The Correspondent, May - June 2006

CORRESPONDENT RRESPON MAY/JUNE 2006

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB, HONG KONG

THE

CHANGING

GUARD >> THE

The 2006-07 Board is returned

THE

CORRESPONDENT

contents

KEES METSELAAR

> New FCC President Chris Slaughter

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Cover Story The Changing of the Guard. The 2006-2007 FCC Elections

Opinion Nepal’s Maoists come to town

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Arts Commissioning an original

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Treasurer’s report

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Club Affairs Of Bricks and Brickbats. The Club renovations

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Real Estate The biggest bang for your buck: Phuket vs Bali

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Media Max Kolbe’s Stiletto

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Media Mark Graham strikes gold

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Books Hedda Morrison’s Hong Kong; Cover ups at sea

Obituaries Leon Daniels

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Then & Now Blake’s Pier

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Out of Context Tim Cribb

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Letters From the President Merchandise Around the FCC Professional Contacts

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COVER PHOTOGRAPH: KEES METSELAAR

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

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Letters From Jeff Heselwood, Hong Kong

THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB, HONG KONG 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2521 1511 Fax: (852) 2868 4092 E-mail: <fcc@fcchk.org> Website: <www.fcchk.org> President: Chris Slaughter First Vice President: Ramón Pedrosa-López Second Vice President: Kevin Egan Correspondent Member Governors Paul Bayfield, Jim Laurie, Kate Pound Dawson, Matthew Driskill, Ilaria Maria Sala, Luke Hunt, Keith Bradsher, Keri Ann Geiger Journalist Member Governors Francis Moriarty, Daniel Hilkin Associate Member Governors Andy Chworowsky, Rob Stewart, David Garcia, Steve Ushiyama, Hon. Treasurer Steve Ushiyama Finance Committee Convener: Steve Ushiyama Professional Committee Conveners: Ramón Pedrosa-López, Keith Bradsher, Keri Ann Geiger House/Food and Beverage Committee Convener: Dave Garcia Membership Committee Convener: Steve Ushiyama House/F&B Committee Convener: David Garcia FCC Charity Committee Conveners: Dave Garcia, Andy Chworowsky Freedom of the Press Committee Convener: Francis Moriarty Wall Committee Convener: Ilaria Maria Sala General Manager Gilbert Cheng

The Correspondent © The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong The Correspondent is published six times a year. Opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Club.

Publications Committee Convener: Paul Bayfield Editor: Diane Stormont Editorial and Production Hongkongnow.com ltd Tel: 2521 2814 E-mail: fccmag@hongkongnow.com Printer Hop Sze Printing Company Ltd Advertising Enquiries Sandra Pang Pronto Communications Tel: 2540 6872 Fax: 2116 0189 Mobile: 9077 7001 E-mail: advertising@fcchk.org

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Now that the new Board is in place, following the recent election, I believe it is time to start lobbying for a non-smoking policy around the main bar – at least between the hours of 12.00 noon and 2.30 pm when members and their guests are dining.

Legislation to this effect will take

place in 2009. Surely the FCC should be a leader, not a follower. I urge the board to canvas Members on the subject; a visual straw poll indicates that the majority of lunchtime visitors are non-smokers. Let’s make it a rule.

After all, the smoking fraternity can always repair to Bert’s.

From the Chairman of Po Leung Kuk, Louise D.A. Mon Po Leung Kuk is a charitable organisation established in Hong Kong 128 years ago. It has now over 200 service units in operation providing quality, professional and multi-faceted social services to the general public.

Apart from the traditional child-care service taking care of children from problem families, the Kuk is active in providing a wide range of rehabilitation and elderly services for those in need. Education is another Kuk’s key service which aims to nourish more talents in addition to help alleviate the problem of inter-generational poverty in the long run.

We have to rely heavily on public support to finance our services, and are most grateful to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong and all its partners and sponsors, which have over the years been offering their full support in raising funds for the Kuk since the first FCC Ball held in 2002. Funds raised over the years have exceeded HK$8 million. As a result, scholarships have been awarded to 32 students for pursuit of higher education. Children from the Kuk’s residential service and students of the affiliated schools are now able to enjoy better educa-

tional opportunities despite financial difficulties.

Also, the FCC Charity Fund made possible the founding of the Language Training Centre. Local and native English speaking teachers are there to run language classes for children under the Kuk’s care. We hope these children can strengthen their language proficiency in both English and Putonghua in a friendly and relaxed environment during their leisure time, so that they can be better equipped when they look for jobs or pursue further studies in the future.

It is only with the very generous support of the FCC and its partners and sponsors that we could attain these remarkable results, enabling our youngsters in need to have their dreams come true. We hope you and your company will consider supporting the FCC Ball this year, which will be held on September 15 at the Convention Hall, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Donations in the form of cash or prizes are all welcome. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact the FCC Ball Committee members. We look eagerly forward to seeing you at the Ball very soon.

Contributions The Correspondent welcomes letters, articles, photographs and art-work (in softcopy form only, please – no faxes or printouts etc). We reserve the right to edit contributions chosen for publication. Anonymous letters will be rejected. For verification purposes only (and not for publication) please include your membership number (if applicable) and a daytime telephone number.

Contributions can be e-mailed to fcc@hongkongnow.com. Disks should be dropped off at the Club or posted to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong and marked to the attention of The Editor, The Correspondent. FTP is also available and is encouraged for large files. Please e-mail us for the settings. The deadline for the next issue is July 10, 2006.

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

Club Activities xxxxx

> FROM THE PRESIDENT O

nce the election results were posted in the Main Bar, the first congratulatory phone calls came in at around four in the morning, Vancouver time. Serves me right for leaving my Hong Kong mobile turned on and beside the bed. Still, despite the … er… inconvenient hour, it was nice to hear from friends round the bar of the FCC. And even though it was rather a foregone conclusion since I ran unopposed, I’d like to thank those who voted for me. I’m honoured to have had such a strong show of support, and will do my very best to reward your confidence. As will, I’m sure, all the other members of the Board you’ve elected for the coming year.

We’ve got an excellent group of experienced Governors, including no fewer than five former Presidents, and several others who have served on more than a dozen Boards apiece. This is a remarkably deep pool of experience to draw from, and I have no doubt that the Club and the Board will benefit from the regular buckets-full of wisdom that will pour forth from it. Drink deeply… splash around in the cool waters … hell, grab your pole and go fishing … I know I certainly intend to.

I’d also like to encourage participation in the various Committees, the smaller functional groups where the real work of running the Club takes place. These Committees meet monthly (and often, more frequently) and any interested member can approach the Convener of the relevant Committee to join.

This year, we have an excellent set of Conveners, who I’m confident will be responsive to the feedback of Members and in whose individual and collective abilities I have tremendous confidence.

The Professional Committee is being jointly convened this year by First VicePresident Ramón Pedrosa-López and Correspondent Governors Keith Bradsher and

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

KEES METSELAAR

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Club Activities

Keri Geiger. Previous Co-Conveners Jim Laurie and Ernst Herb will also continue to serve on this vital Committee, ensuring that our calendar of professional events will remain the envy of other associations in Hong Kong.

Returning as Treasurer and Convener of the Finance Committee is Steve Ushiyama, who has also agreed to take on responsibility for convening the Membership Committee. Steve has done an excellent job on previous Boards, and the Club is in not only on a solid financial footing, but the waiting list for new members continues to grow – both facts are evidence of the Club’s ongoing success as a social and professional organisation.

As we all know, the FCC is also a damn fine place to have a drink or a meal, and Convener of the House/F&B Committee Dave Garcia will be making sure it stays that way, and gets even better going forward.

Andy Chworowsky is again putting himself (and his liver) in harm’s way by taking charge of the Wine Sub-Committee, and the two of them (Dave and Andy, not Andy and his liver) will also be jointly heading up the Charity Ball Committee.

The Correspondent is the main responsibility of the Publications Committee, which will continued to be helmed by Paul Bayfield. In addition to this magazine, however, this Committee is also responsible for the soon-to-be-published FCC Handbook, the Club’s website, and the Members’ Directory. Paul and the Committee have done a great job in all of these areas, and I’m sure we can look forward to future initiatives to inform our members and maintain the

Club’s profile in the community at large.

Press Freedom will continue to be a priority for this Board, and there are few in the Club more committed to this cause than Convener of the Press Freedom Committee, Francis Moriarty. With the help of his Committee, the FCC will continue its vigilant defence of our profession and retain its outspoken voice on matters of concern to journalists and correspondents in Hong Kong, and to all who are committed to having an active and robust media in the region.

Continuing in her role as Convener of the Wall Committee is last year’s President, Ilaria Maria Sala. Under her stewardship, the Committee has given us some outstanding displays of photography and artwork, and we look forward to more in the year to come.

To go with the new Board, we’ve got a new roof (just in time for the rain) and a new reception area. Plans are afoot to renovate the workroom. And while there is bound to be plenty of, ahem, spirited discussion about these cosmetic changes to the Club’s physical premises, one thing that will not change is the dedication of our Club Manager Gilbert Cheng, and the commitment to excellence he shares with all the members of our staff.

Our Board welcomes your input and feedback on all aspects of the Club’s operations, and I personally look forward to hearing from you on president@fcc.org. Thanks again for your support, and I look forward to another excellent year at the FCC! Christopher Slaughter president@fcchk.org

As we all know, the FCC is also a damn fine place to have a drink or a meal, and Convener of the House/ F&B Committee Dave Garcia will be making sure it stays that way.

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THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

Cover Story

Official results

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Cover Story

Paperwork Ever wondered what goes on behind the closed doors in the smokeless room where the FCC ballots are counted? Diane Stormont describes the process.

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THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

PHOTOGRAPH BY BOB DAVIS

Sorting the votes into categories.

From left: Gilbert Cheng, Rosalia Ho, Michael Ho, Steve Vines, Diane Stormont and Hugh van Es.

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here were eight of us deputed to count the ballots for the 2006-07 Board of Governors. From the management side, General Manager Gilbert Cheng led a team consisting of Financial Controller Michael Ho, OfďŹ ce Manager Rosalia Ho and OfďŹ ce Executive Chan Hoi-Lo. On the membership side, Hugh van Es, Steve Vines, VG Kulkarni and I did the honours. We gathered in the Sandy Burton Room ahead of the 3 pm cut-off point on Wednesday, May 24 to await the arrival of the ballot box. We were equipped with letter openers, sharpened pencils, ballpoint pens in various colours, calculators and coffee.

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Cover Story

PHOTOGRAPH BY BOB DAVIS

It’s a strictly manual operation.

We FCC counters don’t have dimples or chads to worry about but we do have to rule on the surprising number of questionable ballots that arise each year as a simple result of the voter failing to follow the instructions.

This year we had only one vote posted after the deadline. It was from a Correspondent member and despite hand-delivering it to our counting chamber, sorry, my friend, it didn’t make the cut!

It has become customary for the counters to pose for the cameras as the ballot box is unlocked and the envelopes are poured out on to the table. It is also customary to repeat the process for at least one of VG Kulkarni unlocks the box. the photographers who misses the moment. This of envelopes received. This may seem year was no exception. a pointless exercise but there is a Sorting the envelopes into the reason. We have to make sure that the three voting categories is the first number of voting slips does not exceed task. We then count the total number the number of envelopes. This is one

VOTES RECEIVED Correspondent members: 101 ballots Disqualified: • 3 (failure to insert ballot paper into inner envelope) • 2 (failure to write membership number on outer envelope) Journalist members: 20 ballots Disqualified: • None Associate members: 193 ballots Disqualified: • 3 (failure to write membership number on envelope) • 1 (failure to write both membership number and name on envelope) • 1 (failure to insert ballot into any envelope)

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of our first lines of defence against fraud or cock-ups.

Mind you, in the five or six years I’ve been a counter, I have yet to come across anyone stuffing two ballot papers into one envelope.

The next stage is where the first invalid votes are caught. As anyone who has cast a ballot at the FCC knows, one has to write down one’s name and membership number of the outer envelope which is colour-coded according to category. Those for Associate Members carry red lettering, Journalist Member envelopes, yellow, and black lettering for Correspondents.

Some members use the wrong outer envelope – which is always grist for discussion.

If a Journalist Member, for example, uses an Associates’ set of papers, should that be disallowed? He or she, after all, is entitled to vote for Associate Members and has merely forfeited his or her right to vote for journalist categories.

Next we sort the envelopes according to category and then arrange them in numerical order according to the membership number. This is to enable us to check them efficiently against the members-in-good-standing register printed out by the Front Office. We divide ourselves up into groups of two or three, grab a pile, and work through the process: one person calls the name and number and the others check against the relevant pages of the register.

When it comes to catching ineligible voters, it’s often a case of them being life absent, or suspended, or even on occasions, people who have resigned (in more than one case, years ago). Certain categories of honorary members are ineligible to vote but some do so nevertheless. I must say

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it has crossed my mind sometimes to wonder whether some of these ineligible voters really did cast a ballot or whether someone else did it for them!

Each year, too, there are ambiguities. Sometimes names and numbers don’t appear to match – this is why the Office produces two versions of the register masterlist, one in numerical order and the other, alphabetical. More often, however, the difficulties arise from a struggle to decipher handwriting. I’m proud to say we’ve always managed to work it out in the end and have resisted the very human temptation on one or two occasions to throw up our hands in despair and simply disqualify the vote on the grounds of illegibility.

After another count of the envelopes – no one can accuse us of not being thorough – it’s time to open the outer envelopes. This is the bit I hate. I always get paper cuts. Note to voters: there really is no need to secure the envelope with yards of sticky-tape. This is where the next set of disqualifications kick in: voters who fail to insert the ballot paper into the (unmarked) inner envelope. Not only does that void anonymity but the oversight renders the vote invalid under the election rules.

Another count is done: of the inner envelopes. These, like the outer envelopes, are neatly bundled up, secured with rubber bands and packed away. And then one more count is conducted: of the ballot papers.

Now the vote count proper begins.

Even at this late stage, we are still faced with the need to disqualify a ballot every so often. Usually, it’s a case of over-voting – voting for more than the number of places available.

My gut feeling is that most of the time this is a result of an oversight (that doesn’t stop disqualification) but on occasions, it has been more ambiguous. One year, we were faced with a ballot containing 10

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candidates competing for eight places. The voter had marked all of them in order of preference from one to 10. If he or she had only stopped at eight, we would have had no problem.

It’s become practice in recent years to start with the Journalist Member votes (on yellow paper).

I’m not sure why this has become a mini-tradition. I suspect it’s a hangover from the exam techniques we learned at school: always start with the easiest question. And Journalist Members are the smallest category. We divide the papers into piles. Each pile is then counted by a team of two to three people. The numbers are recorded and the pile of votes passed around the table to the next team. The numbers are tallied, double checked and sometimes even checked a third or even fourth time.

Whenever sets of counters come up with conflicting numbers, everything stops, the papers are shuffled and a re-count is conducted with everyone around the table watching. The running totals are recorded by Gilbert under the eyes of every counter present.

Then we do the Correspondents, marked on blue paper. And then, it’s the turn of the Associates, the largest number of votes in volume terms.

The mounds of pink paper tend to be a bit daunting when they are first laid out but by that time everyone is into their stride and this count generally takes about the same amount of time as the Correspondent vote with its fewer papers but longer candidate list.

Once the numbers tally and are tallied, the papers are bundled and secured. There is only one more task to complete before the candidates, whether victorious or not, discover their fate: the official results paper has to be prepared and signed before we counters repair downstairs to the Main Bar for a well-earned jar to rinse the paper dust from out throats and the paper-cut blood from our thumbs.

Treasurer’s Report 2005-06 I will comment briefly on the figures as presented, comparing to previous year.

1.

Income improved for the year (by $1.9 million), which reflects continuing recovery in business environment.

2.

The membership figure has gradually increased during the year to 1,795 by year-end, enabling us to build up a satisfactory level of income.

3.

Although income from entrance fees continued to be depressed, the bottom line of a $4 million surplus was still achieved particularly from securities investments and gain on old real estate disposal.

4.

Based on the increased membership level, satisfactory results can be projected for the coming year. The subject of menu prices will be kept under review as trends in catering costs increase.

5.

Solid progress was made during the year in cooperation with management on improvement of internal systems.

All in all, our results for the year were very satisfactory, thanks to staunch efforts throughout the year shown by all members of management, staff and our operating committees.

– Steve Ushiyama, Honorary Treasurer 2005-06

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Renovations

BOB DAVIS

Of Bricks and Brickbats FCC House Committee Member Andy Chworowsky outlines the recent renovations to the Club that have prompted spirited discussion around the Main Bar. “It’s too dark!”

“Finally, a lobby that that isn’t dirty putty coloured.”

“Looks like the Hong Kong Club.

Very nice.”

“Funeral parlour!”

“The photos look like crap against that background.”

BOB DAVIS

“Looks like the Hong Kong Club.

Yuck.”

“The photos look great against that background.”

And so on. Redecoration seems to polarise FCC members more than any other issue. Given the inherent subjectivity of personal aesthetics, it’s any wonder any organisation ever attempts it. So why even try? The simple answer is that we don’t have to. There is comfort in the familiar, and terror in the unknown. The more complex answer is there is a duty to maintain and upgrade the facilities and environment of the Club to pre-

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Luckily the weather held as the roof was repaired – ahead of the deluge

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serve and improve its popularity and, therefore, its viability.

There has been a lot of renovation in the past few months. By far the most important job was replacing the roof. In fact, we were told that this was the first time since the building was built (before World War I) that this has been done. A little digging showed that some six inches of layering had built up on the surface of the roof. The burden this placed on the teak trusses and laths was at the stage where no further patching could be done without a very real danger of the structure failing. Terracotta tile soup, anyone? Obviously, this sort of renovation simply has to be done for safety’s sake.

The House Committee decided that since there was going to be serious disruption for two months anyway, why not take the opportunity to upgrade some other aspects of the building, namely, the veranda, stairwell and lobby. First the stairwell: you’ll notice some wrought iron filigree has appeared between the pilasters. This was a functional decision. Did you ever wonder why there was fishing net surrounding the banister every weekend? The width between the pilasters was wide enough for a child to fit through. Whatever one’s position on little ones in the Club at the weekends, we’re pretty sure no one wanted to see them airborne.

The most controversial change on the stairwell seems to be the wood panelling cladding the wall. The designer wished to provide some continuity of theme between the Lobby, Main Bar, and stairwell, and so used the Main Bar as the index for the look and feel of all three areas – hence the dark-stained wood on the panelling as well as the doors to the office and the toilets.

In the entrance lobby, the hutch to the office was widened so the staff members there weren’t scrunched together. You’ll also notice the scratched piece of Plexiglas that served as the counter was replaced with black granite. The shutter covering the hutch was changed from a metal roller shutter to a multi-paned solid sliding door.

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

BOB DAVIS

The revamped Main Dining Room A much more attractive outlook after office hours!

Up in the Main Dining Room, changes were made to the infrastructure as well as the décor. You’ll notice that all of the air conditioning fan-coil units that used to hug the walls are gone.

The A/C equipment is now either loaded on top of the cockloft above the bar area, or cleverly hidden underneath the stage. The stage itself was modified so the railings could be removed when events are held, and reinserted when they’re required to prevent diners falling off the stage during regular dinner service!

On the far end of the room, the three windows that were bricked up goodness knows how many years ago have been re-commissioned. The two on the right had no view other than the wall of the Fringe Club, but the one on the left looks out over Ice House Street and provides some very pleasant natural lighting to that end of the room. The other two windows have large format photos of old Hong Kong behind them.

On a higher level, as part of the roof renovation, all of the teak trusses and lathing have been stripped down to their original natural colour – they were painted black before – and some additional indirect lighting highlights the woodwork, adding a warm glow to the room. Outside on the Veranda, a

new set of shade canopies were added, as well as new flat screen monitors to improve this as an audience area for speakers’ lunches and other events.

The electrical wiring was also found to be a horrible mess from years of adding, subtracting and jury-rigging.

This was all replaced along with the sound system, the wine fridge, and the staff/pantry area. To finish it all off, new comfy chairs (that actually can accommodate a derrière as large as mine) were added along with a lush new carpet.

By the way, the Love is a Many Splendored Thing poster that hangs at the top of the stairwell is an original one from when the film was released.

This has been loaned to us by the fine folks at Picture This on the understanding that we use it to raise money for the FCC Charity Fund. Should you wish to donate toward it, please contact the Front Office.

Finally, these decisions are not made in a vacuum. As with anything that happens in the Club, elected governors head up each of the relevant committees. Every member willing to contribute his or her time and expertise to the process is invited to become involved. Simply contact the convenor. He or she will be happy to include you. See the masthead of this magazine for a list of committees and their conveners.

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Media

Still No Justice for the Balibo Five

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he International Press Institute (IPI) has again called for the killers of the so-called “Balibo Five” – Australian-based journalists murdered in East Timor in 1975, to be brought to justice. This issue will not go away and has dogged the Indonesian authorities as one of the lingering blots to be cleaned up from their annexation and occupation of the former Portuguese colony.

Press chiefs pushed Australia, East Timor, Indonesia, Britain and the United Nations “to undertake all necessary measures” to find who killed Gary Cunningham, Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart of Melbourne’s Channel Seven network, and Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie of Sydneybased Channel Nine network.

“Despite numerous attempts by relatives and concerned organisations to discover the truth, all such attempts have been blocked by an absence of political will, inconclusive investigations lacking access to witnesses and forensic evidence, and delaying tactics by the authorities.

“In a period where journalists are targeted for practicing their profession, the IPI membership feels it is essential for the international community to ensure that the perpetrators of such murders do not act with impunity.

“Failure to prosecute increases the risk of the murder of other journalists and self-censorship to the detriment of societies everywhere,” the IPI said.

It is worth taking the IPI at its word, given that Iraq is entering the record books by proving itself the deadliest war of all for journalists. In Edinburgh, the world’s media chiefs recently got together to express concerns for reporter safety in the field. And they had plenty to shout about after the Committee to Protect Journalists announced that since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, 69 reporters have been killed in Iraq, most of them

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Max Kolbe’s Stiletto Iraqi, and that 26 media support workers had also died.

That compares with 58 killed in the 1993-1996 civil war in Algeria, 52 in Colombia from 1986 to the present, and 36 in the 1991-1995 war in the Balkans and according to Freedom Forum 66 journalists were in killed Vietnam between 1955 and 1975 while 68 reporters died in World War II, and two in World War I. It is not just front-line hacks who suffer. Recent casualties include an anchor for state-owned Iraqia

television who was shot dead in Baghdad. Jaafar Ali, who presents a sports programme, was gunned down as he left his home in the Shora Rabia district of southern Baghdad. That came after two British members of a US news crew were killed and a US reporter was seriously wounded in a car-bomb attack in central Baghdad.

Paul Douglas, 48, a veteran CBS cameraman, and sound technician James Brolan, 42, died as the 450odd editors, journalists and media executives sat down to denounce the truly rotten side of this business in the Scottish capital. US correspondent Kimberly Dozier, 39, sustained serious injuries when the makeshift bomb in a parked car exploded in downtown Baghdad.

Rodney Pinder, the director of the International News Safety Institute, said that only 10 percent of reporters’ killers were ever prosecuted and Chris Cramer, the president of CNN International, said covering the Iraq was the single most dangerous assignment in the history of journalism.

The IPI warning stemming from the Balibo Five was probably more than a little late but nevertheless fortuitous.

Thirty-one years after the journalists were killed in East Timor the perpetrators have yet to be brought to book and unfortunately the media can only expect that Iraq will continue to re-write the record books.

AFP

Australian soldiers check a house believed to have contained the five Australian journalists in Balibo.

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

Mark Graham

Top Journalism Award for Club Member

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lub member Mark Graham has picked up a major international award for Gulf Air magazine which he edited for Hong Kong-based Emphasis Custom Media.

The magazine, brought out for the Bahrain-based carrier, won a first prize for excellence in the annual Folio Awards, beating National Geographic Traveler magazine into second place. The panel of judges – who were looking at entries from all over the world – decided that the January 2005 issue of Gulf Air was the best in the consumer travel magazine section.

“It was a real bolt out of the blue to win it,” says Graham. “I didn’t realise until I looked at the list of other entrants that we were up there with the big boys. If you can beat National Geographic into second place, with all its resources, you must be doing something right.”

The magazine designer was Julie Man who, like Graham, hails from the

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northern English county of Yorkshire.

The cover story was penned by another FCC stalwart, feature writer Robin Lynam, who gave Gulf Air readers a guide to the wonders of India.

Graham, 51, presided over the magazine’s relaunch back in 2004, after being hired by another FCC member, Peter Morgan, who is now editorial director, custom media, for Publigroupe, the parent company of Emphasis.

Another Club member Stuart Lawrence, who has spent most of his career with Emphasis, edits the company’s flagship publication, Discovery, the inflight magazine of Cathay Pacific, which has won numerous awards over the years.

Graham, who is also a previous PATA gold award winner, left the company when the Gulf Air magazine moved the editorial operation to Dubai, but still contributes regularly to Emphasis publications.

Related weblinks: Mark Graham www.markredversgraham.com Emphasis Custom Media http://www.emphasis.net/

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Opinion

AFP

A Nepalese traffic policeman stands beside a car adorned with posters of Maoist rebel leader Prachanda.

Nepal’s rebel leader emerges from the shadows

BY LIAM COCHRANE, KATHMANDU

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he anticipation had been building for weeks. Posters of Nepal’s Maoist leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda (The Fierce One), had been plastered all over Kathmandu, even ending up on the sides of buses and taxis.

“I think he’s got a movie coming out,” joked one visiting American photographer.

When the rebel’s leading man failed to show up to address a 200,000strong rally of Maoist supporters in the capital on June 2, the expectation only mounted. For many years, only a single photograph existed of Prachanda and some wondered whether he existed at all.

An interview with the BBC’s Charles Haviland in February 2006 confirmed any lingering doubts and an hour-long television interview with Kantipur

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in June, the country’s largest media conglomerate, revealed Prachanda to be an articulate strategist determined to bring the Maoists into mainstream politics.

The crescendo of publicity peaked on June 16, when Prachanda and his right-hand man Dr Baburam Bhattarai, arrived by helicopter with the Home Minister for top level talks with Nepal’s ageing prime minister G.P. Koirala.

The face-off between the two archenemies was evidently productive and, wasting no time, both sides called their negotiating teams into Koirala’s two-story brick residence for an emergency meeting.

Scores of Nepal’s feisty and longsuffering media were kept outside the front gates of the PM’s sprawling compound, as were most of the Maoist battalion that had come – unarmed and dressed in civilian clothes – to Kathmandu.

So began a day-long wait in the sun.

Hours passed. Boredom kicked in. To pass the time journalists eavesdropped on conversations between the young men of the People’s Liberation Army and the police they had terrorised for years.

“Where do you get your weapons?” asked a baton-wielding cop, according to the keen ears of The Kathmandu Post’s Tlak Pokharel.

“We looted them from you,” replied a 20-something Maoist.

Photographers hopes sank with the sun as the fading light put an end to the chance of a spectacular dusk snap.

Then suddenly there was a rush to the single door beside the PM’s gates.

Something was happening and nobody wanted to miss out. Confusion reigned as reporters, cadres and wannabes crushed towards the door, which was blocked by riot police.

The crowd jostled and skirmish broke out at the front. A cop raised

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AFP

“No one thought that the rebels waging war and the parties involved in parliamentary politics would jointly make a revolution.”

– Prachanda his baton to the roar of dozens of adrenaline-filled newshounds. Next to me, a reporter yelled and jumped on the spot. If there was going to be a fight, it seemed there’d be a few takers from the Fourth Estate.

Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and eventually, after much pushing and shoving, the card-carrying media were allowed in one by one. Snappers adjusted their flashes for a classic “coming down the stairs” shot as the last hint of daylight left. After another considerable wait, the leaders emerged from the PM’s house and walked hand-in-hand down the stairs,

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

smiles on every face.

It was an historic moment: the emergence of the secretive rebel boss and a peace deal between the warring parties. There was an infectious bubbling up of optimism amongst politicians and the media alike.

A press conference was to be held under a huge tent in a garden that was by now pitch black. Aside from the cameras and microphones, it looked more like the setting for a black market camel sale. There was more shouting as print journalists demanded the photographers sit down to give them a clear line of sight

to Prachanda, and somebody rigged up a single giant light bulb from the tent’s centre pole.

The rabble hushed and Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula read out the eight-point agreement that promised to uphold the ceasefire, involve the UN in disarming both armies and elect an assembly to write a new constitution.

Then The Fierce One spoke – rather gently.

“No one thought that the rebels waging war and the parties involved in parliamentary politics would jointly make a revolution,” Prachanda said, generously pasting over the troubled build-up to the day’s peace talk.

“It’s more than political give and take,” he continued. “It’s also more than election politics. It’s an experiment that can provide a new modality of peace to humankind.”

Warming up, his hands moved from being clasped meditatively in his lap to reinforce his message with some finger-pointing and at one stage a claw-like gesture befitting his nom de guerre. But overall, Prachanda’s demeanor was statesmanlike, and his clear vision for Nepal impressed many skeptical observers.

It’s unlikely, however, that he won too many new friends amongst the “imperialists”.

“The US didn’t trust us and India didn’t understand us,” he said, although it was more than these nations who misread the trends in Nepal.

After Prachanda addressed the packed tent for around 10 minutes, the press conference ended, with the politicians too tired to take questions after their marathon talks. It had been a long day for the press, too, and deadlines were being extended in many newsrooms to allow for this historic story.

No details have emerged about where Prachanda was staying or how long he remained in the capital.

But, having finally emerged from the shadows, Prachanda has made it clear that the Maoists consider this a red hot chance for peace in Nepal and they have no intention of going back to the jungle.

15

Art

The Art

Marcia Barham: “I was so taken with them that I knew I needed a Tang painting.”

of the Possible

L

ittle more than a year ago, as Club Members Marcia Barham and Danal Blessis approached their 10th wedding anniversary, Marcia, a music teacher at the Hong Kong International School, was mulling over a suitable gift to mark the occasion.

It’s extremely pleasurable to be able to report that The Correspondent provided Marcia with inspiration. It is even more pleasing to report that the

16

article in question inspired a crossborder commission of artwork from one of China’s most distinguished painters, a series of new friendships spanning oceans and linguistic barriers and resulted in an anniversary present that represents the happy times that both Marcia and Danal have spent in the FCC. It started when Marcia opened the August-September 2004 edition of this magazine. The cover story, by

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

journalist Rose Tang, chronicled her changing relationship with her artist father Dr Tang Shaoyun. See http:// www.fcchk.org/correspondent/corroaug-sep04/rose.htm for the full article.

Rose, who recently relocated to New York, is a product of Deng Xiaoping’s modernisations and the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

In contrast, her father’s life had been marked by the strictures of the Cultural Revolution that branded him a class enemy and member of a counter-revolutionary organisation. Rose will hate us for saying so but she is not an untalented artist herself. And that was and is both the undoing and re-doing of her relationship with her father, now a professor at Xiamen University, and her relationship with modern China.

Rose supplied this magazine with photographs of some of her father’s recent paintings to accompany her words. Most were works inspired in Hong Kong during visits in which father and daughter found common ground. It was these pieces that caught Marcia’s eye. Particularly those painted from sketches that Dr Tang has roughed out during late-night visits to Bert’s as live music wafted from the stage.

“These were the first artworks that I’d seen in my 10-1/2 years in Hong Kong that were true pieces of art and were meaningful to me,” Marcia says.

They struck a nerve. The FCC, particularly Bert’s, is Marcia and Danal’s home from home. Her close friend, Melissa Escobar is a regular performer (vocals and trumpet) alongside Allen Youngblood and his team of regulars and visiting performers.

“I was so taken with them that I knew I needed a Tang painting,” Marcia said. The difficulty was twofold: tracking down Dr Tang (Rose was off travelling in the China boondocks at the time) and convincing him to accept the commission.

Google came to the rescue. Marcia

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

located a website (http://www.amoymagic.com) maintained by an American academic, Dr Bill Brown, who teaches business studies to postgraduates at Xiamen University. Luckily, Xiamen is a small island. Bill and his wife, Susan, turned out to be friends of Rose’s parents. Introductions were made and Marcia explained why she wanted such a painting.

It wasn’t altogether a straightforward process. As most people at the FCC can attest, e-mails to and from China can have a strange habit of simply evaporating. Nevertheless, Dr Tang agreed to Marcia’s request and settled down to paint the Allen Youngblood Quartet with Melissa performing at Bert’s. In fact he embarked on two works: one featured Melissa on trumpet, the other of her singing.

This proved a bit of a dilemma for Marcia: she wanted the one that the artist liked best. This was the work that featured Melissa on trumpet. But Danal, whose present it was, preferred the version with Melissa on vocals.

But in the course of completing the work, Dr Tang reworked the figures in the latter to his satisfaction. The commission took around six months and Dr Tang himself hand-delivered the painting to Marcia when he came to visit Rose and help her pack for her move to the United States.

Today the painting hangs prominently in Marcia and Danel’s living room – although the couple are considering lending it to Bert’s for the summer months when they are away on leave. Meanwhile, the players in this saga in Xiamen, Hong Kong and New York have forged a set of firm friendships. It was Marcia who spread the news in Hong Kong of the arrival of Lucia Rose Engardio on the evening of Saturday June 10, weighing in at 7 lbs, 4 ounces, daughter of Rose and Pete Engardio who many will remember from his time as a Businessweek correspondent in Hong Kong.

– Diane Stormont

“These were the first artworks that I’d seen in my 101/2 years in Hong Kong that were true pieces of art and were meaningful to me.”

17

Real Estate

Taking the

Plunge There cannot be many FCC members who haven’t fantasised at some point about abandoning the expense, pollution and box-like flats of Hong Kong for a tropical paradise … or perhaps a holiday home or time-share.

Vaudine England looks at two popular options: Phuket versus Bali.

V

ast platform terraces over azure seas, tropical foliage dripping into private pools, glass-walled rooms over precipitous jungle slopes ... the appeal of the fantasy dream house in the tropics endures despite all the costs and complications.

18

Despite the terror bombs of Bali and the tsunami of the Andaman Coast, the villa business in both locations is booming. Tourists come and go. Hotels, particularly in Bali, have suffered tremendously from the bombings and drug bust aftermaths. But villa dwellers are a breed apart.

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

KEES METSELAAR

“The first bombs in Bali (in October 2002) were very different to the second bomb (October 2005). The first was catastrophic, everyone was in shock. And then there was SARS. So the market stopped for 12 months,” said Angus MacLachlan, partner in the Exotiq real estate brokerage in Bali.

“But prices didn’t go down. Local Balinese live quietly and they won’t sell out at lower prices. There was just a handful of fire sales. But generally, most people buying here are doing so with private equity – you can’t borrow locally or get mortgages – so these are people who can afford to lose the cash if necessary,” he added.

The need to buy in cash cuts out a large chunk of speculative buying and helps steady the market, agreed Nils Wetterlind, head of the Tropical Homes Agency, a Bali-based developer.

“In Bali you have to pay in cash and this has a stabilising effect on the market. Compare this to the Gold Coast in Australia where you can go in on mortgages and take a punt. Then you get speculation and a boom – or a bust,” said Wetterlind.

“Here you’ve either got the cash or you haven’t and secondly, you’re not going to buy big unless you really love this island. We love Bali. My clients love Bali,” he added. The “besotted with Bali” element kept buyers coming despite the bombs and, in some cases, because of them. He cites clients who wanted to help the island by continuing to invest in land and labour – as good as any excuse as any for throwing out half a million (US) dollars on the dream home.

In Phuket, disaster left the villa market similarly undamaged. Highend villas are almost invariably on high land, on cliffs overlooking the seas far below, be they calm or tumultuous. Disaster also has the effect of drawing in buyers looking for bargains. As in Bali however, prices barely dipped in Phuket after the tsunami in December 2004, and in several locations have strengthened.

Both MacLachlan and Wetterlind do business in Thailand and Indonesia and are frequently dealing with wealthy Hong Kong clients. They agree

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

KEES METSELAAR

KEES METSELAAR

Facing page: The main pool of the Royal Phuket Marina.

Top and middle: Surf’s up at Kuta Beach in Bali.

Bottom: Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand.

KEES METSELAAR

KEES METSELAAR

19

Real Estate

there is “more bang for the buck” in Bali, but buyers get larger properties in Phuket.

That’s partly for agricultural reasons. Phuket’s land was originally used mostly for rubber plantations and so the lots come in larger chunks.

In Bali, original use remains the paddy field, often in small-holdings split up between family members, and usually in smaller narrow strips.

20

“Relatively speaking there is a lot more value for money in Bali compared to Thailand. These high-end villas would have cost two or three times more in Thailand. If you spend US$1 million in Bali, you’ll be spending US$3 million to US$4 million for the same kind of property in Thailand,” said Wetterlind.

That’s partly because Phuket can be reached via direct flights not just from

Hong Kong but from Europe. So the people who once fancied a mansion on the Corniche or around Marbella in Spain are now looking at Phuket.

Bali, and Indonesian law, is always a bit more complicated, more of an insiders’ track, and so attracts a slightly different client.

Developers in Bali are now experimenting with some new forms of property investment, such as the

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

KEES METSELAAR

KEES METSELAAR

Left: Inner harbour and appartments at Boat Lagoon, Phuket’s oldest marina.

Developers of the complex drew on European design ideas and local proximity to schools and hospitals. Above: Pastel coloured apartments at Boat Lagoon.

If you spend US$1 million in Bali, you’ll be spending US$3 million to US$4 million for the same kind of property in Thailand.”

Novotel-managed “condotel”, the Nusa Dua Golf Resort. This guarantees eight percent per annum income on apartments to which the owner has free access for three weeks of the year. It includes a standard hotel, and blocks of villas replete with plunge pool and tropical foliage.

Part of the project’s appeal is the way an individual investor can bypass the hassles of direct purchase.

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

Reputable management is reassuring, and also solves the growing problem in Bali of unscrupulous agents who have been known to offer villas “for sale” when original land title was unclear, leases obscure, or nominess untrustworthy.

MacLachlan is not alone when he argues Bali soon needs a real estate association which sets a high ethical bar for membership. “We should now have more regulation, as you don’t know who you’re dealing with through a website,” he warned.

As with any dream, the tropical villa is a cliché which is rapidly losing any connection with the realities of island life which first inspired it.

The flamboyant garden designer

Made Wijaya, an Australian who has made Bali his home, laments the way most new villa developments could be anywhere in the world where there is a bit of sea and a warm climate.

“The fashion these days is decreed by the carpet-baggers,” pronounces this designer who does “full-blown Bali baroque” and is “proudly postzen”.

“The fashion is birdless, treeless, bloodless, God-less. There’s a telcoms buzzer on the door! This is unheard of in Balinese Bali where the door is always open and there’s no back fence.

“Now everything must have three bedrooms, a plunge pool, so many running meters of horsehair plant.

It is stylistically geared to making

21

Real Estate

KEES METSELAAR

“The fashion is birdless, treeless, bloodless, God-less. There’s a telcoms buzzer on the door!

This is unheard of in Balinese Bali where the door is always open and there’s no back fence. nature look man-made. The human touch is lost.

“These people come here for the available glamour and the cheap labour. It’s as if they don’t want to be in Bali but in Ibiza,” he added.

His strangerinparadise.com web site continues the rant, just as the Tropical Homes and Exotiq websites show more of what’s on offer. It’s a

22

field in which impulse buying is not recommended.

How to Buy? To buy property in Indonesia, a foreigner must have a local partner in whose name the property sits. Marrying locally is not the recommended route to ownership, the realty experts warn.

“My advice is, don’t do it through

a ‘friend’, but do it through a lawyer,” said Wetterlind.

The issue for prospective buyers is trust. Can you trust your local partner? Are you the sort of person who believes in trusting people more than laws? If so, Indonesia could work for you, once you know that finding the person you can trust is more important, and possibly harder, than finding the dream home itself.

If you would rather trust in laws – albeit in a country where the judiciary is still for sale and enforcement outside the legal process the norm – then ask your agent to go to the local law firms set up for the purpose of providing Nominees. An exchange of papers will place the property in the name of a local nominee, and ensure the property buyer holds financial control.

“The buyer is protected by documents registered and notarised at the Land Registry,” said Wetterlind, who offers this route to buyers wanting as near as possible to “freehold” ownership.

The alternative is to simply buy a leasehold. The standard length is around 25 years, but agents such as Wetterlind “won’t touch anything under 50 years”. The hazard here is that when the time for renewal arrives, purchase of the new leasehold could be so high as as to force you out of your dream.

In Thailand, the laws are a little clearer, although there remains a popular prejudice against the cashrich foreign buyer who swoops in with the effect of pricing the locals out of the market. Similar restrictions on foreigners owning actual soil of the country apply, but laws allow foreign purchase of a condominium, if that unit is in a development which remains majority Thai-owned.

Thus a condominium block – which could be an apartment building in Bangkok or a villa development in Phuket – will have a quota, usually 49 percent, set aside for foreign purchase.

Another key aspect in Thailand is

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

the offer of mortgage financing on property purchases from the Singapore branch of the Bangkok Bank. This offers loans to resident or non-resident foreigners for up to 70 percent of the cost of a project over ten years.

To buy apartments which exceed a building’s foreign quota, or to buy houses or land, a Thai company structure is required. Such a Limited Liability Company must be 51 percent owned by Thais, but foreign control of such a company can be achieved with local legal advice.

Thai law permits the issuing of classified or two-tier stocks, according to a Guide to Purchasing Property issued by Bangkok-based developer, Raimon Land. The Thai company may issue ordinary shares where one share means one vote, and preferred shares where at least 20 shares are required in order to obtain one vote.

“Thai law allows that the Thai majority shares be issued as preferred shares, and the foreign minority shares as ordinary shares. This allows the foreign minority shareholder to control the company whilst also being appointed as the sole director,” the Raimon Land guide states.

The purchase process requires proven transfers of cash to a Thai bank or developer’s account. Usually a Reservation Deposit, deducted from a final payment, of about US$1,250, is required. On signing a Sales and Purchase Agreement, 10 to 15 days after Reservation, a 10 percent payment of the Unit Price is required.

Foreigners must remit at least US$20,000 into Thailand per transfer in order to receive a Forex Transfer Form. That form is necessary to transfer title on the property, and also to show how much money can later be taken out of Thailand tax-free.

Conversion to Thai baht has to be done in Thailand and not before the transfer is made into the country, and the transfer must be specifically labelled as being for the purchase of property. If a foreigner subsequently sells their property at a profit, they will face capital gains tax on the por-

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

KEES METSELAAR

Above and below: The Royal Phuket Marina, with its first phase almost sold out, is setting new benchmarks for marina development.

KEES METSELAAR

In Thailand, the laws are a little clearer, although there remains a popular prejudice against the foreigner buyer who swoops in with the effect of pricing the locals out of the market. tion not covered by the Transfer Form, of about 27 percent.

Additional expenses for the buyer include: transfer fees of about two percent of the sale price; the Sinking Fund of between Baht 350 and Baht 600 (US$8.50 and $14.50) per square meter, which is held and used for

any major works or unforeseen repairs to the property’s assets; and the Advanced Juristic Fees, also known as management or maintenance fees, of about Baht 50 to Baht 65 (US$1.20 to $1.60) per square meter per month depending on the project.

23

Books

Pertinacity Pays This was the exhortation given by Alastair Morrison, husband of photographer Hedda Morrison, to Edward Stokes when the latter was hunting down Hedda’s superb images of Hong Kong and its people, recorded in the immediate aftermath of World War II. And the pertinacity paid off magnificently, as Stokes told an FCC dinner. Jonathan Sharp reports.

B

ored one lunchtime in 1995 while at the University of Hong Kong Library’s Special Collections researching a book, Australian photographer Edward Stokes came across by chance the territory’s 1946 Annual Report – a slender volume in those days. Flipping through it, Stokes came across 20 photographs, very poorly reproduced but each one credited to Hedda Morrison, the late German-born photographer acclaimed for her 1930s and 1940s images of China.

Thus began a 10-year saga that has culminated in the publication of Hedda Morrison’s Hong Kong; Photographs & Impressions 1946-47, a sumptuous collection of images portraying the territory and its people as they bounced back, with trademark resilience, from the ravages of the war and Japanese occupation.

As Stokes recounted, the book has been a tough project, firstly because of the difficulties encountered in tracking down the rest of the Hong Kong photographs taken by Hedda Morrison, who died in 1991, and then finding backing to have the book published.

Stokes said he was kept going by two hunches. “First it was extraordinarily unlikely that a photographer such as Hedda would have simply photographed the 20 images in the government report (and no more). Secondly, photographers of her calibre guard their negatives like the family jewels.”

Stokes was much assisted in his hunt by Hedda’s husband Alastair, a

24

son of George Ernest Morrison, the famed Peking correspondent of The Times early last century. As well as urging Stokes to continue the search, Morrison, who lives in Canberra, gave some insights into his wife’s character that illustrate her dedication to her craft. On two separate occasions, she was unfortunate enough to be aboard ships that caught fire. While other passengers rushed on deck clutching survival gear, Hedda arrived with two suitcases full of negatives. “She would drown before she lost her negatives.”

Stokes located Hedda Morrison’s China negatives at the HarvardYenching library (her Southeast Asian work went to Cornell), a

discovery that he said yielded further surprises. “Despite her great, sustained output through the years – at Harvard and Cornell there are in the order of 80,000 negatives, of which probably 40,000 or certainly 30,000 are highly publishable – in her own life only a thousand ever were published.”

Stokes said attempts by him and his Hong Kong Conservation Photography Foundation to fund the book of Hedda Morrison’s photographs, which were printed

by Harvard University from her negatives, met with repeated setbacks and disappointments.

“This was perhaps partly because it was very difficult to communicate effectively the book we envisioned. Others, despite everything we said, continued to see yet another coffee-table book. But also, undoubtedly running through all this, I do sincerely believe was Hong Kong’s general disregard for its past, its preoccupation – despite great wealth – with bottom lines, and it headlong rush into an often illdefined future.”

Local exhibitions of her photographs – which among many other aspects of Hong Kong life show terraced rice fields, a harbour still large enough to accommodate mudflats, and brilliant light and air quality – have drawn broadly three responses.

“For the young there is the wonderment that Hong Kong was so underdeveloped, so seemingly simple.

For the middle-aged: recognition of their origins. But above all for the elderly: remembrance and appreciation for visiting again the world of their youth, their – and Hong Kong’s – crucible years.”

Hedda Morrison’s Hong Kong, Photographs & Impressions 1946-47 Introduction by Edward Stokes.

Published by the Hong Kong Conservation Photography Foundation, in partnership with the Harvard-Yenching Library of Harvard University.

ISBN 962-209-754-5.

See also www.heddamorrison.com

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

Cover-up Two authors, past and present residents of Hong Kong, have written gripping accounts of two World War II maritime tragedies which occurred many thousands of miles and more than two years apart but both of which, for very different reasons, went under-reported at the time. Jonathan Sharp has read the books.

L

ong passages in these books are not for the faint-hearted – there are harrowing tales of violent death, unbelievable suffering and terrible cruelty as well as unimaginable fortitude and heroism. But both books, about two of the saddest episodes of the war, are admirably written in graphic, declarative prose by writers who have gone to enormous lengths to seek out the truth of what happened from all surviving players in the disasters.

In The Sinking of the Lancastria, author and former Observer and South China Morning Post editor Jonathan Fenby reminds us that in the early summer of 1940 following the German onslaught on France, many tens of thousands of British soldiers and airmen were not evacuated from Dunkirk – as Winston Churchill claimed they had been – and were stranded, strung out from Champagne to the west coast. In particular he focuses on several thousand servicemen who sought an escape route on board the 16,000-ton Lancastria, a Cunard liner turned troopship, which was sent to

St.-Nazaire in the Loire estuary to pick them up.

Packed with men and a few women and children as it was leaving the estuary, the liner was attacked by a German dive-bomber. As the bombs struck home, there was carnage, and when the ship capsized, more casualties as German aircraft machine-gunned survivors struggling in the oily waters. Bizarrely amidst the mayhem, some survivors stood on the Lancastria’s upturned hull and made a desperate effort to sustain their morale by singing “Roll out the barrel.”

Others did not wait for German bullets. “Two men floated together.

‘Well, Charlie, when you are ready I am,’ one said. The other grasped a revolver attached around his neck by a string. The first man shouted, ‘Fire away.’ Two shots rang out as the man with the gun shot his companion and then himself.” The book is filled with similarly heart-stopping incidents recounted in Fenby’s crisp, compelling style.

The sinking of the Lancastria was Britain’s greatest maritime disaster,

costing more lives than both the losses of the Titanic and the Lusitania together. But little news of the tragedy leaked out. “News of the disaster reached London as Winston Churchill was sitting in the Cabinet Office looking out at Whitehall bathed in early summer sunshine.

He decided that there had been quite enough bad war news for a single day … So the Prime Minister ordered that the sinking of the Lancastria was not to be reported in the media for the time being. In the rush of events, as he put it, he forgot to lift the ban.”

More than two years later in waters east of Shanghai, the Japanese army transport Lisbon Maru, a far less stately vessel than the Lancastria, was sunk by the American submarine USS Grouper. Utterly unknown to the submarine crew and her skipper, Rob Roy McGregor, the Lisbon Maru’s holds were filled with almost two thousand British prisoners of war captured at the fall of Hong Kong ten months earlier.

The sinking of the Lancastria was Britain’s greatest maritime disaster, costing more lives than both the losses of the Titanic and the Lusitania together. But little news of the tragedy leaked out.

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

25

Books

More than 1,000 died directly and indirectly as a result of the sinking, which was the most costly American-on-British ‘friendly fire’ incident of the war, powerfully and meticulously recounted in The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, by longtime Hong Kong resident Tony Banham.

Banham, like Fenby, pulls no punches in describing the horrors suffered by the victims before, during, and after the fateful attack. As in his earlier book on the fall of Hong Kong, Banham spares no effort in tapping every available source to dig out what happened. The book is packed with detail and first-hand accounts.

The torpedo that sank the Lisbon Maru was one of six fired by the Grouper. The others missed or did not detonate on striking the target – a common problem with unreliable American torpedoes, which also had a worrying habit doing a “circular”, turning back on the ship that fired them.

Japanese soldiers were taken off the stricken vessel, but before leaving they battened down the hatches over the holds as they left. In those holds, trapped and waiting to drown in appalling conditions of filth, disease, and malnutrition were the POWs. When the prisoners did manage to escape from the holds, they were shot at by guards on the ships or on escort vessels. Hideous acts of sadism were committed by the Japanese. One of the swimming survivors, Bill Spooner, is quoted as saying: “There were a few Jap naval ships in the area and they threw life lines over the side. Some of the

drowning men climbed up them.

As they climbed, the Japs gradually lowered the lines to the sea again. If any of the POWs managed to reach the deck rails, a shot would ring out, and a body would fall into the water.

After this we kept clear of the Jap ships.”

Lucky handfuls of survivors managed to reach nearby islands in the Zhoushan Archipelago, where according to Bombardier John Inglis: “The Chinese inhabitants of the Islands were absolutely and utterly magnificent to the shipwrecked survivors. They gave up all their food and spare clothes unselfishly.” But survivors realised they could not live on this hospitality for long, and signalled the Japanese to pick them up and return them to brutal captivity. Almost all surrendered or were rounded up.

Unaware of the unfolding drama were the crew of the Grouper, but days later they picked up a Romedatelined AP report quoting a Tokyo announcement that an American submarine had sunk the Lisbon Maru carrying British and Australian POWs. As the book quotes Grouper crew member Garfield Kvalheim as saying: “Needless to say, there was nothing but silence when we received the news.”

The submariners were cleared of all blame, as there was no evidence that any information that the Lisbon Maru was carrying POWs reached American submarines before the sinking. In fact Rob Roy McGregor was awarded the Silver Star “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” displayed during the patrol when the Lisbon Maru was sunk.

The Sinking of the Lancastria

The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru

By Jonathan Fenby Pocket Books ISBN 0743489438 Paperback HK$120

By Tony Banham Hong Kong University Press.

ISBN 9622097715 Hardback HK$250

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Banham spares no effort in tapping every available source to dig out what happened. The book is packed with detail and first-hand accounts.

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

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Ted Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $99

Luggage tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60

Sandra Burton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $150

Impossible Dreams

Medecine-sur tous les Fronts

Name card holder . . . . . . . . . $65

Raymond Lasserre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $270

FCC pin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $75

Pocket Guide to Golfing Philippines 2005

Reporter’s notebook . . . . . . . $10

Polar Power - Bilingual version

Polo shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$140

The Poles Declaration - Bilingual Version

Stonewashed shirt . . . . . . . .$115

Stretch Your Life

Robin Moyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $98 Rebecca Lee – Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $170 Rebecca Lee – Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $170 Tim Noonan & Chris Watts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $158

Stonewashed shorts . . . . . .$110 T-shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$110 FCC tie (B&R) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $80

The Finest Golf Courses of Asia & Australasia

Computer bag: $165

Umbrella (folding) . . . . . . . .$100

James Spence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $425

The World of Time

Vernon Ram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $99

The Quest of Noel Croucher

Vaudine England – Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $185

Umbrella (golf ) . . . . . . . . . . .$200

The Little Red Writing Book

New Umbrella (regular) . . . $68

Royal Asia Society’s Annual Journal

New Umbrella (golf ) . . . . . .$165

Kyoto Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60

Wallet – hot stamped . . . . .$125

CDs

New windbreaker . . . . . . . . .$195

Brandon Royal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $168 Peter Halliday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $200

Belt: $110 110

Allen Youngbloodlines

Allen Youngblood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $110

Windbreaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$250

Midnight Odyssey

Pierre Quioc Stole . . . . . . . .$280

Outside the Box

Pierre Quioc Scarf. . . . . . . . . . $95

Art, Design, Cartoons

Allen Youngblood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $120 Allen Youngblood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $120

FCC Video – NTSC. . . . . . . . .$310

ABC of Dogs

Arthur Hacker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $45

FCC Video – PAL . . . . . . . . . .$280

ABC of Hong Kong

Arthur Hacker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $45

FCC lithograph . . . . . . . . . . . .$800

Sketches of Soho

Lorette Roberts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $188

FCC postcard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3 I Love HK postcard . . . . . .$13.50 I Love HK poster . . . . . . . . . .$250 THE THE CORRESPONDENT CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE MAY/JUNE 2005 2006

Bowtie: $145

One Hand Two Fingers

Gavin Coates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $145

Macau Watercolors

Murray Zanoni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $350

27 27

Lives Remembered Books

Leon Daniels (1931-2006)

F

ormer FCC member Leon Daniels died in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, from complications arising from surgery on March 19.

He was 74.

Daniels, who lived in Hong Kong before and after the fall of Saigon in 1975, spent nearly four decades reporting on wars, the civil rights movement and other domestic and foreign news for United Press International (UPI) until his retirement in 1993 as foreign editor.

“Leon was one of the most knowledgeable and boldest reporters in Vietnam, whose lucid, insightful stories at the height of the war helped UPI score plenty of page one headlines,’’ correspondent Peter Arnett was quoted by the Associated Press (AP) as saying. Arnett covered Vietnam for the AP for a dozen years.

Daniel was one of a few foreign correspondents who remained in Saigon when South Vietnam fell to the North Vietnamese on April 30, 1975, and wrote the UPI flash that said: “Saigon government surrenders.’’ When he was evicted a few weeks later, Daniel was asked why he had stayed behind. His reply: “I had to. The AP correspondent was there.’’

After serving with the US Marine Corps during the Korean War, where he earned a Purple Heart, Daniel began his 36-year UPI career as a reporter in Knoxville, Tennessee in the 1950s and later worked in Atlanta, Tokyo, Bangkok, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Manila, Brussels, London and Washington, D.C., where he occupied the foreign editor’s chair. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

28

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

Photography

Then

Now

The changing face of Central - Blake’s Pier Both these photographs were taken from the same spot. The picture on top dates back to1973. The lower was shot in 2006. © Bob Davis

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

29

Around the FCC

BLAST FROM THE PAST:

No one managed to identify everyone pictured here correctly and so the prize goes unclaimed. We therefore extend the competition until July 31, 2006 and increase the prize. Two bottles of wine go to the ďŹ rst Member who correctly names all those pictured here.

Answers to:

editor@hongkongnow.com

Photographs courtesy of Kevin Sinclair

30

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

PHOTOGRAPHS: © BOB DAVIS

Satirical author and political commentator P.J. O’Rouke made an indelible impression during his latest visit to the FCC ... literally.

In addition to hooking up with some old friends (left) he signed visitor Ben Brewer’s arm ....

... Ben then repaired to the nearest tattoo parlour to convert the autograph into permanent skin-art ...

... as O’Rouke et al got on with the more mainstream FCC activities of schmoozing and boozing.

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

31

Around the FCC

THE ULTIMATE BIRTHDAY PARTY Many Happy Returns to the Doyen and Doyenne of the FCC , Hugh and Annie van Es.

32

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

Professional Contacts FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHERS BERTRAND VIRGILE SIMON — Editorials and corporate brochures Tel: 2526 4465 E-mail: info@red-desert.com.hk Website: WWW.RED-DESERT.COM.HK RAY CRANBOURNE — Editorial, Corporate and Industrial Tel/Fax: 2525 7553 E-mail: ray_cran bourne@hotmail.com BOB DAVIS — Corporate/Advertising/Editorial Tel: 9460 1718 Website: www.BOBDAVISphotographer.com HUBERT VAN ES — News, people, travel, commercial and movie stills Tel: 2559 3504 Fax: 2858 1721 E-mail: vanes@netvigator.com ENGLISH TEACHER AND FREELANCE WRITER

Royal Asiatic Society The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society welcomes new members interested in the culture and history of Hong Kong, China and Asia. We arrange monthly talks, local visits and overseas trips to places of historical interest.

An annual Journal and a bi-monthly Newsletter are published.

For information: Tel/fax 2813 7500, email membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk or go to www.royalasiaticsociety.org.hk

MARK REGAN — English tuition for speaking, writing, educational, business or life skills. Also freelance writing – people, education, places, entertainment.

Tel/Fax: 2146 9841 E-mail: mark@markregan.com Website: www.markregan.com

FREELANCE ARTISTS “SAY IT WITH A CARTOON!!!” Political cartoons, children’s books and FREE e-cards by Gavin Coates are available at <http://wwwearthycartoons.com > Tel: 2984 2783 Mobile: 9671 3057 E-mail: gavin@earthycartoons.com FREELANCE EDITOR/WRITER CHARLES WEATHERILL — Writing, editing, speeches, voiceovers and research by long-time resident Mobile: (852) 9023 5121 Tel: (852) 2524 1901 Fax: (852) 2537 2774. E-mail: charlesw@netvigator.com PAUL BAYFIELD — Financial editor and writer and editorial consultant.

Tel: 9097 8503 Email: bayfieldhk@hotmail.com STUART WOLFENDALE — Columnist, features and travel writer, public speaker and compere. Tel: (852) 2241 4141 Mobile: (852) 9048 1806 Email: wolfthale@netvigator.com SAUL LOCKHART — All your editorial needs packed neatly into one avuncular body. Projects (reports, brochures, newsletters, magazines et al) conceived and produced.

Articles features devised, researched and written. E-mail: saulinoz@hotmail.com MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT SERVICES MARILYN HOOD — Write and edit correspondence, design database and powerpoints, report proofing and layout, sales and marketing, event and business promotions.

Tel: (852) 9408 1636 Email: mhood@netfront.net SERVICES MEDIA TRAINING — How to deal professionally with intrusive reporters. Tutors are HKs top professional broadcasters and journalists. English and/or Chinese.

Ted Thomas 2527 7077.

34

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

Travel

Unique, personally-selected quality furniture Exclusive line of designer cushions, bolsters, tablecloths Pottery, outdoor/indoor (Earthenware, Celadon & Modern) Tableware (cutlery and exclusive Glassware) Baskets, Lamps, Weaving, Statues & Decorator Pieces Shop G101, The Repulse Bay, 109 Repulse Bay Rd. Now open in 2/F, The Galleria, 9 Queen’s Rd, Central enquires@asianartworks.com Tel: 2606-7093 Fax: 2602-4485

❖ PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS The Professional Contacts page appears in each issue of The Correspondent and on the FCC website at www.fcchk.org.

Let the world know who you are, what you do and how to reach you. There has never been a better time.

Listings start at just $100 per issue, with a minimum of a three-issue listing, and are billed painlessly to your FCC account.

THE CORRESPONDENT MAY/JUNE 2006

Mail or fax this form to the FCC advertising team ❒ ❒ ❒ ❒ ❒

Copy attached 2 lines @ $100 ❒ 3 lines @ $150 ❒ 4 lines @ $200 ❒ 5 lines @ $250 Small box @ $300 per issue x 3* / $250 per issue x 6 Large box @ $600 per issue x 3* / $550 per issue x 6 Large box w/ colour @ $700 per issue x 3* / $600 per issue x 6

* Minimum of 3 issues

For more information E-mail Sandra Pang and Crystal Tse at advertising@fcchk.org or call 2540 6872 or fax 2116 0189

35

Out of Context

What members get up to when away from the Club

Tileing it like it is Tim Cribb talks to Jonathan Sharp

F

or someone living a nightmare, Tim Cribb gives a good impression of being a model of calm, stoic acceptance.

He and partner Paul Yao are trying to realise what for Hong Kong sounds like a pretty far-fetched dream: building their own home.

They’ve succeeded in completing what might seem to be the hard part: navigating through the land title regulations on Lamma island – home for Tim, Paul and their two dogs – doing the bureaucratic necessary for building a 2,100 square-foot three-storey village house (they will occupy the middle and top floors) – obtaining a decent loan deal from the world’s local bank and putting down a chunk of money as a deposit.

But, as Tim recounts in remarkably mild, almost philosophic, tones, “That’s where the nightmare begins.”

The cause of the nightmare has been that Hong Kong’s building contractors, as others may attest, are not all possessed of that complete dedication to excellence, that total devotion to innovation and creativity, that utter commitment to customer satisfaction, that energy and dynamism, that constant striving for success in all endeavours, and all those other sparkling qualities regularly attributed to the territory’s workforce.

In fact, the contractors selected to build the house and make Tim’s dream come true have at times seemed to resemble that stereotype image of the Hopeless British Working Man circa 1955.

What most annoyed Tim initially was the discovery that local contractors don’t seem to need a licence.

And while he says he is sure his contractor does have such a licence, the same was clearly not the case for the

PHOTOGRAPH BY BOB DAVIS

man who came to install tiles. This person took large horizontal tiles and placed them all vertically. When told of his error, he responded: “Yes, yes.

But they make the room look much higher.”

Long and loud complaints followed and eventually a tiler was brought in who seemed to know what he was doing.

The tiler episode has been just one

don’t claim perfection; they are not pretending to do a good job – unlike in Singapore. In Hong Kong you’ve just got to accept the fact that it’s not going to be up to standard.

Tim adds: “The ‘finishing’ is poor.

It seems to be because Hong Kong has the mentality that you may pay HK$20 million for a flat, but you are quite happy to spend another half million gutting the place.” So contractors don’t feel any obligation to do decent finishing work.

So what’s his advice to others contemplating building a place of their own? Tim says: Keep an eye on the worksite – it annoys the builders but it gives you some feeling of being in control. Check the background of the tradesmen: see what work they’ve done before. Choose your own materials.

“If you can do it, do it,” he says, but adds: “As anyone who is building houses knows, it’s a bit like journalism, or making sausages: you really don’t want to see how it’s done.”

The contractors selected to build the house and make Tim’s dream come true have at times seemed to resemble that stereotype image of the Hopeless British Working Man circa 1955.

36

of a catalogue of irritants and frustrations. Construction which began at end-January was supposed to be completed by end-June, but now it looks more like August or even September.

Was Tim just unlucky with his choice of contractors? His friends say, no, his experience is by no means exceptional. One friend says that workers in Hong Kong and China

THE CORRESPONDENT

MAY/JUNE 2006