Founded
in 1997 in reaction to the sale of the SCMP by
Rupert Murdoch to Peking-friendly billionaire
Robert Kuok, in exchange for satellite
broadcasting rights in Mainland China, NOT
The South China Morning Post is
Hong Kong's first and foremost online English
publication and is committed to press freedom.
Proud to be electronic but never a mere blog.
"
I think of Dr. George Adams and "NOT the
South China Morning Post" as kin to the lone
Chinese who challenged the column of tanks at
Tiananmen Square in June of 1989." - Editor
and Publisher Magazine, "Bible" of the
Publishing World
"
One of the top fifty names on the
international Web." - Online
Journalism Review
PODCASTS
in
glorious low bitrate MP3: NTSCMP v Hemlock
Podcast 1 : Part 1 / Part 2, Podcast Two and Podcast 3 (a review of Hong Kong 2006).
Listen also to Joe McGinniss, distinguished USA
investigative author currently preparing a book
on the Kissel family tragedies.
FREE
HONG KONG BOOKS
: Games Hong Kong
People Play / The Great Hong
Kong Sex Novel.
Karan
Armstrong & James King sing "Glück das
mir verblieb" (a.k.a. the Mariettenlied,
Mariettalied or Marietta's Song) from Erich
Korngold's opera Die Tote
Stadt. Berlin, 1983.
MUSIC OF
THE MONTH : Korngold's Cello Concerto
in C Major
at last on YouTube!! The short work has a searing
central section where Korngold quotes not so much
from (1946), the film which inspired the
piece, but from what is for me one of the
greatest of all Hollywood films and all film
scores (Korngold himself thought it his best): Between Two
Worlds
(1944). Fifty years after his death in obscurity
and exile, the great Austrian composer's works
are almost all now committed to disc and in 2009
his finest opera Die Tote
Stadt is to be given its British premiere at Covent Garden.
(For
Kathy) - The Second Movement
of Korngold's Violin Concerto... and the Love Duet from the First Act of Korngold's Die
Kathrin....and for me:
Richard Strauss's Morgen, the closing scene of Wagner's Parsifal and the central adagio excerpt
from Korngold's Piano Concerto
For The Left Hand.
ALWAYS
NEWSWORTHY : THE POST'S OWNER IS THE MAIN CAUSE
OF THE ORANGUTAN'S EXTINCTION AND HIS BIOFUELS
ARE BRINGING POVERTY TO MILLIONS...
 
WATCH A
REVEALING VIDEO ABOUT BIODIESEL AND THE
DESTRUCTION OF BORNEO.
READ A RECENT NEW YORK
TIMES ARTICLE ABOUT BIOFUELS AND FOOD PRICES.
"SIR"
DAVID TANG PETITION
"We
the undersigned object to the recent knighthood
of the rich Hong Kong tailor David Tang and call
on the British Government to quash this title,
awarded for no good reason to this fatuous
vainglorious socialite and jetsetting media
bore."
ENCOURAGER
LES AUTRES
(RTHK)
BUDGET
BONANZA
LOOKALIKE
Brenda
Kuok writes: "I am sure I am not the first
to notice the staggering resemblance between
" everything but the laughter"
humourist Nury Vittachi and Mini Me from the
Austin Powers James Bond spoofs. In his constant
self-satire as wannabe popular novelist and faux
Asian guerilla journalist, has Vittachi at last
discovered a sense of humour? Let's hope
so."
KWEER
KUOK KLAN UPDATE
The
intrepid David Webb reports :
CNOOC Burma
partner owned by "heroin
trafficker" family
26th
February 2008
An alert reader draws
our attention to this by the United States Treasury,
and this statement by President Bush, imposing
financial sanctions against Mr Lo Hsing Han (Mr
Lo), his son Steven Law (also known as Tun Myint
Naing), and Law's wife Cecilia Ng, and various
companies under their control, for providing
support to the military junta currently ruling
Burma.
The Treasury says it
has identified ten private companies in Singapore
held by Cecilia Ng, including Golden Aaron Pte.
Ltd (Golden Aaron), which it is sanctioning. The
designation freezes any assets which are subject
to US jurisdiction and prohibits all commercial
transactions by any U.S. person (including US
banks) with the designated persons.
According to the US
Government:
"In
addition to their support for the Burmese regime,
Steven Law and Lo Hsing Han have a history of
involvement in illicit activities. Lo Hsing Han,
known as the "Godfather of Heroin," has
been one of the world's key heroin traffickers
dating back to the early 1970s. Steven Law joined
his father's drug empire in the 1990s and has
since become one of the wealthiest individuals in
Burma."
What the Treasury
didn't mention, but we can tell you, is that
Golden Aaron is the joint venture partner of
Chinese government-controlled CNOOC Ltd (CNOOC, HK: 00883, NYSE:CEO) in
exploring for oil and gas in Myanmar. According
to an in the Myanmar official daily,
the first contract was signed on 22-Oct-04 in a
ceremony attended by CNOOC chairman Fu Chengyu
and Golden Aaron director Mr Chua Chay Jin.
Incidentally, the only
other reference we can find to "Chua Chay
Jin" also relates to Myanmar - back on
27-Apr-98, he visited a Myanmar ministry when he was
General Manager of Myanmar Kuok Oils and Grains
Ltd, presumably related to Singapore-based , part of the privately-held
Kerry Group controlled by Robert Kuok, who also
controls SCMP Group Ltd (0583), Kerry
Properties Ltd
(0683) and Shangri-la Asia Ltd (00069), which
owns 59.16% of Traders Yangon Co Ltd, which owns
the ,
Myanamar, opened in Nov-96. It is part-owned by Mr Lo's Asia
World Co. Ltd conglomerate.
VERSACE
RETURNS
Enid
Fenby writes: "I couldn't help noticing that
the edition of the Hong Kong Standard announcing
the return of comic legend Nury Vittachi runs an
unfortunate front cover headline the same
day:"Backing A Loser". You can't make
this stuff up."
JUST
FANCY THAT !
(SCMP)
(Hong
Kong Standard)
GET YER
SCHLONGERS OUT
FUNNY
OLD BRITAIN
(BBC)
POETRY
CORNER
ALAIN
ROBBE-GRILLET AND LYDIA SHUM R.I.P.
This is
a sensational and thoughtful guide to political
anilingus and is a welcome addition to both
sexual self-help and Hong Kong's political
literature. The author, who is now 89 and
enjoying his retirement on an estate in the New
Territories he bought cheap at the time, is a
well-known sexologist (101
Positions To Take) and
former civil servant who often crops up on radio
talk shows and at important receptions. He
recently backed Geena Hip, a lap dancer and
performance artiste, in her bid for a Legco seat.
Political anilingus involves a variety of
techniques to stimulate political interest in the
Chinese Communist Party including kissing,
licking and sliding the tongue in and out of the
host in public. Pleasure for the receiver comes
from the feeling that he is being given
unconditional support by a respectable old man in
a suit who happens to be European and speak
English. It's a disgusting habit and he ought to
be ashamed of himself.
PEKING
OLYMPICS "DELAYED UNTIL 2017" SHOCK
Above:
The UN report was actively discussed at the
National People's Congress.
Holding
the Olympics in 2017 is the expected timetable
Beijing will have to decide on following a United
Nations submission of a long-awaited report on
democratic reform. In concluding the report -
described as "utterly disappointing" by
the DAB in Hong Kong but by no one else- sources
said setting the timetable for implementing
universal suffrage "can help promote the
ultimate resolution of the issues involved."
To this end, the 176-strong Standing Committee of
the National People's Congress will discuss at
its bi-monthly meeting the UN's 18-paragraph
report and recommendations from December 17-29.
In an official report to top legislator Wu
Bangguo, the UN stated that Mainland people are
getting more pragmatic and rational, as they
eagerly await a timetable for universal suffrage,
which would help set the course for the country's
constitutional development, end political
squabbling and finally drag the nation into the
19th century. "Implementing universal
suffrage for the Politburo first in 2012 is the
expectation of more than half of the public, as
reflected in the opinion polls," sources
said.
Enid
Fenby writes: " Over four months ago you
highlighted the mirth potential of Mr Tsang
Tak-sing - telling a crowd of businessmen to be
more patriotic and to oppose globalisation the
day China bought the biggest share of Barclays
Bank - and promised us more fun to come. You can
really spot 'em! Well done."
Very few
people believe in the political acumen of Sir
Donald Tsang, our Peking-appointed Governor, but
what a masterstroke the appointment of Tsang
Tak-sing to the Home Affairs portfolio has been
already. It looks even better than giving
Financial Affairs to his rival and telling him to
push a sales tax. What personal or political gain
people like T S Tsang see in mouthing outdated
froth to a hostile public is hard to fathom. At
58, Tak-sing knows that he has no chance of real
power and his whole career path now seems aimed
at a kind of Dave Spart bloodymindedness and
self-immolation in public. This man looks
ridiculous and sounds even worse. What wonderful
entertainment awaits us. Keep it up TS!
FOOTINMOUTHNOTE: TS's speech was delivered the
same day our beloved leaders in Peking - somewhat
globalisationally - bought the biggest stake in
Europe's biggest bank Barclays. Fanatics however
never react to events. They put the same record
back on the turntable.
FUNNY
OLD ENGLAND
Dear Dr.
Adams, I've been a longtime follower of the ups
and downs of NTSCMP but became rather more
interested when your site was apparently blocked
for a while by the Li Ka-shing-owned ISP
Netvigator.com because of your regular criticism
of the business practices of other companies
owned by him and his family. Of course, the usual
denials were forthcoming, but it seems this is
pretty much : "Lis first job is
to check the press for anything that relates to
himself or his companies. He speaks English, but
prefers to read Chinese, so relevant parts of the
English-language papers are translated before his
arrival. Li also pays close attention to what
brokerage reports say about his firms. Those who
provoke his ire can expect a call from one of
Lis lieutenants or a letter from his
lawyers. Li has frequently withheld advertising
from newspapers that upset him."
More
recently, inspired by your crusading efforts to
reveal the truth behind that other Asian
Godfather Robert Kuok's palm oil interests and
their effects on fragile rainforest ecosystems in
Malaysia and Indonesia, I started doing a bit of
research. One of my earliest resorts was the web
site www.palmoiltruthfoundation.com. On my first
attempt to load this site, however,I received a
warning from my security software in the
following terms: "You have attempted to
establish a connection with 'www.scarcup.com'.
However, the security certificate presented
belongs to 'localhost:localdomain' [i.e.
Netvigator.com]. It is possible, though unlikely,
that someone may be trying to intercept your
communication with this web site." Oh, dear!
What, or who, on earth is www.scarcup.com? A
Whois.net lookup revealed that the domain was
privately registered by a US-based organisation
known as 1&1 Internet Inc, of 701 Lee Road,
Suite 300, Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania, telephone
number +1 (877) 206 4254. Not very helpful.I
decided to risk it, accepted the bogus security
certificate for one session, and tried a second
time, when this popped up:
Could it
be that Li Ka-shing's Netvigator ISP was
preventing me from accessing the Palm Oil Truth
Foundation site, and if so, why? Does Mr Li
perhaps share some common interest with Mr Kuok
in covering up the truth about palm oil?So, a bit
more digging, Page 18: "That year
[1993], Kuok was also appointed by Chinas
government as a director and made a shareholder
of Citic Pacific, the Hong Kong-listed arm of the
Beijing-based government agency, China
International Trust and Investment Corporation
(Citic)
Another prominent director on
Citics board is Hong Kongs Li Ka
Shing."
So they
are buddies, after all.
"Members of the
Indonesian Palm Oil Commission are distributing
materials that misrepresent the carbon balance of
oil-palm plantations, according to accounts from
people who have seen presentations by commission
members. These officials are apparently arguing
that oil-palm plantations store and sequester
many times the amount of CO2 as natural forests,
and therefore that converting forests for
plantations is the best way to fight climate
change. In making such claims, these Indonesian
representatives evidently are ignoring data that
show the opposite, putting the credibility of the
oil-palm industry at risk, and undermining
efforts to slow deforestation and rein in
greenhouse gas emissions."..."Few
serious scientists would support the claim that
oil-palm plantations store more carbon than
natural tropical forests. In fact, several recent
studies show that oil-palm plantations, when
established in place of peat lands and natural
forests, produce more greenhouse gas emissions
relative to natural forests. If the use of
fertilizer and emissions from processing are
factored in, the climate impact of converting
natural forests for oil palm is even
greater."
Page 4; "LAYING THE
FOUNDATIONS FOR FOREST DESTRUCTION - "The
ADM-Kuok-Wilmar alliance is a case in point,
recently announcing 'rapid expansion plans' in
relation to biodiesel. One subsidiary, PT Wilmar
Bio-Energi, commissioned its first biodiesel
plant in Dumai, Riau in January 2007 and two more
facilities were scheduled to be commissioned
later in 2007. Total capacity is
1.05Mt."..."Wilmar boasts that the
location of the plants 'provides easy access to
abundant cheap raw materials'. At the same time,
between early 2006 and mid-2007, the
ADM-Kuok-Wilmar alliance has made a fivefold
increase in its concession area, gaining control
of 570,000 hectares, of which nearly two-thirds
have yet to be cleared and
planted."..."In line with Indonesian
law, Wilmar declared that its companies 'adhere
strictly to a zero burning policy and do not
engage in any logging activities'. Field
investigation in July 2007 in Wilmars
recently acquired holdings in Central Kalimantan
Documented active and recent evidence of forest
clearance."
And
Page
6: "A handful of powerful players control
much of the international trade in palm oil from
Indonesia, among them Cargill, the worlds
biggest private company, the ADM-Kuok-Wilmar
alliance, currently the worlds biggest
biofuels manufacturer and Synergy Drive, the
Malaysian government controlled company that is
soon to become the worlds biggest palm oil
conglomerate. "Following business-as-usual
logic, industrys current expansion strategy
including taking advantage of concern
about climate change to push palm oil as a source
of biodiesel casts an ominous shadow over
our ability to cut emissions. "Much of the
current and predicted expansion oil palm
plantations is taking place on peatlands which
are among the worlds most concentrated
carbon stores. "Ten million of the 22.5
million hectares of peatland in Indonesia have
already been cleared of forest and have been
drained, resulting in a substantial and
continuing increase in GHG emissions as peat
soils dry out, oxidise and even burn. |