Guest Comments by the Burma Partnership Secretariat
THAILAND – According to reports, the latest military resignations in Burma have seen eight top officials resign, maybe including senior general Than Shwe and his deputy, general Maung Aye. If the reports prove accurate, then Than Shwe would remain as the head of state until after the 2011 financial year before handing power to an incoming “elected” government.
Regarded as premeditated, the reshuffling would allow former generals to take leading posts in the yet-to-be-elected administration. Former general Shwe Mann, the third-in-command, is widely tipped to become the president, a role reserved for “civilians”.
Notably, the 2008 constitution stuplated that the president and vice-president "shall be well acquainted with the affairs of the union, such as... military". Therefore, candidates need intimate knowledge of, or experience in, the military, leaving most civilians ineligible.
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You are invited to learn more about photography and following your passion from photographer and author Norman Yip. At an event on September 8 organized by the Women in Publishing Society Hong Kong, Norm will discuss his most treasured photographs and showcase his Asian Male photography books. It begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Foreign Correspondents Club.
A Chinese-born Canadian, Norm graduated from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Toronto (1989, architecture) before moving to Hong Kong in 1994 and working as a project architect until pursuing his interest in art and photography. In 1999, he co-founded the organization art collective, Meli-Melo Artists Alliance.
Norm is known for his monochromatic images of the Asian-male physique and face. In 2005 and 2007, he published photography books titled The Asian Male -- 1 AM and The Asian Male -- 2 AM. He has taught photography at Hong Kong's Open University, guest-lectured at the Hong Kong Art School and seen his work appear in magazines.
Women in Publishing Society, Hong Kong
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By Charles Barker
(Second of Two Excerpts)
 The following comes from The Brown Envelope Club (2010, Inkstone Books, Hong Kong, 267 pages), a novel by British-born hotelier Charles Barker about some suprising plots for revenge following warfare in the Middle East. This excerpt appears with the author's permission.
Autumn 1995, Porlock, England
A dull and dreary summer had come to an end. All the schools were back, and the tourists were fizzling out, except for the elderly who had few cares for the weather and even fewer responsibilities. They pottered into Porlock Weir, looked around the drab, boulder-strewn beach, surveyed the grey and inhospitable sea and the overcast and greyer-still sky and mostly drove straight back out again. Depression they could get for free at their age -- they didn't need to come to gloomy, remote North Devonshire villages for it.
The group staying at Tytherleigh had blended in well over the previous weeks and were by now well acquainted with both their environment and neighbours. They had cultivated an air of eccentricity and were now known locally as “Bennett's barmy boys”.
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 Former consultant Paul Ulrich's first novel, Saudi Match Point (2007, Blacksmith Books, 268 pages, HK$80), swirls around some incredibly popular topics: espionage, terrorism, oil and superpower rivalries. So it faces an uphill battle against many of fiction's biggest names.
As a result, Ulrich's imperfect, promising tale attracts less attention than it probably deserves. He creates appealing characters, notably Nick Hansen, a China expert at the American embassy in Saudi Arabia, and Hajar bint Saleh Al-Qaatil, a naïve local girl, the daughter of a radical cleric, terrified at the prospect of an unwanted arranged marriage.
Stealthy Nick behaves heroically against his government's wish to bully smaller nations and invade at the slightest excuse. This time, the Americans await an expected hostage crisis to justify seizing Saudi oilfields. Does China pack enough clout in the region to thwart the mighty United States?
A subplot exposes Islamic law's harsh treatment of women, who must not drive cars, work without male permission or defy strict dress codes?
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