'Payback Time' for Mr. Rupert Murdoch?

The Author, Dr. Kofi Dankyi Beeko, MD.

There was 'a young English politician' of the conservative party in the eighties. His name was Chris Patten.  Prime Minister John Major, who had expended a lot of energy to become 'his own man' after having taken over the Chairmanship cum Prime Minister from the Iron Lady, Mrs.  Margaret Thatcher, always felt encouraged at the sight of 'Chris.'

Mr. John Major had been 'helped' an awful lot by Chris Patten, Member of Parliament (MP).

Come electioneering in 1992, it had become obvious that the man the echelon of the Conservative Party loved to call just Chris would lose his parliamentary seat to the opposition Labour Party.  Prime Minister John Major sought reason to appoint the otherwise talented Mr. Patten as Governor to Britain's prestigious colony, acquired through the Opium War of 1847.

Since previous diplomatic negotiations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United Kingdom had fixed 1997 as the date to hand over Hong Kong back to the People's Republic of China, the tenure of Patten's intended office was obviously envisaged to be five years. The period was foreseeably going to be difficult for the Governor, who was under pressure from the Hong Kong citizens to have them 'liberated' before the handing over.

His Excellency, the Governor, opened his office with a 'no-nonsense attitude' towards the Mainland. The clauses were to be  such minted and have them so protected and agreed upon, and all under British authority, and the conditions soon to be ingrained into the law to protect Hong Kong, even after the hand-over.

The Governor quickly grew to be so loved (by Hong Kong), such that he was given a Chinese name; 'Pang Ding-hong.'  This was as close as one could bring 'Chris Patten' into Chinese.

This again, was the extent, and an extreme extent, as the Chinese could come to love an English man coming with a history so closely linked with the Chinese losing their Monarchy.  People were rushing from the mainland to Hong Kong to benefit from what was coming, which expectedly, was going to stay forever – Difficult days for 'His Excellency!!'

But, he was a MAN. His Excellency Chris Patten of machismo must have found himself not necessarily in an envious position. Then, the Diplomat par Excellence decided to write a book. The book was to chronicle the entire period of Britain's colonial time in the Crown Colony, but especially so, the tail end of it. The debates with the PRC did not always fit in well into Britain's wishes like the Yale lock, and its key-hole. Who would publish the book?

There was a man, in his mid-sixties, Australia-born but an American citizen, who had bought into the media-world from Austro-Asia through Europe, and all the way to the USA.  There seemed to be something better than a marriage of convenience that Mr. Murdoch's publishing imperium would do the publishing. The deal 'was so sealed', if you like. Mr. Murdoch was in the midst of a double romance, in the PRC. He was in the process of getting divorced, from his Australian wife of 35 years, and there was an incoming Madonna from Mainland China, tall and beautiful.  It had gone beyond the stage of just rumours.

The Chinese Government put it 'bluntly' that they would not do business with Mr. Murdoch 'if his mammoth publishing apparatus went ahead and published Governor Chris Patten's book of his Governorship of Hong Kong, which was so juicy with stories in Hong Kong and beyond, which would not help the leaders of the Communist Government in Beijing, just then unfolding, unfurling, and you could put it as simply – opening her wings to capture the rest of the world.

'If Rupert Murdoch lacked discretion to that extent', said a colleague of mine at a conference in Taiwan around that period, 'he hardly could have mustered the fortune he is known to possess.'  My colleague was right. Mr. Murdoch was personally worth US$4 billion, and the volume of his business, ten times as much.

He dumped the bid to publish the meanwhile controversial book by the Governor of Hong Kong, the venerable and Honorable Chris Patten. It is often said that in politics, unlike in the religions, forgiving comes uneasy. I am not sure whether even in religions forgiveness comes any quicker, or any easier.

What happened to divide former Yugoslavia, for example, was purely revenge for events which were three centuries old.

The United Kingdom is formidable when it comes to anything, and that should include business. London is a business-center without comparison, and I mean, including Tokyo, New York, Sydney, and Singapore.  Not even Mr. Murdoch could imagine there could be repercussions at any time in his life in connection with his decision in the mid-nineties not to stay with his commitment to publish the Governor's book, in which the British Government must have had 'some interest.'

It was then here and there contested, whether indeed, there was commitment from the side of the 'Publisher per magnum' that went beyond a memorandum of understanding (MoU). The Governor, who left Hong Kong, apparently so emotional that he almost messed up 'some protocol', with his family, was on the Royal Yacht, 'Britannia,' together with the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, somewhere middle of July, in 1997 – 'It was 'leaving Hong alone' after 150 years of colonisation, as Britain had won the Opium war, in 1947.

The former Governor had to look for another publisher to print his book, and it must have come out far behind time.  It is not to be forgotten that the British Government, under the Conservative Party at the time, did not have zero interest in the book being published.

Rupert Murdoch has a publishing emporium in the United Kingdom. He is worth presently some US$7.3 billion. His influence goes beyond the shores of Britain, and all the way to the mighty USA.  I have been trying desperately to come to grips with the terminology 'Phone-Hacking.'  Whatever it may mean to the layman isn't what is at stake.  Mr. Murdoch's company isn't in the most comfortable situation right now.

Added to his trouble is 'Police Bribery'. The honorable lady, many years his Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in England, Rebekah Brooks, has been pressurised to resign, and even arrested. That doesn't spell the end of Mr. Murdoch's woes.

It is often such that more is heard about giants in business, and politics when things come out about them, which people don't expect, or least expect. So, what do we, as 'people,' expect?  It seems obvious. We expect that we are generous, even fair and kind to one another, and from those who possess more, more should be expected.

This seems to be Biblical as well as Quranic.  You would have your 'jaws gaping' if you heard one executive working for Mr. Murdoch in London last Friday in an interview on BBC. It was all about a man in whose dictionary existed only the word 'grab, grab, and grab.'  Interestingly, the Conservative Party of Great Britain was in power when the bitter treat from Mr. Murdoch was received. One wouldn't be sure, whether 'forgiveness' was written into the book of the conservatives, which the Governor took home. Incidentally, the experience is only 14 years ago. The ink may not have dried quite.