Capturing Asia

CAPTURING ASIA is the remarkable story of Willie Phua, an ABC news cameraman from Singapore, who recorded the rhythm and tempest of modern Asia in all its beauty, passion and fury for television around the world for more than three decades. As a child he was shelled by the Japanese in Singapore, as a cameraman he was machine-gunned by the Vietcong. He covered murderous race riots in Singapore, genocide in East Pakistan, bloody coups in Thailand, the assassination of Indira Ghandi in India, the rise of People's Power in the Philippines and war in Afghanistan. He was on the spot for the revolution that overthrew Marcos in the Philippines, and his video record of the young protester challenging the tank in Tiananmen Square is legendary.

Willie's experiences are interwoven with those of many ABC journalists, as Willie's story is also the story of the ABC in Asia. For generations of brash, young correspondents, some on their first and often hazardous foreign assignments, Willie Phua was 'The Master' who showed them the ropes, and 'taught them Asia'.

Author Bob Wurth has left no stone unturned in his efforts to bring us this extraordinary biography. With unprecedented access to the Phua dynasty of cameramen, ABC correspondents and incredible footage from the ABC archives, he brings to life all the excitement, danger and drama of life as a news cameraman recording history as it happens.