The Bulletin: Why did you decide to republish your book?
Joop Litmaath: When my original book came out in 2003, it was at the height of SARS. If you remember, at that time no one even wanted to go out, never mind taking time to browse through books in the bookshop. So it took me a few years to sell the stock. Because I am a perfectionist, I wanted to correct a few things, like typos, pictures, rearrange the chapters and also bring it up to date, and so on.
B: The original version was titled 'Far East of Amsterdam,' and you have renamed it to 'The Flying Dutchman of Hong Kong.' Why did you feel it was necessary to give it a new title?
JL: The original was a play on the idea 'East of Eden' with Hong Kong being East of Amsterdam, and also because the book is also about my life in the 'Far East.' But I think a lot of people didn't really understand it. I have been flying between Hong Kong and Holland for over 40 years, and I am the oldest working Dutchman in Hong Kong, so I was cocky enough to ask KLM if I could use their plane on the cover, and they agreed.
B: What inspired you to write the book in the first place?
JL: When I turned 60, I was worried about retiring at 65 and keeping active. When I turned 65, I started worrying more about keeping myself busy. So just before I turned 70, I put pen to paper and started writing a personal account of my first 40 years in Hong Kong. I wrote it basically for my offspring - I have two daughters and sons in law, and six grandchildren -- so that they can say 50 years from now this was grandpa. So it is a very personal account of my life in Hong Kong from when I arrived on April 1, 1963.
B: You must have a very good memory then?
JL: Fortunately I do have a very good memory, and secondly I like to keep a small record of my day-to-day activities. Look at my shelf there. I have been keeping a Chamber diary since 1974, and before that I used to keep a little pocket diary. So when I decided to write my book, I went through my diaries, noting down things that I hade written in them, and then that jogged my memory about those events.
I forced myself on weekdays after lunch to close my office door and start writing for one and a half hours in handwriting, which I then gave to my secretary to type up. When it came back I would edit it, and then I sent off the revised draft to my editor. I did that for one year. Lots of people say they want to write a book but they cannot get going, but once I start something, I have to see it through to completion.
B: You are obviously proud of your Dutch heritage, so why didn't you write the book in Dutch?
JL: Every time that I went back to Holland in the first 20 years that I had lived in Hong Kong, I always had lots of experiences that I wanted to tell people about. But no one was really interested, not even my family. Then, as today, the Dutch are so involved in their little circle of life that they often do not know - or want to know - what is happening outside of that little circle. The only people in Holland who are interested in reading my book are the Dutch people who have lived in Hong Kong.
I once approached the leading Dutch magazine Elsevier to see if they would be interested in me writing little articles about happenings here in the Far East. They simply said they appreciate my offer but no, they could not see the average Dutchman would be interested in such stories.
B: Were there any chapters that you wanted to include, but edited out in the final manuscript?
JL: Yes. I didn't want to antagonize anyone, although I do criticize a few people in the book. Because it is a story about my life, and key events in that, such as when the doctor called me to tell me that I had prostrate cancer, I wanted to share those major events with others.
B: You mentioned you criticized some people, anyone in particular?
JL: In the book, I not only talk about my experiences, but also give my opinions on the economy, politics, etc. For example, I wrote about Chris Patten, who is a good friend of mine. I felt he, as the Britain's former Secretary of State for the Environment, however, had not done enough for the environment when he was the Governor of Hong Kong. Particularly as he introduced and pushed through Parliament a major legislation that became Britain's Environmental Protection Act 1990. He didn't neglect the environment in Hong Kong, he ignored it, and I think that was a lost opportunity at the time.
I also write about my campaign to get a seat on the General Committee of the Chamber. I lost the first time around because it was at that time only the big 'Hongs' on the Board. The second time around Helmut Sohmen retired from the committee after he stepped down as Chairman, and he, together with William Fung, and Vincent Lo supported me.
I was often the lone voice on the board, and I always spoke my mind because I was independent as an SME. Because of this, I was the one who was instrumental in increasing the size of the General Committee from 18 to 24 on the condition that the extra seats be given to SMEs. So that is why SMEs are now well represented in the Chamber.
B: What would you like people to take away from reading your book?
JL: I want people who live here or who have lived here to say: 'I wish I had written that. I also remember that, I was at such and such a place when that happened, etc.' There is no takeaway message, just the hope that my little stories will help people remember some of their good old times in Hong Kong. But the story is not finished -- I will continue to keep writing until I turn 101.