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Web-only Exclusives
November 30, 2000

From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War
A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix

From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead
Bad news for the Philippines - and some others

From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies
Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights?

home home millennium century 1999

DECEMBER 31, 1999 - JANUARY 7, 2000 VOL. 25 NO. 52

Larger Than Life
Asia's passing legends left lasting impressions that will be remembered long after their deaths



Morita Akio
Twenty years ago, the founder of Sony fell in love with a simple contraption whose appeal eluded his colleagues: a tape player (not a recorder, mind you) with head phones (as if anyone would want to listen to music on their own). The Soundabout, as it was called then, was doomed to failure, according to Sony's marketing department. But Morita Akio was not listening - not to them anyway. He heard his instinct telling him people were ready for portable music. And so they were. Under the Walkman name, Morita's pet project became an instant hit, transforming the way the world listens to music.

However, Morita left much more than the Walkman legacy when, at 78, he died of pneumonia in Tokyo on October 3. There were other breakthrough products from Sony's 53 years in business: the transistor radio, the Trinitron TV, the failed Betamax VCR, the much more successful PlayStation video-game system. All tributes to the marketing creativity of Morita and the technical genius of his partner, Ibuka Masaru, who died in 1997.

    1999: THE YEAR
The Year
A mass of surprises from the unruly masses

Newsmakers:
• Habibie How the grand plans of an Indonesian president fell before the unpredictable whims of voters
• Son Masayoshi The founder of Japan's Softbank empire shows the online way to zillionairehood
• Wan Azizah A wife-turned-oppositionist lends voice to Malaysia's reform hopes
• Li Hongzhi The qigong master who gives nightmares to China's rulers and inspiration to millions of followers
• Pokémon From video game to kiddie craze, a Nintendo original captivates a world of young minds

Deaths
Final farewell to Morita Akio, Eugenio Lopez and other figures who left the scene

Personalities
Jackie Chan, Imelda Marcos, Rupert Murdoch are among the big names that caught our eye

Innovations
Palm V, iBook, AirPort and other products that presage the post-PC era

Lows
Recognizing outstanding acts of underachievement
• Dear Santa What Bill Gates really wants for Christmas

Movies
Superb cinema from around the region
• The Two Samurai Kurosawa is dead; long live Kurosawa

In & Out
Trends here today, gone yesterday

Books
The year's best written by Asians or about Asia

But even more important than the gadgets is the legacy of pride Morita left the region. He, more than any other person, helped make "Made in Japan" not only acceptable, but respectable around the world. In so doing, he unleashed an export-led boom that boosted the living standards of millions of Asians. He saw 50 years ago that the only way to rise from Japan's post-war rubble was to leave his country's traditional insularity behind and sell innovative, quality products overseas. He even insisted the company's name be changed from its original Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo to something that was easier for foreigners to understand. In 1963 he moved his family to New York to study American business firsthand. Within 35 years he made Sony the best-known brand in the U.S.

A strict traditionalist at home, Morita expected his wife to stay in the background. And he disinherited his eldest son for wedding without consent. Yet his fluent English and dynamic presence convinced his American counterparts that this was an Asian they could relate to. He became the face of Asian success around the world. Morita died a man between two cultures, but also at the helm of a third he helped create. He was the founder of the New Asia, a place that represents the best of both East and West.

Eugenio Lopez
By the time cancer finally claimed 70-year-old "Geny" Lopez on June 28, he had firmly reclaimed the glory his family - one of the Philippines' most powerful dynasties - had lost nearly 30 years before. The Lopezes once helped bankroll the presidential bid of Ferdinand Marcos. But the dictator turned on them in office after their newspaper became his fiercest critic. Geny was imprisoned in 1972, but made a daring escape five years later and fled to the United States. He returned after Marcos was toppled in 1986, and made ABS-CBN into the leading broadcast network. He and his brothers also built Benpres Holdings, expanding into electric-power generation and distribution, water services, telecommunications and land development. The family is once again in political favor. Geny's nephew, Manuel "Beaver" Lopez, this September married the daughter of President Joseph Estrada.

Piseth Pilika
In death, as in life, Cambodia's most beloved actress is swathed in drama. Piseth Pilika was gunned down in broad daylight by an unknown assailant on July 6. She succumbed to her injuries a week later, leaving a gaping mystery that has still not been solved six months later. It may never be.

The 34-year-old divorced film star was rumored before her death to be involved with a senior government official. Then came a sensational story in October in the French news magazine L'Express, which linked her with Prime Minister Hun Sen. The article cited a memoir allegedly written by the actress, detailing a supposed affair and its heartbreaking end when the prime minister's wife found out about it last spring. "I don't know whether they will let me live or die, because the earth is under their control," the magazine quoted Pilika as writing. Hun Sen told Asiaweek he is sorry about the actress's death and that her reputation was sullied. But he says the memoir is a fake and he has threatened to sue L'Express.

Few people are counting on the police to come up with any answers. Murders are seldom properly investigated in Cambodia. The case has spotlighted not only the loss of a beautiful entertainer, but also the sad realization that the culture of violence and injustice that has torn this country for decades still pervades to this day.

Other Last Farewells
Paddy Chew, 39, the first Singaporean to publicly state he had AIDS. Chew campaigned for greater awareness and gave a human face to AIDS in a society where its victims are often stigmatized. His one-man show, Completely With/Out Character, addressed the topic too. He died four years after first being diagnosed with HIV.

Sir Philip Haddon-Cave, 74, chief secretary and financial secretary of Hong Kong from 1962 to 1985. Haddon-Cave laid the foundations of the colony's laissez-faire economic system with his policy of "positive non-intervention." His controversial decision to let the Hong Kong dollar float after the 1974 stock market crash eventually earned him praise as the god of good fortune.

He Luting, 96, Chinese musician and lyricist who composed more than 260 revolutionary songs. Many are still popular today. Among his biggest achievements was The Long March, a magnum opus he co-wrote in the 1960s. He also headed the Shanghai Music Institute, training a whole generation of Chinese musicians.

Ho Rih Hwa, 82, Singaporean tycoon and former ambassador. His family businesses include the Banyan Tree hotel chain as well as property and trading ventures. Ho served as ambassador to Thailand, Belgium and Germany. He was also a director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and member of the Economic Development Board.

Dading Kalbuadi, 68, retired Indonesian lieutenant-general who commanded the invasion into East Timor in 1975 that killed thousands. The attack led to the annexation of the island, which was only reversed this year by a popular referendum. Kalbuadi's adopted East Timorese son, Francisco Kalbuadi, is an aide to Nobel laureate and independence leader Bishop Carlos Belo.

Ling Siew May, 62, Singapore's First Lady, wife of President Ong Teng Cheong. Ling died of colon cancer and her illness was reportedly one reason Ong did not seek re-election. Ong is in remission from cancer himself.

Evangelina Macapagal, 83, former First Lady in the Philippines and mother of Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. A doctor, she was credited for her humanitarian projects and contributions to the reform programs of her husband, the late president Diosdado Macapagal, who served from 1961 to 1965.

Munir Ahmad Khan, 72, chief architect of Pakistan's nuclear program and a former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. His ties to the IAEA and a long stint working in the West raised suspicions among some countrymen. Others saw him as a voice of reason committed to promoting international nuclear safeguards.

Sakai Toshio, 59, Japanese photographer who won a 1968 Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam War photo. The picture showed a weary U.S. soldier resting after heavy fire in a monsoon downpour, while a fellow American kept watch. Sakai was the third Japanese to win a Pulitzer. He worked for UPI and AFP before setting up a video company in 1994. He died of a heart attack in Kamakura, near Tokyo.

Gerald Segal, 46, political scientist, essayist and director of studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in England. Segal was a prolific and sometimes controversial writer on Asia, as well as on subjects like communism and strategic arms issues. His last major piece, published in Foreign Affairs, concluded that China was overrated as a major power. He called it a "second-rank middle power that has mastered the art of diplomatic theater." But Segal was not necessarily a China basher. His book Defending China tried to dismiss the notion that China was militarily aggressive. Segal died of cancer in London on Nov. 2.

Shoda Hidesaburo, 95, father of Japanese Empress Michiko. Michiko was the first commoner to marry a crown prince in Japan. She wed Prince Akihito in 1959.

Sunthorn Kongsompong, 68, military strongman who led Thailand's last coup. The bloodless operation in 1991 overthrew the country's democratically elected government led by Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan. Military rule ensued, and demonstrators rose up the next year, prompting a government crackdown that left dozens of people dead. King Bhumibol Adulyadej intervened to bring about a settlement. Sunthorn spent the rest of his life shuttling between Thailand and France, where he ran a restaurant. He died of lung cancer in Bangkok.

Neelan Tiruchelvam, 55 human rights activist and moderate politician with Sri Lanka's Tamil United Liberation Front. Tiruchelvam had helped draft the government's peace plan in hopes of ending the country's 16-year civil war. He was killed Sept. 29 in a suicide bomb attack, in Colombo. Police accused the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of the crime, the same group blamed for this month's assassination attempt on President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Zeng Liansong, 82, designer of the flag of the People's Republic of China. Zeng saw a newspaper notice in 1949 calling for recommendations for a new national flag. He submitted his design of five gold stars on a red background, which was accepted and first displayed by Mao Zedong on October 1, 1949 at the founding of the PRC in Tiananmen Square.

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