On April 21, journalist Jonathan Lai, who leads a team of investigative reporters in Ming Pao Daily News, surveyed their work with pride.

Splashed over five pages were their reports on the Panama Papers revealing how the city’s powerful people, including tycoon Li Ka Shing, squirrelled away their money in offshore accounts.

Mr Lai, 35, credits the Chinese- language newspaper’s then No. 2 editor for “giving us the time – more than one month – and space” for the project. But that same man, Mr Keung Kwok Yuen, had been summarily sacked the night before. The paper’s chief editor Chong Tien Siong fired him at midnight, citing the need to cut costs.

Yesterday, Mr Lai was among some 400 people gathered outside Ming Pao’s office to protest against the decision in a “ginger” rally. Holding up the spicy root vegetable – a pun on Mr Keung’s surname – and placards lamenting how Ming Pao is no longer “ming”, or open, they appealed to its owner, Malaysian timber tycoon Tiong Hiew King, to remove Mr Chong and reinstate Mr Keung.

The sacking at Hong Kong’s most respected broadsheet has inflamed already-simmering tensions in the city over whether its freedoms are being eroded, as Beijing extends its influence.

Members of the public and pro- democracy politicians turned out in a show of support yesterday.

Occupy movement poster boy Joshua Wong told The Straits Times: “In other countries, the Panama Papers led to politicians resigning. In Hong Kong, it’s the editor who has to step down. It’s ridiculous.”

No one knows for sure why Mr Keung was sacked. Mr Lai and his colleagues, such as assistant editor- in-chief Carmen Sze, call him “our spiritual leader” in spearheading coverage of political issues. They said there had been “conflicts” between the two men since Mr Chong was parachuted in in 2014.

Mr Chong, when contacted, said he had nothing to add to what he had already said. He had told staff that Ming Pao has reached its “survival threshold”. As he and Mr Keung drew the highest pay, the latter had to go. No other dismissals are expected. Ming Pao’s profit dove 80 per cent between 2014 and last year.

Over the past two years, the paper’s reporting has remained intrepid. But many here believe there is more to the episode.

Mr Tiong is known for his cultural pride as an ethnic Chinese – including in owning influential newspapers – and would unlikely have begrudged resources to Ming Pao, the jewel in his media empire. The tycoon, who has extensive business interests in China, has also publicly expressed his approval of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The incident thus has deepened fears of media muzzling or self-censorship, especially following the case of the booksellers who went missing in Hong Kong.

Last month, a founder of Hong Kong-based military affairs magazine Kanwa told the South China Morning Post he is leaving the city because of fears that his safety as a journalist cannot be guaranteed, while staff at BBC’s Chinese-language services are protesting against a relocation from London to Hong Kong.

This article was first published on May 3, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Ancient China may have introduced the four great inventions of the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing to the world. But modern Chinese brands often look altogether more familiar and less novel.

Like the recent unveiling of new sportswear brand Uncle Martian, whose name and logo courted controversy for looking suspiciously similar to American brand Under Armour.

Yet, Uncle Martian is far from the first Chinese brand to attract attention for its blatant rip-off coincidental likenesses to other names.

Here are a few more:

1. Bucksstar vs Starbucks

Everyone knows about Starbucks, but it is only in China that you will be able to find ‘Bucksstar Coffee’.

2. Hike vs Nike

Everyone knows Nike’s iconic swoosh. But the China version “Hikes” imitation to the next level.

3. Owega vs Omega

Omega is a world famous Swiss luxury watchmaker. In China, the ‘M’ is turned upside down to get “Owega”. Maybe that is to account for China being in opposite time zones.

4. KDF vs KFC

We wonder if the one in China is “finger-lickin’ good” too.

5. Various copies of adidas

Dasabi, Odidos…all seem to bear an uncanny resemblance world-renowned sportswear giant adidas.

Perhaps, you could say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Uncle Martian sports brand looks like rip-off of Under Armour

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Sina Weibo

20 funny Chinese copycat brands

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

seanyap@sph.com.sg

JAKARTA- Indonesian villagers thought they had been blessed when a beautiful doll turned up on a beach, believing it to be an angel fallen from heaven, only to discover it was an inflatable sex toy.

Rapidly-spreading news of a heavenly offering and fears of possible social unrest that it might spark prompted a police probe.

But detectives who arrived in the remote spot soon punctured the theory that there had been a divine intervention.

“When our officers arrived they saw that the ‘fallen angel’ was just a doll, it was a sex toy,” local police chief Heru Pramukarno told AFP.

Villager Pardin, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, found the doll last month when he was fishing off the remote Banggai islands in central Indonesia, police said.

The discovery came a day after a solar eclipse swept across the area, a deeply spiritual experience in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, leading superstitious locals to believe the two events were linked.

Pardin took the partially inflated doll to his home in Kalupapi village. His mother stuffed the doll with fabric and it was given a fresh change of clothes and headscarf every day, and a chair to sit in.

Police decided to investigate after becoming concerned the increasing excitement about the “angel” could lead to unrest.

“We were hearing many stories, such as that the ‘fallen angel’ was crying when she was discovered,” Pramukarno said.

The problem, it seemed, was the remoteness of the Kalupapi.

“They have no Internet, they don’t know what a sex toy is.” After investigating, officers confiscated the doll and took it to the local police station, a move they said was to stop false rumours from spreading.