As someone who writes a sometimes scattershot column for a local magazine, I take a bit more interest than usual in the work of others doing a similar thing. I’ve read Chip Tsao’s column in HK Magazine from time to time; sometimes I’ve liked it, sometimes I haven’t, but I’ve always been able to appreciate what he’s trying to do.

His column last week created an uproar. Here’s a summary of the issue at hand, complete with large excerpts from the “offensive” column, from Asia Sentinel:

The farce, or to be more precise a serious loss of humor, is between a Filipino government and local community unable to appreciate satire or to distinguish between friend and foe. Hong Kong’s Chip Tsao, a witty and irreverent writer with a superb command of English, had written in his aptly named “Politically Incorrect” column in the weekly HK Magazine an article entitled The War at Home, a tongue in cheek piece about local Chinese pretensions to patriotism.

It included the following:

“Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. Why? Because there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working for HK$3,580 (a month) in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

“As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.

“Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China I would have to send her straight home for I would not risk the crime of treason by harboring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows…

“Some of my friends have already told me that they have declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout “China, Madam/Sir” whenever they hear the world “Spratly…”

Someone with limited knowledge of English could be forgiven for taking this literally. But to anyone with both a modest command of the language and a slight knowledge of Hong Kong – and most Filipinos have both – should have instantly realized that this was a barb aimed at Hong Kong Chinese claims to patriotism and at their treatment of Filipina domestic helpers.

But so defensive have the Philippine government and the local community become about the nation’s role as supplier of domestic help to the world that they immediately expressed outrage. Philippine Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan announced a ban on Tsao visiting the country and local representatives expressed outrage. Even the bureaucrats of Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission joined the bandwagon of the dumb by saying the language was derogatory and “inappropriate for racial harmony”. Tsao was forced to issue a groveling apology saying he had been misunderstood.

Indeed despite this he continued to be misunderstood by the secretary general of United Filipinos in Hong Kong, Eman Villanueva, who insisted in the face of reason that it was not satire.

Of course any reference to their role as domestic helpers is naturally as sensitive for the government as for Philippine nationals. But they do not help their cause when they make a fuss over an article by a journalist known for poking fun at Chinese pretensions and assumptions. A former editor of the now defunct Eastern Express, Tsao has a reputation for supporting the underdog. He is one of the few local journalists who is willing to address the issues of local discrimination against brown Asians, most of whom are domestic helpers or construction workers.

Instead of Tsao’s joke being on the local Chinese maid-employing middle class, those now being laughed at in Hong Kong and beyond are the Filipinos and their government.

In any case, Hong Kong’s minority population may be set to shrink a little as a result of a British decision to allow those left stateless at the time of the 1997 handover to move to Britain. Believed to number about 1,000, they are mostly of south Asian origin. They currently hold British National (Overseas) passports which enable them to travel but not to live in Britain. However, many may elect to stay in Hong Kong.

This has gotten HK Magazine and Mr. Tsao more attention than either has received in years. But how anyone could have read this article, in particular the line that I have put into bold font above, and thought it was meant as an attack on The Philippines or Filipinos in general is beyond me. Some publicity hungry neanderthals clearly seized upon this as a chance to get some media exposure for themselves, in my opinion.

HK Magazine should have stood behind Mr. Tsao’s column and supported him in this time of difficulty. The editors should have known in advance that the column might be misread by some. They should have either rejected the column or worked with the writer to shape it into the clearest possible form. There are five ways of reading everything. If someone writes “the sky was blue today,” 5% of the people who read that are likely to take offense for one reason or another.

Even if they didn’t foresee this reaction, once they went ahead and published it, the responsibility is as much their’s as it is the writer’s. They should have stood behind their writer and their editorial decision.

Instead, they’ve published an apology to their readers for something which required no apology in the first place. They’ve also yanked the “offending” column from their website. There was nothing racist or offensive there and they knew that when they printed it, why are they backing down now?

I don’t know if there’s a Chip Tsao column in this week’s issue – I don’t see any link on the website. I do hope that Mr. Tsao takes his talents to a different home, one where he will be more respected and supported.

The UA IMAX theater at Megabox has now added some English language screenings of the IMAX 3-D version of Monsters vs. Aliens.

Exactly two screenings.

On weekdays. During office hours.

Thanks for nothing.

Yes, it’s the red band trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s NC-17-until-someone-recuts-it Bruno.

Just wanted to mention that my short reviews of the bands at Underground 78 can now be seen on the Underground web site, along with Angus’s great photos. Support local music!

I think I’m going to just bite the bullet, deal with the weight, and carry my Nikon D300 with me every day now. Even though I’m still in the early stages of learning how to use it, I can see that it more consistently is giving me the results I want.

What’s funny – and is probably more about me than the camera – is that 2 years ago I had the Nikon D80 and sold it because I found it difficult to use. Now I have the D300, with far more options and settings, and I’m finding it an absolute joy. Maybe I’m just more ready for something like this now.

Anyway, here’s the crowd at Uno Mas last night. ISO bumped up to 1600 but with the dim lights best I could do was a 1/8th second exposure. So a little bit of blur but I’m quite pleased with how it remains relatively noise free.

A number of new dishes added to the Uno Mas menu so we sampled most of them. Below, they’ve taken the Spanish ham platter and added three Spanish cheeses to them. The one on the bottom right is Manchego, don’t recall the names of the other two, but we were told that the one in the middle actually costs more than the Serrano ham.

This is the lamb shank.

The Spanish roast suckling pig was the clear winner of the night. This is made fresh every day and for now they are only making 6 portions per day.

And some glazed tuna.

I’m told that since their official opening last week, Uno Mas has been booked solid every night. The manager, Yuri, told me about some upcoming specials they’ve got planned – Saturday and Sunday afternoons all you can drink (wine, cava, sangria) for $280; a “paella hour” where the staff will walk around with huge vats of their great paella; a late night tapas menu serving until 2 AM.

After that, over to Amazonia, here are some shots of perennial fave Icebox (but with a substitute rhythm guitarist). They were trying out lots of new material last night; their cover of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World was quite nice.