Asiaweek.com | People

May 4, 2001 VOL.27 NO.17

People
Just Call Me Datuk

What, me a Datuk? Actress Michelle Yeoh was so surprised to receive the third-highest title in her native Malaysia, she almost missed her moment of glory. "I had no clue it was going to happen," she says. "I was in China when my dad called, so it was quite a trek to get home on time." The 38-year-old star of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had been looking at locations for her new action movie, The Touch, when her father told her that Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak was conferring the honor in recognition of the fame she had brought to the state. "I'm very proud," says Yeoh, who had a traditional dress quickly made up for the ceremony. Her businessman dad holds the same title, but Yeoh is the first ethnic Chinese entertainer to be named a Datuk in Malaysia. Like a knighthood, the honorific may help one to glide over bureaucratic bumps. Datuks, however, do not normally have the power to defy gravity and generally do not engage in rooftop duels.

How good can she look with the jailhouse blues?
If only she could call herself for some advice. Colorful Hong Kong socialite Pamela Pak, 57, is best known as a former agony aunt on a local radio station, but now she faces her own hard times: a three-month jail term for making false tax claims. And the woman who once posed barely clothed for a local magazine is running out of dramatic gestures. Last year, when she learned she would be charged, she staged a five-day hunger strike. Officials were unmoved. On April 19 she fainted in court after entering her final guilty plea. She was sentenced nonetheless. "I never dreamt of being jailed," said Pak, "I can't say whether [jail] is scary or not. In fact, I am afraid to think too much." Too bad she didn't think harder when she signed inflated expenses and fraudulent tax returns for her company. Still, the glamorous Pak remains something of a drama queen. Quoting Gone With The Wind, she told reporters after sentencing: "Tomorrow is another day." Another day in standard issue, that is.

No fuss, please. Let Simplicity rule
Ah, the rewards of the simple life. When Taiwan director Ang Lee returned home on his first visit since winning an Academy Award for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, he had the golden statuette stuffed unceremoniously in his backpack. Nor did Lee's mother have any fanfare in mind for her son's welcome back to his hometown in Tainan. "We have nothing special prepared for him, except maybe a bowl of noodles and some eggs," Lee Yang-si said. Similarly modest preferences won accolades in Seoul for Britain's Prince Andrew. On a state visit to mark the 50th anniversary of the Korean War, he declined a $2,300-a-night suite normally used by dignitaries in favor of one that cost half as much. And breakfast was a simple $11 affair in his room. "He was like a humble neighbor," said an impressed member of the hotel staff. Sometimes less really is more.

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