The Correspondent, October - November 2003 by The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICAIION

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E FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLU

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Oh What A Nยกght! The Second FCC Charity Ball Spike Magazine is Born The SCMP Hits 1_00 Publishing on Demand

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Letters

From the President

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On¡,r¡on

Niglrt!

The FCC One, Big Business Nil

Chin Peng, Osama bin Laden and Parallels in History

Oh What A Night! The 2nd FCC Charity Ball

Con", Story

*^o,ography

U"ur.,re

The world's premier law firm

fEl

Wur*.ing Hole

More powerful legal solutions

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Politically Incorrect Tales from Yore

Beach Bumming in Phuket

Duhai:

m"atu

Pulitical

lr lncrrrect'làles

It's lrlo Oasis

A Day to Remember PEN Hong l(ong is Back Spike Magazine is Born

1ìonr Y<rre

Technology

noom

Members

'l'lrurL \iru 1ìl Callirt¡¡ F(ì(ì\\...

6tì

oun"ary

fl¿vs Book, Will Publish

The Soul of Hong I(ong. The SCMP Reaches 100

The Hollingworth Saga Greg

Club,{ctivities 29'n

POYA 2004

Floor, fardine House, One Connaught Place, Hong Kong

Davis Ig4B - 2oo3

Quiz Night, Bridge Around the FCC in Pictures

Telephone (852) 2821 8888 Fax (852) 2825 8800

Ansterdam Bangkok Barcelona Beijing Berlin Brussels Budapest Dubai Düsselclorf Frankftlrt Hong Kong Lonclon Los Angeles Luxembourg Nladrid tVlilan Moscou, Munich Nerv York Padua Palo Alto Paris Prague Rorne San Diego San Francisco São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Tok¡'o W"rsau, Washington D.C.

PEN Hong l(ong is Back

Professional Contacts

Qut of Context

Cavin Coates

Main Cover Photograph by Terrl, Duckham/Asiapix u,u'rv. cl

fforclchance. corrr

,IIIE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\¡[,Nf BER

2OO3

Hong Kong's new weekly for the sharper reader

fights break out occasionally between

The Ball was fantastic

TIIE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2521 1511 Far: (852) 28684092 E-mail: <fcc@fcchk.org> Website :

<rw.fcchk.org>

President Kate Pound Dawson Fist Vice President Thomæ Crmpton Second Vice President Kevin Egan

and save more than 20 per cent, plus a unique

Correspondent Member Governore Paul Bayfield, Mark Clifford, C.P Ho, Barry Kalb,Jim Laurie, Anthony Lawrence, Tyler Marshall, Ilaria Maria Sala

gift to mark the launch of

Jounalist Member Governors Francis Moriaty, Stuart Wolfendale Associate Member Governors David Garcia, Marilyn Hood, Anthony

Hong l(ong's latest magazine.

Nedderman, Steve Ushþma Finmce Comittee Conu

opposing Aussie Rules or cricket teams,

chairmen and the committee members

fishermen, cheese-makers and farmers.

are to be congratulated. You worked

Regardless ol the ioregoing comments,

long and hard, it was obvious, and it was

St Helen's is truly God's Own.

Membership Comittee Conumu: Sreve Ushiyma

Corotitution Comittee Conamn: Kevin Egan

The greeting by the

12 months (51 issues)

6 months (26 issues)

t($1,275

HK$ 650

Subscription Price

children

sat outside with

mate and a bottle or three and could

I'd died and

themselves drove home Lhe raíson d,'etre

have believed

for the evening in a delightful wa¡ the

Paradise.

hosts were excellent, the food very good,

warmer than sub-zero Hobart but the

and the entertainment was SUPREME!

locals refer to

It's not really that much it

as the Sunshine Coast

danced so

of Tas. The bottle-sharing mate owns

in front of the stage

the only travel agency on the East Coast

It's been a long time since much and stood

gone to

singing along! 'We

of Tas.

I will be working with her for I5-

Ball but, after our experience we will

20 hours per week organising her finance and admin. I also have an

certainly not miss the next.

accounting and wages restaurant client.

missed the

Ifyou

first FCC

Charity

are looking for new hands for

the next Ball,

would be pleased to

hope this

is a painless entry

volunteer. I was President of Women in

retirement. I celebrated (?) my 59th last

Publishing Society for a year and Chair

month when my sister Jennie and I

of the Business Excellence

Awards

were thrown out of the local at 1:15 in

Conunu: David Garcta

Committee of the Canadian Chamber for

the morning. You may perceive nothing

Freedom of the Press Comittee Conumn : Fr ancis Moriarty

three years and felt "volunteered-out"

has changed in the life and times of Dot

WaIl Comittee Convmq: Ilaria Maria Sala

by late last year. But I'm beginning to

on the turps.

Discount

General Mmager Gilbert Cheng

Houe/F&B Comittee

Cover Price

Last Sunday,

well worth it all.

mø : An¡ltony Nedderman

Professional & Entertaiment Comittee Conumrs: Mark Clifford and C P Ho

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co-

CLUB, HONG KONG

Subscribe to Spil<e today

the name of the Swinging Arrns. A few

From Judy Love Eastham # ?502

HK$999

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+2Oo/"

HK$550

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15"/o

The Correspondent

feel that

should get involved in some

capacity again and am ready to offer assistance where

From Dave Garcia # 8888

can.

O The Foreign Correspondents' CIub,

Hong Kong The Correspondent is published six times a yean Opinions expressed by writcrs in the magazine æe not necessarily those of the Club.

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Merz's

comments in the Cover Story of the last

From Absent Member Dorothy Ryan

ísste (The Correspondent Aug/Sept)

fill all my FCC friends in on my change of address. I'm now in St

expression applies only when Board

Editorial Hongkongnow.con ltd

Helen's, Tasmania, some 250 km north-

Members vote the way you want them

Just to

'fel:

2521 2814 Bmail: fccmag@hongkongnow. com

Production

e.Bst

Rising Offset Printing Company Ltd

Advertising Euquiries Sandra Pang

Pronto Communications

'lel:2540 6872 Fu: 2116 0189

of Hobart and two hours away from

to, otherwise we must resign?

seasons.

Correspondent Board Members two

The lown boasts one main slreel, lwo

votes to one when it comes to

supermarkets, two pubs (referred to as

journalism-related issues:

population

of 2,500 that swells

12,000 plus during holiday

the top and the bottom) and the usual

Website

retail outlets. The Top Pub also goes by

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

and

in the Letters Pages of the same issue who advocated giving

It's a fishing port with a permanent

Emaìl: advertising@fcchk.org

<ww.fcchk org>

So freedom of speech

Referring to Aileen Bridgewater's

the nearest airport at Launceston.

Asiapix Studios 'fel 25?2 9544 Fax:2575 8600 E-mail: asiapix@email.hk.net

Mobile: 9077 7001

Signature

Marty

Publicatiom Comittee Conuno: PatI Ba1[reld Editm: Diare Stormont Pro duction :'1 er ry Duckham

Printer

Tel: 852 3105 8921

Referring to

2OO3

comments

If you look at the composition

of the

Board, you would realise that this is a

mute point. The voting breakdown is as

Flom Former President Keith Kay

follows: Præi.dent - Correspond.ent member

First Vice Presid,ent mernber

-I

vole

Correspondent

vote

Correspondent board members

Journalist

-I

board, members

votes

Journalist

Aileen Bridgewater's previous issue of The

Corresponclent.

This attitude is not meant to be critical

am a past President of the FCC

many yeals before I was old enough to

4 votes

sit at the Main Bar.

Final tally: Correspondent

and

working cowboy

am currently

and reach Hong

dead but the membership

13 votes vs 4 to 5 fol

controversy at the Club lives-- and so

Associates.

I(ongos most

Texas and my

father

does the Club. In short, Noncorrespondent members have saved

discerning readers.

the ass of every Club President and

From Michael Alderton, Australia.

have kept the Club alive In an interesting exchange between

and

members have been reliable sources

(The Correspowhent Aug/Sept)

for Correspondent members as well

some

passing mention was made of General

dear friends to most of us.

Monis Abraham Cohen (fBBg

Love to the one or Correspondent and

1970)

being a "thug". As someone who has met the great man in the flesh, I would say that he was Nature's gentleman.

that the fair-minded

an too

for details. Sandra can be

two

Non-

correspondent members who may remember me. Any one wishing to contact me can reach me at:

reached at

TeI:2540 6872 Fax: 2116 0IB9

Mobile: 9077 700I

members of your prestigious Club will

not find this expression of alternative point of view

Contact Sandra Pang

Non- corre spondent

interesting.

Jonathan Sharp and Arthur Hacker

objectionable.

Correspondent

Journalist board members have 12 to

I feel hopeful

Advertise in The

and my father served on the Board

1 vote

Associate board, members

I read letter in the

sighed and chuckled as

of Aileen's thoughts or writing.

- 2 votes

SeconrJ Vice Presid,ent either a

or Associa,te member

-I

BB0 Creen Acres Rd.

E-mail:

Wimberle¡ TX 78ó76, USA.

Tel5I2

847

I2I7

advertising@fcchk. org

E-mail barnwoodtx@earthlink.net

Well, the party is over fol now. The 2nd Annual FCC Charity Ball was an incomparable success. The Ball laised $1.9 million for the schola'-ship fund to help students from the Po Leung l(uk. And nearly a thousand people partied like thele was no tomorrow. But perhaps the best part of the Ball and the events leading up to it had

And before the hangovers were gone, the committee members already were planning for the 2004 Ball.

producing The Correspond,ent. Wíth new digital printing technology, we should be able to cut the cost of

Although the Ball was our big event, plenty of other work has been

printing and distlibuting the magazine considerably. A new contlact lyith editor Diane Stormont means we can continue to improve and expand the

done at the Club over the past

scholarship

winners. They are a group of bright, hardworking kids who might not have been able to pursue their dreams if the

members have joined since July. Marilyn Hood, a long-time member of the Club, and an associate member of

FCC hadn't created the scholarship

the Board of Governols for

to be meeting our first

fund.

There are far too many people to thank for the Ball's success. But none

several years, has become our new rnarketing e4ecutive, and is busy lecruiting new members.

of it could have been

CROWNffi RELOCÂltONS

accomplished without the Ball committee, led by Tom Crampton and Dave Garcia. Sophia Harilela proved to be an incomparable fundraiser. And all those who donated cash, Iiquor, prizes and auction items proved just how generous a city Hong

I(ong is.

The FCC staff, as always, worked tirelessly to make the Ball happen.

fer,r'

months. After seeing our membership numbers drop by almost 200 since the economy turned bad in 2001, we have reversed the losses. Almost 100 nen'

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\T\,IBER

Since Marilyn has taken on the marketing job, she's leaving the Board. I want to thank her for all her r,vork on the Board. The Govelnors have invited Nick Fulcher to replace her. Nick ran for the Board earlier this year. There has been considerable work done by the Publications Committee,

led by Paul Bayfield.

At the same time, Sandra

of producing the

magazine should

drop.

The Photographer of the Year Awards competition is underway and of course, preparations have started for our annual FCC New Year's Eve bash. And we've got plenty of other action ahead for members, so the next few months should be busy. Kate Dawson

W'e've signed a

new contract with AsiaPix 2OO3

magazine.

Pang has taken over our advertising sales, and it looks like our ad revenue should increase in lhe coming year'. Thanks to these efforts, the Club's cost

for

oprnron

Thank you for callittg the F'CCU/. Press One

Mongolian ..

for

Peter Gøllo's latest mind-stretching experience in trying to ask a relatively simple question about phone services

has

In it

prompted another mad rant.

considers how the FCC would fare should the

Board decide to run the Club in the highly professional manner adopted by so many big

to improve

try. Nothing

else

will be available except ice,

crisps, peanuts and maraschino cherries. These

companies today. Always keen

so don't even

will

if "bundled" together. Drinks will be priced according to how many you intend to have and how fast you drink them. The Club will make money from the sale of glasses, and no there will not be a repair service. Members will be required to sign contracts binding them to drinking exclusively in the FCC for 12 cheaper

standards

of service

and

professionalism around the Club, we must obviously learn from the way the leading business gurus in Hong I(ong run their operations. The fact that the FCC is both efficient and profitable is totally irrelevant. We need to be thoroughly restructured.

This was brought home to me one recent Thursday after I had lunch in the FCC and then went off to deal with some other personal business. My lunch attracted no adverse criticism at the time. I ordered and soon got exactly what I wanted to eat and drink. It was only afterwards, having visited the premises of a leading mobile phone compan¡ that I came to appreciate how foolishly antiquated this was and how we must change to keep up with the times. Therefore all the staff who know what they are doing must be fired immediately. They must be replaced with adolescents with a pen on a string around their necks. The pens, although compulsory are a fashion accessory as nobody with one should ever have cause to write anything down. One person will be employed for the sole purpose of saying "Welcome" to everyone coming in and escorting them to a seat, not necessarily the one they want, nor one close to their friends, but it must be assumed that members are too dumb to find a seat unaided. Bar staff will serre a limited range of drinks. There will be

wine, either "red" or "white". There will be "beer", also "whisky" and two other drinks that are of no interest to anyone at all but will be supplied by Tiger's brother regardless. Mixed drinks, although technically possible in theory will be beyond the capabilities of the Staff altogether,

months if not longer. Questions

will of course be welcome, but Staff will never will, however, know the Hotline

have the answer. They

number you can phone. Someone will be employed to operate a tape recorder that recites useless and unwanted information, but although located in the front office, no face-to-face communication with the Members will be possible. Under no circumstances will the Hotline be answered by a human being, nor will there be enough lines to handle all the calls. The front office staff will have to go, to be replaced by one F4 school-leaver with the IQ of a clothes brush. Unable to

answer questions, naturally, he or she will help members phone the Hotline number, where the recording will fail to answer them in an infinitely more annoying manner. Tiger was in tears when told he would have to fire all the

staff, but regained his composure very well on learning that, as General Manager, his salary would have to be increased to exceed the GDP of Malaysia. Some Members may object, but they must remember that if such a system works for leading Hong Kong businesses then it will surely work for us. Things of course, come full circle. In my case, back to the Club on that Thursday afternoon, and I'd like to apologise to the two ladies I inadvertently trampled on my way to the bar; I didn't u)ant a drink after that - 1 need'ed, one. THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

Ho Chi Minh won his war and is long dead. Chin Peng lost his but still lives, quietly in southern Thailand. He was 80 in October and has given in his own views in My Side of the Story, a book compiled from interviews by journalists, Ian Ward and Norma Miraflor.

Fifty years ago, the name Chin Peng was feared almost as much Osama bin laden is

Chin Peng, (real name Ong Boon Hua) had

not have the wall-poster appeal of Osama or of Che Guevara but in his heyday in the late 40so as the leader of the Communist

astonishing rise to revolutionary leadership. He was brave and a natural leader. As a teenager he was the liaison between the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and the

British special operations forces fighting the

Japanese

occupation. He won two medals and the Order of the British Empire. Two years later, in 1948, after becoming at the age

of 23 the CPM's secretary-genelal, he launched the insurgency in Malaya. It lasted for a decade, sputtered again in the 1970s, and was not finally declared over until a peace deal with Malaysia and Thailand in 1989. Chin Peng acknowledges that "the victors edit history" so his loser's version of history does give a new perspective to those years of struggle, when the anti-Japanese hero had turned "child killer" with a huge price on his head, alive or dead. It reveals a man without rancour oï regret. He is anxious to put some records straight. He notes the success of British propaganda both in exaggerating the cruelties of the "Communist Terrorists" as they were called and covering up their own, such as the 1948 Batang Kali massacre, a British My Lai. The press was as easily fed as it is today. Followers of Singapore politics will also note his rebuttal of "countless allegations by Lee Kuan Yew and the western press" that the CPM controlled the Barisan Sosialis, the main opposition party in Singapore whose leaders were

locked up

in 1963. As late as 1988,

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER,/NOVEMBER

2OO3

Singapore used

today, writes

Philip Bowring.

True he did

in Malaya and Singapore at a time when both Chinese and Soviet insurgency

Communism were in the ascendanc¡ he was

a greater threat to the West and its Asian allies than Ho Chi Minh. His very anonymity and unremarkable looks added to the sinister connotation of this "evil genius". Communist "threats"

to jail oppositionists, including

Catholic social activists.

Chin Peng does not regret his struggle but he does acknowledge many leadership failings. They included underestimating the capacity of the British to fight back, and their skill in adapting Japanese tactics to cut the insurgents off from supplies and sympathizers. Gradually the insurgents were pushed back into the jungle, had to reduce the size of their groupings and keep on the move.

cover story

Meanwhile most people, even poor Chinese, wanted peace as rubber prices boomed thanks to the Korean War, and the British promises of independence kept the Malays and the Chinese businessmen mostly on their side' By implication, he acknowledges the dead hand of Communist solidarity. By 1959 the CPM knew it had lost the insurgency war. It scattered its few remaining forces and Chin Peng left for Hanoi and then Beijing. But China and Vietnam both urged re-engagement for their own purposes. The time seemed ripe. The Vietnam War was going Hanoi's wa¡ Malaysia was rent by racial strife. But the second phase of action inflicted, as he admits, minimal damage on an independent Malaysia, ancl caused the CPM to fragment into a movement lidden by plots, treason trials and executions. Chin Peng was in Beijing, safe but, he insists, uninvolved in

the fratricidal struggles taking place in the camps in Malaysia and Thailand. For all his candour on some aspects ofhistor¡ Chin Peng largely avoids one main reason why his revolution failed: it was a Chinese movement in a Malay world. Of the 1,118 CPM followers left in 1989, only 77 were Malays. His revolution, like Mao's was a Chinese nationalist as well as a Communist one. Son of migrants from China, he was first fired by Chinese opposition to the Japanese occupation. The CPM insurgency certainly, as he claims, hastened Malaysian independence. But the CPM was always uncomfortable with

the Malay majority, not to mention its aristocratic

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leadership. The CPM opposed Britain's plan for a Malayan Union partly on grounds that it was "too restrictive" to Chinese. The Malays opposed

it for precisely for

the

opposite reason.

Despite Chin Peng's claims that the CPM was "the only

of offering a indigenous its own imperialists", the to challenge reinforces The book in doubt. always were credentials

indigenous political movement capable

those doubts.

His attitudes are this likely to be of interest to those in Southeast Asia who fear that the combination of China national strength and ethnic presence are a threat, different but no less than that posed by the mix of ideology and ethnic identity embodied in Chin Peng. Equally though, one could sense that he and his ageing former followers were always more at home in that strip of tropical land which links the Gulf of Siam to the Straits of Singapore than they ever could be in Beijing. As for the analogy with Osama bin Laden, who knows where that former hero of the fight against atheistic Soviet communism birthdaY. D

will be should he ever reach his

B0th

Chin Peng: My Side of the Story By Chin Peng (as told To lan Ward & Norma Miraflor) Published: 2003, Singapore, 1st Edition

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THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\IEMBER

2OO3

In only in its second year of existence, the FCC Charity Ball has already firmly established itself on Hong l(ong's social calendar as one of the most sought-after

and memorable events of the year, report the Ball Committee Co-ordinators,

Thomas Crampton

anrJ,

We make a point of having fun. We ensure the spoken programme is brief to maximise time for music and

dancing. This year's star performers, The Supremes starring Maly Wilson,

put on a Las Vegas-style

show

complete with smoke, lights and the great music that made the group famous. Cranking out popular tune after tune, Mary had the dance floor full of writhing bodies from the first song. For her part, Mary thanked the audience for their enthusiasm bv THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

Dave

Garcia.

extending her performance beyond i¡s normal format and even adding a few extra songs. The crowd had, of course, been warmed up by our first performer on stage, Bobby Hendricks. Formerly of the Drifters, Bobby knows how to

put on a Motown show that also filled the clance floor. He also brought home the message of the Ball with an impromptu gathering on stage of children from the Po Leung I(uk. 2OO3

photrs b¡,: Terry Dur:kharn/Asiapir

While we had fun, raising money for those children was the focus of the Ball and we succeeded beyond our wildest expectations. This year we raised HK$f.9 million, more than twice amount achieved last year at the inaugural FCC Charity Ball.

With the funds raised from the first BalI, we managed to fund the higher education of four children from the Po Leung I(uk. An additional two scholarships were

many highlights of the Chow highlighted the moment when Mary Pandora Cheung, an FCC member,

Hahn, Voice of America's Alisha Ryu and Phil Y/helan of RTHK. The former Supreme's onstage persona was indeed larger than life and she proved she could cut the

a former I(uk alumni and one time

mustard today as well as she did in

Miss Hong Kong, introduced the

the heyday of the group 40

evening,

handed out thanks to an anonymous

donation of HI($400,000 by a lastminute philanthlopist. This year, the

number of FCC scholarships will clearly increase.

\r'

All the funds raised go towards the children's education with none used for administration. We raise money lor children. not insiitutions. Transparency is fundamental and we will shortly publish a report that includes a full financial breakdown, background material on the scholarships as well as an update on the progress of this year''s winners.

Making Headlines Among the dozens of articles wlitten about this year's Ball, Tinnie Chow, writing in the the

THE CORRISPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\ts\,IBER

2OO3

South China Morning PosĂş, said the Ball sent the Club's "society profile

scholarship winners . The nighl's main attraction was, of course, Mary Wilson, who despite performing until 4am, still had time

into the stratosphere."

to mingle with CNN's Lorraine

Descr-ibing

II-IE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\T,MBER

2OO3

years ago, Chow wrote. Looking very much

like a diva in an all-white

sequin

dress, she greeted guests: "I have been invited to Hong Kong to do one thing and one thing only, and that is 11

cover story

¿:1 i¡t

lrt

.¿;

+/,

.//,:, -âr1

to give you some lovin'. And, oh, are you gonna get it!"

One of Australia's richest women, rron-ore mrnrng magnate Gina Rinehart, daughter of Lang Hancock, flew in for the night and threw down $31,000 for raffle tickets and another $27,000 for

ü')

the Grant Hackett

swimsuit. Another Western Australian iron

Committee Members, the highlight

came when Bobby Hendricks presented the winner's prize.

And what of the future?

Our

winning formula, which continues to

Po Leung Kuk chairman

attract new sponsorship and

Pacific boss Steve Marcopoto and

Club Members, will remain unchanged. Several large banks have approached the Ball

Jimmy Wong Chi-ho, CNN anchor Andrew Stevens and AOL Time Warner Asia

his wife Amelia.

After describing many of

the

new

Committee about coming in as major sponsors and also about joining the

journalists as "bow-tie challenged",

Club. Many of our current sponsors

Chow also told how FCC board ?rre-be, Kevin Egan set up a voluntary service to assist those with tie problems. Shhhhhhhh We're bidding The highest bid achieved in the Silent Auction was $70,000 for a signed David Beckham England home shirt. An autographed copy of

have said they would like

Hugh Van Es' famous photograph of

the last helicopter leaving Saigon, also signed by the pilot of the THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

attended by major sponsors and Ball

in for the Ball, bid $50,000 for the Michael

Jordan basketball. Other big-name guests included

2OO3

Saturday night, another began. The

following day, the Macau Jockey Club generously held the first ever Foreign Correspondents' Club Charity Cup. In a day at the races

ore magnet, Brian Johnson, who

also flew

THE CORRISPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

helicopter and the CIA agent in the photo, went for $56,000. Raffle ticket sales brought in $576,540. Just as the party ended on

2OO3

increase their involvement.

The FCC Charity Ball 2004 will take place on September 25,2004. Mark your diary now.'We are already in negotiations with a number of

world-class acts and wiII let you know when the final decision has

been

made.

avoid

disappointment, be certain to buy your tickets as soon as sales are announced.

fl 13

photography

Hong Kong Perspective* - Liue it... Lr¡ue it... See it! - images should reflect the theme of the HKTB's new tourism slogan and that capture the unique social integration, cultural heritage, energy, arts and character of Hong Kong.

FCC Photographer of the Year Awards

- open to members from participating Hong Kong photography clubs and all FCC members and their families.

2/ Non- Professional

o Women of Asia - portraits and interpretive images that portray the social, cultural and sexual role and character of the Asian woman in Asian and international societies. o Reflections of an Urban Landscape - strong graphic and interpretive images that capture

modern urban landscapes in relationship to the people who live in them. The word 'reflections' is metaphorical and not necessarily literal.

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong l(ong (FCC) invites the professional photographers and photojournalists of Hong l(ong, FCC

o Hong Kong Perspectivex

- Liue it... Loue it... See it! - images should reflect the theme of the HKTB's new tourism slogan and that capture the unique social integration, cultural heritage, energy, arts and character of Hong Kong.

members, members of Hong l(ong photographic clults, amateur photographers and students to sLlllmit their photographic works f'or consicleration in the third FCC Photogra¡rher of the Year Ar,varcls.

Digital Photography and Computer Imaging - images that demonstrate and achieve an effective control and use of digital photography and/or computer manipulation techniques. Images taken on digital cameras should not be entered in those categories unless they have qualities specific to digital photography and/or computer imaging.

This year's categories are;

U Professional - open to all professional photographers who are resident in Hong Kong or who are FCC members.

3/ Young Post Hong Kong Perspective** - open to students from participating schools. - Liue it... Loue it... See it! -images should reflect the theme of the HKTB's new tourism slogan and that capture the unique social integration, cultural heritage, energy) arts and character of Hong Kong.

o Hong Kong

- Hong Kong News - images taken for publication in Hong Kong news media. - Hong Kong Magazine Feature.s - images taken for publication in Hong Kong magazine media. - Corporate Hong Kong - images taken for corporate use such as annual reports, public relations use, corporate ponraiture etc.

. Asia -

Asia News - images taken for publication

- Asia Magazine Features international magazines.

4l Hong Kong - Hear it! open to all entry levels. - is a special award to mark the second FCC Jazz Festival. Images should capture the diversity and energy of the Hong Kong music scene at both an international and local level. Judges will be looking for creative and interpretive treatments that portray the mood and passion of performance rather than the performers themselves.

in Asian news media.

Asian images that have been published in local, regional or

x "HonB Kong Perspectiue" theme is co-spo4¡ored by the Hong Kong Tourßm Board^

** "

o HonB Kong and Asia - Digital Photography and Computer Imaging - images that demonstrate and achieve an effective control and use of digital photography and/or computer manipulation techniques. News and magazine feature images taken on digital cameras should not be entered in those categories unless they have qualities specific to digital photography and/or computer imaging. - Advertising - images should be entered as they appeared in print or electronic and digital media. 14

THE CORRESPONDENT OSTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

Young Post Hong Kong Perspectiue" theme ß co-sponsored, by the South Chinø Morning Post and the Hong Kong Tourism that capture the unique qualities and, charøcter of Hong Kong. Students between the ages of 12 to lB yearsfrorn participating schools in Hong Kong may enter.

Boarcl, and, seehs to promote images

There will be two principal awards: the 'Photographer of the Year', and the 'Photograph of the Year' award. Category winners, both series and single entry images in both Professional and Non-Professional divisions, will be eligible for this award.

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER,/NOVEMBER

2OO3

POTITICATLY

T.'ROVI YORE AbsentmemberGeorgeNlackenzierecallshistimeinthejunglesofBorneoas

(Iyoungfficerinth,eBrigad'eofGurkhasdurirugKonfrontasi(1963-66),when'

British troops, m(my of them yourlg

Natiorual seruicemen' urere deployed to defen'd

of Malaysia

series of cross-border

from the newly irtd'epend'er¡ Fed'eration aimed at destabilising the new state which Jaltarta Ind,onesia, ffinsiues from regard'ed,asafron,tforacontinuedBritishcolonialpresenceinSoutheastAsia.

Sarawak,

that Borneo t"ilT:| l9ó3: There is little doubt and eccentrtc

its fair thu'" of interesting it was,such a favourite characters, which is or"O"Ot, *nt Maugham' .Indigenous haunt of the British *rl,J" ilt"ttet country's rich tapestry the of or expatriate, they were o-' "tt certainlY helped to of life and making ,ft"t "iqi^i"tanceexperience it was' For make soldiering there ,ft" *"t"'"¡fe more than

the Resident, a VIG (Very Important GeneraL) managed to take time out from his busy schedule to drop in for a few

your average government minister. Not for him city garb. He favoured more casual, longhouse garb; rarely put on shoes and wore his black hair in long ringlets, usually adorned with a string of coloured beads. Apart from this, like most lbans, he was a great party animal who liked nothing better than a night of carousing in some longhouse, re-living the escapades of his colour{ul past. The small town of Sibu, situated on the banks of the

me, one such person was Tem Although, strictlY sPeakin obsolete Malay title, this n

mighty Rejang River', was the centre of government and

peoples of Sarawak' To all in "ex-officio", or uncrowned ki should also be remembeled Konfrontasi, quite apart fro Indonesia, (Peninsula) Mal

Gurkha Rifles, the British regiment that was the military custodian of this vast piece of real estate about the size of

political peace with its

new

Temenggong Jugah was ident

a position in Prime

Mini

government. Dyak rvarrior' was not The tattooed Temenggong,a former

It was also the operalional HQ and nerve centre of operations for Il7 administration for Sarawak's 3rd Division.

Wales.

I cannot recall the reason, but the local (British) Resident a large, affable, Yorkshireman - decided to throw a huge cocktail party at his residence, or Istana, as they were still called then. Everyone who was anyone in the 3rd Division was there, together with a few higher echelon VIPs, including Temenggong Jugah. Also, by chance, and to the delight of

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVtrMBER

2OO3

chota pegs (small whiskies).

As we all know from experience, trying to meet everyone

you would like to meet at such functions is almost, impossible. For VIPs it can be worse. Their time is usually limited and there is the protocol of whom they must, should and could meet. Thus, it was not until he was saying his farewells on the lawn leading from the steps of The Istana that the VIG was able to properly meet up with old man Jugah, who was, by then, on great form. After the opening banter, the VIG askeòthe Temenggong if he had ever come across Mr X, a relation of his who had previously been a District Officer in Sarawak. "Did he know him?" Did he ever! The Temenggong let forth with a stream

of rapid Dyak while falling about the lawn, slapping his thighs and laughing uncontrollably. Some of the locals standing nearby understood what had been said and were

smiling coyly. The VIG summoned the closest - a schoolteacher - and asked him to translate. The poor chap was visibly embarrassed. "Well, what did he say?" demanded the VIG. THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

'oHe says that he knew your relation quite well," blurted out the teacher. "Come on, old chap, he must have said more than that," continued the VIC, "'Why is he laughing so much? Tell me the truth, please. Don't be shy. What did,he really say?" Blushing furiously, the teacher took a deep breath, swallowed hard and gave the general the full picture. "Well, Sir, basically, what he is saying is that he and Mr X were better than just good friends......because......many years ago, when they were visiting up-country longhouses together, they once shared the same woman for the night." As I said, the Temenggong was not your average government minister. E

This article was originally written for Gvkha Journals, but as George Mackenzie points out, the VIG, nho has since been posted to "Duties Aboue", rþas not identified "although I'm sure he'd haue had, a good, laugh". He was in fact the late General Sir Walter Walk,er who was then Major Genero,l, Brigad,e of

Curkhas ancJ Director DOBOPS in army-speah.

of Borneo Operations 17

Nikita's is a thatched hut four feet from a breakwater. It houses a wooden bar, seven rattan barstools long and two deep. It has TAC (Thai Air Conditioning), which means a breeze is always running through it from somewhere. The roof

comes down close to the ground to keep out the glare. Nikita's

is cool on the hottest days and dry when it rains. The beer is cold and the cocktails fun and not expensive. What it lacks in the way of sandy beach, Nikita's makes in attention to detail and old-fashioned good service. for up The plants, trees and flowers among the tables that extend from the hut are beautiful. The staff is always being trained, but needs no lessons in charrn and friendliness. Niki the proprietor pays a lot of attention to what her customers want and this is demonstrated in her eclectic taste in music, which stretches from jazz, to classic pop and rock and some stuff I have never heard before but seems spot on for her place. Good food can be delivered from restaurants in the

As a lad, Kevin Cooney was always

pulled to the beach and loued nothing better than to strip off to his trunks on

the sand in the hope of achieuing tuto constant objectiues: a

tan and a girl.

Quite a bit older and a little bit usiser, he finds the sun now suggests melanoma &nd as.for stripping off, he\

certain he u)ould attract only the mordantly curious. His solution: beach bars.

the night like to gather round a table to eat as well as drink planning less with u*uy. ih" beach bar caters for those for plank a butt, ubility o, fewer friends. A bench for your required' is your poison and an ice chest are really all that your back on u si-ple place to make new friends or turn

the old.

roast

sây Like most of life's truly great simple things' bars beach acquaintance' chicken or a saucy wink on first

are easy to rurn.

neighbourhood.

Having spent considerable time defining beach bars as places of simplicity and rustic charrn, I would now like to recommend a place that is quite a considerable establishment. The Chalong Lighthouse is a ba¡ restaurant and guesthouse on the beach at Chalong Bay - take the east road from Chalong Circle to the Pier and make a left. It is a large two-storey building with, yes, an attached lighthouse. What, I think, qualifies it as a beach bar is that

to send people establishments in Patong, it -o'" likely A television scurrying away when truÃpo*ed to the beach' CNN bar or or sports a into immediaiely turns a b"u"h bu' a staff-watching-soap-opera bar' The only Inconsistent relrigeåtion is another bugbear' served being day thing worse than your first be"' of the ain't' one second warm is when the first one is cold but the

is built amid the roots of a centuries-old tree and the

huge

boulders that mark the end of the Kata strand. The branches ofthe tree keep it cool and dark even on the sunniest days. It is smalÌ, with seating fol maybe 20 tightly packed people, which leads to an intimate party atmosphere. The style is Reggae and the music is wonder{ul and played late into the night. Fol those staying on the north of the island near the airport, Nai Yang is the place. Follow the signs to the Crown Nai Yang Suite Hotel - and enter quite a large complex of

restaurants, bars, tailor shops,

film

stores, etc., which

resemble a Patong of 15 or 20 years ago. The area right on Nai Yang is a lot of fun and you won't need shoes to get around. Recommended beach bars are the Mr, Kobi Bar - "Broken EngÌish spoken here" - and Khaow & Erick Bar, a lovel¡ well maintained spot right on the beach. E

r\ntigtrc

ExhaustiveresearchoverthepastSevenyearshasled bÏt ": "1ì::1:

me to regard a handful of the island's beach

;;;;J;;"i

."*"tt-"s *fr"

exceptional in value

Maps, Prints & Vi¡t¡(e

from 7th November

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what they have to offer' "Op*"tåte is Nikita's Bar rn

Et eugratin.qs, tinfage

frauel posters, luguage hhels, chiltlren's piclures,

of the Ru*ui, at the southernmost end

çxyl1,

llhofoqraphs and much ntore...

road i.i""¿. Rawai Beach - take the as south ir"- Cfttf""g Circle straight

The beach still beckons. The crinkly squint needed to survey the scene at noon, the polished feeling of your feet after a long walk in the sand, the salty tightness of your skin after letting yourself dry off in the air after bathing in the sea, still bring me to the

very popular among to Thuir,'*ho crowd it at the rveekend eat tJî'ri" shade of Pine t'ees and ts Rarvar barbecued chicken and fish'

far as you can

t"i"" .-tt"t"ing

water's edge. Now, however, once there what I require most is a shady place to sit and something cold to drink. I need a beach bar. Phuket, to where I retired after 30

beach' but rathel

Suite 6038, 6th Fìoor, 9 Queen's Road, Cen[raì, Hong Kong

sea al ntglr tidal flat lhat is part of the

tide. That maY not

Telcphonc: 2525

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moving back and

the

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Wednesday to Saturday

Jeilrish, the rishìnsloats

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attractive, but the moven.rent sea gypsles tl-d"r, th" sight of local

frenetic years in the wire-service business, has many glorious beaches and scads of

llam to 6pm or

by appointment at other times

ïit:::l;i

i:]ilffå::iiJi:ii.' the tide, make it a verv special and attractive place indeed' 2OO3

beach

thwnp Music often does them in' The thump' thurnp' drinking into that gets people roused up and rushing

Mi fuvourite

decent bars, but rarely do the two come together into that fine tropical invention, the beach bar. Thais are eaters and even when they get together with friends for drinks they

the wall that faces the sea isn't there. The entire

frontage of the place is open to the elements and the view of scores of yachts at anchor in Chalong Bay. The bar itself is beautiful, built from thick wooden beams, the barstools are comfortable, the beer is chilled in huge ice chests and the food is stick-to-your ribs W'estern or nicely prepared Thai. On the other side of the island, at Kata Beach, is the very special Ska Bar. Park or get your taxi to drop you off in the public lot next to the Kata Beach Resort and walk south on the beach past the resorl until you run out of beach. The Ska

THE CORRESPONDENT OCf.OBER/NOVEMBER

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

By Hoi ißeH as "the The recentþ opened Dubai Press Club builds the Middle of mlers idea exchange" but for ú"äi"¡'*an Eastem emirate, ideas seem to The CIub occupies a floor

building a couple of

doors

Hotel. From its windows overlo d,hows and øòrøs crowd the b

booming Middle East transit quarters.

Inside, banks of computers are available

tt"" to"t:ot* world, former

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu' However, officials admit th Dubai and United Arab Emi media. "Certainly we try to enc media to see the Dubai gove Club's events and member rel That means hosting ever/ts like the People of lraq" in March 2

Iraq and criticised Westem me All this political activity h beverage service is limited to with arcade games. is the Dubai Press Club'sI I v'"J controversy A further Ðuuuç lulLllçI source urof uv¡llrv ^ Press Ulubs' or l'orrnation of the Intemational Association of

which the FCC is a member. The Dubai Press Club was built with seed money from a foundation run by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid AI Maktoum, the UAE defence minister, Crown Prince of Dubai and well-known tur{ identity. Does the FCC really want to be associated with a govemment-funded media club? To be fair, the Club has done some good: Local joumalists have more access to visiting luminaries than they did in the past. It has also promoted hitherto ignored institutions such as the Arabic-language media. Æter all, who in the recent past, before

On November 15th each year for more than two decades,

PEN International, the global association of writers,

honoured colleagues around the world under attack for simply expressing their views. This year, the "Day of the Imprisoned

George Rtll;sell was thn fowd'ing editor Today, an English-løn'guøge

The Gulf

daily bosed in Sln¡iøh Unial'

Arob Emirqtcs and'lnwwh¿d in 1996.

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\'EMBER

2OO3

with Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here's what you can do:

Writer," was marked in Hong Kong by PEN's newly reconstituted English-speaking chapter. PEN Hong Kong's brief is to focus on Burmese opposition leader and writer Aung San Suu Kyi who has been held in virtual isolation since being taken into "protective custody" last May following violent clashes between her supporters and those of the military government.

Al-Jazeera shot to fame, couÌd name an Arab media organisation?

The Club instituted annual Arab Joumalism Awards and held an Arab Media Summit. It has also given voice to viewpoints neglected by the'Westem media, although one wonders at the value of a speech by Wadeea Al Modaffar, former editor-in-chief of the Iraqi newspaper Al Basra, in which he told the Club that under Saddam Hussein "there was no censorship in lraq". Even those who firmly believe that influential W'estem media, such as The New Yorlt, Times, don't report the Middle East conflict fairþ or impartially will find it hard to accept that the best answer il to propaganda is more propaganda from the other side.

has

Yee Yip

'Writer

The Imprisoned campaign this year focused on writers held in detention or serving heavy prison sentences in four countries in addition to Myanmar, namely Belarus, Cuba, Syria and Morocco. The occasion is a solemn but important reminder of the value of collective action. Currently, more than 700 writers, poets, journalists and publishers in 10ö countries face imprisonment, harassment, threats, even death, simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression and association. Since November 2002, as many as 22 writers and journalists have been killed. To draw attention to Suu Kyi's plight -- and by extension to that of the some 120 other writers in Asia imprisoned for expressing their views -- PEN Hong Kong is asking the writing and publishing communit¡ including readers of The CorresponclenrÌ, to join us in our campaign to obtain Suu Kyi's immediate and unconditional release. This is in accordance THE CORRI,SPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\'EMBER

2OO3

1. Write to the Consulate of the Union of Myanmar, Room

240I-2436, 24th Floor, Sun Hung Kai Centre, 30 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong; protesting against Aung San Suu

Kyi's detention and calling for her release. You may also wish to express concern about her health following reports she has undergone major surgery and seek assurances she is being given full access to the medical care needed for a full recover.

2. Circulate a petition and send to the consulate, again calling for her immediate and unconditional release.

If you would like to get more involved, please e-mail PEN at hkpen-engl 992@yahoo.com Imprisoned writer campaign possibilities are limited only by the imagination. You could request a meeting with Burrna's

in person. You could stage an event to which the press would be invited to highlight the case. You could organise a protest march on Central, this time a million strong! E consul general and present your concerns

Hoi Yee Yip is a commercial nriter and an actiue member of PEN Hong Kong.

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The ordinary diaries will be available for collection in early December and the personalised diaries will be ready by the third week of December.

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DEADLINE: Noon, Frida¡ 28 November 2003 NO CANCELLATIONS WILL BE ACCEIrTED AFTER THE DEADLINE.

case

projects and issues. The battle against Article 23 was but one. In mid-March,

Scar{ FCC Video - NTSC FCC Video - PAL FCC lithograph FCC postcard I Love HK postcard I Love HK poster

major exhibition in the Foreign Correspondents' Club to highlight the plight

imprisoned writers in Asia, the some 120 in 10

1f0.00 40.00

310.00 280.00 800.00 3.00 13.50 250.00

THE CORRI,SPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\'EMBER

2OO3

Literary

Festival, PEN presented a

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FCC Card with greeting 35.00 FCC Card blank 35.00 Disposable lighter 5.00 Fleece smock 280.00 Keyholder & ring 30.00 Plated keyhoÌder 30.00 Gold Zippo lighter 150.00 Luggage tag 60.00 Namecard holder 65.00 FCC pin 75.00 Reporter's notebook 10.00 Polo shirt 140.00 Stonewashed shirt 115.00 Stonewashed shorts 110.00 T-shirt 110.00 FCC tie (B&R) 80.00 Umbrella (folding) 100.00 Umbrella (golf) 200.00 New Umbrella (regular) 68.00 New Umbrella (golf) 165.00 Wallet - gold printed 125.00 Wallet - hot stamped 125.00 New windbreaker 195.00 Windbreaker 250.00 Piene Quioc Stole 280.00

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different countries.

Called The Sedition Had it not been for Article 23, Hong Kong's draconian internal security legislation, Hong Kong (English-speaking)

Files: Writers in Prison in Asia and created by a dedicated committee of five PEN members, the dramatic black, white

PEN may well have died a slow death. The writers'group, part of London-based PEN International and active worldwide on issues related to freedom of expression, was founded in Hong Kong in 1991 with more than 30 members. But in recent years, particularly since Hong Kong's return to China, it had faltered as more and more English-speaking writers left the

and red exhibit transformed the look of the FCC's Main Bar area and stairwell. It was effective and well-received, so much so that the Board of the FCC generously allowed it to remain up a month beyond the planned closing, until the end of April. Today, the work of PEN is focused primarily on building its Writers in Prison Committee. This is the all-important subgroup that works closely with PEN International to support writers imprisoned or under threat around the world. In Hong Kong, PEN members on the committee regularþ receive PEN London's Rapid Action Network alerts about threatened or endangered writers around Asia. They then move quickly to disseminate the information. For example, three alerts about harassed writers in Asia were received in

terrltory. Last fall, the nickel dropped. In response to a query about PEN and Article 23 ftom a concerned writer, the one visible extant PEN member said he was planning to fold the organisation unless new members could somehow be found. A

clarion call went out. If ever there was a time for writers, editors and journalists in Hong Kong to band together to protect themselves against a genuine threat, this was it. The feeling was very much a case of if you don't act now to protect freedom of expression, you won't be able to act later. A sense ofurgency filled the air. Vlill youjoin, please? We need,

20 bona fide paid members -- no urunnabes -- to

recognised. by

PEN International and UNESCO. Do you lmow

someone else? We need,

more members. We need'

more. We

need three more...

'Well,

October 2003 alone. Oneo about the continued detention of China's Internet writer and student Liu Di, focused on the {act that he has been held incommunicado for almost a year without charge or trial. The second focused on the re-arrest ofthree Buddhist monks, scholars and writers in Vietnam as part of "an ongoing

clampdown on the banned United Buddhist Church of Vietnam." And the third alert highlighted the plight of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, the writer and political leader

to skip the middle and get to the end, PEN Hong Kong is b-a-a-a-c-k! The world's most prestigious association of writers -- founded 1n I92L by the English novelist and Nobel Prize winner John Galsworthy -- with some 12,000 members in I30 centres in94 countries, held its first meeting

who has been under house arrest since 1989. Ifyou are a professional writer and would be interested in joining PEN, please contact hkpen-eng1992@yahoo.com for more information. You'll be glad you did. W'e'll be glad, too. E

last November as the newly reconstituted PEN (English-

Merle Linda Volin is an award-winning journalist and PEN Hong Kong's Acting Vice President.

speaking) Hong Kong. THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

a glossy lifestyle magazine but it most certainly is a good time to be starting a publication that is so thoroughly in tune with prevalent middle class opinion. Events appear to have moved

undisturbed in their deliberations.

in our direction in recent months but planning for the new rnagazine has been in the works for the better part of a year. It

hacking business who will be pleasantly surprised to learn that being a friend of Spike has its rewards. Tip offers will be offered the choice of a book or wine token in recognition of

was based on the premise that not only was there a palpable

mood

of discontent but that there was an appetite for

magazine that understood why this mood arose. If all this makes Splåe sound rather earnest, this is far from the case. On the contrary the offence of perpetuating boredom will be one of the few sackable offences at the new publishing empire rising modestly from an office bÌock in

Finall¡ dear FCC members, Spike is in the market for tipoffs and story leads. They may come from people in the

their efforts. Offers of material will be treated with appropriate discretion and can be sent to tipoffs@spikehk.com. tr Steve Vines, a former FCC President, was the founding editor of E¡tstern Express. Spike's web address is http://www.spikehk.com

glamour-challenged Kwun Tong'

Satire

is an

essential ingredient

explains so many things happening

of Spike because it

in Hong Kong far better

than any âmount of allegedly serious analysis. Under the leadership of Tung Chee-hwa Hong Kong is assured of its

Cococabana

place as Asia's World Satire City. Indeed we are anxious to ensure that the current administration remains in place at least for the early stages of Spihe's life. The installation of an

fresco dining in Mo Tal

intelligent and responsive government would be a major blow

to a fledging magazine of this kind.

Providing discomfort to the comfortable has long been an objective of more interesting journalism, writ es Steve Vines, publisher and co-founder of the newsstand magazine, Spike.

back of the book covering culture in the widest meaning of that word. In these pages, as in others, the aim is to add value where we have the ability to do so. This will often mean that we

Lamentably

in Hong Kong there has been

pronounced tendency towards journalism that maintains the comfort

of the comfotable.

Spike

magazine hopes to change this. We are founding an English-language weekly magazine that will be satirical, fearless and unsparing in its contribution

to current debates about politics, business

and

much else besides.

Although, in some ways, it would

advantageous to be part of a larger organisation with deep pockets, we have decided to go down

the independent route which means much tighter budgets and a great deal of starting things from scratch.

This is clearly a more challenging way of doing things but has many advantages. Foremost among them is that we carry no baggage, have no conflicts ofinterest and thus have the ability to focus far more single-mindedly on the one set of interests that really matters - the interests of readers. W'e are so focused on this consideration that the business is based on deriving the bulk of its income from cover sales, not advertising. To the best of my knowledge no other Hong Kong publication operates in this way.

lst

pronounced.

PeoPle' equal

froportions from the Chinese and exPatriate communities. If You want a snapshot of who our readers may be it would ProbablY be

b"rt dru*.t from

among the

thousands of

of people who joinerl magnificent t.utt hundreds

demonstration agalnst

be publishing material that others dare not publish for

the

will be rniddle and business class readers

frobably drawn

will

fear of offending advertisers or other power{ul entities. But it may also mean simply looking at well known topics from another point of view. It is one thing to make claims for Spihe but readers will not be convinced until they see the magazine. The bad news for owners of sticky wallets is that we do not intend to give Spike away. Folding notes will be required to test claims made here. Any new publication in Hong Kong is inevitably greeted with scepticism especially from the usual band of no hopers who seek truth from Tsingdao and may, in extremis, revert to San Mig, that patron saint of no-hopers. Yet the sceptics may be right. There are no certainties in the world ofbusiness and in the world of publishing the lack of certainty is even more

We think most of our

professional

Fortunately, this is

unlikely to be a Problem' Reinforcing our coverage will be material ftom Apple Daily and Next magazine. We are fortunate to have English translation rights to this rich mine of content which has long interested English-language readers who would dearly love to find out what these publications are saying. And, yes, there will be some interesting material at the

the

proposed Article 23 legislation'

i" other words theY intellioent oeoPle, deePlY

are

We are well aware that we are entering a market sector previously left entirely vacant in Hong Kong. Possibly this is because no market exists for a magazine of this kind or

possibl¡ like because

so many of the best ideas,

2OO3

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\¡EMBER

2OO3

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it has never been tried

it is so obvious. Either way it will not take

find out which version is right. Naturally we think that the sceptics will be dismayed and

THE CORRESPONDENT OC'I'OBER/NOWMBER

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irnctablcs. Iloat IliLc. to l'csctt'c onlinc or tnort inl'0. C

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technology

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Is there a book inside you, bursting to be written, but you can't face the thought of putting in all that effort and then having your masterpiece rejected by publishers? Brian Hawkins and Peter Gordon may have a solution for you, as Jonathan Sharp reports.

Anneliese O'Young talked to Kevin Sinclair about Post Impressions, Brian Hawkins, a London-bom, Hong Kong-based medical scientist with a fascination for Cockney rhyming slang, spent years compiling a definitive reference guide to a top British television series of the I9B0s, Mind,er, the humour-laced crime show that turned such expressions as a nice little earner and'er in doors into national catch-phrases. Similar guides telling you all the trivia about hit shows such as Dacl's Army and Fawhy Touers had already been published. But, as Hawkins told an FCC lunch in an entertaining presentation that included examples of rhyming slang, he made no headway with his Minder book despite contacting at least 30 publishers in Britain. While many publishers merely sent the standard rejection postcard, some said they liked the concept but felt it would be hard to justify a traditional print run about a TV programme that was, at the time, more then 12 years old. Enter Peter Gordon, publisher at Chameleon Press, whose

"print-on-demand" process has enabled the book The Phenomennn That Vy'as...Minder ro see the light of day. Print-on-demand, which allows books to be run off one at a time as required rather than in the thousands for a print run, is not a new technology but has now come of age, reaching a point where it can be cost-effective as a substitute for traditional publishing, Gordon told the lunch. Listing the benefits of the technology, Gordon said the quality ofthe final product was basically indistinguishable from "normal" books, and a far lower initial investment was required. "The cost is so low that it really doesn't matter whether the book sells or not. You don't have to worry about sales. You can put the book out and worry about sales later." A more important advantage concerns international distribution. "One of the problems of printing here - a case in point is Brian's book - is that 80-90 percent of the market for the book is in Britain, not here." And transporting books to Britain is expensive.

With print-on-demand the Mind,er book is produced in Britain at a site next to one of the two largest wholesale distribution companies in Britain. "Any book seller in Britain that wants to sell the book can look it up in the data base and buy the book from the standard people that they buy other books from."

Print-on-demand also enables customisation.

company is interested in a book to distribute to clients, it can be produced with, for example, a corporate logo in the exact numbers required. There are several minuses to the print-on-demand process, added Gordon. These include a relatively high unit cost, which means that it is not economically viable for the sort of cheap mass-market novels one buys at airport bookstands. Moreover

the

automated process does not allow production of "complicated" books such as coffee table-type tomes. So what are the kinds of books for which print-on-demand

photo-history of Hong l(ong over the past 100 years, published to celebrate the centenary of the South China Morning Post.

Among the crowd waiting to greet Sir Henry May when he arrived to take up his post of Governor of Hong Kong on July 4, l9I2 was a young would-be assassin armed with a revolver. Firing at point-blank range, the gunman nevertheless managed to miss his target. Police grabbed him. Sir Henry stiffened his upper lip and proceeded to make his first speech. A photographer covering the inauguration grabbed a

works well? Basically books that have an identifiable readership that can be readily targeted, including specialist books such as Mind,er, academic works, and relatively short books such as poetry and short story collections. Added Gordon encouragingly to frustrated Hong Kong

authors: "Print-on-demand may well be the solution that allows books written by people in Hong Kong to come to print where otherwise they wouldn't." So are there any people out there incubating a potential nice little earner? And how abotÍ'er indoors? Q shot of the fracas as the attacker was subdued. It appeared in the next day's South China Morning Pos, under the headline:

"Dastardly Attack Fails".

The Phenomenon That Was.. .Minder

Inkstone Books ISBN 962-86812-I-4 wvw.

The photograph and vignette of Hong Kong history is one in Post Impressions, published to mark the 100th anniversary of the South China Morning Posl. Written by

gem

inderphenomenon. com

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

THE CORRI,SPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\IEMBER

2OO3

FCC member and SCMP columnist Kevin Sinclaír, the 260nase book was one of a number of centenary projects' ' " Port Impressions is more than just a pictorial history book.

It's an attempt to capture the heart, the soul, the feeling of Hong Kong. Instead of dividing the century chronologicall¡ matter into themes such as life, the book separates the subject crime, disasters, personalities and making a living, transpofi, soort.

Sinclair stressed the book was a team effort' "I worked with Andrew Ruther{ord, the former chief designer at the

Post, and with Prudence Lui Lai-kuen' Prudence

soearheaded the research' She's like a tiger on the hunt when

it' comes to going through archives and old documents, " Sinclair said. She searched the SCMP\ collection, sovernment archives, history museums, university collections ãnd do".r-"r,ts owned by institutions like the Jockey Club'

"Then there were diseases like plague, measles,

As Lui unearthed pictures of the first trams (1904), a (1903) and a meeting of directors of the Po Leung Kuk people lashed ¡he SCMP's and rvnhoon that killed 30,000 (1906), waves Ruther{ord sorted huge iåt"rfront offices with 100,000 It was excess of of them' in through the images for production in strong successfully Rutherford who argued

said.

"Pru and I tried to trace the family in the photograph to .We

if they were ever again united. couldn't trace them. I like to think there was a happy ending to this story. But somehow I doubt it." 0 see

Post Impressions

the in-depth captions. "What great stories there have been over the certtlrry," he said' "Take pirac¡ which was rampant' It was a damn sight more dangerous to catch a river steamer in 1905 than to fly on a Russian aircra'ft in the 1990s'

of how Captain if H o llin gw o rth 's memoirs published

Correspondent went

She was aÌready a legend when I first met her at least two decades ago, although, at the time she was a mere slip of a girl of 72 years or so. I'd heard all about her of course, the most famous female war con'espondent of World War II, author and

River taken in 1962. The woman was intercepted as crossed the border with her eight-year-old son to join her husband who lived legally in Hong Kong. She had learned she was to be sent back. Her son was allowed to stay. "On their faces, you can see the agony and desperation faced by so many Hongkongers whose families were torn apart by war or politics or famine. It's a picture of heartbreak. But it's so true and so touching that it was a natural selection for the book," Sinclair

black and white to give the book a unified appearance and to make readers see content rather than colour' Sinclair, meanwhile, busied himself with the research for

Ted Thomas tells

tuberculosis, cholela and other killers. I worked it out that you were 40 times more likely to die of plague in 1904 than you were to die of SARS in 2003." Not all the news was grim. The letters to the editor were a delight. Some ofthe crackpots ofa century ago could be alive today ranting about the same subjects, Sinclair said. "I particularly liked one 1907 letter where some cantankerous old nutter demanded that women who wanted the vote should be locked up and birched - and he sounded serious." During many of his 35 years as a reporter in Hong Kong, Sinclair has covered the plight of refugees and illegal immigrants who risked their lives trying to reach Hong Kong. So it's little surprise that his favourite picture in the book is one of a family on the banks of the Shumchun (Shenzhen)

Words by Kevin Sinclair, design by Andrew Rutherford,

research by Prudence Lui Lai-kuen. Published by the South China Morning Post. HB;260 pp

ISBN: 9628148990 Price: HK$380.00

doyenne of the Foreign Correspondents' Club. I was writing an arlicle about the late Richard Hughes whose mantle as the doyen of the FCC Clare had inherited. I tapped her for memories of the time when she and Dick had served together as war correspondents in the Western Desert (embedded, as they would now put it) with Montgomery's Desert Rats - the famous Bth Army. From that time on we become good friends, but at that time she was well taken care of by a legion of chums and admirers who shared some time with her whenever she came to her royal table in the FCC. I got to know her better when I became a fellow resident in Ridley House in Upper Albert Road, that block of flats that has become something of a refuge for hacks who can't bear to stray too from the comforting womb of the FCC. By then she was well into her late eighties and her usual purposeful gait

had turned into a totter, but she stoutl¡ and sometimes angril¡ declined a supporting arm as she weaved her way down the Ì86 steps from her flat to her personal corner in The Bunker.

Her army of "readers" rotated the task of reading the newspapers to Clare and her mail was taken care ofby anyone who had the time to read it to her and draft replies. A full+ime

English companion - Joanne - was brought in and she did sterling work as general factotum until she doo harl to return to the UK.

It was at about this time that I become involved. Clare asked me to write out her cheque for her FCC bill and I was horrified at the amount. I went back through previous bills and then called for her other regular bills. There were four helpers, (Clare was now in need of 24-how attention since suffering a fractured hip some time earlier). Her rent was outrageous for a small studio flat and her outgoings well outstripped her Telegraph income and retainer. Something had to be done and quickly. I terminated the contract

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

THI

professional health care nurses, and then

CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

I drafted a letter to be handed to everyone in the FCC who was accepting Clare's joyous invitation to "have a

rearranged the maids'roster, a saving of over 30%o.

drink/lunchidinner on Conrad Black", as soon as I discovered that Clare was paying and that Conrad Black was blissfully ignorant of his reported largesse. We then went into serious negotiations with her landÌord and saved another 307o onher rent at The Ice House. The big plus in Clare's life has been the commissioning of this book. It gave a new purpose in life. I started by conducting long interviews on tape in an effort to fill in the gaps between 1990, when her autobiography, Front Line,was published, and the present. Then I had the super efficient Vilma Quinto and Rebecca Aquino go through Clare's voluminous but chaotic files to see what we could find to help us fill in the missing years. We found rather less than we'd hoped for, though we did discover a deposit in a bank in the USA that Clare had forgotten all .W'e've about. since been trying to get the bank to transfer the money to Clare's Bank in Hong l(ong. With little success. Then in June, this year Clare's luck took a turn for the better. Neri Tenorio, an experienced and highly talented journalist (Reuters, AFX etc) called us to say she knew Clare through the Church that they both attend, Union Church in I(ennedy Road, and thought there was a good book in Clare's remarkable life. She seemed delighted to hear that we were already conlemplating this. We sat down with Clare the next day and worked out a

budget.

contacted the UK publisher Jonathan Cape and

asked permission to use the material in Front Line, covering her years from childhood to Ì990, and also for us to reclaim copyright on the photographs. The people from Jonathan Cape were exceedingly generous and they released the copyright to us without quibbling.

Neri then starled writing. Within a day or so Joyce Lau the

vivacious managing editor of HK Magazine and another worshipper at Clare's church, phoned to tell me that she too

was contemplating an in-depth study of the Clare Hollingworth saga. Joyce brought with her an estimable advantage in the form of Kiu (Q to his friends) a studious and

quietly-spoken young Chinese-American writer and researcher. We weÌcomed Joyce aboard. Q was dispatched to the Central Library at Causeway Bay and also submerged himself in back-numbers ol The Correspondent. Now there's devotion to duty for you! Almost simultaneously we got an e-mail from Dr Priscilla Roberts, a former colleague of Clare's from HKU, who informed us that she too was beginning

After nearly 40

years

now based

Australia's

Blue

still vividly remembers the visit of Mountains

Borneo in early 1964. The Offi,cer's Mess in Sibu' where " an apparition øppeared, climbing the stairs" .

orders that all officers had to be at lunch that day - to lend him some support, I suspect, for as he put it, "we are being visited by some damn woman repotter."

Our small l/7th Gurkhas Tac HQ

of about six British officers gathered in the Mess, a two-bedroom house on stilts adjacent to the police station and close to the British Resident's Istana.

Tiger beers and Gin and Tonics were being consumed while the usual

army guff was tossed about with military aplomb. "Who is this woman, anyway?"

Suddenly, an apparition appeared,

climbing the stairs. Small and squat, she was dressed in full jungle gear -

obviously new and ill-fitting, topped

by a large, un-shrunk jungle hat, which didn't enhance her ensemble. An arrny pack was slung over one shoulder. Frankl¡ she resembled a recruit jungle-basher from the 1970s BBC TV comedy show "It Ain't Half Hot Mum!" She certainly didn't look

normal press repoder. But this was the

famous Clare Hollingworth - although she was unknown to us and even to the CO, it would aPPear. Aftel introductions, a drink for our guest and some polite preamble, Clare star-ted firing questions at the cherootpu{fing CO. These were all pleasantly fielded with the normal harmless and inconclusive stuff reserved for the press - especially female members' One could

emphatically. Stalemate. The good doctor rang

by Anthony Lawrence of BBC fame (and FCC President in 200I). After a most convivial evening and dinner we

asked Anthony to sign the Visitor's Book. As he was about to write, he

suddenly looked

up and

loudly

exclaimed, "I see Clare Hollingworth has already been here." Clare had done it again. She'd got the "scoop" onllTth Gurkha Rifles. E

Postscript: Perhaps the reason

sense the serious-looking Clare was thinking, "Bugger this for a row of

Clare and, Anthony nere sent to

beans."

was that we had, recently had a major

military success.

was then that she took over.

She started telling us about the big

picture ... the really big picture probably even bigger than the CO had envisaged. She started putting ideas and questions into our heads and, it was soon obvious, from the odd name drops

that Clare had alreadY been wellbriefed by the big boYs in HQ in Singapore and maYbe even bY the famous "Jungle General", Walter Walker. Clare soon had us spellbound and hanging on her every word. Even the CO started to open uP. We had a most interesting lunch and, by the end ofit, Clare had a new fan club. A short time later', we were visited

Ind,onesians

Twenty-fiue

had sailed round

the

coast and, attempted, a seaborne incursíon into our area uia the mighty Rejang riuer. We got all 25 in the end, but not before a rather bloody, three-hour battle with eight of them on a l)ery small and horribly swaûLpy mangroue island. When the

wounded and bleeding enemy uere helicoptered, bach to Sibu Hospital, the fi,rst in the queue to giue blood were the Gurkhas - not the locals! Gurhhas (ne uery comforting to their enenry -- once it's ouer and they'ue got'em. I witnessed this afew times.

for

ambulance, and, muttering wimpishly that it was only for an x-ray, I helped the lads in white to strap her to a stretcher and we carried her out. Reaching the Canossa hospital, we were confronted by a demand for $20,000 up front. I didn't have it. On reflection I can't think of anyone with 20 grand of loose change about his or her person. They accepted my Visa card. While Clare, complaining bitterl¡ was taken in for x-rays

world-beating war correspondent

.t She is one of the g eat correspondents of the 21th century, and yet it is only from friends that one discovers the extraord¡nary iife tlìaf sf,e ;ias led in pursuit of that proless¡ontt

THE CORRESPONDENT OC |OBER/NO\,'EMBER

NERI TENORIO

The book's title is deriued, from the practice that, until recently, accorded ú war correspondent uith the treatnxent and benefi.ts of an fficer with the rank of captain if captured, by one sid,e while reporting for the other.

was shown around the choice of accommodation; first,

service that differ - the operation, follow up and virtually everything that happens to you in hospital follows the same strict caste system. The third class accommodation turned out to be a six-bed ward. Not at all unpleasant, but having some compassion for the five grannies occupying that ward I opted for a secondclass room hoping to persuade the hospital that if they gave Clare the third class tariff on the operation etc I'd opt for the second class room and save the hospital the problems bound to result from five mutinous old ladies forced to share a room with Clare, whose nocturnal habits, accordir¡g to her helpers, are not conducive to a good night's sleep, Her overwhelming urge to watch BBC TV news bulletins every hour is only part of the problem. And then there are long and detailed telephone calls to Paul Hill her master at the Daily Tblegraph foreígn desk in London. The hospital, at the urging of Clare's doctor, came good and agreed to charge the lower tariffon the operation. Having accomplished all that by 12 noon, I left to have a delayed breakfast with my client - nearly three hours late.

From the Hong Kong Club

2OO3

CLARE HOLLINGWORTH WITH

second, and third class. It isn't only the cost ofthe room, and

a quick trip to Oliver's in

Prince's Building and a box of goodies including caviar, pate,

A remarkable woman's lifetime odyssey as a

Then disaster struck. The call came at about B:15 am.

Clare Hollingworth, to his

Dateline: Sibu, Sarawak - The CO Commanding Officer - had issued

to build a file

Clare's helper Rebecca reported that Clare had suffered a fall and could not stand up. I tried to cancel the meeting with a visiting client. Eventually he wound up waiting in the Hong Kong Club's Garden Lounge for over three hours. When we got to her flat, Clare was on the floor grimacing and trying not to groan aloud. Her doctor diagnosed a fractured femur. "Hospital!" he pronounced. "No, No, No hospital," wailed Clare

famous war correspondent'

Gurkha battalion

OAIDTTIIÌDI)

preparatory work on to starting an in-depth study on the life and times of Clare Hollingworth. Priscilla was invited to join the group on the understanding that all of our research material would be pooled and made available to all three wnters. In mid-August Joseph Tam, a printer we'd worked with many times before, was briefed on this design and printing requirements. Only eight weeks remained before Clare's 92nd Birthda¡ the day we'd chosen to publish the book.

absent member George

Mackenzie

OAIIflUN III

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\'EMBER

2OO3

French bread and butter and a bottle or two of chilled Moet. No way was Clare going to exist on hospital fodder. Over the next three weeks, many FCC regulars made the pilgrimage up to Canossa Hospital to sit and talk or read to Clare. It would be invidious to list the visitors, because I'm bound to leave some out, but I was surprised to see that as well as Clare's old chums and readers, a large proportion of the curmudgeonly old bastards from the Prisoners at the Bar Gang took time out from hurling down industrial-sized, martinis to wend their way to the Canossa to pay their respects and share a glass or three of lightly chilled Chablis. By the end of the first week Clare was beginning to enjoy it. Soon she was walking reasonably well on her frame and complaining as vociferously as of yore. It was then we knew she was getting better. Towards, the end of the third week, she was discharged, and made her first visit to the FCC the very next day. A couple of days later, she had resumed her reguÌar interview series, with Neri Tenorio and as a result her book, Captain if Captured, was put to bed on time. With an all-up hospital bill of over $150,000 we are looking for-ward to mammoth sales. It's a damn good book too. D

obituary

on the nefarious behavior of governments and the powerful and how best to record their misdeeds for bored editors, or in the least, fol history. Recently an old friend of ours admitted, "You know, I sometimes thought some of Creg's theories were a little crazy but now, wow, he was the one who got it lightlrr Toda¡ more than ever, the world needs people like Greg Davis; photographers with inquiring minds tinged with scepticism. Now, every time the phone rings, I expect to hear his voice as I've done almost daily for the past 25

1g4B -2003

years.

By Philip Jones Griffiths

The silence deafens mY heart . .

suit or the peasant farmer? The communist or the capitalist? And what kind of freedom are we talking about any way? This

started me on a road of discovery that is unending and often delightful."

After Vietnam, Gleg went back to the States briefly, quickly got disillusioned and returned to Asia, settling in

Japan.

He discovered and set about

photography

exploring other countries. I first met him 25 years ago in Seoul

where he had "gone local" preferring to sleep on the floorof a Korean hotel during his assignment. This, I remember thinking, was a very different kind of American. As he put it so eloquently. " I became an exile. A voluntary one, for sure.

The world of photography is a poorer place today. Greg Davis, one of the most important photographers of recent years has passed away. Greg lived in Tokyo, and it was there

that he died with Masako, his wife of 33 years, at his side.

Greg was an American of Russian descent, born in California. His rnaternal grandfather was' oddly enough, considering Greg's inborn contrariness, a general in the Tsar's army. So after the Revolution the family left St. Petersburg and headed to America. Like many teenagers in the sixties Greg found himself in Vietnam. Later he would explain, "Vietnam at war was akin to an Alice in an evil Wonderland, which was to be the death of innocence." The three years he spent "in-country" not only turned him into an anti-war activist but also ensured a lifelong distrust of all authority. He once wÌ-ote a fascinating description comparing the life of the Asian peasant with that of a businessman. "Who is the freer', the man in a business

have largely escaped from the

constraints and bonds of my birth, language, culture and religion. This is essential to my photography. It gives me the A mirror to critically hold up finding things out. pleasure of

' tr

a rice field. "That's stLange," replied the picture "The rice I get at the supermarket is white." Greg was in many ways par-t of the old school of photojournalism. He believed his art required form AND content. Often, when we travelled together, the talk would be about the light, the approach, or the best angle, but the

major discussion would always come down to, "What does it mean!" He strove for eloquence in his pictures. He wanted his photoglaphs to speak out, even, shout out a message. Being an avid reader, Greg, when in Bangkok spent more time in bookshops than elsewhere. He accumulated a vast library on all subjects Asian whilst doing research for'

his stories. His journalism talents were well honed. He checked in, sometimes on a daily basis, with his contacts all over Asia. He relentlessly pressured the North Korean officials in Tokyo until they gave him a visa. As a result Greg produced the most comprehensive coverage of North I(orea. For over 20 years he covered every major story in

a triangle bounded by IGmchatka, Khazakhstan and Djakarta. His pictures have appeared in every major magazine in the world, especially in TIME from l9B8 to 1989 while he was their contract photographer for Asia. For me, through Gr-eg's death, I have lost a best friend and a colleague with whom I would not only discuss the technical side of our profession (does the 35mm Summicron really have better bokeh than the aspheric 1.4?) but, more importantly, exchange views

against all my putative ideas." Greg was a born anarchist and libertarian' He had a keen moral sense and was quick to detect injustice and with his camera reveal the perpetrators. He was exceptionally kind and generous. As his colleague, Peter Charlesworth put it, "He was generous in all senses of the word; with his praise,

with his wallet and with the sharing of his contacts

and

knowledge. Greg rarely had a bad word to say about anyone, unless of course they were politicians, petty officials or bureaucrats and then he would give you an ear{ul." And, I could add to the list, the occasional picture editor. My favourite story was

.Þ

about the usual 3 am call from New York checking on a caption for a Vietnam picture. "There's a barefooted woman with a triangular hat standing on some green stuff, is it a golf course?" Greg patiently explained that the "green stuff" was THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

Our thanks to Philip Jones Grffiths for allowing us to reprint this obituary written for The Digital Journalist http://www. di gitalj ournalist. org/issue0306/gdavis.html THE CORRI,SPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\T,MBER

2OO3

Quiz Night:

Agenda

could this when

I can now tape from film, VCaD

and DVD so music has been added to

especially given the List Section was

the range of quiz topics.

extremely tough to mark

FCC\Lr uB Lu\cHEo\

the 50 U.S. States - name the state capitals". David O'Rear claimed "I

I would like to thank Tim Cribb for standing in for Jerry at the October Quiz. He did a great job

The new equipment supplied by the Club has opened a Pandora's Box.

Speakers at Large

Music on the

"Here

was 12 bul not

now." Yet again Paul Bayfield missed

the Oz question. The lack of daft answers was interesting. The December Quiz Night will take place on the 17th. - Wendy Richardson

are

A Jump Sh¡ft Doesn't Necessarily Give the Game Away Taken from a free deal one Tilesday night at the FCC, this odd distribution plus good bidding took two tables to Grand Slam making. The third table bid a small slam making 13. As you will see it took only six bids (in total) to reach the correct contlact - BUT without the shift and unless N takes over the bidding Grand Slam may not be reached.

r'r.larl^

Dealer South. E/W Vul

? Qr072 t AKQ62 + 4932

ô KJ543 9 94 o r07 43

+ K4

Membership

ôQ10eB7

E S

?s I JB5 + Q76s

& Marketing

Ç 1.62 ? AKJB63

The Board of Governors is pleased to announce the appointrnent of Marìlyn

Hood, a long-standing associate rnenber of the FCC, to the newlycleated position of Membership

¡Þ J10B S

5HP

v/ P P

3D* 4NT+ 7H

Marketing Executive. The objective of creating this new position is to actively

P P

market the Club and its facilities in order to encourage people, particularly

x Jump shift - well maybe not 17 HCP - but include the void + RKC Blackwood

those

ir.r

the media, to becorne members.

This marketing campaign

goes

Chungking, which reduced joining fees Iry 50Vo, as well as the mernber-getmembel scheme by which every member successfully introducing a new

4nember gets

of the Club

the

them elsewhere or, even

THE coRRESpoNDENT ocroBER,/NovEMBER 2003

2OO3

establishment

1943

from the CIub either because

The aim of these campaigns is to maintain the number of members at a Ievel sufficient to keep the Club functioning at its current high level of efficiency. As we all know due to the cun'ent economlc climate, and not to mention that honible acronym SARS, there has been a large increase in the numbel of members having to resign

the 60th Anniversary of the

HK$1,000 food and

beverage credit.

jump to 7H? Well, 3H response shows 6 of the suit, 5H to 4NT = 2 Aces plus king of trumps therefore, N/S have l0 trumps/4 Aces/serious D. If S has 6H, obviously there must be a shortage somewhere (and hopefully over that rainbow it will be D). The lead on 2 tables was 35 the 3rd a small D but no matter 13 tricks are there. Take AS, draw trumps in 2 rounds and the rest is history. The same goes for the D lead. - Wendy Richard.son So, why the

company they work for has transferred

hanrì-in-hand with the cunent special promotion, intrnduced in celebration of

THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\,T,MBER

Clockwise from top left: Henry Steiner on Re-d.efi.ning Hong Kong: Can Brand,ing Saueface; Iaan Albrecht on læarning How to Fly: The Star Alliance Experience; Joseph Agassi on Global Terrorism, The United Nations and, Persona'l Liberty;

worse,

downsized.

Should you have any queries legarding introducing a potential member or your membership status, Marilyn will be pleased to help. You can contact her by telephone on 9408-

1636

marketing@fcchk.org.

e-mail

fl 35

Hugìr van Es

Left

ru,le of no mobile in the restaurants, ntentbers of SydneyT Fragrant Hctrbou' Clun pose for posterih,. More th'an half th,e floating membership are.fonner FCCers so the monthly rerninising in uery nid,e-ranging. Standíng LeÎt to Ríght: Dauid Lomax, Barry Walsh, Milte Foote, Mctrtín Pollard, Johj Fadar, Saul Lochlrurt. Seuted Left to Right: Peter Carton, Tory C¡o¡f, portí

Flottting the main FCC

P LI(,s chola,rship

winners and the menr,bers of the seLectíor¿ board. Rtghl At th,e Macau -Røces. Below:

Relaxing

lte-t'ore the

Ball.

Johns (El Presídente), Peter Bennett'. FCCers in Sydney missing from the photo inclurle Dctuid Bell, Noel Quinlan, I(en Kiernan, I(erry McGlynn, Rob Ma,cDougall, Alan Hargreaues anrJ Rol¡ert Wa,lJter.

Fragrant Harbour meets

otl, the seconrl Wednesdal'

of euerymonth and uisitors are welcome.

'. (,

2. Þ

'õ

'lerry Duckham/Àsiapix

Clare Hollingnorth ceLebrates lrcr 92nd,

birthday surrounded by FCC well-wishers

Old Presidents mcty neuer d,ie, but neither are th,e1' lilrely to fade a,way if they insist. on gormandisirt,g lil¡e th.is in París...fron left to dght: IGith Richbu'g (1997-98), Sinan Fiselr (1989-90), Thomas Cra,mpton (2002-03) a,nd John Giannini (1996-97)

'I'err1, Duckham/Asiapix

Hannony

for Humani4': In

mem,ory of

Virtuoso uiolinist John Murral' came

from California to perform to afull house in the Main Dining Room.

Milæ Bortola,zzo blows out hís birthclay co,ndles with the "help" of Bob Do'ais

Daniel Pearl ctntl

Jclllen comracles.

Above: The World Press Plu¡to opening ceremon)l.

'I'LIE

THE (]ORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NO\T,MBER

2OO3

CORIìESPONDF,NT OCTOtsER/NO\TEN,IB[,R

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Editorials and corporate brochures BERTRAND YIRGILE SIMON Tel: 2526 4465 E-mail: info@red-desert'com'hk Wetrsite: WWW.RED-DESERT.

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THE CORRNSPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

2OO3

THF, CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

39 2OO3

What members get up [o when not in the Club ....

G avin

Li'ze in ihe Fl ub

ci i-l c;ng)',ot);eo

Photo3ra¡b l¡r Bob Davis

Cavin Coates has ltecorne a Lare evening fixiule at the FCC recently: that's ìrecause the ner'vspaper caltoonisl is busiest afier clark rvhen the 9-

unthrealening ancl inclusi\¡e llìalllle r' Nol. ìiving ir-r a rural Lantau valley, he has t'to regrets about giving up his regular'

monthly salarl, as

to-5els are letting their hail

lanclsc:rpe alchitect.

dolvn.

coulcln't

So the best time to burnp

stand

tl.re

into Gavin, a lanclscape alchitect tur ned chilclren's rror,elist and illustlator.

bureauclac¡' any more," he

enr-i lonrne nt ali st

me:rnt doing the rounds i'r'ith his por tfolio and moving to a tiny stone shack on Lamrna

caltoouist,

is cluling

said. "I rvanted to do something fol rnyself." It

and claylight

- but it's not ahvavs a girerr. He's a lar lrusicl ntrrr that he expectecl lvhen he I'rour-s

to save mone\¡ 'lvhile

tulned his back on the safetv of a solid career rvith a leacling

of business ploclucecl a gern: Gavin designecl the

lanclscape firm ir-r 1986.

rvatelfall at Hong I(ong Palk. It allows hulrarr

But this FCC memlter norv

a claily cartoon forThe Sta,ndctrrL ancl a montl.rly

produces

access

for a new children's

majesticall¡, fro¡.r the top 6f

ìrook,

the park near the aviary

ant)

lake behincl the Thai reslâurant. What is noL oltvious to

casual visitols is that the rruteliall prrnrpirrg slalion is hiclden, out of site, belorv the lake. Tl're oliginal plans called fol the purnps to be l.rc¡nsecl in an unsightly

sectol'

If this rvasn'l enough, he find time to rnake school visits to read arrd discuss his books, of which have

environnental theme.

lvhere tirr-mining ltequeathed a lunar larrclscape of devastatiorr and dead trees. Ther-e's Pinky the Dolph,in und Llte Powers thol Be plus tr'r,o ltooks featuling his cartoon crharacter, Jlalthy, all of r'vhich spreacl the enr-ironnental

message

above-glound

Ther-e's

the stoly oÎ The Last l,{ut, lnspirecl by a visit to Ipoh,

to childlen in an

encouragirrgl¡, non-stliclent,

the bottom by the

encleavours.

all

rt'ell as the ablear.rcl tumbles

bodied -

cheerfullv takes on one-off cornrnissions for a lange of publications (inclucling this

one) ancl prii,ate

- bv the u'heelchair-

Lrourrd as

cartoon for' ,4s1¿ ?nimes. He has jusl cornplelerl tìre illustlalions

Piccolo tlte Mc¡nster Cot,

struggled to get established. llut his time in the l,orlcl

Iarge woulcl

concr-ete box that have reduced the l'aLerfall to little more lhan a fourrtain. "It took a lot of shouting and screaming ancl ahnost cost me my job to plevent that ancl get the plllilp-r'oorn buliecl ciut ol sight," Cavin sa¡'s.

For enquiries, please contact us at: Tel (85 2) 2844 - 8361 ema¡ I : ppapartments@swi reproperti es.com

website: www. pacificpl ace.com.

Gavitt's cartootts and books ccttt be fouttd at

htttp : / /w

arthy c arto

o rt

c o

TI]E CORRESPONDF,N'I O(]TOßER,/NO\'EMB[R

2OO3

Swire Properties

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