A journalist with a view, and a lesson not fully learned

The final 15 hostages were swapped on the tarmac outside the waiting JAL DC-8 on Aug 8, 1975. The five in the middle facing the camera were the last five hostages. Robert Stebbins, the last to be released, was in the white shirt at the left with a loose tie. Swedish Charge d’Affaires Fredrik Bergenstrahle is in the business suit in the middle.Pix re-shoot from The Star

Former Associated Press writer Hari S. Maniam and American consul Robert Stebbins recall their parts in the Japanese Red Army hostage crisis in Kuala Lumpur, 1975.

There's nothing like an office with the right view, when you’re a journalist covering a breaking story. And that’s just what Associated Press writer Hari S. Maniam had, during the Japanese Red Army siege of the American Embassy here in August 1975.