June 2004 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

INTERVIEW
driven into prostitution by her poor parents who was
probably infected by HIV – because some Asian men
who have the virus believe that they will be cured
when they have sex with a virgin, this girl had to
pretend she was one by opening a condom filled with
pigs blood at the right moment.
This is one of the realities of journalism: it tends
to be a line of work dealing with stories focussing
on negative things. Don’t be alarmed by that,
because it means that the norm is that everything
works and is good (but hence less interesting).
7
You are going back to Holland. What are
you going to do?
I’m going back to my steady job at the political
desk of NRC Handelsblad in The Hague. I’m going
to be a ‘soepchef’ there.
8
Will you have a successor in Singapore?
I’m afraid not. My colleague in Jakarta, Dirk
Vlasblom, will take over from me. As far as I know, I
am the last correspondent working for Dutch media
to leave here. All Dutch media cover South East Asia
from Jakarta – or from their desks in the Netherlands.
9
Wouldn’t you rather have started another
adventure at an overseas posting in the
region or elsewhere in the world?
I think almost every journalist in the Netherlands
wants to be a correspondent in the United States,
including me. If you ever read or see a report from
me from Washington or New York, you know I have
reached my final professional goal.
10
In what way did your stay in Singapore
contribute to your development as a
journalist?
Totally positive. Before, I was only a newspaper
journalist. Now I am ‘all round’ with experience in
television, radio (not my cup of tea) and magazine
writing. The latter is very different from writing
for a newspaper; you have to
take into account that what
you are writing today, will only
be read in two weeks and not
the same day or tomorrow.
Also, a magazine allows you
to give some room to your
own opinion on the things
you are reporting on. At the
newspaper I work for, inserting
your opinion in your stories
is completely out of the
question. Or, as we put it at
NRC: ´wat je vindt, moet je
naar de politie brengen.´
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Vol.14 • No. 6 • June 2004