Film Review: The Kingmaker

Imelda Marcos tells her side of the story in The Kingmaker

As a teenager in the 1980s, I learned about Imelda Marcos and her husband, then president of the Philippines, through my two classmates. I later found out they and their families had fled the country to get away from Marcos, and later watching news reports of their wealth excesses, it was a wonder how they amassed so much wealth, while most the country was literally dirt poor.

My first (and so far only) visit to the Philippines was in 2017 for a food trade show in Manila. What shocked me the most was seeing metal detectors everywhere -- including our hotel The Peninsula Manila -- and we were lucky to be staying in Makati, the business district, but also where the wealthy live.

Greenfield reveals Marcos' inconsistencies

Our escort on the trip from Hong Kong was staying with her uncle and she told us they hardly every went out of their family compound. But if they did, her uncle always brought his gun with him...

So I was very curious to watch The Kingmaker, a documentary by Lauren Greenfield about Imelda Marcos. At first I thought it was just going to be about her, but it was much more than that.

The opening scene shows a drone shot of the shanty towns in the foreground, with glimmering towers in the back. Imelda Marcos is in a chauffeured car and when it stops at a red light, she opens the door and hands out crisp bills to poor children with outstretched, dirty hands.

She later says that the Philippines was not like this when her husband was in power.

We see her in her home, immaculately dressed, an army of nervous servants attending to her, from holding her arm to adding more powder to her face that still retains her beauty.

When she was eight years old she was orphaned when her mother died, but later became a beauty queen who caught the attention of Ferdinand Marcos who was a senator at the time. Eleven days later they were married.

Marcos enjoyed being First lady

One can tell Marcos is keen to tell her version of the story, how she was "a mother" to the country and gave it love. She did this buy buying wild animals from Africa and had them deposited on an island, but not before kicking out 254 inhabitants there; she bought at least four properties in New York City, a home in Beverly Hills that was strangely in actor George Hamilton's name, and the numerous dresses, thousands of pairs of shoes and the jewellery!

When the country revolted against the Marcoses and they had to flee to Hawaii in 1986, she slipped lots of glittering baubles into bags holding baby diapers that was put onto the plane. On camera she says that jewellery helped pay for legal fees. Yowsers.

Marcos also likes to boast who she knew, and Greenfield finds the archival footage to prove she met people like Muammar Gadafi, Saddam Hussein, and even Mao Zedong, where there is a clip of him kissing her hand. She considered them all friends...

While she maintains she and her husband did everything for the good of the Philippines, others say otherwise in The Kingmaker.

One of the giraffes caught in Africa for Marcos

When Marcos declared martial law in 1972, he claimed he did this due to a "communist threat" though opposition leaders said he used this to consolidate his power and shut down criticism. Fourteen out of 15 newspapers were shut down and those rebels trying to oust him were summarily executed.

One journalist recalls being physically tortured by having to crouch and his shins were beaten; his younger brother worked for the resistance and was caught and killed. A teacher recalled being tortured by electric batons -- by her own students, and an activist talked about being sexually assaulted by a group of men.

These testimonies are a stark contrast to the romantic picture Imelda Marcos tries to portray about her and her husband's grip on power. 

But there is more.

She tried to engineer the continuation of the Marcos dynasty by having her son, Bongbong become president, but first become vice president in the 2016 elections, but he lost by over 260,000 votes and even refused to concede.

The position of vice president is also elected, not chosen by the president like in the United States.

Bongbong tried and failed to win vice presidency

Rodrigo Duterte came to power, but it is revealed in The Kingmaker, that he also comes from a wealthy family, his father once served in Marcos' administration, and the late president's daughter Imee helped Duterte win.

And now he rules with impunity, killing tens of thousands of people on a supposed war on drugs without trying them in court.

So the Marcoses still have their wealth and power, fuelled by selling off whatever expensive trinkets they accumulated to keep their political dreams alive, including a Monet that was sold for over US$32 million.

And what happened to those African animals, the zebras and giraffes?

No one knew how to look after them, and they were literally left on their own, inbreeding which led to physical problems in the giraffes like shorter necks and not even being able to hold them upright. The human inhabitants there are resentful of the animals given priority over them.

Marcos below her Picasso and priceless art

Meanwhile the next generation are being taught revisionist history and in class they parrot how martial law was good for the country, and have no idea what really happened. Sound familiar?

It is quite eerie to see how the Marcos' have control over numerous institutions in the Philippines thanks to their enormous wealth and influence. As one critic points out, as long as they have money, they will continue to call the shots in Philippine politics. 

As she says being First Lady in the beginning of the documentary, "People underestimate women, and sometimes that's useful." 

That was Marcos' strategy, and she will continue using it to get what she wants -- power, wealth and more power.

Contemporary Art at Maxxi

Near the entrance to Maxxi, the Zaha Hadid-designed art museum

After we had our fill of classical art at Galleria Borghese, we took a completely different turn and went modern at Maxxi, a national museum of contemporary art and architecture in Flaminio district in Rome.

Inside there are numerous staircases and rooms to enter

The museum is also appropriately housed in a building designed by the late Zaha Hadid, who was chosen from among 273 candidates from around the world.

We didn't really get a good look of the outside, but inside it was very sleek, lots of curves and straight lines, nothing symmetrical either.

While the building was a piece of art in itself, the contemporary art was hard for us to understand! There were lots of strange videos one would see at Art Basel and leave you wondering:

a) How did you come up with this idea?
b) Why did you come up with idea?
c) What does this mean?
d) Does it really take art to another level?

Chinese characters and French words written in sheet metal

When we visited Maxxi, the exhibition "African Metropolis. An Imaginary City" was on. Again most of it we didn't really understand, but a few pieces were very interesting.

One of them was called "Wo Shi Feizhou/Je Suis Africain by Francois-Xavier Gbre. It's a series of mixed media, but what was particular interesting was what was written on sheet metal.

It was a triptych of three dark pieces of sheet metal and there were Chinese and French words written in three columns.

The ones on the far left were Chinese characters in simplified Chinese, followed by French words, then more simplified Chinese characters in parentheses. For a Chinese person living in Africa, this was a kind of cheat sheet. The word they wanted to say was on the far left, but was pronounced in French like the characters on the far right.

A close-up of the words and pronunciation!

For us who could read some Chinese this was very funny but also interesting!

Another work we liked was a photograph by Kiluanji Kia Henda with the title "Le Merchand de Venise" or the Merchant of Venice.

In the description the artist pays homage to the play by William Shakespeare by having a Senegalese musician dressed in brightly striped clothing and on his arms are what at first glance look like designer bags, but in fact are fake; this is his way of trying to make a living in Venice, much like many other African street vendors.

Henda's photo looks striking at first, but when you realize what is going on it's actually very ironic, but in a subtle way.

The Merchant of Venice by Henda

We pretty much finished going through the museum in an hour and waited for others in our group by hanging out in the museum shop that also had a cafe that served fantastic coffee for 1.50 euros!

Afterwards we took the tram back to Flamino metro station and then took the train back to our hotel.

China's Lending Spree Continues

Finance Minister Simon Zerpa (second to left) in Beijing to secure US$5B

China is the big benefactor these days.

Earlier this month it gave US$60 billion to African countries during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing. Previous debts were forgiven, making the total investment in Africa to from 2000 to 2017 to US$136 billion.

Zerpa says the loan will be paid back in oil

Of course China gets something for pumping billions into the African continent, though it denies it is neo-colonialism or chequebook diplomacy. African leaders claim the mostly infrastructure projects have helped stimulate social and economic development, and that other countries (like the United States) should do more to help.

However, according to China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the African continent's biggest donor is in fact the US.

This week China is back at it again, this time the recipient is Venezuela which continues to descend into chaos with people desperate for basic needs that are not available and neither is the cash.

China has stepped in to give the Latin American country US$5 billion. Venezuela's finance minister Simon Zerpa is already in Beijing to hammer out the details with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, while President Nicholas Maduro is heading to the Chinese capital.

Cash-strapped Venezuela dealing with anger in the streets

Zerpa has told media he Venezuela would pay back the loan, partly in cash or oil, and that the country would sign a "strategic alliance on gold mining" with China. Hmmm sounds like another way to repay the debt.

But perhaps even more interesting or shocking is that China has been a key money lender to Venezuela since 2008 with an estimated US$70 billion over the years.

Wonder who China will dole out cash and credit to next week...

Even More Chinese Investment in Africa

Xi announces another US$60 billion for African countries

At the start of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged another US$60 billion to African countries to build major infrastructure projects, such as roads, railways, ports, pipelines and other links.

It's a whopping large amount adding to Africa's indebtedness to the Middle Kingdom, and Xi doesn't mind -- he's even willing to write off previous debts to get access to the African countries' natural resources.

From 2000 to 2014, China loaned US$86 billion. What's another US$60 billion?

The China-Africa Cooperation forum is on now in Beijing

With governments weak without much capital, this heavy investment from China is a godsend, but at what price politically, economically and socially? The Chinese are flooding African countries with cheap Chinese made goods, bringing in thousands of mainlanders looking to make money, but also giving Beijing much more political clout.

A decade ago the Chinese were proud of being able to "help" Africa, but now critics at home aren't so sure giving away US$60 billion to the continent is the best use of the money.

"You should first raise your own children," one online commenter wrote. "My God, there have been so many natural and man-made casualties recently, can you please take a look at our low-income people?"

Another exclaimed, "US$60 billion is money that we earned! Tell me who is causing the suffering of China's everyday people?"

Sounds like first-world complaints are already sprouting in China.

Infrastructure projects like highways have been built in Africa

State media were quick to defend the investment, saying how the money benefited both China and Africa, that Africa had large amounts of natural resources such as crude oil, manganese and copper. China is also Africa's largest trading partner, surprise surprise.

The People's Daily insisted China's aid did not have any political preconditions, and that many African countries have consistently reciprocated by helping China.

If you were given billions of dollars, the least you could do is give the donor what they wanted... which is why some accuse China of "neo-colonialism", or "cheque-book diplomacy".

In any event, with the on-going trade war with the United States, and the Chinese economy slowing down, Beijing-based economics professor Hu Xingdou thinks the generous loan should have been more carefully considered.

"Trade numbers and industrial revenues are going down, and most Chinese still cannot afford proper medical care or education," he said. "There are many critically ill Chinese who cannot do anything but wait for death, so skepticism online is quite natural... Aid to Africa is necessary but needs to be done within China's capabilities."

Book of Mormon

Mormon Elder Cunningham tries to convert Ugandans to Jesus Christ

We saw another show that I have been wanting to see for several years -- Book of Mormon.

Again it was a packed show at the Eugene O'Neill Theater, but we didn't have to line up around the block just to get in.

The premise of the story is funny -- a do-gooder Mormon missionary called Elder Kevin Price is considered the most qualified to go on his mission and hopes he'll be posted to Orlando, but he is sent to of all places -- Uganda -- with Elder Arnold Cunningham -- who likes to embellish things... a lot.

Everyone looks up to Elder Price as the model Mormon

It starts off hilarious, with side jokes here and there, but then things start getting really crass -- lots of f-words and outrageous lines that are definitely sung and spoken to get attention and cheap laughs.

But after a while when you swear too many times, the audience gets numbed by it and loses its effectiveness, let alone shock value.

We still enjoyed the storyline, but was the excessive amount of profanities that necessary? We were pretty much cringing towards the end and wondered how it would all end...

Both the leads were fantastic strong singers and the leader of the Mormon group in Uganda was really funny as he had gay tendancies he tried to hide. The most hilarious song had to be Turn It Off, when Elder Price is told to "turn off" his concerns about confronting a Ugandan warlord, much like the Mormon leader being attracted to men.

The lyrics are written by Robert Lopez, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the latter two famous for South Park, and so you know you're probably in for some crass humour, and took seven years to finally get performed on stage.

Funny satire on Mormons but a lot of swearing in it!

Stone and Parker grew up in Colorado and so they were very familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints. When they were researching for the musical they went to Salt Lake City and interviewed missionaries and former ones, so in a way the audience can tell the musical may poke fun at Mormons, it doesn't slam them completely, that faith, hope and optimism are really important to everyone.

When the musical came out in 2011, the church issued a "measured", saying: "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ".

There isn't much the church can do since it was a Tony-award winning show and has traveled around to several countries. Doubt it would make it to Hong Kong though!

Book of Mormon

Eugene O'Neill Theatre

230 West 49th Street

New York

Li Ka-shing's Global Observations

Li Ka-shing talked to the media about his outlook on the global economy

Even Hong Kong's Superman, tycoon Li Ka-shing is feeling the pinch.

In today's press briefing following CK Hutchison's announcement of profit earnings, Li said the city is experiencing some of its harshest economic conditions in two decades amid global weakness, adding that the downturn in property and retail sales was worse than during the SARS epidemic.

"The global economy in 2015 experienced mounting deflationary pressures resulting in a collapse in commodity prices and slow global trade," he said in a filing to Hong Kong's stock exchange.

Hong Kong only makes up 6 percent of his investments

"In addition, volatility in global equity, debt, commodity and currency markets may increase against a background of continued monetary easing in Europe, increased global political uncertainty, economic and refugee issues in Europe, as well as increased geopolitical risk in the Middle East and African regions.

"I am confident that Britain will stay in the European Union. If it leaves the EU, we will be more cautious and reduce our [future] investment in Britain," he told reporters."

In Hong Kong, he said the economy is experiencing some of its toughest moments in two decades, with "property sales and retail sales [at times] worse than during the SARS epidemic [in 2003]."

But despite these challenges, CK Hutchison, the revamped conglomerate that includes Li's non-property assets, posted a better than expected net profit at HK$31.2 billion, slightly higher than the HK$31 billion estimate in a Thompson Reuters poll of 14 analysts.

Li believes Britain will not leave the EU. Is he right?

Only 6 percent of its earnings (before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) came from Hong Kong, compared to 34 percent in Britain, 19 percent from Continental Europe, 13 percent from China, 8 percent from Canada, and 18 percent from Australia and the rest of the world.

About 35 percent of CK Hutchison's investments were in infrastructure, 24 percent in telecommunications, 16 percent from retail, 13 percent from port and related services, 10 percent from energy, and 2 percent from finance and investment.

Interesting Li should comment about the challenging economic climate when his company is doing so well.

But alas we're not in the same league as the tycoon. Interesting to note he does not think Britain will leave the EU. We'll have to see if he's right or not.

What the Premier Didn't Mention

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addressing the media today in a press conference

Ah, the National People's Congress is over for another year.

Premier Li Keqiang held a press conference, where he was supposedly open to answering all questions from the media -- provided they were screened first.

Foreign media had to submit questions in advance, and only the ones that were approved were allowed to be asked -- if they were chosen in the huge crowd.

Hundreds of journalists were in the room listening to Li

And domestic media are typically given pieces of paper with questions on them, usually softball ones to give the premier a chance to talk about things he wanted to discuss.

But what would stop someone from asking a hard-hitting question -- other than probably being banned from the NPC forever -- at least it would get the premier to actually address an issue that everyone wants to know.

And so from reading news reports of today's press conference, it sounds like a lot of issues were not addressed, making people wonder if the government cares about their welfare, or is actually tackling the country's socio-economic challenges.

Li did not bring how China is tackling air pollution

For example in the past three years, Li answered questions about the environment and what the government was doing to curb pollution, but this year the topic was not raised, even though air quality has been so bad this past year.

This year was also the first time issues about the property market were not addressed either, as prices rise far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Perhaps Li could not think of another way to spin the story...

While he answered questions about economic form and the need to streamline bureaucracy, the massive problem of how to further streamline state-owned enterprises was not mentioned. It's probably too explosive a powder keg to even begin to delve into...

No talk of China's growing presence in the South China Sea

When it came to foreign relations, he did not talk about China's relationship with Africa or Europe, and also its growing presence in the South China Sea. What is going on with that island that China seems to be making bigger and bigger...? And didn't Beijing have good relations with African countries? What happened there?

Human rights is not a topic that is often mentioned at these press conferences, but sometimes previous premiers have talked about it on occasion. Not this time, despite blatant human rights abuses against Uighurs and Tibetans...

It sounds like an extremely tightly controlled press conference, and perhaps even Li could not say much either, which is why he ended it at exactly the two-hour mark, including translations into English. So in the end it was probably one hour's worth of questions.

Thus wraps up another year, with China watchers having to further examine their tea leaves to try to figure out where the country is going.

Dragging HK to "Belt and Road"

One Belt, One Road is Xi Jinping's plan to create trade links with 65 countries

Yesterday Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying delivered his last policy address and a good chunk of the two-hour speech was devoted to the "One Belt, One Road" trade strategy that was initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Leung, who has abbreviated it to "Belt and Road", mentioned these two words an unprecedented 48 times. It was much more than "education" (31), "innovation" (30), "sustainable" (12) and "recycling" (0).

What is this "Belt and Road" you ask?

Xi presented this initiative in 2013 and was highlighted in the 13th five-year plan last year. The proposal is to develop two trade routes -- the New Silk Road linking China with Europe, and the Maritime Silk Road linking China with Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe.

Leung wants Hong Kong to take join One Belt, One Road

As a result it will span 65 countries, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

With links so expansive, Leung thinks Hong Kong should get in on the game. Or rather because he hopes to be re-elected next year, he wants to be in Xi's good books.

As a result, Leung is establishing a "Belt and Road" office with a committee of which he will be chairman in order to determine strategies on how Hong Kong can take advantage of these new trade links.

He has allocated HK$200 million for the professional service sector to build ties and cooperation with One Belt, One Road countries, and there will be tax incentives for those companies that set up treasury units in Hong Kong.

Not only are Leung's plans business-oriented, but education-related too. He wants students from these countries to come to Hong Kong to study, while educating local students about One Belt, One Road through study and cultural exchanges.

Is this the best Leung and his team can think of in terms of taking advantage of the One Belt, One Road strategy?

There are already stories from entrepreneurs trying to break into central Asia and having a lot of trouble doing business there.

Tom Lee, a product engineer for an electronics company, travelled to Kazakhstan in 2014 in a trip organized by the Trade Development Council. He was hoping to explore opportunities there and reached a US$30,000 deal with a local company, only to find it failed to pay up.

"Its business model is hard for Hong Kong companies to understand, and the customs system is extremely complicated," he said. Language is also a barrier. As a result Lee said his company was more focused on traditional markets like Europe and North America.

So how will Leung be able to help companies overcome these hurdles? And the committee is going to spend how many months and how much money to figure this out?

And educationally, what can students get out of this strategy? What is there for them in central Asia and Southeast Asia? Does Leung mean universities here will start providing courses on learning these languages or will there be lessons on Islam?

One parent commented, "I don't understand why the government is so generous to others but not willing to change the quality of our own education."

Point taken.

In the end it all sounds really vague, and one wonders how much he can really achieve on this initiative in one year.

Even more ironic is that people in Hong Kong aren't enthusiastic about this project, and yet Leung insists on dragging us into this plan.

While it makes sense for Hong Kong to try to find some way to benefit from these potentially big trade links, who's got an appetite for some adventure?

As Hong Kong goes through rocky economic times, most people are too scared of risking too much and would rather be close to home and bet on a sure thing.

Leung just might be biting off much more than he can chew.

Book Review: When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

A passionately written memoir about Zimbabwe

Almost 20 years ago I had a white colleague in Hong Kong who was from Zimbabwe. I'd never met anyone from there before and he told me about the beautiful African landscapes and how his parents had a farm there.

But then when President Robert Mugabe began the forced land redistribution in 2000, blacks started to violently take over white farms, including my colleague's parents' piece of land.

People just literally took over their farm they had lived on for generations and the experience so profoundly shocked his father that he had a heart attack and died soon afterwards. His mother, now displaced, had to move to a small apartment where she only had a balcony to tend to her small plants.

My colleague was angry at Mugabe, for destroying what his family had built for decades. He said that the blacks told them to go back to their homeland and he retorted, Where? We are Zimbabwean like you! We were born here -- where else can we go?

Many years later my colleague told me when he went back to Zimbabwe for a trip, he visited what used to be their farm. He said the blacks occupying it were nice enough to let him see it again. There was no malice, but disappointment at what had been done.

I remember feeling my colleague's anger and frustration of what had happened to his family and country, but I didn't fully understand it until I read When a Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin. It was a book YTSL lent me and it was a powerful read.

Godwin is an author, journalist and former lawyer. In this book he talks about this period when farms were being forcibly taken and documents his family's friends fates, many of them meeting horrific and depressing ends.

He too, like my colleague, writes about his frustration and inability to fully comprehend the irrationality of it all -- farms that were previously profitable, organized and efficiently run by whites -- were all of a sudden taken over by blacks who didn't have much first-hand knowledge or experience in farming and basically ran them into the ground, so there was nothing to harvest, nothing to eat and people resorting to violence and the black market to feed themselves.

Meanwhile inflation jumped exponentially to the point where people had to carry around bricks of cash just for a loaf of bread.

Author and journalist Peter Godwin

Godwin talks lovingly of his parents who immigrated to Zimbabwe to make a new life for themselves and devoted their careers to helping develop the country. However in the end they were hardly thanked for their efforts.

There is another interesting aspect of the story when his aging father cryptically reveals to his son that he is actually a Polish Jew who managed to escape the gas chambers because he went to school in the UK, but is unable to reunite with his father again. Godwin's grandmother and aunt died in the concentration camps.

And so having lost his family, Godwin's father starts a fresh chapter in his life with a new identity with his British-born wife in Zimbabwe. As a result Godwin has a new appreciation for his parents, why his father seemed restrained yet witty and totally in love with his wife.

Godwin also describes his childhood and how he was totally integrated into the culture of Africa, how he grew up learning voodoo chants and the Shona language, the friends he had and of course the natural environment that he so passionately describes.

The title of the book, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, is an African way to explain how eclipses of the sun happen, but also foreshadows other bad things, particularly the forced land redistribution. The memoir was such a powerful read that it was so difficult to put down, the images so vivid, dialogue witty and events thoroughly researched.

I now have a greater appreciation for what my colleague and his family experienced, what upheaval Zimbabwe had gone through and hope that somehow the country will eventually awaken from the madness...