Jackie Chan apologised about Hong Kong tourist Bus Hijacking

HONG KONG: Action star Jackie Chan apologised in a statement on his website for his remarks on Twitter about the recent bus hijacking in Manila.

The actor's tweets about the hostage crisis, which took the lives of eight Hong Kong tourists last Monday, have raised the ire of netizens who claimed they were disrespectful to the victims.

However, Chan claimed his words were simply mistranslated.

"Maybe what I said wasn't very clear and it was misunderstood. The content in my Twitter account was posted by my American assistant on my behalf, but after interpretation the posts did not entirely capture what I truly meant to say.

"What happened to the Hong Kong tourists in the Philippines was a terrible and heartbreaking tragedy. I am 100 per cent Chinese and I'm from Hong Kong. I feel grief and pain for the Hong Kong citizens who lost their lives during this unfortunate incident," said Chan in a statement.

His statement was released in both Chinese and English, perhaps to avoid any mistranslation.

"What I wanted to convey was that I won't hate Filipino people as a result of this tragic incident. If we start hating each other, it will cause great damage to both Hong Kong and the Philippines.

"As for whether or not the Filipino police in charge of the incident should be held responsible for not handling the situation appropriately, of course I don't need to comment on this matter; this should be left to the experts in this area," he explained.

"If I have caused any misunderstanding or discontent because of my incomplete thoughts and feelings posted on Twitter, I would like to express my deepest and most sincere apology."

His apology has garnered mixed reactions with netizens.

Some felt there was nothing wrong with his tweets and expressed disappointment that he caved to pressure and apologised while others felt he should have been more careful with his words in the first place.

Chan had earlier tweeted about a Filipino ex-police officer's hijacking of a busload of Hong Kong tourists in Manila on August 23 that left eight hostages dead.

Although the hijacker was later killed by a sniper's bullet, many Hong Kongers believe that he could have been taken down before any hostages came to harm and felt that the Filipino police force had mishandled the crisis.

While numerous Hong Kong celebrities slammed the Filipino police force, Chan took on a more diplomatic stance and tweeted that Hong Kongers would not feel hatred towards Filipinos just because of this incident.

Chan's tweets also appeared to be supportive of the Filipino police.

"If they killed the guy (hijacker) sooner, they will say why not negotiate first? If they negotiate first, they ask why not kill the guy sooner? So sad," tweeted Chan.

- CNA/ha

Jackie Chan teachs Kung Fu in The Karate Kid

Chinese superstar Jackie Chan has admitted he used to be a bully in school, and he only quit tormenting other kids after learning martial arts.

While promoting his new movie "The Karate Kid", Chan tells reporters that he picked on his classmates until his dad found out about his bad behavior and enrolled him in kung fu classes.

Chan says martial arts taught him to help and respect others, and he wants the message to come across in "The Karate Kid".

Judging by what his co-star Jaden Smith has to say, Chan has certainly succeeded.

"I think that he is a good mentor for me. He and my dad have a lot of great qualities you know. They are nice, they treat people well. They make great movies. There are things that you need."

"The Karate Kid" will be available in Chinese theaters on June 22.

Asianbite

Angela Zhang snatched away by Jackie Chan for $1.57 million

For her beloved Michael Jackson vinyl record, Angela Zhang would not give up even for famous showbiz veteran Jackie Chan! Recently, the two of them were intensely bidding for an autographed MJ vinyl record, in the end the bid shot up to a crazy $330,000 RMB (approx $1.57 million NTD).

On November 2, Angela Zhang flew over to Shanghai to sing "Invisible Wings" for the "2009 Gary Player Invitational Event" which was a charity function in support of orphans suffering from AIDS. Furthermore, she participated in a charity auction together with Jackie Chan, Wilber Pan, JJ Lin and other artists, all giving their compassion. Unexpectedly, Jackie Chan and Angela Zhang became bidding opponents.

At the function, JJ Lin was in charge of auctioning a limited edition autographed Jackson vinyl record at the opening bid of $100,000 RMB. Angela Zhang who has always seen Michael Jackson as her idol, immediately started to bid. Who knew that Jackie Chan would follow, shouting prices with a determined expression. The two of them consecutively bidded 4-5 times, competing fiercely; in the end Jackie Chan was the highest bidder as $330,000 RMB, making Angela feel a bit disappointed.

Angela who lost the bid, sang her signature comforting song "Invisible Wings" at the function and suddenly asked Jackie Chan to come onstage to sing with her. He assertively went onstage and although he wasn't very familiar with the lyrics, he still happily hummed along. This was their first duet together and although this had not been rehearsed before, they had great tacit understanding and the atmosphere of the scene reached its peak.

Source: UDN
Translated by catalie @ http://asianfanatics.net