I stumbled across this article on CNN today – apparently this has been going on for years, but this is the first i’ve heard of it!
I myself am not much of a tea connoisseur, but i’m not sure i’d want to order a drink associated with pantyhose. In any case though, I certainly hope it’s not used pantyhose!
Hong Kong legislators voted on wednesday against the democracy reform proposals. The result: 34 for and 24 against (40 votes are needed from the chamber of 60 for constitutional reform packages to pass). In reaction to the defeat, chief executive Donald Tsang warns that mutual trust between Hong Kong and Mainland lawmakers will suffer. From the SCMP:
“This is a major issue. You cannot say, `oh it’s game over, let’s do it again’. This is not on.”
Mr Tsang believed the olive branches extended by Beijing in recent months – such as inviting all lawmakers to visit the mainland – would not be forthcoming again in the near future.
“You cannot bully people and not expect them to get angry.”
Wait… who’s bullying who here?
“The outcome cannot be swept aside as if it has never happened. It’s not child’s play”.
I can say for sure that the outcome will not be swept aside – the democrats certainly have no desire to do that. They will, of course, continue to fight for a fair solution to electoral reform. And why Donald would even hint at the suggestion elections are child’s play is beyond me – the problem in Hong Kong is that the government thinks the electorate are children.
Granted, a certain portion of the people do act childish at times – but sometimes I question whether the real toddlers are the electorate or the government.
Agnes Chong writes an article in openDemocracy.net giving her views of the December 4th march and electoral reform process.
Amongst her comments, she notes that:
In Beijing, the Hong Kong demonstration received the usual “media blackout” treatment. This is as much a reflection of the Chinese government’s kneejerk paranoia, as the march ostensibly has no bearing on the ordinary Chinese person’s life today. It would seem a long stretch to regard the Hong Kong demonstration as a precursor to any kind of social unrest in the mainland.
True enough, there was certainly no media coverage at all here in Beijing regarding movements in Hong Kong. But to think that a mention of protests in China would directly lead to unrest in China is somewhat misleading. Indeed, protests are already occuring in China: 20 are alleged to have been killed in Guangdong (廣東) last week in village protests. As China continues to prosper and education improves, such continued unrest is inevitable.
If anything is to be learned from Hong Kong, it is that peaceful protest and freedom of speech are not detrimental to social and economic development. China should learn from this, not shun it.
There was a relatively good turnout today for the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong – unfortunately I was not present (since i’m still in Beijing), but was pleased to hear the march mentioned on the BBC World Service.
According to the SCMP an estimated 70,000 participated in the rally – including ex-chief secretary Anson Chan. This is a higher than expected turnout, and only goes to show that the will for change in Hong Kong is still strong. And though change has been promised, a promise with no accompanying timetable is about as trustworthy as a written a testimony from a gorilla.
Joseph Zen was quoted in the SCMP commenting that “Tsang says his proposal is a big step towards full democracy: this is the biggest lie I have heard” – harsh words from a bishop accusing one of his subjects of sinning. He continues to say “We are going sideways. We will go in circles with no direction and a dead end.” At the current rate, we’ll sooner break down than reach our destination.
What was amusing to hear was Donald Tsang, speaking whilst the rally was taking place, saying that he also aspires for universal sufferage and would like to see it implemented within his lifetime. To me, it sounds like he has to try a bit harder: for sure the mainland authorities are not going to be easy opposition to defeat, but if compromise is the name of the game, Hong Kong is definitely drawing the short straw. Tsang has the option now to press ahead with Beijing for more constructive political reform for the territory; the alternative, easy way out, is to just let Beijing pull the strings.
Sadly, when it comes to elections, Donald Tsang seems to have no more finesse than Tung did.
… or at least that’s how the Beijing government would prefer it to be, if only they got their way in Hong Kong. But that’s not a joke either: at the current rate of constitutional development, Beijing may well achieve just that!
For those who don’t know, the HK government have released their proposals for constitutional reform of the 2007-2008 Chief Executive & Legislative Council elections some two weeks ago. These proposals, briefly, will double the election committee for the chief executive (from 800 to 1600) and will add 10 legislative seats: 5 to be directly elected, and the other 5 chosen by district councillors (who are elected by the people). Although this is undoubtedly an improvement over previous years, the actual difference this makes to the public is minor: we will still have virtually no say in the running of government. The changes to legco will still result in a 50/50 split of directly elected vs. less-than-directly elected councillors, and the doubling of election committee numbers to 1600 still amounts to some 0.023% of the population only. That’s the number of people who get to pick the chief executive!
A recent article in the SCMP (actually 9th November – not that recent, but i’ve been busy!) cites Central Policy Unit head Lau Siu-kai as saying that “if such major reform could not get through, his [Donald Tsang's] authority, political reputation, and even governance would be called into question” . Lau has hopes that the proposals would pass in legco, to risk further jeopardisation of the ‘reform’ process. I would say that for starters, the current government proposals are far from ‘major reforms’. Secondly, in the fight for any cause, one cannot just accept any olive branch handed to them to avoid risk of jeopardising the wider cause – doing so would give one party the upper hand always and reduce any motivation for reaching a proper compromise.
I accept that universal sufferage is for sure ruled out of the 2007/8 elections, and even believe that the pro-democracy parties are somewhat stubborn in their continual pursuit of this (though they have mellowed down somewhat recently) when they can be more productive concentrating on the next opportunity after – but it shocks me to see that an increasing fragment of Hong Kong society fail to see the importance of having open and accountable government.
Nearly everyone wants to see success from the ‘one country, two systems’ policy – many it seems, by turning this gradually into ‘one country, one system’. The irony is that this would only show the opposite. I believe that ‘economic prosperity’ can be achieved alongside political reforms – many others, it would appear, see the latter as hindering the former. If anything, transparency and representative government help ensure economic stability – providing the population are mature enough for that of course… and I like to believe in Hong Kong that we are.
Yet another reason why people should not rely on Windows for running consumer electronics and public display systems.
Let’s just hope that the KCRC didn’t adopt Windows for their train control systems!
What a shame, that yet another dai pai dong has had to call it quits. The famous Man Yuen noodle shop in Central shut for the last time yesterday at 8pm after mounting pressure from the government since the license holder passed away back in May. Only spouses may inherit the license; this licencee was single.
Food critic Lau Kin Wai said of the closure (from the SCMP):
“When the government is spending billions of dollars building a culture district in West Kowloon, they are ignoring the local culture,” he said. “The right way to treat the hygiene problem of dai pai dongs is reinforcing management, not killing them.”
I could not agree more. The government automatically assumes that outside=dirty and conversely believes that indoors=clean. This oversimplistic assessment of hygiene is typical of the HKSAR. I am in no doubt that there are many lingering filthy restaurants, and there is no reson to think that outdoor premises cannot be kept clean either. What is important is management and standards : good standards can be maintained under both circumstances, and it would be far more productive to tackle the problem from that angle rather than shutting down dai pai dongs under the banner of hygiene.
As usual, this government seems more concerned about ‘image’ and has little interest in preservation of culture. It is more interested in creating artificial “cultural events”, or spawning new developments in the belief that new projects are the only things that attract visitors and locals. When I travel it is the tradition and culture I am interested in – any country can build a disneyland or a cable car if they wanted to… but history and culture evolves and spans hundreds (if not thousands) of years. As does the food – and for many, food is an important part of our lives.
When will the government learn that our heritage and history are as important as development for the future?
I went to the Lok Ma Chau (落馬洲) Lookout today. Actually, I was there a couple of days ago, but I went back again – this time armed with a camera. The lookout point is only approximately 25 minutes walk from my house. Perched atop a small hill, adjacent to the Lok Ma Chau police station, this was the point where, decades ago, visitors used to make their day long ‘excursions’ into the New Territories to catch glimpse of our mysterious northerly communist neighbour. At that time, ShenZhen (深圳) was a barren land – all that existed were scattered farming communities. Now, three decades later, ShenZhen houses a population of 4.6mil+ and represents the third largest city in China in terms of GDP per capita. And of course it’s no longer a mystery – some 10 million people cross the border into ShenZhen annually.
It never ceases to amaze me the pace at which ShenZhen – or most of China for that matter – has developed over the years. These days, ShenZhen is covered in skyscrapers and boasts the world’s eighth tallest building – Shun Hing Square (信兴广场), height: 384m. It’s clearly visible from my roof – protruding over the hilltops. From the Lok Ma Chau Lookout, one can still see evidence of the sixteen buildings demolished with explosives on May 22nd – several of them still intact, albeit lying at an angle like toppled dominoes. Also visible is the Lok Ma Chau KCR station, due to open in 2007.
Unfortunately my photos were taken in bad lighting so are not very clear – but on a good day, the lookout offers some fascinating views. I’ve included some of my shots here, but will try to get some better ones on a clearer day!
