Author of Lee Kuan Yew book Tom Plate shares his views on Asian leaders and Asian cities

The American journalist thinks Lee Kuan Yew is very easy to interview and Singapore is the smartest city in Asia.

Mothership| January 22, 05:50 AM

US journalist and author Tom Plate recently published a new book, In the Middle of the Future: Tom Plate on Asia.

The book is a compilation of Plate's columns (100 in total) over the past 18 years, the longest-running newspaper column about Asia based in the United States.

Below are the excerpts of his recent interview, conducted by playwright G. Bruce Smith of Los Angeles:

 

Q1: When you left your position as Editorial Pages Editor for the Los Angeles Times you launched America’s first newspaper column in 1996 devoted to Asia. Why Asia?

The management of The Times offered me the once in a lifetime opportunity to start up an op-ed column. We splashed around a little bit with this and that but the ones in late 1995/early 1996 seemed to work the best. Then-editor Shelby Coffey was particularly enthused about them. We decided early on to stick with Asia. No one was doing it. Someone had to. In terms of destiny, it seemed like the leading newspaper of California was the one to take the lead. The other Times back East already had a monopoly on the Middle East and Europe! Asia was the New Frontier for American newspapering.

 

Q2: What are some of the newspapers, both domestic and abroad, that run your column?

My favorites in Asia are the Japan Times in Tokyo, the Khaleej Times in Dubai and the Korea Times in Seoul. They are my core loyalists. From time to time others pick it up, in Pakistan and elsewhere. And the Straits Times of Singapore and the South China Morning Post, at different times, actually listed me – from Los Angeles – as one of their columnists. In America the Seattle Times and the Providence Journal used to be loyalists, but when their longtime editors resigned, the column was dropped. This has been the pattern across the USA with the shrinkage of news-space and in many instances the near-elimination of the op-ed page. (Even the L.A. Times has none on Saturday.) Young people can barely tell you anything about the Vietnam War, much less the Korean one. The only guys with memory are almost all gone. It is very sad. One dustup with China and all of a sudden journalism on Asia will be back in fashion. I might suddenly be ‘in’ again.

 

Q3: Your latest book is “In the Middle of the Future: Tom Plate on Asia.” Why this book now?

The timing seemed right. The column is coming up to its 20th anniversary this fall. The book is just starting to arrive here in the States. It was time to sum up and look back. And it was interesting for me to review what I had done well and what I had fouled up.

 

Q4: You had extraordinary access to major Asian leaders, including Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, for the “Giants of Asia” book series. In one or two sentences on each, sum up your impressions of these leaders.

 

Lee Kuan Yew – Hard as a diamond, smart as a whip, as sentimental as coal (except for his wife). Very easy to interview.

LKY_book

Source: Kinokuniya

Ban Ki-moon – A tremendous human being, in an impossible job; but history will be kind to him. Very hard to interview.

Malaysia’s iconic Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad – Crazy like a fox...makes Machiavelli seem naive...the ultimate juggler. His policies, though oft-criticized, helped keep the country together, prosperous and non-violent for more than two decades...a deep worrier about the future of Islam…fun to interview.

Thailand’s ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – A brilliant financial and economic mind...sharper than even the Wolf of Wall Street, even more controversial. On the whole was the right Rx for Thailand, which now looks a mess...they would have been better off keeping him and accepting bad with good (like every other country). A terrific interview...hugely energetic.

 

Q5. At the same time, as a journalist who held high-level positions at the L.A. Times, Time Magazine and more, you interviewed many senior U.S. officials, including former Secretary of State Warren Christopher. What anecdotes or impressions about these officials can you share?

Christopher – Wise and deep but a huge flop with the mass media; became exasperated with Clinton and had to leave after the first term; deeply knowledgeable about Asia and really tried to help me when I launched the column in the L.A. Times.

Clinton – Too clever by half; as charming as Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” but very smart with an astonishing recall memory. Wish he had had a third term to (a) establish the new high bar for U.S. presidents and (b) keep the dumb Texan out of the White House. As a human being, though, I prefer Ban Ki-moon, by far.

 

Q6: In the past 20 years, you’ve traveled to Asia 60 or so times. Tell us your impressions of some of the cities and countries you’ve been to – not from a political perspective but as an ordinary citizen-visitor?

HONG KONG – New York in a Chinese fortune cookie – never predictable.

SEOUL – A metropolis on steroids…everyone working to make money.

SAIGON (HO CHI MINH CITY) – Like Seoul but more like Vegas than Silicon Valley. Almost everything is for sale and often the price is excellent, especially high fashion.

MELBOURNE – A truly civilized and walkable city.

TOKYO – Very sexy and unappreciated…culture as deep as history … high-end fashion ladies out of some catalogue…politicians a joke…food beyond great.

BEIJING – This is where it is right now…the Tokyo of the eighties. Too governmental though. SHANGHAI is more fun.

SINGAPORE – Perhaps not to everyone’s taste but to mine…in all respects the smartest city of them all, with the smartest people. Dining not better anywhere.

KUALA LUMPUR – Unappreciated…a great zoo and bird park…nice clubs.

BANGKOK – A sad doomed city…cannot talk about it with what is going on now.

JAKARTA – Boom! Boom! Boom! Watch Indonesia carefully…fourth largest population, No. 1 in number of Muslims…big election this year…on my personal Watch List.

NEW DELHI – Not for me…I get fatigued just thinking about it.

 

 

The interview was released in conjunction with the publication by Marshall Cavendish International Asia (Singapore) of the new book: "In the Middle of the Future: Tom Plate on Asia".

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