

on hand in Manila for

actors, athletes and other celebrities ran

for public

offrce in the May 14 elections.

This is not to suggest that ¡vhat was at stake rvasn't serious, or that the solutions to the nation's political problems were facile. Deposing a populist and popular

democratically-elected leader mid-term in a nascent democracy risks undermining common appreciation of the vote. Then again, u,hen the system of laws breaks down, any peaceful transition can be seen as a positive step forward.

These riddles all make great grist for an editorial writer.

There were moments when the tinderbox capital seemed on the verge of igniting. Military convoys were parked all around town, blackouts cloaked some neighbourhoods, roadblocks bottled up the thoroughfares and street fights broke out in the Makati business district and outside the Malacanang presidential palace. But the whole time the military kept its cool. Or almost. One camouflaged, M16-toting soldier knocked me down and snatched my camera as I was snapping shots outside Estrada's hiding place. When I gasped that I was an American, he snarled back: "That's why I didn't shoot you, Joe." Another Joe, the one named Stalin, supposedly cracked that revolutions can't be made with silk gloves.

People Power II turned this axiom on its head. Erap, the selÊstyled man of the people, was ot¡erthrown by Manila's silk stocking elites. But all stuffy political theory aside, it'r,,as simply one heckuva party. I 29

You're flying aspy plane over enemy territory and youn're accidentall¡r rammed by ÍÌn enemy jet. Your

FCC Photographer of the Year Awards

next five steps?

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong (FCC) invites the professional

Mike Paterson, Journalist

1. I wish I'd taken mum's advice and become an accountant.

2. It's time to lose the 'Better dead than red' T:shirt.

3. \44ey did I allowJake to talk me into swapping shifts?

4. \À4rat's f#fiVok. Chinese for 'I thought this was the charter flight for Honolulu?'

5. Thank God the US would rather land a spy plane in enemy territory than ditch it in the

photographers and photojournalists of Hong Kong, FCC members and members of their families to submit their photographic works for consideration in the inaugural FCC Photographer of the Year Awards.

The awards seek to promote and showcase contemporary photography in Hong Kong.

Both traditional and innoyative styles and media will be considered, including images created by special processing techniques and digitally enhanced or altered images. Special awards may be given for innovative styles.

sea.

Awards will be judged in two divisions, Professional and Non-Professional, and two special categories, 'The City of Life - Hong Kong is it!' and Action Asia Adventure Travel Award, open to entrants in both divisions.

Janet Walke¡ Dolphin Watcher

Professional Division Open to all professional photographers and photojournalists resident in Hong Kong, and professional photographers and photojournalists who are members or absent members of the FCC. Entrants in the Professional Division may enter in all or any of the following categories and sub-categories:

1. Put on a parachute.

2. Open the door.

3. Jump.

4. Swim like hell.

5. Go home to mommy.

. Hong Kong

- News - Magazine features - Advertising - Corporate

. Asia

- News - Magazine features -

Advertising

Chris Dillon, Corporate Comrnunications Consultant

Non-Professional Division Open to all FCC members (who are not professional photographers and photojournalists) and family

1.

2.

3.

4.

members, including children.

5.

Notice the dampness in myflightsuit.

Check telephone log Have I called ?

Have serious talk with USN careers officer.

Have even more serious talk with navigator.

Check passport for valid China visa.

(wife, girlfriend, mothe¿) lately?

. The Wonderful World of Travel . Young Perspectives of Hong Kong (for family members under the age of 16 at the time of the competition,) Special Categories - Open to both Professional and Non-Professional entrants.

. City of Life - Hong Kong is it!

This award is sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and seeks to promote images that capture the unique qualities and character of Hong Kong. There will be prizes awarded in both divisions by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and winning entries will be eligible for consideration by the judges for the Grand Award of FCC Photographer of the Year in their respective divisions.

Dermot Tatlow, Photographer

1. Rewind the in-flight movie in

case

I missed anything.

2. Order a Bloody Mary.

3. Walk up and down the aisle, stretch

. The Acfion Asia Adventure Travel Award

a bit.

This award is sponsored by ActionAsia and seeks to promote the best of adventure travel photography in the Asian region. There will be one prize awarded overall with runner-up and merit awards also awarded by Action Asia and winning entries will be eligible for consideration by the judges for the Grand Award of FCC Photographer of the Year in their respective divisions.

4. Order another Bloody Mary 5. Fall asleep

Entries close October 31,2001 Michael Morrow, Publisher

Competition details, entry forms and rules, sponsor details and exhibition schedules, will be available from the FCC Front Office from June 1, 2001. Tel: 2521 l5ll E-mail: fcc@fcchk.org

1. Get rid of my sandwich.

2. Wave.

3. Check my parachute.

4. Locate my Chinese-English dictionary.

5. Call Dubya.

I

CROWN

t

RI(

Photos by Luke Hunt

t0

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

HONG KONG TOURISM BOARD

ãiËfiftüðåEE I

C¡THAYPNcIFIC

r

ttlE €nEll

FCC SPËl.l-CllECll

CCËPElltlCI

I once had a Spellcheck which, at the press of the wrong button, Hong Kong cämeout as Honeysu(kle Komminsky and our dear leader as Tongue

Chihuahua.

The objective of this competition as two rite woft 4}-weird peace witch cane p¿trse yore smell cheque. ie: To write one fort), word p¡ece which can pàss your 9pe]lcheck. Details of this (ompetlt¡on cðn be found in the ne¡c column.

{

Tung u$ the W.A.lll .

by Arthur Hacker

COMMUTER COMPARE TTrlAN

of

Wee awl no thatch smell chegues err tea brain tod dy's coffes po n ¿ en ce -

iven his dubious popularity with the press it was brave of HKSAR Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa to appear before more than

Rite won fortæweird pirce witch c¿rne parse yore smell <heq.ue. ryg: "Their ouncewère free

bares--.'

1,000 media executives at the opening of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) annual conference this month.

Still, despite the event coinciding with the 12th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, he could have been forgiven for a false sense of security.

His police force's tartan-clad pipe band was there, his

Yew most knot replete a shingle ward lnn yore

ticks-

l.

\,

Taby juggd bye

ù

If

9ea

5æ idiatTory all bored'

ORE FUI.T

'^{EI.L

tourism board 'r,r,as allowed to show its promotional video and the entire auditorium had risen to its feet in honour of his arrival. Then the gloves came off. \AAN President Roger Parkinson's opening speech

PRICES

Won copper off Author Knackels off Hung King.

Firs:

The fireworks started immediately when the president of the World Association of Newspapers, Roger Parkinson, led off with a severe attack on China's "repression of freedoms". Barry Neild reports

ABC

was unequivocal.

iex hound: To Art fur Hakka bræks.

Fræ Arty Kn ickers Nooks.

Turd:

6'la/r,¡¿¿¿ V'r,

Looking for a

lStrrdeaur

souvenir of the Club?

5

),ß ,i;;

r,u. rrJ

u¡rrrirur Rcu.ç [99/ r-''

{¿e/Ie

'¡¡'r"¡rÞ'r.r"

yi,;t^*

-

fJ(Ã,,,go,m

Lighters

$150-160

Ties

$160

Umbrellas T:shirts Cufflinks Baseball caps Postcards Cigarette boxes Wine glasses Bermuda shorts Name cardholders Shirts Luggage tags Windbreaker Keyrings Wallets

$100-200 $1 10

$75-Bo $40 $3 each $80 $36-7e $1 10

$75

lt¡rf,

tt,\lIì

Hl

t'f

fi

1t:r!F

lrti

ortgtnatprice per bottt,e: f tlr).0.

FCC Member's Speclal:

-

llrr rr

Þ,tlt¡,

ú

|

I

(1r

e

-

f_..,*-Íï:î,;l

Price per hotlle $lt)8_ll(-) 996,1-lt]¡trntile Prire per çase lrrt Price per cäse nl 2 & aber,,,e $10.tlCJ/hnttle

*

Each cãse çnnlains

lI

hnttle.ç nf

ll.lSL

$1 15

$60

$zro $30 $125

For lunther lnformation, please vlslt our web-slte at wm{¡.chatraulabourguette, com

or contact Beverþ l(oo at (85?l 2ff91-91S8 STATE FUHI} IHVESTMENT L¡MITEE Twm ¡, l+po Crn¡r, t q¡xrrwä, Crntr¿|. tlon¡

Sultr ll0Ê,

32

ì

l{116

IHE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

"The current leaders in Beijing could go down in history, but only if they chose, as the visionaries who sensed the needs of their times and gave back to the people for the good of their people, the natural right to the free exchange of information and ideas," he said.

*tr

"They could alternatively, simply keep marching down the same route on which they are apparently embarked: more information police, more arrests and more rmprrsonments.

"There is still time to reverse this new spiral of repression of freedoms in China, but not really much time." Softening a little, he added: "In all fairness, we must commend the Chinese go\/ernment for keeping its word and Parkinson stayrng true to rts commrtment to uphold or tolerate in Hong Kong those freedoms which it continues to withhold from the other 1.3 billion people in this nation."

In what the SCM Posf reported was a change in his prepared speech, an agitated Tung abandoned his usual sedate delivery to pick up the gauntlet thrown before him. Emphasising that he was "not a spokesman for China," he launched into an emphatic defence of the mainland.

"The fact is that enormous progress is being made everywhere in China todayi'he said. 'You need to be there personally to witness the changes that are taking place THE CORRESPONDENT.JUNE-JULY

200 r

and to understand the strong sense of nation-building and the unity or purpose in pursuing this common goal."

He told delegates including Timothy Balding, WAN's secretary general, who is barred from entering

the Mainland they should visit China before jumping to conclusions.

'You shall appreciate that the current leadership in China is one of the most enlightened and progressive in our history. All the foreign and international leaders who have met them are nothing but impressed.

"To truly understand China you have to understand our histor¡ our culture and the direction in which China is moving I am confìdent that having seen things for yourself-your views will be different."

As Hong Kong iMail columnist

#

Nury Vittachi would later point out, the only way most of the assembled audience would be granted a visa to enter China as a journalist would be to lie about their professions.

While Tung, who left the auditorium within seconds of resting the case for the defence,

was probably a little uncomfortable

with the media response generated by the on-stage sparring, it certainly

grabbed the headlines in a way which would please the newspaper executlves.

he story made the lead

item on Hong

Kong's

TV and radio news, and took the front page of the Posl and the iMail, which carried a full page caricature of Tung as a cornered boxer by cartoonist Sara Seneviratne. The Aþþle Dailywas among

the Chineselanguage papers gleefully reporting Tung's performance, which was also carried by the international newswires and the BBC World Service.

In an innovative follow-up, t}lre Ming Pao dispatched reporters to press delegates for their views on press freedom in China a \¡oxpop which several HKSAR- reluctant to participate in on the basedjournalists were grounds that press freedom in China is not what it should be and answering such a question could seriously harm their or their China-based colleagues' ability to operate across the border. I 33

I

Findirg the best b ar

Ghilling

Down Under Finding the best bar on a pub crawl through Southeast Australia sounded like an easy trip

for two AFP stalwarts Oliaier Baube and Luke Hunt.It was not and instead a couple of beers were bloated into an epic on par with

ha Tpan

China's Long March.

L Fienberg relaxes in Vietnam's undeveloped beach resort of Nha Trang Robert

escending over Cam Ranh Bay on the approach to Nha Trang, Vietnam's eastern most ciry the view of the emerald islands and lush, rugged mountains surroundine' the town is truly spectacular.

Once on the ground, the hotel district along' the beach on Tran Phu Street is only a l0-minute drive from the airport.

This town of 400,000, with its bright blue fishing fleet, has some of the hnest beaches and weather on the South China Sea and, refreshingl¡

bikes and motor scooters can be rented. River boat trips can be organised that stop at villages, pagodas and plantations.

The central market consist of stalls and shops in and around a drab úvo-storey building where the goods

food, clothing, and household products

beach side of Tran Phu Street while hotels and more restaurants line the opposite side. The only hotel on the beach is the up scale Ana Mandara with garden villas only steps from the water. Another fairly new hotel is the 13-storey Nha Trang Lodge

Bicycles and motor scooters are the main means of transport.

Nha Trang remains somewhat off the beaten path and has a very

across the boulevard from the

laid-back, small town feel. I¡s colonial past is reflected in its broad boulevards

beach. Nha Trang's night life is pretty

tame although the centrally located a popular hang-out, famous for its 'Jam Jars" containing a concoction of orange juice, redbull and vodka and free

and well-preserved French-built

Sailing Club on the beach is

homes and public buildings. An imposing cathedral on a knoll overlooking downtown was built in the early 1900's. Across the Cai River are the Cham Towers, used for Hindu worship between the 7th and 12th Tower (above) and a deserted beach (lop) centuries. The villa of Bao Dai, temperature is Vietnam's last emperor, rests on another hilltop.

34

-

obviously for local consumption and not the tourist trade.

Restaurants and bars line the

has yet to be fully developed.

Excelìent swimming and snorkeling can be found around the islands. Charters take sightseers and divers on fullday cruises calling at some of the islands, including a few with restaurants where seafood and locally grown fruits are popular. Dive shops offer trips to the more serious snorkelers and divers fromJanuary to October. Besides boat trips and lolling on the beach, trekking in the nearby hills is popular and mountain

t could have got off to a better start. In Sydne¡

areas

shots

of tequila doled out

during

happy hour.

The best time to visit is from late January to August when the average

23' C. The rainfall is less than most

in the country and the Truong

"We just wanna eat," I insisted.

"Come back after six for dinner."

Baube found himself a lovely little hotel in a trendy

Son Mountains

and Ca Pass protect the town from major storms.

About 450 km north of Ho Chi Minh City and 1,200 km south of Hanoi, daily Air Vietnam flights take one and two hours, respectively. Relatively convenient to Hong Kong, Nha Trang is an ideal place to decompress and chill out, at least until the inevitable economic boom takes place. I THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-ì ULY 2001

part of the city. But after testing the local gigs in Kings Cross, Paddington and Darlinghurst he retrrrned to his room and cliscovered he had been robbed. Well sort of.

Baube was actually insulted because he held no possessions desired by the thief. Instead, the unwanted guest had nicked his bag to carry away the hotel's VCR and inside was Baube's Walkman. The pub's staff were wonderful. They apologised and allowed their French visitor to stay on rent free which translated into a minor profit of about A$40. Still it's hard to rate a place where a VCR counts as a status symbol, and Sydney was knocked out in the early rounds.

The next round moved to Tasmania. There were terrific pubs in Hobart and one had been earmarked, but the

young vixens behind the tills had trouble counting.

Fifty-doltar bills were unintentionally confused as $20 notes and we emerged short changed and minus the Sydney profit. We drove south to Port Arthur. No pubs.

Lots of historic ruins. We drove north along Tasmania's east coast and to bivouac at the Beachfront in Bicheno.

Gorgeous beaches and excellent food, the Beachfront was a real contende¡ but the locals had one

Repeatedl¡ we committed this offence until Devonport where we followed a bikie gang made up of Vietnam War veterans on the ferry to Melbourne. No probs getting a feed with those blokes around.

First stop in Melbourne was the Flying Duck Hotel in Prahran. It often rates as a choice pub. With an ideal beer garden, the pub boasts a wide menu and has won numerous awards for serving the cleanest of beers

JUnKJUnK Boat Trips . Parties .

Water Ski Wake Boarding . Scuba Diving Deep Water Bay . Hong Kong Elsie &

Bill.2141

5258 .9133 8303. 9139 1003

set of pool rules for outsiders and another for themselves, dictated by a local lass called Bush Pig. She

infuriated Baube by manipulating him out of a game.

The quest continued further north to St Helen's, east to Launceston, and northeast to De\¡onport. Though the drive was dotted with friendly establishments, getting fed was difficult.

"Please si¡ can we have lunch?"

A distraught publican looks at his watch. He gives us a confused look. Maddened, he curtþ exclaims, "It's 2:30!"

'Yeah any chance of a feed," says me.

The publican flinches. Realising we're not from these parts he patiently explains the cook works only between noon and 2 pm. and it just wouldn't do to do it any other way.

THE CORRESPONDENTJUNEJI LY

2OOI

If

you want to have a go at wake boarding, scuba diving or water skiing...the choice is yours.

All of us on the újunk junk' look forward to helping you throw a party. use a speedboat or just enjoy an end-of-day relaxing event.

35

WarnmNc Holn from the keg. Inside, the bar plays host to a marvellous

Unfortunatel¡ the Z-Bar exhibited some of the

collection of locals. It's the kind of place rvhere a politician rubs shoulders with a carpenter who gets drunk with a

worse qualities to be found on Melbourne's pub scene.

tennis star.

The fìlthy rich go unnoticed. Cathy Freeman pops in for an occasional ale as does Kinky Karen, a former footballer Old Boy from a swank inner suburb and Australia's most infamous transvestite. Her one-time beaus include a former Australian cricket captain and an ambassador to the United States.

And there's one in every crowd. At the Duck, a local who claimed to be on friendly terms with New Zealand (I didn't believe him either) buttonholed Baube and sought an explanation for the sinking of Rainbow Warrior in Auckland in 1983.

Baube, being French, retaliated by stealing his girlfriend for a night (he insists nothing happened). They met at the Greville Bar, an unpretentious but gracious rn'atering hole on the hippest street in town where local celebs knock about with foreign students and Kevin Costner once sought to seduce Kate Moss (I really hope he didn't do it).

But among the most talked about hangouts was a jazz joint, the Z-Bar, on nearby Chapel Street. The strip has changed since the FCC's Richard Hughes sucked his thumb and strolled the strip with his parents around 1910, and given the FCC's affiliation with the jazz scene across East Asia, a visit, a listen and a few beers were deemed appropriate.

SLEEK MODERNI

The southern capital is well known for notorious bouncers who zealously guard the doors to their establishments. The justif,red butt of many a joke, they are generally regarded as failed policemen or security

guards who get their power kicks by pretending a public bar is some kind of private club.

Bouncers are often the first face on any night out.

In Hong Kong these guys can be thorough gentlemen (well almost) . In Melbourne they can be rude exhibitionists. At the Z-Bar, bouncers manning the door were annoying irritants for what could be described as a world class jazzbar. They made itjust too hard to like the place.

Decisions, decisions.

Having ditched the Z-Bar, been robbed in Sydney, short changed and starved in Tasmania, outwitted by Bush Pig, blamed for a declaration of war against New Zealand, and after tripping through three dozen establishments, choosing a best bar was dead easl'.

The Greville Bar on Greville Street, Melbourne, gets the gong.

The bar is stylish, there are no bouncers, it's open till very late and the owner is a long-time local from the Flying Duck where, despite being a little tired, all the best aspects of pub culture have converged. And the surrounding street culture is hoot and comparable with any on offer from any city in the world. I

AND EXCITING

Q-UALITY MELBOURN E APARTM ENTS FROM A$239,000 ¡

SäÈtine

E

à

. .

TAKE ADVANTAGE ()F BUYING

Magnificent views 0f Gily and Bolanical Gardens

OUALITY REAL ESTATE OFF THE PLAN:

. Greal choice of spacious designs Huge renlal demand . Sleek, modern apartmenls ¡ Full resort facilities on site . Luxury inclusions throughout

.

.

.

hen I was still in New York covering the publishing industry for The Wall Street Journal, I frequently said that I would never write a book. I had seen too many writers work too hard to produce books that no one seemed to read. A few months after I became a Hong Kong-based foreign correspondent for the Journal, I changed my mind.

During the last days of 1998, the Sydney to Hobart Race, one of the world's most challenging yacht races, collided with hurricane-force winds and waves that were as tall as eight-storey buildings. Of the 115 boats that started in Sydney, only 43 made it to the Tasmanian city of Hobart. Seven boats were abandoned. Five sank.

Several men died.

A few days later, two friends

Delayed complelion

Secure with only 10 per cent deposit

Full lax benefits . Management and renlal program on complelion

PREVIEW: WWW. C E NT RA L E Q-U I TY. C O M rEL 2524 1249 OR EMAIL NOW FOR ßROCHURE: CELHK@CEN TRALEQ-UITY,COM

away

36 ll

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY

of mine

a literary

agent and a senior editor at Little Brown -& Company asked me if I would be interested in writing a book -about what happened. Even then, the project seemed propelled by fate. I had already been planning to spend the following week at another friend's house on Whale Beach, an idyllic hideawayjust an hour north of Sydne¡ and I used the week to explore the possibility of a book.

First, I visited Richard Winning, the owner of the Winston Churchill, a classic wooden yacht that had tr'vice circumnavigated the globe and raced in 17 Hobarts, including the fìrst one back in 1945. Winning told me how the Churchill was confronted by an almost vertical wall of water in the 1998 race. From his perspective at the helm, he judged it to be 60 feet high. It began to break well before the Churchill reached the peak, and the churning piles of water hurled the yacht on to its side and down the face of the wave. The boat sank less

than an hour later

E

WOBLD CLASS L0CATI0N

written a gripping account of the deadly 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. He explains how the book came to be.

G. Bruce Knecht, has

so quickly that Winning

2001

from the raft.

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNH,-JULY 200Ì

As he told me what happened after the wal,e passed, Stanley's eyes filled with tears. "I was still holding on to

the raft, and I called out, 'Is everyone here?' There was only one response." The surface of the water suddenly calmed, and it was covered by a foamy whiteness that made it possible for Stanley to see the heads of two men bobbing close together about 100 feet away. A third man was missing. And since the wind was pushing the raft much faster than the men in the water, the gap grew rapidly. Stanley never saw his friends again.

Boat Trips . Parties Water Ski . Wake Boarding . Scuba Diving Deep Water Bay . Hong Kong

Elsie &

Bill.2147 5258.9733 8303.

9139 1003

was

unable to transmit an-accurate position by radio.

My next interview was with John Stanley, a íl-yearold boatyard foreman who was Íhe Ch.urchill's most experienced sailor. Stanley described how the crew spent almost 30 hours on two flimsy life rafts. Sometime after midnight, an enormous wave, which was almost silent as it approached, lifted the raft before it began to break. The water was like a tidal wave, Stanley recalled, pushing his body forward, but also twisting it, as if he were inside a giant washing machine. Most of the ride was underwate¡ but he said it also felt as if he had fallen off a cliff. There was enormous pressure against his bod¡ all of it, Stanley thought, intended to tear him

E

.

The Proving G

Boat Bonanza!

Try the 6Big Banana'ride in Repulse Bay.......

It's fun for you, your friends and family.

Or rent a junk for the weekend, do wakeboarding, enjoy the open spaces of some Hong Kong islands.

Call us to give it a go!

AnouNo Trln FCC I listened to his story with open-mouthed amazement, by then convinced t this was a book I had to write. Once I returned to Hong Kong, I quickly negotiated a contract with Little Brown and persuaded the Journal to give me a two-year sabbatical.

rom the very beginning, I decided that I would focus on just three boats tt;re Churchill being one of them so that -I could develop rich - of the sailors and detailed portraits of some accounts of what had happened to them.

During the 10 trips I made to Australia, I asked everyone not only to describe the race, but to explain why they entered it and how it had changed them.

Sometimes I felt as if I was a therapist. \Arhen I hrst met the Churchill's youngest crewman, 19-year-old Matthew Rynan, he was reluctant to talk about his emotions. He clearly thought that to do so would be unmanl¡ so I told him about another young sailor who had nightmarelike flashbacks whenever he heard a crashing wave, a helicopter or even wind rustling through a tree. With that, the floodgates opened. "He told you that?" Rynan blurted. "The same thing happens to me." My first interview with Rynan lasted almost four hours.

Not wanting to limit the book to boats on which people died, I decided that one of my three yachts would be Sayonara, a79-foot maxi-yacht that completed the race in less time than the others. Its owner is Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle Corporation and the world's second-richest man. \,Vhy, I wanted to know, did someone who had accomplished so much want to win a notoriously difficult race so badly that he shipped his boat all the way to Australia and hired an all-star crew of America's Cup veterans?

Ellison may be best known for his towering ego, but

He views all of life

as a

-

One of the two non-professional members of

o o s.

' l\* lt

Welcome Young Eleanor Marie Slaughter was a mere 1 1/4 hours old when father Christoper began snapping her with mother Shelley. Stats: 7 lbs, 6 oz or 3,45 kg.

Ellison's 23-man crew was Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert's 27-year-old son and heir apparent. Like Ellison, Lachlan races for the challenge but his particular - Ellison's. Lachlan motivation is a bit different than seems to ìike danger for its own sake. Sitting in his

sprawling offrce in downtown Sydne¡ he told me, "Every once in a while I just have to do things that require me to make judgements about how far I can go.

It's not that it's dangerous as much as it's unprotected, if you know what I mean."

Every yachtsman had an interesting story to tell, and the job of weaving them together into a book was the best professional experience I've ever had. I had never written a book before or anything nearly as long, and the writing and revising sometimes seemed as if it would never end. But I looked forward to every day's work. In fact, while most authors reach a point where theyjust want to be done, I'm sorry it's over. I The Prouing Ground

By G Bruce Knecht

Fourth Estate ISBN: l-84115-265-X

H

yard of his home, I was also struck by his willingness to

æ

o

contest, one with a singular purpose

proving that he is better than everyone else. Going -fast is one of the ways he keeps score.

"There are two aspects of speed," he told me.

"There's the absolute notion of speed. Then there's the relative notion trying to go faster than the next guy.

- that is much more interesting. It's I think it's the latter an expression of our primal being. Ever since we were living in villages as hunter-gatherers, great rewards went to people who were stronger, faster."

during my first interview with him, a three-hour conversation which took place over lunch in the back-

:1È

'"ì"

TV star fhe SCM Post's ace financial columnist Jake van der Kamp was lhe subject of documentary recently On the road Vice President Ray Rudowski (left)fellow Board member Francis Moriarty in Vietnam

Merv Haworth Memorial Pool Tournament Winner Feng Chi-shun (right) and runner up Roderick MacDonald shown with President Jim Laurie (below, with cup)

lron man New FCC member Mark Sharp has been in serious training for the Badwater Ultra lvlarathon in Death Valley, California, in July, a gruelling 135 mile run in temperatures lopping 140' F (60'C) in the shade Regrettably hìs plans have been put on hold Mark, who's raised millìons of dollars for cancer charities lhrough his athletic endeavours, now finds he's had to postpone his participation due to a possible cancer scare of his own lVark holds two indoor rowing world records and ìs ranked among the top seven fastest British athleles for two consecut¡ve Sahara Marathons He is the first Hong Kong athlete to be invited to partic¡pate in this event, Putting Mark through his paces in the Club gym is Peter de Krassel, who is head of the backup team,

A 10% dðscount

Feøturông fine utínes from

offregularly príced

Itøly, Frønce,

wines

U.S.A., Austrølôø,

w¡A be offered on presentøtion of FCC tnembersbip

Cbile, Argentôna, Neut Zeølønd, and Cubø

Nefarious plots?

4

Ríaerø from Apuglùa, ftaly, FCC Wöne of tbe Montlt l6/F Goda Plaza Tel:2527 6217 51 Garden Road, Central

Happy birthday Historian, designer, raconteur Arthur Hacker kept h¡s 69th birthday so low key that only Jonathan Sharp (right) managed to suss oul the truth and offer his congratulations

card

LIMITED

H Ìåi+tÉã- FR^

38

o

talk about his psychological composition and what it was like to grow up knowing that he was born to an unwed mother who gave him up for adoption. No one, I quickly learned, is more driven than Larry Ellison.

Norway Constitution Day Helping the Norwegìans celebrate was Chief Secretary Sir Donald Tsang,

Executive Editor, Business (and former FCC President) Karl Wilson.

Fax: 2527 6255 THE CORRESPONDENT JUNEìJULY 2001

Oh to be a fly on the wall at this Hong Kong iMail nosh-up with Editor Andrew Lynch (right) and

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

39

Mother's Day

COLOR SIX LABORATORIES LTD.

Manager

Lam Yan Hung

.

Services: Film Processing

uE

EX1EÞT\)NAL A?15

of

AS1A

Unique, pelsonally-selected quality furniture Exclusive line of designer cushions, bolsters, tablecloths Pottery, outdoor/indoor (Earthenware, Celadon & Modern) Tableware (cutlery and exclusive Glassware) Baskets, Lamps, Weaving, Statues & Decoratot Pieces

Ground Floor, 184 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong. fel : 2526-0123 . Fax : 2524-9598 Managing Director Johnny Lee

Shop

/,SIAN ARTWONß ÀALLERY Þ?)vDLv ÞR0t401wq

Bali Artworks/Love That Liþstyle

ço¡or Enlargement

Unit I 1 13, Horizon Plaza, Ap Lei Chau Tel: 2606-7093 Fax: 2601 -4485

Warehouse:

Digital Retouching & Output

.::t'

Hong Kong Trade Development Council

ì

=;* wçeiÉË

^

i

Media Relations Manager Media Enquiry Hotlines

3B/F , Office Tower, Convention Plaza, 1 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel: 2584-4333 Fax 2824-0249 E-mail: hktdc@tdc org hk

Media Enquiry E-mail AA Web s¡te

For Hong Kong trade statistics, information and

Sau Ying

Wong

21447199

(English) 21aa7709 (Chinese) 22153331

Address

media@hkalrport com hkairport com

http://M

The Author¡Îy manages Hong Kong lnternational Airport

analysis, fast, callTDC's Corporate Communícation and

Marketing Department or visit www.tdctrade,com

S

I

9.+9wlf" ".

Elaine Freeman Business Development l\,lanager

Billy L.S. Wong

SPoRTathlon clubs Limited

Managing Direclor, Greater China

L.. t!i

2401. 2, World Trade centre, 280 Gloucester Road, Càuseway Bay, Hong Kong Telephone (852) 2805 5802 Fax (852) 2805 s462

More Than Moving ... Caring

E-mail ekeeman@sportalhlon com Site http:// ww sportathlon com

Crown Relocations Tel: (852) 2636-8388 Fax: (852) 2637-1677 E-mail: bwong.hksha@ crownworldwide com

Web

Wiesia A

Custom Made Window s -D e c orativ e P an els

Gift ltems

ÉH&

Hunter

Føt:25180065 Mobile: 90364731 e - mail : w ie shun@ hk.sup

Workshop Tuition Repairs

er.

net

SrarnBn Gr,lss Barbershop quartet? (L-R) Larry Hammond, Wink Pettis, Flynn Adams and Daryl Strodes

From Australia The Howard Lee Trio

Firhill Limited Relocation & Real Estate Consultants

Our experienced team can help you find the right home in Hong Kong. We also provide advice on relocation and offer

Phone: 28734467

Contemporøry

Ktathlon

INTEGßATED LEISURË SEÊVICES

orientation tours for newcomers on arrival.

Call Jenni Tinworth for more information Tel:2537 5338 Fax: 2537 1885 E-mail : firhitl @ hk.super.net www.firhill.com.hk

& Traditional Designs

A tnember of the Hong Kong Society of

Rea.L Estate

Agents Ltd.

HAMPSTEAD . HIGHGATE . KENSINGTON . KNIGHTSBRIDG6 HONG KONG . SINGAPORtr ' NEw YORK I

lll:Nl lÄN4 lll:l,Vl::''l RËSIDENTIAL

LÉTTIN

Donna

GS

Property to let in London -üØe

From

Australia Daryl Chin ON SAX

specialise in letting and management in Central London and the Hampstead area.

Ifyou are a prospective landlord or tenant, please call Susan on 2537 5443 to find out how we can help you.

From Los Angeles David Sills

FÍRST FLooR

ON SAX

40

THE CORRTSPONDENT JUNE-JULY

2001

. 28 ARBUTHNOI

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY

trOAD . CENTRAI,

200

1

. HONG KONG

Mongan

Suzanne

Dennis

PR

Manager

2807 6373

(English Media & Editorial)

Assistant

Manager

2807 6173

Fax: 2807 6595 E-mail: dm@hktourismboard.com I nternet: http://www. DiscoverHongKong.com

INFORMATION Ph

otog ra p h s-V i d eos- Featu res- L ¡te rat u re- B oo ks-

Sfafistics on all aspects of tourism 41

FREEIANCE WRITERS ROBIN Lll{AM - Features and l-rumoul pieces on travel, food, rvine and spirits, nusic ¿ind lirer:rture. Tel: (852) 2827 2873 Fax: (852) 2827 2902 E-mail: Robinlynm@compuserve.com FREEI-ANCE PHOTO GRAPHERS JFNNIFER BO\,VSKILL

- Spccialising

in porrrais,fashion,evenrs, fü mmerciaì

& Corporate photography TellFx. 2547 6678 Pager:7l168968 #8838 RAY CRANBOURNE - Eclitorial, Corporarc ard Indr"rstrial Tet: (852) 25248482 Fax: (852) 2526 7630 E-mail: cranS@hkabc.net BOB DAVIS -Colporate,/Advertising/EditoÌ'ial Tel: 9460 I 7 I 8 Website: www.BOBDA\{IS-photographer. com KEES PHOTOGRAPHY Neì{s . Featurcs . Online Tel:2547 9671 Fax: 2547 8812 F-mail: kees@pacific.net.hk HUBERT VAN ES - News, people, travel, commercizrl & movie stills Tel: 2559 3504 Fax: 2858 l72l Email: vanes@asiaonline.ner FREEIANCE ARTISTS GAVIN COATES - "SAY IT \A¡ITH A CARTOON!" Call Gavin Coares on Tel: 2984 2783 E-mail: gavincoa@netvigator.com

Sþortþix Interna.tional

SER\IICES ROSEMARY LEE

Acupurrcture (Nlember - British Acnpuncrnre Council) Tel: 9l7l 0952 E-mail: rosemary kao@hotmail.com VINCE LODEN Apple Nlacintosh. Trouble shooting. inrelner, nefivo¡kins aucl training. Nehvorkirg- (an1,size) and intcrgration lvith PC net\\.orks. OS X tlaining. Experiencecl Apple Trairrecl Engineer. Tel: 9425 6871 E-mai-l: vloden@mac.com

9836

l2l0 Fu:

(852) 2813 6394. Þmail: lockhmt@hkstar.com

CHARLES WEATT{ERILL \4kiting, editing, speeches, voice-overs and research bv long-tirne resident Mobile: (852) 9023 5l2l Tel: (852)

25241901 Fax: (852) 2537 2774, Ëmail: chmlesw@netvigator.com

of golf photography for all your editorial and commercial requirements. Ryder Cup and Please contact Asia's leading source

major tournament images are readi11, available, as are high quality photographs of leading goÌf courses from around the rvorld.

Conact Richard Castka on Tel,/Fax (852) 2550-9042 Mobile: (852) 9129-5662 E-mail: rcastka@asiaonline.net

FOR SAIE

THE STORE HOUSE We provide a flexible, low-cost solution to your personal and business storage needs: close to Cênral; from HK$480 p.m. upwards (48 cu ft); no extra costs; secure;

@Terry Duckham/Asiapix

7-day access.

Call2548 4049 or e-mail storage@glink.net.hk

Editorial Features, Advertising, Corporate and Commercial Photography throughout S E Asia and the Pacific

Tel:2572 9544 Fax: 2575 8600 E-mail: asiapix@ hk.linkage.net Website: terryduckham-asiapix.com/

AussielnHK.Gom "New Concept Mandarin is first-rate. I would highly recommend the school to anybody interested in studying Chinese." Michael Dwyer China C orresponde nt A u s t r al ian F inanc i al R ev i e w^ Course info: (852)28504332 (tel.)

'Er

RICHARD F. JONES Video Cameraman / Editor News, Documentary, Corporate 91

FCC website

@ bigfoot.com http://www.bigfoot.com/- RFJones

F

42

c

Media Consultancy . Editorial Services Speeches . Reports . PR Projects Government Liaison . Corporate Affairs

Contact Peter Randall to gain the benefit of 30 year's Hong Kong experience in newspapers, TV, radio, government, tourism and chewing the cud T: 6033 8450

. F: 2881 7514. E: plrandall@hotmail.com

>http://www.fcchk.org <. Let the world know who you are, what you do and how

Name:

a

FCC Membership No:

Company Name: Address:

Telephone:

Cartoons by Arthur Hacker HK$70 each

:

Road, Kowloon Tono

keen m i nd@netvíaator.com

tcopy attached Í 2lines @ $100 Í 3lines @ $150 ú 4lines @ $ZOO i 5 lines @ $2fO t Small box @ $300 per issue x 3* / $Zf O per issue x 6 -l Large box @ $600 per issue x 3* / $550 per issue x 6 D Large box w/ spot coloùr @ $700 per issue x 3* / $600 per issue x 6

How to beat news interviewers at their own game.

The indispensable guide to leveling the playing field when being hassled by radio, TV or press.

By TED THOMAS, written after over 30 years of interviewing celebrities and teaching the tricks of a despicable trade.

E-mail

or

úcopy

r wAS MrsQuoTED!

From FCC receplion or Corporate CommtLnications Ltd. I 004 Ea,st Town Blclg., 4I Lockltart Road, Wanchcti. Tel 2527 7077, Fax: 2866 6781

If you are interested, please send your detalled resume and salary expected to

to reach you.^tThere has never been a better time. Listings start at just $100 per issue, with minimum of a three-issue listing, and are billed painlessly to your FCC account.

04 5358

RFJones

- Native English speaker - Teaching experience preferred but not essential

PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS The Professional Contacts page appears in each issue of The Corresþondent and on the

www. newconceptmandarln. com

CCa

F/P-time English Teachers required by a Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong

l3 Cumberland

BOOKBUSINESS Establishecl name, solid business, business plan and tlaining incìuclecl. Exccllent oppor-tLuriq/ lor' (small) brrsiness-mìndecl pclson. I{eluctant sale Tel: 9243 0847

FREEIANCE EDITOR,/WRITER SAUL LOCKHART - All ),our eclitorial needs packed leatll,into one anncular body: Projects (repors, brochurcs, nc\!'slettel:s, rnagazires et al) conceivecl ancl pr-oducecl. Aldcles/Features devisecl, l'esearchccl and l'ritter-r. All u4th a friendh smile Tel: (852) 28f 3 5284. Mobile: (852)

ENGLISH TEACHERS REQUIRED

Clobal Sports Phorograph),

Fax:

E-mail:

Signature: HSEULE

T.l.2llllú

For more information call or fax 2981 1177.

MANOMLUTTO f{:l¡l¡ltt6

+

orpc om@ hk. I inkage. nef

THE CORRRSPONDI,NT JUNE-JUI.Y

200

Ì

Llinimum

oJ

3

issues

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2001

43

FCC frreplaceable

ยกl

Karen Penlington Member since:

Since

I conned Eric Waldburger, the GM of The

Pen to

pay the entrance fee (1987) Age:

Ijmmm... er...

Profession:

Blonde-ish

Nationality:

Kiwi and proud of it

Least likely to say:

Sorry, no time for another one

Most likely to say:

Yat-for-the-doe... and all that entails

ANY SHAPE. ANY SIZE. ANYWHERE. The world's largest air express company can be trusted to deliver, well, just about anything to

Photography by Robert Elliott / AFP 44

over 210 countries worldwide. See fedex.com for more THE CORRESPONDENTJUNEJ ULY 200

r

details. Welirยกetodeรฃiwer" X. Express

PricewaterhouseCoopers lnvestigations Asia Limited conducts investigative and business intelligence assignments throughouttheAsian region and in lndia. We work closely with clients to understand their issues, and to design cost effective solutions to mitigate threats to their businesses or to provide timely information to support strategic decisions.

Our services cover the full spectrum of risk mitigation, fraud prevention, detection and www.pwcglobal.com investigation.

The Core Services Preve ntative Servi ces: o lnvestigative Due Diligence . Business lntelligence in Emerging Markets

.

Vendor Assurance Programs

. Background Vetting Checks & . . . . .

. .

Pre-employment Screen i ng Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) lnvestigations Social Compliance lnvestigations Witness Evaluation Anti-Fraud Programs Anti-Corruption Programs Political Risk Assessments Contingency Planning

Reactive Services:

.

Corporate I nvestigations

. Fraud & Financial lnvestigations . Litigation Support . Strategic Management of Intellectual . .

. .

. . .

Property (lP) Consulting Services Distribution & Crey Market lnvestigations Asset Searching & Analysis Computer Forensic Services Computer Crime lnvestigations lnsurance Claims lnvestigations Corruption Inquiries Crisis Management Response Services

For details please contact: Steve Vickers Tel: (852) 2289 2522 E-mail: stephen.g.vickers@hk.pwcglobal.com David Holloway Tel: (852) 2289 2455 E-mail: david.w.holloway@hk.pwcglobal.com

fttcWnrwous{ĂŚPERs

@

Join us. Together we can change the world.'" @2001 PricewaterhouseCoopers. PricewaterhouseCoopers refers to the individual member firms of the worldwide PricewaterhouseCoopers organisation. All rights reserved.