#OccupyCentral thread: Give me Liberty or Give me Death!

[Helder Postiga]

The role of social media in Occupy protests, on the ground and around the world

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 30 October, 2014, 5:52pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 30 October, 2014, 5:52pm

Danny Lee

A screenshot of one of Josie Tao's posts to Instagram.

The message tweeted by Josie Tao Cai-yi immediately after she was tear-gassed and pepper sprayed by riot police in Admiralty on September 28 provided a stark insight into the experience. “First time I’ve actually witnessed the tear gas and pepper spray,” the 27-year-old shared. “Absolutely terrifying.”

Her message struck a chord that Sunday evening, and thousands of others on Twitter propelled Occupy Central to become a global topic. At the height of the riot police operation, 12 tweets about Hong Kong were being posted every second as images of protesters engulfed in tear gas spread globally. Days before the street protests began, there were just 19 Hong Kong-related messages being posted per minute.

As students invaded the forecourt outside government headquarters – known as Civic Square – on September 26, through the early days of the demonstrations up to September 30, more than 1.3 million messages about the city were posted, the social media company said. During that period the protests were among the most talked about events in the world.

“We’ve seen progressive new ways to connect [on social media], serving the needs of something like this in real time… and making sure we’re always connected, [just so] the message can get out fast.” said Scott Likens, analytics consulting lead at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) China and Hong Kong.

He noted similarities to the organisation of the Arab Spring but the mobilisation of Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators “happened very fast” through social media in a way that “I don’t think we’ve really seen in previous events like this”.

On September 28, in the midst of the police action to clear thousands of protesters from the streets outside government headquarters, it was impossible to get reliable news from the ground, Tao said.

“It was quite chaotic on the ground. Accessing information was very difficult because of the scale of what was happening. It was difficult to see what was happening,” she said. “I couldn’t even see any of the red and yellow [warning] flags the police were waving, so I was using social media tools to see what was happening around me, so that I could stay alert,” she added.

On social media, Occupy Central with Love and Peace commands the biggest audience, with nearly 100,000 fans on Facebook and 25,000 followers on Twitter. Similar pages sharing stories inside Occupy camps, such as the Sordicma page jointly-managed by Jessie Pang Yu-tung, are aimed at attracting an anti-Occupy audience in a bid to win them over the cause.

“I hope to prove [anti-Occupy protesters] are wrong, as well as encouraging them to join this movement,” said the 18-year-old, who has participated in the street protests since day one. “I’ve tried to share the news from the street about what is happening because there were many rumours after September 28,” she said.

“The best way to verify gossip is to use social media and get users to right or wrong these rumours.”

One image captured by Tao and posted on photo-sharing platform Instagram showed protesters with their backs turned, hands covering their ears as they scrambled to safety from the plume of tear gas smoke just metres away.

Searching for hashtags such as “Occupy Hong Kong”, “Occupy Central” and “Umbrella Movement” brings up more than 110,000 images.

The volume of photos being shared on Instagram got the Facebook-owned platform banned in mainland China on September 28. Until then it had been one of the few popular websites not already banned on the mainland, where internet access is tightly restricted.

While Facebook and Twitter are among the big players already banned, Chinese alternatives such as Weibo deleted a record 152 posts for every 10,000 – five times higher than normal – as the protests kicked off.

 

[DefJam]

Re: Give me Liberty or Give me Death! Giordano Tycoon joins Occupy Central!



‘No foreign forces behind Hong Kong protests’, says Legco president Jasper Tsang

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 29 October, 2014, 6:43pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 30 October, 2014, 11:42am

Agence France-Presse

President of the Legislative Council, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing. Photo: Felix Wong

Legco president and pro-establishment lawmaker Jasper Tsang Yok-sing on Wednesday disputed allegations that foreign forces were behind Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, contradicting claims by the city’s leader and Beijing.

Jasper Tsang Yok-sing said he did not believe foreigners were a driving force behind a month of rallies and roadblocks calling for full democracy in the city

“I can’t see it happening,” he said in an interview with Cable TV.

“Unless you treat foreign diplomats expressing concerns as an intervention by external forces. I think their concerns, raised objectively, were not intended to influence, dominate or instigate any side,” he said.

Parts of the city have been paralysed by the protests calling on Beijing to rescind its insistence that candidates for the city’s next leader be vetted by a loyalist committee before standing for election in 2017.
READ MORE: To view all the latest Occupy Central stories click here

Beijing has refused to back down over what has become the most serious challenge to Chinese rulers since the crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in 1989 in Beijing.

Embattled Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said earlier this month that “external forces” from other countries had been encouraging the mass sit-ins, but refused to identify them.

“I shan’t go into details, but this is not entirely a domestic movement,” he said during a television interview.

Commentaries in the mainland have also increasingly described the Hong Kong protests as a “colour revolution” – a term used by Beijing for political movements funded by international forces.

Protesters have strongly denied allegations they are foreign-controlled and say the demonstrations are motivated by a lack of political progress and growing anger at increasing inequality.

 

[XabiAlonso]

Re: China blocks bbc website after video shows hong kong police beating protester


PUBLISHED : Thursday, 30 October, 2014, 3:04pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 30 October, 2014, 7:36pm

Police inaction or violence cannot be justified, no matter the provocation

Albert Cheng says those who oppose the Occupy movement are wrong to suggest the activists are not entitled to the same protection as other citizens

Police take their position at the Occupy site in Mong Kok. Photo: Reuters

The Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey of Chinese University has just confirmed what every citizen should have realised by now: that our society has been polarised by the Occupy movement and the campaign against it.

The centre's latest survey shows that 38 per cent of its 802 Cantonese-speaking respondents supported the Occupy protests, while 36 per cent were against. The younger and more educated tended to be more sympathetic to the Occupy cause and to distrust the police.

The phone interviews were carried out from October 8 to 15, after the police had fired 87 cans of tear gas to disperse the crowds in Admiralty. The centre did a similar poll in mid-September before the confrontation, when 46 per cent said they were opposed to Occupy. Those who were in favour only added up to 31 per cent.

The two sets of results indicate that the wave of so-called blue-ribbon propaganda against Occupy has, by and large, been counterproductive in winning the hearts and minds of citizens.

The televised images of the police under pressure are obviously the most critical factor in the swing of the public mood in about a month. The way the authorities have sought to drum up support for the police might have achieved the opposite effect, by pushing more people to side with the Occupiers.

Last Sunday, Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man became the latest minister to lash out at the Occupiers. His portfolio should have nothing to do with the political issues at hand, but he opted to denounce the activists' attitude towards the police.

He said there was nothing wrong with asking the police to enforce the law strictly. But, he added, "those who have broken the law and yet have asked the police to strictly enforce the law to protect them ought to reflect [on their position]."

Ko's logic is alarming. He is implying that the protesters are not worthy of police protection from being assaulted by thugs in the anti-Occupy camp. Unlike what Ko would like us to believe, the police are duty-bound to ensure anyone's safety, whether or not the person has flouted the law.

Kenneth Ng King-chun, from TVB, employed Ko's line of argument to challenge the secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Alex Chow Yong-kang, in a recent interview. He criticised the student leader for double standards. "You want the police to arrest those who attacked the Occupiers. However, you tell the police to stay away and not to clear your blockade. Is this asking the police to be selective in enforcing the law?" he asked.

It is a fact that the Occupy protesters have violated the law. The umbrella movement is indeed premised on civil disobedience. The protesters have opted to pursue democracy by defying the law. Their leaders have time and again pledged to turn themselves in at an appropriate juncture.

Chow was among those arrested on September 27. He was in police custody for two days. He has never asked the police not to arrest him.

Their case cannot be equated with those who sought to provoke and assault the activists. The police are obliged to stop the anti-Occupy gangs from clearing the blockade using violence against the protesters.

In a separate development, it was reported that philanthropist Koo Ming-kown, founder of the Nam Tai group, has refused an honorary doctoral degree awarded last week by Baptist University.

He did so because he opposed the Occupy movement and found the student behaviour despicable. He was particularly upset that former secretary for commerce and economic development Frederick Ma Si-hang was jeered by Lingnan University students at a similar event.

He also said he was sympathetic to the seven "police heroes" allegedly involved in an assault on a protester, claiming they "were provoked and put in a difficult position". Koo, is, of course, entitled to his feelings. However, many find his view despicable.

Justifications of inaction and violence on the part of the police can lead Hong Kong down a slippery slope. It is now more important than ever for the Independent Police Complaints Council to function properly. Unfortunately, two of the most diligent and credible members, Eric Cheung Tat-ming and Christine Fang Meng-sang, are to step down by the end of the year, in accordance with the rules on length of public service.

Two pan-democratic legislators, Kenneth Leung and Helena Wong Pik-wan, will complete their second term of office later this year. Chief Executive Leung Chung-ying is unlikely to reappoint them.

It is a pity that, just two years after Leung has taken the helm, not only is the hard-earned reputation of our police force now at risk, but even the credibility of its supposedly independent watchdog is also in doubt.

Albert Cheng King-hon is a political commentator. [email protected]

 

[XabiAlonso]

Re: China blocks bbc website after video shows hong kong police beating protester


Hong Kong needs its leaders to lead, for once, or protests will continue

Anson Chan says now more than ever, Hong Kong needs its government to step up and deliver an electoral reform plan that passes muster with its people and is acceptable to Beijing

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 30 October, 2014, 5:37pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 30 October, 2014, 7:36pm

Anson Chan

In the face of the most serious social crisis since the handover, Leung and his top officials are reduced to standing helplessly on the sidelines.

The campuses of Hong Kong's universities are peppered with faculty buildings that bear the names of their generous sponsors, mostly prosperous business tycoons and their heirs and successors. It is sobering to reflect - in the wake of the extraordinary events of the past few weeks - that while huge donations can pay for the bricks and mortar of these splendid edifices, they cannot buy the hearts and minds of the students they were designed to serve.

The street protests of the "umbrella movement" may have been triggered by the August 31 decision of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, but the social pressures that have led to this eruption of anger and defiance of authority have been building for years. The students are fighting for their future, a future they see threatened by a steady erosion of "one country, two systems" and the core values and freedoms it is intended to preserve; a future in which their job prospects are being diminished and their ability to rent or buy a decent roof over their head becoming increasingly remote.

Those of us in the older generation should feel ashamed that the best and brightest of our young people feel so disaffected and marginalised that they have lost all respect for the government and the business elites and vested interests that underpin it. Instead of intoning endlessly about how they are breaking the law, we should be asking ourselves what has driven them to this extreme course of action and what we might have done to prevent it.

One thing of which I am certain: these protests are home-grown. The suggestion that they have been instigated and orchestrated by clandestine and so far unnamed "external forces" would be laughable if it wasn't so insulting to the intelligence and integrity of the demonstrators and so clearly being used to distract attention from genuine grievances. Frankly, only those with their heads totally in the clouds - possibly as a result of spending too much time in their penthouse offices - could be so profoundly out of touch with the feelings of the average man and woman on the street.

The sad fact, as reflected in results of a recent Chinese University public opinion poll, is that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's administration has lost all moral authority to govern. Brazen manipulation of the outcome of the public consultation exercise on constitutional reform has been compounded by a complete failure to foresee that dashing people's aspirations for the genuinely democratic election of their next head of government in 2017 would be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Now, in the face of the most serious social crisis since the handover, Leung and his top officials are reduced to standing helplessly on the sidelines, apparently waiting for instructions from Beijing on what to do next. At this most challenging time, Hong Kong people crave leadership, but it is nowhere to be found. Only the government can break the impasse by setting out the way forward clearly and unequivocally.

First, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor must affirm the government's willingness (hinted at during the televised discussion with the student leaders) to prepare a supplementary report for submission to the NPC, setting out the reasons why there is so much public dissatisfaction with the Standing Committee's decisions. Among other things, it should specifically acknowledge the strong body of public opinion in favour of the complete abolition of functional constituencies by 2020 and the consequent importance of making interim changes to the system of functional constituency elections to the Legislative Council in 2016.

Secondly, she should confirm the intention to create a platform for taking forward further dialogue on constitutional development that includes representation from all sectors of opinion in the community. This dialogue must include arrangements for the 2017 chief executive election. To ensure its impartiality, this platform should be established under the auspices of a university, not the government.

Thirdly, the constitutional development task force must publish, as soon as possible, a menu of the issues that will be open for consideration in the second round of public consultation. Proposals that merely tinker with the composition and voting arrangements for the future nominating committee will not do. Our government must convince the authorities in Beijing that root-and-branch reform is essential, if there is to be any chance of preventing a veto of the whole package by pan-democrat legislators.

Abolition of corporate votes in Legco functional constituencies and the sub-sectors of the nominating committee will be an important element, but not enough in itself. Despite Leung's unbelievably insensitive assertion that the low-income majority in Hong Kong cannot be trusted with participating in the selection of their own head of government, the administration's package must provide for every registered voter to have an equal right to directly elect members to the nominating committee. This is far from perfect, but is manifestly more fair than what is currently envisaged.

Further, if civil nomination is to be ruled out, the threshold for potential candidates to enter the field for consideration by the nominating committee must be low enough to enable a wide range of candidates to present their credentials for nomination and to publicise their manifestos for wide public scrutiny.

Nothing less than these measures will stand any kind of a chance of general acceptance by the community; it may still not be enough to persuade the diehards among the protesters to give back the streets.

One thing is certain: after more than a month, the protesters are not going to pack up and go unless the sacrifices they have made - the sweat, the tears and the indignities they have suffered - yield some real result.

I, like many of my fellow citizens, am hoping and praying for a peaceful resolution of the current situation. The conventional wisdom is that it takes two to tango but, as anyone who enjoys ballroom dancing is well aware, one partner has to lead. That role belongs fairly and squarely to the government; the sooner it recognises this, the better.

Anson Chan, a former chief secretary, is convenor of Hong Kong 2020

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: UN supports HK protestors!!!


Student leaders may try to crash Apec summit in Beijing to seek talks

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 4:33am
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 11:14am

Joyce Ng [email protected]

"If Beijing officials value the opinion of Hong Kong people, I believe they will talk to students," Alex Chow said. Photo: Dickson Lee

Student leaders are considering whether to send representatives to Beijing during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next month to convey their demand for genuine universal suffrage directly to top officials.

Alex Chow Yong-kang, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, said the idea had been suggested by some Occupy protesters. But he was not sure whether such representatives would make it to Beijing, as pan-democrats had in the past been turned back at the airport.

Details of the plan, who should go and how many, and whether there would be a back-up plan if they were refused entry to Beijing were still open to discussion, Chow said.

"If the representation can enter Beijing successfully, of course we would want to have a dialogue with officials on universal suffrage," he said. "If Beijing officials value the opinion of Hong Kong people, I believe they will talk to students."

Meanwhile, in Legco yesterday, pro-establishment lawmakers called for an investigation of the organisation and funding sources of the Occupy Central movement.

Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, of the Business and Professionals Alliance, moved a motion to invoke Legco's special powers to set up a select committee to explore the "large-scale unlawful occupation of roads in a number of districts since 28 September".

"There have been plenty of supplies to protesters," Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, of the New People Party, said in support of the motion. "The water may be bought by themselves, but how about the barricades made of bamboo sticks and the cement? Who brought them in and made it?"

The financial strength of the Occupiers was "beyond imagination", said Ip Kwok-him, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and the Progress of Hong Kong. "It seems the Occupy founders and students are only puppets manipulated by others."

Ip said he heard many local churches with American ties had provided shelter and food to the protesters.

Dennis Kwok, of the Civic Party, said he was shocked at the suggestion of an inquiry into churches. "Since when should we investigate the people, churches and civil groups? This will be an abuse of power."

Lee Cheuk-yan, of the Labour Party, criticised lawmakers' remarks that external forces were manipulating the movement.

"It is usual for local trade unions to have contact with labour rights groups overseas. Are you saying that only capitalists and investors can have links with overseas and civil society cannot?" he said.

Debate on Leung's motion was adjourned until today, when lawmakers will also vote on a motion moved by Wong Yuk-man seeking an inquiry into police handling of October 3 attacks on protesters in Mong Kok.

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: UN supports HK protestors!!!


PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 12:15pm
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 12:15pm

Hong Kong must take on the tycoons after Occupy protests

Michael Chugani argues that Hong Kong cannot return to business as usual after Occupy Central and must confront vested interests

Occupy is about much more than just democracy. It is about our wealth gap, stagnant wages, and young people stuck in dead-end jobs with no hope of upward mobility. Photo: AFP

When it finally ends - and end it will, peacefully or violently - can we go back to business as usual by telling ourselves it was just a passing storm? There are those who will push to do exactly that, to go back to the Hong Kong as it was before September 28. In that Hong Kong the tycoons ruled. They had a stranglehold on the lives of seven million people. They controlled our supermarkets, pharmacies, phone companies, property market and most other things you can think of.

High home prices forced ordinary families into tiny subdivided flats, it took 14 years of saving wages to afford a 400 sq ft flat, prison-sized flats of 180 sq ft had an asking price of HK$2 million, high rents forced small shops out of business, a million people earned less than HK$10,000 a month, the median wage was just HK$14,000, big business fought against the minimum wage, opposed standardised working hours, and wanted more mainland tourists even though the millions who came each year had already eroded our quality of life.

That was the Hong Kong before September 28. And it is the Hong Kong those with vested interests want to go back to when Occupy Central ends. But if they think they can pretend it is business as usual they've missed the message of Occupy. Once again I ask them to wake up and smell the revolution. Occupy is about much more than just democracy. It's about our wealth gap, stagnant wages, and young people stuck in dead-end jobs with no hope of upward mobility while our tycoons climb ever higher on the Forbes rich list.

Do you think Occupy would have erupted with such force if the government's rule book wasn't so skewed in favour of the ruling class? Would so many young people have so willingly braved the sting of tear gas if they weren't so disillusioned about their future? I had warned before of a lit fuse leading to a time bomb. Occupy turned out to be that bomb.

The old order has to go. How, I don't know, because it's too well entrenched. Like him or loathe him, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying did try to change things by taking on the tycoons with property cooling and other measures. He did take steps to tackle poverty and many other livelihood issues. That's why I found puzzling his remark that so-called genuine democracy would result in poor people dominating elections.

Can genuine democracy rid Hong Kong of the old order? Who knows, but it's pointless wondering about it. Beijing will never allow the Occupy movement's brand of democracy, which it fears will threaten national security. Our next chief executive will either be chosen through the existing undemocratic system if the Legislative Council votes down Beijing's reforms, or through one person one vote with screened candidates if Legco approves it.

Either way, the next leader and politicians will be playing with fire if they don't change their political playbook. Confrontation, Legco filibusters, grandstanding, and scoring cheap political points at the people's expense must give way to a new playbook on changing the old order. Otherwise, expect an even bigger explosion.

Michael Chugani is a columnist and TV show host. [email protected]

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: UN supports HK protestors!!!


'It's not fun': Occupy protester tells of sacrifices in the name of democracy

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 12:53pm
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 5:24pm

Shirley Zhao [email protected]

Vincent Lam joined the protests on September 27, after student leaders invaded Civic Square. Photo: Shirley Zhao

Vincent Lam Ngo-hin has worn out two pairs of shoes since the beginning of the Occupy Central protests a month ago. Now he is wearing a pair of well-used black flip-flops, bought near the protest zone in Admiralty.

Like many other protest stalwarts Lam has to walk considerable distances each day for basic needs and to help care for others. The 19-year-old’s favourite Nike trainers were torn on October 13, when hundreds of anti-Occupy people – including about 50 burly masked men dressed in black – tried to remove barricades set up by the protesters.

Lam, a freelance audio engineer, found himself at the forefront of the confrontation as the men used cable cutters to sever plastic cords holding the barricades together at the junction of Queensway and Cotton Tree Drive. He was wrestled to the ground and beaten, he says.

More than two weeks later, he still has bruises on his arms, legs and ribs to prove it. “I grew up being beaten by others so I didn’t care,” says Lam, who quit school at the age of 17 and admits to a rough background.

“But there were ladies and students. I had to get up and protect them.”

The gangly teenager joined the pro-democracy sit-in on Harcourt Road in Admiralty on September 27 – a day before Occupy Central leaders declared that the occupation had begun. He says he got involved for the future of Hong Kong and because he dislikes Beijing and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying for betraying the city.

That sense of betrayal came on August 31 when the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress set a restrictive framework on Hong Kong’s electoral reform. Protesters blamed Leung for not reflecting the true public desire for genuine universal suffrage to the central government and demanded his resignation.

The protests – largely peaceful with occasional violent confrontations – remain in a stalemate with no solution in sight.

Over the past month, Lam has tasted police pepper spray and tear gas. He hasn’t been able to work and has been to his home in Yuen Long only twice.

Every morning he washes himself in one of the public toilets outside the government headquarters and the Legislative Council complex. The toilets have been transformed into makeshift bathrooms by thousands of protesters camped near the area, with dozens of bottles of shampoo, shower gel, shaving cream, aftershave and other personal care items stored neatly inside.

Food isn’t an issue for Lam. He can grab what’s on offer at one of the supply stations in the protest zone. Every day, the supply stations will hand out free food, such as crackers, biscuits, bread and fruit. Occasionally, restaurants or people supporting the movement will drop off meal boxes, home-made dishes or sandwiches.

Lam spends most of his days helping at the supply stations, distributing materials to other protesters, giving directions or carrying heavy supplies for others. In the afternoons, he goes to Hong Kong Park Sports Centre on Cotton Tree Drive about a 15-minute walk away for a shower. A female friend washes his clothes in the toilets and hangs the laundry on top of his tent to dry.

“It’s not fun,” he says. “Who wants to sleep on the street when you have a home to return to and bed to sleep in? Here, when it’s hot it’s killing you, when it’s cold it’s killing you, when it rains it’s miserable too, and you have to walk such a long distance just to have a shower.

“I don’t have much money saved either and now I’m not working. To sit idle and eat … in time all your money will be used up.”

Despite the hardship, he’s not planning to go home, and he has gradually taken on the role of a protector. “I don’t know why, but I just want to protect the women and students,” he says. “No one ever invited me to protect them. I think I just do.”

Lam joined Occupy Central against his parent’s wishes. Regardless of their differences, he says he got a phone call from his father one day asking if he was still at Admiralty and told him to take care of himself. A few days later Lam’s father, who he says “doesn’t know how to express himself”, asked his wife to buy and deliver their son some groceries. Later he visited his son at the Admiralty protest site.

Lam says he didn’t cry when he saw his father, but he was very emotional. Lam hopes the stand-off can be resolved soon as he is turning 20 next month. He says he does not want to celebrate his birthday on the streets of Admiralty, although three of his friends have already celebrated their birthdays at the protest site.

“The way I want to spend my birthday? With a bunch of my friends throwing a junk party, going to a pub or even singing karaoke is nicer than staying here,” he says. “But the worst case scenario … I will stay, of course.”

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: China to ban movies featuring hong kong celebrities that support the protest


Pan-democrat lawmakers ready to step up after student-government talks stall

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 2:41pm
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 2:54pm

Joyce Ng and Gary Cheung

Yellow umbrellas appear during a recent Legco meeting. Photo: EPA

Pan-democrat lawmakers are ready to step up their efforts to resolve Hong Kong’s political crisis after talks between the government and student leaders last week failed to provide a breakthrough.

With no sign of a second round of government-student talks in sight, the city remains mired in a costly stalemate fuelled by month-long democracy protests. The Federation of Students has indicated little interest in further dialogue, and the feeling is mutual on the government side.

Pan-democrat lawmakers, who have been playing second fiddle to the students since the occupation of roads began on September 28, now want to step in to discuss an exit plan with the government. But even if they manage to strike a deal, whether that will be enough to end an amorphous protest movement is unclear.

Alan Leong Kah-kit, who convenes a weekly gathering of 23 pan-democrat lawmakers, raised the idea of direct talks with the government on Wednesday when he met Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in the Legislative Council antechamber. The legislators want to discuss the government proposals raised at the meeting between officials, led by Lam, and student leaders nearly two weeks ago.

At the time, Lam said the local government could file a report to the central government to reflect the latest public mood, and to establish a “multiparty platform” to hammer out a path to constitutional development beyond 2017. The proposal failed to satisfy student leaders, who insisted that Beijing should retract its decision to place tight restrictions on Hong Kong’s electoral methods.

Since the pan-democrats would eventually vote in Legco on the government’s proposal for how the 2017 chief executive election should work, they were in a position to discuss the issues with Lam, reasoned Leong.

Lam, who heads the government’s taskforce on constitutional development, has remained coy about the requests for talks. But a government source said it would “welcome dialogue with various sectors including lawmakers”.

“However, it was the Federation of Students who [first] sought a dialogue with the government. We will wait and see if pan-democrats are really interested in engaging us,” the source said. “We will also need to assess what can be achieved by talking with the pan-democrats.”

Legislator Charles Mok, who has met several times with students, said that so far the government had not approached the pan-democrats. “There’s not even an offer of a preparatory meeting,” Mok said.

Dr Chan Kin-man, one of the trio who first proposed the Occupy Central disobedience protest, said both the government and the pan-democrats had their reservations.

“Officials may question the value of holding talks with the pan-democrats as [lawmakers] may not be able to persuade protesters to go home. Pan-democrats are worried about being accused by protesters of hijacking the movement if they take the lead in talks with the government,” he said.

Alex Chow Yong-kang, the federation’s secretary general and one of the five student leaders who took part in the talks with Lam, urged pan-democrat lawmakers to take up a role in talks with the government. Chow said it would be a “division of labour”, allowing the student leaders to focus on communicating with protesters on the ground.

Without a clearly defined and unified leadership, the protest movement is driven largely by two student groups – the federation and Scholarism, which represents secondary students. The three co-founders of Occupy Central play a secondary role. Adding to the chemistry, more radical groups are increasingly trying to wield greater influence.

Over the past weeks, leaders of the two student groups have held frequent meetings with pan-democrat lawmakers, Occupy Central founders and civil groups. The pan-democrat lawmakers divided themselves into four groups – the Democrats, the Civic Party, the Labour Party and the rest. Each group has had a representative in these meetings.

Occupy’s Chan noted the federation’s willingness to share responsibility with others. “They recognise the need to perpetuate the movement in a wider platform by giving a bigger role to other groups. If pan-democratic lawmakers can play a more prominent role, it would help resolve the stalemate over political reform,” he said.

The Occupy leaders earlier proposed to hold an electronic vote at protest camps in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. They thought it could get pan-democrat politicians involved in the students’ talks with the government.

But the idea, announced last Thursday night by Occupy co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting, met with a lukewarm response from protesters. Most considered a vote unnecessary while some worried about a possible leak of their personal data.

The students were also not happy with the vague wording of the poll, yet their counter-proposal only provoked further reservations. In the end, the three Occupy leaders and the student leaders decided to scrap the vote.

With Chan and Tai returning to their university teaching jobs, and the students unwavering in their demands, it remains unclear who will be able to break the deadlock and bring a peaceful solution to the city’s biggest political unrest since its return to China.

 

[Helder Postiga]

HSBC board member Laura Cha sparks anger after comparing Hongkongers to freed slaves

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 4:53pm
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 7:13pm

Reuters

Laura Cha said democracy could not be reached in just one step and warned that investors’ confidence in Hong Kong was at a critical point. Photo: Dickson Lee

Thousands have signed an online petition denouncing reported comments by an HSBC board member in which she likened protesters’ demands for democracy to the emancipation of slaves.

Laura Cha Shih May-lung, who is also a member of the Executive Council, chairwoman of the Financial Services Development Council and a member of the National People’s Congress, was quoted as making the comments at an event in Paris.

“American slaves were liberated in 1861 but did not get voting rights until 107 years later, so why can’t Hong Kong wait for a while?” a local newspaper on Thursday quoted Cha as saying, referring to demands for free elections in the city.

Cha said democracy could not be reached in just one step and warned that investors’ confidence in Hong Kong was at a critical point, the newspaper added.

In a statement on Friday, Cha responded to criticisms made in the petition.

“Mrs Cha’s comment on the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act was by way of example that every country’s path to democracy was evolved in its own historical context. She did not mean any disrespect and regrets that her comment has caused concerns,” the statement read.

HSBC’s Asia-Pacific chief Peter Wong Tung-shun declined to comment on the remarks, while the Financial Services Development Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The comments triggered outrage on social media and more than 5,000 people had signed the petition by Friday afternoon.

“We, the Hong Kong public, will not stand these remarks likening our rights to slavery, nor will we stand the kind of voter disenfranchisement her and her associates attempt to perpetrate on the Hong Kong public,” said the petition to HSBC, that sought an apology from Cha.

The petition is addressed to the HSBC board of directors and is signed “The People of Hong Kong”.

China has ruled Hong Kong since 1997 through a “one country, two systems” formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal.

But Beijing said in August it would screen candidates who want to run for the city’s election for a chief executive in 2017, which democracy activists said rendered the notion of universal suffrage meaningless.

For more than a month, key roads leading into three of the city’s most economically and politically important districts have been barricaded with wood and steel by thousands of protesters.

The protests drew well over 100,000 at their peak.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which was established in 1865 to finance growing trade between Europe, India and China, has for decades been the most prominent retail and commercial bank in Hong Kong, using the city as a bedrock for its global expansion. HSBC has the largest branch network in mainland China of a foreign bank.

The controversy is the latest to drag HSBC into Hong Kong politics.

Earlier this year, Next Media said HSBC and Standard Chartered had pulled millions of dollars worth of advertisements from Apple Daily after they were pressured by Beijing.

Apple Daily is owned by media magnate Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, an outspoken critic of Beijing who has supported pro-democracy activists through his publications and with donations.

HSBC and Standard Chartered have said the decision to pull the advertising was for commercial reasons.

Cha’s comments came just days after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying triggered a wave of criticism when he said that free elections were unacceptable partly because they risked giving the poor and working class a dominant voice.

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: China to ban movies featuring hong kong celebrities that support the protest


Pan-democrat leaders have utterly failed student protesters

Grenville Cross says senior pan-democrats have been wholly ineffective in offering leadership or advice to student protesters, in particular about the sanctity of the rule of law and the potential consequences of their actions

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 4:57pm
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 4:57pm

Grenville Cross

It is a crying shame that, just when the student protesters need sage advice from their elders, the pan-democratic leadership is unable to step up.

Politics," said Otto von Bismarck, "is the art of the possible." The assurance by the former chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, that the central authorities will not use force to remove Occupy protesters, as they have confidence that the police force can handle the situation, is welcome. If Beijing intervened militarily, this could herald the end of "one country, two systems".

In any event, the chances of the current system continuing after 2047, when the Basic Law's promise of "50 years unchanged" concludes, are already uncertain, and they would be greatly diminished by armed intervention. Some people, however, would privately relish this outcome, not least because it would represent a significant policy failure for Beijing, and also make the chances of Taiwan ever returning to the national fold even less likely.

Last June, when the State Council issued its white paper on Hong Kong, it emphasised that the continued practice of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong required that "we proceed from the fundamental objectives of maintaining China's sovereignty, security and development".

Sovereignty and security are, therefore, the keys. The spectacle, for example, of leading pan-democrats courting prominent politicians in foreign capitals earlier this year will have incensed Beijing. The rawest of nerves will also have been touched by the revelation that huge amounts of cash have been covertly channelled into opposition purses.

Moreover, many of those who are now loudest in their calls for democracy are the very same people who, in 2003, were most vocal in opposing Tung's national security legislation, which is surely no coincidence.

Had Tung's proposals on treason, secession, sedition and subversion against the central government been implemented, there is little doubt that Beijing would, when it announced its plans for the 2017 election last August, have been far more accommodating towards local democratic aspirations, and less insistent on the patriotic credentials of the next chief executive. To that extent, therefore, the pan-democrats have shot themselves (and Hong Kong) in the foot, and their earlier intransigence has now been repaid in kind, although they have since switched tack.

After the police used tear gas on protesters who violently attacked their cordon on September 28, some people were genuinely concerned, although many pan-democrats shed what were clearly crocodile tears. They cynically exploited the incident to try to discredit the police, and, insofar as they had any regrets, it was, presumably, that only 87 gas canisters were fired. Again, when triad heavies appeared at the protest site in Mong Kok, an attempt was made to malign the police with a preposterous claim that they were somehow in cahoots with the triads, surely a smear too far.

What they really needed, however, was a martyr, and they found one. Once police officers were caught on camera allegedly beating a protester, who had himself allegedly tossed a noxious liquid over officers from a height, they duly milked the incident for all it was worth.

Even the pan-democratic lawyers who, of all people, should have known better, hysterically demanded that the police officers be hung, drawn and quartered, when they had not even been charged with an offence, let alone convicted. So much for fair trial guarantees, or innocent until proven guilty, and to hell with the legal niceties.

Meanwhile, the protesters themselves have gone out of their way to upset mainland sensitivities. After Scholarism leaders insulted China at Bauhinia Square on National Day, by turning their backs on the flag, other protesters christened their squatting area the "Democracy Square", while others played up the "umbrella revolution", all red rags to Beijing's bull. If the protesters thought such tactics would help win friends and influence people where it really mattered, they were sorely mistaken, and Beijing has refused to give an inch. Perhaps, for many, it is the fight that counts, and not the victory.

Although some people have admired the idealism of the students, the senior pan-democrats themselves are bereft of ideas, and have, in consequence, become marginalised and irrelevant. Rather than moulding events, they have been dragged along by them, and have resorted to posturing and bluster, always poor substitutes for leadership.

Instead of cautioning the protesters that court orders must be respected, that the criminal law should be upheld and that the rule of law is sacred, the pan-democratic leaders have become mere bit players, shamelessly egging the young people on to ever more audacious acts of defiance, irrespective of the consequences.

After all, the protesters have been engaged in allegedly unauthorised assemblies on the streets for many weeks, and offences of riot, affray, criminal intimidation, wounding and assault may also have been committed. These, on conviction, are punishable with long prison terms. If convicted of any of these crimes, the consequences for the offenders will be severe, not least in career terms. The courts may try to be as lenient as they can, but this may not be possible if continuous law-breaking is involved or the crime is grave.

Those who are prosecuted may well try to pose as martyrs for their cause, but, at some point, reality will kick in. It is a crying shame that, just when they need sage advice from their elders, the pan-democratic leadership is, grandstanding apart, wholly unable to step up to the plate.

Sometime soon, Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung will have to decide which protesters are to be prosecuted, and on what charges. However, Yuen, who belongs to the three-person task force responsible for promoting the government's constitutional reform package, is clearly conflicted, as the suspects will have got into trouble for opposing his own reforms.

Therefore, to avoid being blasted like the police for bias, he will need to disengage from the prosecution process, and leave the cases to the director of public prosecutions, a neutral figure without ministerial responsibilities.

Grenville Cross SC is a criminal justice commentator

 

[lianbeng]

lianbeng replies: SLAVE!

 

[Helder Postiga]

'I'm going nowhere': 'Loud American' Mark Simon vows to stay in Hong Kong

Jimmy Lai’s right-hand man has moved his family back to the US amid safety fears during Occupy Central after his address was published online - but says he is staying put

PUBLISHED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 10:56am
UPDATED : Friday, 31 October, 2014, 2:04pm
Reuters

Mark Simon believes the US government has no interest in meddling in Hong Kong. Photo: Reuters

Beijing has often accused “foreign forces” of trying to destabilise Hong Kong during the current pro-democracy protests, with a garrulous expat American emerging as a key target of attack.

Mark Simon, the right-hand man of pro-democracy newspaper magnate Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, has moved his family out of Hong Kong for safety and has been pressed to deny that he is a US spy.

But Simon insists he will not let a “relentless smear campaign” force him out of his home in the city and he still has plenty of stomach for the fight.

Large, loud and avowedly Republican, the 50-year-old has been portrayed across pro-Beijing media as a CIA agent – a charge also thrown at student protest leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung and independent academic pollster, Robert Chung Tiny-yiu.

He’s also a proud Catholic – something that links him to Lai and many other prominent figures in the Hong Kong democracy struggle.

Simon described Lai as an instinctive backer of underdogs rather than an “egotist” who believes that he will single-handedly change China.

“Jimmy’s instinct is to size up the weak, and to size up the strong, and then instinctively protect the weak,” he said.

“We are Hong Kong guys and we are Catholics.”

Hong Kong has witnessed a month of protests calling on the Beijing-backed government to keep its promise of introducing universal suffrage.

The protests have for the most part been peaceful, with occasional clashes between the student-led protesters and Beijing supporters seeking to move them from the streets. Beijing has expressed dissatisfaction about what it sees as foreign interference in an internal issue.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying recently echoed Beijing’s concerns that foreign forces were behind the protests, but said the time was not right to reveal the government’s evidence.

Simon has worked for Next Media boss Jimmy Lai since 2000. Photo: Dickson Lee

Simon, who stands a broad and heavy-set 1.9 metres tall, said he was unafraid about staying in Hong Kong. But he said that after his address was published online he felt it wise to send his wife and two children back to the United States, unsure of what “nut-jobs” would be willing to do to impress Communist Party leaders in Beijing.

“I have a good job, I have a great boss, I have huge responsibilities and I am not going to let a bunch of jackass commies impose things on me,” Simon said.

“I just don’t like bullies acting like this ... If I was 25 years younger I would be walking in these guys’ bars looking for them.”

Earlier this year, hundreds of emails and documents were stolen in a hacking attack on Lai’s Next Media operation, some of them detailing the magnate’s extensive, and well known, funding of Hong Kong’s democratic activists.

They were then leaked en masse to Hong Kong media, including pro-Beijing mouthpiece newspapers that have focused on Simon’s alleged role.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption, is also investigating after public complaints over specific funding to lawmakers. Both Simon’s and Lai’s homes have been searched.

Simon has been in Hong Kong since the early 1990s and has worked with Lai since 2000, working earlier on media and online projects and more recently helping manage his extensive non-media investments.

Of his portrayal in pro-Beijing media as an “international man of mystery”, Simon links the allegations against him back to his four years as a young civilian in the US Navy as an intelligence analyst scrutinising submarine developments.

He has also made no secret of his Republican activism, or his extensive contacts in the US Congress, some of whom he meets during visits to Hong Kong.

“You’ve got 20 per cent of America that thinks Barack Obama is not a US citizen, OK, and in a place like Hong Kong you’ve got 30 per cent of people who believe all this CIA stuff,” he said.

He believes the US government has no interest in meddling in Hong Kong but merely wants it to remain stable. And he doesn’t believe Beijing really thinks of him as a menace.

“If they really thought I was causing trouble, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “They would have nailed me to the wall.”

 

[Asterix]

Laura Cha Shih May-lung appears to have joined the Leung Chun-ying school of political analysis with her recent comments about political reform and slavery.

The comments were made at a Trade Development Council event in Paris, although it's not clear if it was a open forum or a press briefing. Regardless, they are absurd beyond belief - historically incorrect and a wildly inept analogy. Does she really believe that the dispute about political reform can usefully be compared to giving the vote to emancipated black slaves in the US?

As with Leung's ill-considered comments about the poor, she has infuriated many in Hong Kong and an online petition on the matter has attracted more than 5,000 signatures. Like Leung, she has had to eat humble pie and issue a statement saying she regretted the remarks.

HSBC must be feeling some aggravation, not to say embarrassment, as she has been widely referred to as a "HSBC board director". More specifically, she is non-executive deputy chairman of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp, the Asia-Pacific subsidiary of HSBC Holdings, of which she is also a non-executive director.

Recently, David Eldon, who is the non-executive chairman of HSBC Bank Middle East and HSBC Bank Oman, suggested on his widely read blog that Leung's UGL payments might be a way to remove an "unpopular official". HSBC issued a statement saying, "Eldon was commenting as a private individual and the bank would like to clarify his comments do not in any way reflect the view of HSBC Group".

However, this time HSBC has been more restrained. Spokesman Gareth Hewett said: "We have not commented on Occupy Central and the remarks you mention. Laura is a non-executive director on a number of boards in the city and is a member of the HKSAR Executive Council."

Cha's many other positions include being the head of the Financial Services Development Council and a director of China Telecom and Unilever. Given the furore she has created with the crass comments, it will be interesting to see if she steps down from any of these positions. If she had been on the board of a big US bank, her position would be very wobbly.



Rule of law

We were interested to come across the following snippet on the government's website. "Police public relations branch Senior Superintendent Kong Man-keung says he is concerned about the 'law-breaking tendency' of the protests, adding that no one can be above the law." This will come as a surprise to people who have seen on a regular basis, police and traffic wardens walk past illegally parked cars without applying the law. The umbrella movement has led to a lot of discussion about the importance of "the law". Students blocking the road is clearly an affront to the law, but when tai tais need to shop at Prince's Building, it's okay for them to break the law and park illegally. So let's be careful when we say nobody is above the law. The poor certainly aren't but as for others …



External forces

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah clearly enjoyed himself at the Trade Development Council's annual London dinner. "I am delighted to be here with you again, two years in a row, on this grand occasion." He quoted Oscar Wilde: "The man who can dominate a London dinner table can dominate the world." He confided in his audience that his appearance at the dinner was a "pleasant surprise". He managed to discuss Hong Kong's political situation without putting his foot in his mouth, and without mentioning "external forces".

http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1629444/laura-cha-joins-cy-leung-school-political-analysis

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: China to ban movies featuring hong kong celebrities that support the protest


Calls from business sector grow for Hong Kong's Occupy protests to end

HSBC chief executive says investors are taking a wait-and-see attitude towards Hong Kong

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 4:25am
UPDATED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 10:12am

Peter So, Raquel Carvalho, Alan Yu and Ernest Kao

HSBC Asia-Pacific chief executive Peter Wong Tung-shun said investors were taking a "wait-and-see" approach. Photo: Felix Wong

With a highway and other roads still blocked, the five-week-old Occupy movement is harming the city's economic prospects, small and big businesses say.

HSBC Asia-Pacific chief executive Peter Wong Tung-shun said yesterday investors were taking a "wait-and-see" approach.

He said both the investment and retail banking industries had been affected by the ongoing democracy movement. "Some investors who were originally planning to invest in Hong Kong … would now say they may wait and see first. This kind of attitude will have a severe impact on Hong Kong," Wong said.

"I am now in an embarrassing position, because I am not sure if I can stand tall and say we still have full respect for the rule of law," Wong said.

His concerns were echoed by the president of the Pakistan Chamber of Commerce, Javed Iqbal, who yesterday led a 20-person contingent to police headquarters in Wan Chai to show support for the city authorities. They called for the protest to end.

"The movement can't simply continue for another month or another week … Nothing much has been achieved, besides disturbance and a bad image for Hong Kong," said Iqbal.

G.H. Sagar, president of the Jammu Kashmir Association, said that protesters should trust the chief executive and retreat. "C.Y. Leung is a very nice man," Sagar said. "He can solve your problems."

With commutes long and tangled, hopes of hosting international groups, investors and major events have been dashed. "The type of complaints we receive are basically: when will this end? Is it safe to come here?" Iqbal said.

Jawada Ashraf, who owns two apparel companies, said his business partners had refused to meet him in the city because of the protests. "Usually we have meetings here to discuss prices, check samples and place orders, but last week I had to meet a client in Pakistan." Ashraf said.

Businesses near rally sites have complained that while most regular customers have returned, sales are down.

Sam Lui, who works at Jim's Tailor Workshop in Admiralty Centre, said: "Compared to this time last year, we've probably lost 40 per cent of our business. This has gone on for too long. They're disrupting people's daily lives."

Kwok Mo-ching, owner of City Office Supplies at the same mall, said delivery men avoided the area.
READ MORE: Click here for all the latest Occupy Central stories

"If it's not a driver we know well, then they just won't come because even if they get here on time, the traffic means it takes them a long time to leave the area," she said.

In Mong Kok, the manager of one 7-Eleven store near the heart of the occupied zone says business hasn't changed much and improves on certain days, with more people coming in to buy drinks and snacks.

An employee at Chung Hing Duty-Free Medicine, at the junction of Nathan Road and Argyle Street, said sales had never been worse. "These students are educated and civilised," he said. "They should really stop, as people must make a living."

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: China to ban movies featuring hong kong celebrities that support the protest


Another banner day for Occupy supporters as banner hung from Kowloon Peak

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 4:25am
UPDATED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 10:12am

Peter So [email protected]

The banner hanging from Kowloon Peak yesterday that reads, "I want real universal suffrage". Photo: SCMP Pictures

First it was Lion Rock. Now Kowloon Peak has been bedecked with a huge banner reading, "I want real universal suffrage".

More than a week after a group of climbers hung the first giant banner from one of the peaks on the ridge behind urban Kowloon, the second appeared yesterday.

While the banner on Lion Rock was removed after a day, its appearance triggered a pennant frenzy among Occupy Central supporters, with smaller ones soon fluttering from university buildings and students sticking miniature ones on their foreheads.

Climbers hang a similar banner from Lion Rock last week. Photo: EPA

The group of climbers, calling themselves Hong Kong Spidie, released video last week showing them hanging the six metre by 28 metre banner from Lion Rock. No one claimed credit yesterday for the Kowloon Peak banner. Hong Kong Spidie members could not be reached for comment.

In the Legislative Council, meanwhile, lawmakers blocked two attempts to set up special investigations of the Occupy protests and of the tactics police used against some of the protesters.

After almost 14 hours of debate over two days, a motion proposed by Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen to set up a select committee to explore the "large-scale unlawful occupation of roads in a number of districts since September 28" fell foul of the chamber's split-voting mechanism.

Despite receiving 32 votes in favour to 24 against, it was defeated because it failed to secure majority support from both functional constituency lawmakers and those representing geographical constituencies.

"It is inappropriate to conduct an investigation of the students or general public based on their different political backgrounds, otherwise the legislature is acting to suppress opposition views," said Ip Kin-yuen of the education sector, opposing the motion.

Legco select committees have the power to summon witnesses and demand documents.

A second motion, proposed by independent Wong Yuk-man, to launch an inquiry into the police handling of attacks on the sit-in in Mong Kok by anti-Occupy protesters on October 3 was voted down by 32 votes to 23.

Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said the government opposed investigating police because it could impinge on criminal investigations.

Up to Monday, 332 people aged 18 to 82 had been arrested for offences relating to the protests, Lai said. They were suspected of crimes including assault, indecent assault, criminal damage, dishonest use of computers, intimidation and attempted arson.

He said the government would cooperate with lawmakers if they sought further information about the arrests in meetings of Legco panels.

As for the future of the protests, Lai told lawmakers that police would take "appropriate measures at an appropriate time" to restore order.

He did not elaborate and would not take any questions from the media.

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: China to ban movies featuring hong kong celebrities that support the protest


PUBLISHED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 5:14am
UPDATED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 10:13am

Why most Hong Kong people are both blue and yellow in the current dispute

Alex Lo [email protected]

The "real" silent majority is neither blue nor yellow but both.

I thought for a brief moment that Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee was making more than a fashion statement when she donned both blue and yellow at the legislature.

How marvellous it would be for a lawmaker, deep in the ideological trenches over the Occupy protests, to emerge and call for reconciliation between the two camps. Alas, Ip is firmly a "blue" person and was wearing a yellow jacket over a blue dress only because it was chilly that day.

But most Hong Kong people, I believe, are both yellow and blue. Many support the grievances and aims of the student protesters but question the manner in which they are going about it. We want democracy but also the rule of law. We think mass rallies are legitimate means of political expression but blocking major roads and fighting with police are not acceptable.

We recognise the idealism and selflessness of the many student protesters, but are appalled by their dogmatism, over-simplification of deeply rooted problems, unrealistic political demands and sometimes borderline Red Guard tactics.

As a fellow member of a discussion group of mine puts it, many of us are outraged by "a corporatist state run by a plutocratic elite which lacks any real sense of empathy and engagement with the needs of ordinary Hongkongers".

However, as many of us who have lived in mature democracies and experienced their "mixed blessings" know, we can't assume full democracy, however defined, would necessarily ameliorate rather than exacerbate social conflicts and tensions created by our plutocratic capitalist system. The example of the US political system, with its dominance by powerful special interest groups, is enough to give us pause.

We may distrust the dictatorial nature of the central government and its one-party state, but we recognise the reality that a chief executive distrusted by Beijing is simply unworkable and that Hong Kong could not prosper without its support.

We acknowledge the British did many things right, mostly out of self-interest, for Hong Kong, but we also recognise that the city is an inalienable part of China.

The "real" silent majority is neither blue nor yellow but both. And it pains us to see the two camps tearing our city apart.

 

[Helder Postiga]

High degree of autonomy for city will not undermine China's sovereign power, says professor

Professor says Beijing must realise that change in HK will not impact whole nation

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 4:25am
UPDATED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 10:13am

Jeffie Lam [email protected]

Professor Joseph Chan Cho-wai told a public forum yesterday that the protest had deviated from Occupy Central's original plan.

The political deadlock created by pro-democracy protests could be resolved only if Beijing understood that a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong would not undermine China's sovereign power, said a Hong Kong University political science professor.

Professor Joseph Chan Cho-wai, associate director of the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Civil Society and Governance, also told a public forum yesterday that the protest had deviated from Occupy Central's original plan. Most participants, he said, might not share the idea of civil disobedience.

Chan coached student protest leaders ahead of their recent dialogue with government officials.

His remarks, at a seminar hosted by HKU's school of humanities, came ahead of a planned meeting tomorrow by sit-in organisers. A major topic of their discussion will be when they might surrender to police, who see the protest as an illegal assembly. Many protesters have no plans to turn themselves in.

Chan raised concerns about the occupiers' indifference towards High Court injunctions demanding that they clear occupied zones. "When a sizeable amount of the community feels that other people do not obey the law, then they might feel that they do not need to obey either," he said.

However, Chan emphasised that the movement was still very peaceful. "Changing the concept of [the] Umbrella Movement to Umbrella Resistance makes perfect sense, as people use the umbrellas to resist pepper spray, tear gas," he said.

Chan said they were also resisting the decision by the National People's Congress Standing Committee to impose a restrictive framework for the 2017 chief executive election.

Comparative literature scholar Dr Mirana May Szeto said the movement had completely changed the city's political culture, even if it did not yield immediate results.

"People are no longer happy with democracy as a matter of choice but are looking for a more participatory [model]," she said.

She said that a hierarchical leadership in the social movement would not satisfy the public, which was eager to be involved in decision making.

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: Give me Liberty or Give me Death! Giordano Tycoon joins Occupy Central!


PUBLISHED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 5:14am
UPDATED : Saturday, 01 November, 2014, 10:13am

Beijing wants tycoons to take action, not just pay lip service

Withdrawn Xinhua report a sign that central government is losing patience with tycoons who it sees as not doing enough to oppose Occupy

Shirley Yam

When Beijing has labelled the movement a "battle for sovereignty" and support for Leung as support for the central government, it is demanding action to show full loyalty.

State media don't make "mistakes", so when they say they have made a spectacular one, it's always for a special purpose.

At play is the Xinhua News Agency. At noon last Saturday, it published a signed commentary headlined "Hong Kong tycoons reluctant to take sides amid Occupy turmoil".

The article - which singled out Li Ka-shing of Cheung Kong (Holdings) and three other magnates - was removed at 7pm.

By 10.35pm, Xinhua ran a new story with a completely different tone. "Several Hong Kong business leaders have criticised the month-long Occupy Central movement," its first paragraph read.

It is not hard to imagine the tycoons' shock at the first version.

Their subordinates must have been ringing up their mainland contacts for clues. The answer: it was nothing but a "mistake" made by a junior journalist who was new to Hong Kong.

In the following days, some officials even said the journalist and those involved had been disciplined for making the mistake.
Xinhua is not known as a place where commentators can write what is on their mind

No frequent visitor to China's corridors of power will believe this. After all, Xinhua is not known as a place where commentators can write what is on their mind. It is a government mouthpiece.

Many of them have also heard of the insults levelled at former chief secretary Anson Chan back in September 2000, when Tung Chee-hwa was into his fourth year as chief executive of Hong Kong. While his popularity was nose-diving, Chan was loved. Many mentioned her as a potential rival to Tung in the election to come.

She was summoned to Beijing to meet then vice-premier Qian Qichen and Liao Hui, who was the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.

In one of the meetings, the top man excused himself to take an urgent phone call after some causal exchanges, leaving his subordinates behind with Chan.

To her surprise, one of them got stuck into her for undermining Tung's leadership. For the iron lady of Hong Kong, the wording could not have been stronger.

When the "lecture" was over, the top man returned and picked up his polite conversation with Chan, saying her support for Tung was vital to the success of the administration.

Six months later, she resigned as chief secretary. The year after, Tung won an uncontested election.

How true is this tale? Nobody knows. Yet, to any veteran journalist, this bad cop/good cop play is no news at all.

An editor remembered how he was told off by the secretary of a senior official at the Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office in a closed-door meeting.

The secretary read the criticism from a notebook. His boss stopped him from making the "unfair comments" and told the editor how much he treasured their friendship and looked forward to his professional reporting in the future.

In short, listen to the bad cop. The message: Beijing is impatient with the tycoons.

At issue is not what the tycoons have or have not said. In fact, the retracted commentary did mention Li calling on the protesters to go home and not to "let today's passion become tomorrow's regrets".

Yet, it added: "Asia's wealthiest man did not make it clear whether or not he agrees with the appeals of the protesters."

At issue is their failure to take action. It is no secret that many tycoons in Hong Kong campaigned against Leung Chun-ying in the 2012 election. It was not a fight about ideology but who got to eat the cake - the old or the new interest groups.

In spring last year, Beijing managed to bring some in line, best symbolised by media magnate Charles Ho's public retraction of his criticism of Leung.

Others have refrained from making direct attacks on Leung. Yet, hands on hearts, not everyone is on board.

This type of lip service, which may be sufficient when times are "peaceful", is no longer enough.

When Beijing has labelled the movement a "battle for sovereignty" and support for Leung as support for the central government, it is demanding action to show full loyalty.

That demand for more than lip service is perhaps why, even a week after the Xinhua episode, no tycoon has spoken up.

[email protected]

 

[Helder Postiga]

More bus firms seek injunctions to clear roads of Occupy protesters

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 02 November, 2014, 6:08am
UPDATED : Sunday, 02 November, 2014, 6:08am

Thomas Chan [email protected]

The lawsuits, from firms linked to Kwoon Chung Bus, seek to stop protesters from preventing "normal vehicular traffic passing and repassing" specified streets in the areas.

Three subsidiaries of a bus company yesterday joined the legal battle against Occupy Central, filing writs with the High Court seeking injunctions to clear roads in Admiralty.

The lawsuits, from firms linked to listed Kwoon Chung Bus, seek to stop protesters from preventing "normal vehicular traffic passing and repassing" specified streets in the areas.

The court has already granted injunctions - ignored so far by the protesters - to taxi and minibus operators against protesters in Mong Kok and around Citic Tower near government headquarters in Admiralty.

In the latest writs, Kwoon Chung Motors asks the court to order protesters to clear the "portion of Cotton Tree Drive towards Mid-Levels". A company spokesman said its school bus services to Mid-Levels had been rerouted via Sai Ying Pun, adding an hour to commuting times.

Two other subsidiaries, All China Express (Wan Chai) and Chinalink Bus Company, filed writs to clear obstructions on parts of Connaught Road Central, Harcourt Road and Cotton Tree Drive.

Two bus operators' organisations, the Public Omnibus Operators Association and China, Hong Kong and Macau Boundary-Crossing Bus Association, applied for injunctions to clear barriers in parts of Admiralty on October 22, though that case has yet to be heard. Kwoon Chung is affiliated to both organisations.

On Monday, Mr Justice Au Hing-cheung reserved judgment on applications to keep in place the injunctions granted to Chiu Luen Public Light Bus Company, the Taxi Association and Taxi Drivers and Operators Association, and Goldon Investment until an unspecified date. The court order remains in place until his decision is made.

Occupy opponents have also been hit with an injunction. Next Media, owned by pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, has won a court order against protesters attempting to block delivery of Apple Daily from the firm's Tseung Kwan O offices.

 

[Helder Postiga]

Re: Give me Liberty or Give me Death! Giordano Tycoon joins Occupy Central!


Ups and downs of the brollie menders amid Umbrella Movement protests

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 02 November, 2014, 6:08am
UPDATED : Sunday, 02 November, 2014, 6:08am

Jennifer Ngo [email protected]

Umbrella repairer So Yin-har has donated more than 100 umbrellas to the students in Admiralty. Photo: Sam Tsang

The humble umbrella's rise from an everyday object to the dizzying heights of political iconography over the tumultuous past five weeks has come as no surprise to Hong Kong's dwindling band of menders, who eke out a living fixing broken brollies in one of the world's most throwaway cities.

Only a handful of them still exist, and if truth be told, they were on borrowed time. But the social and political upheaval that has rocked the city has given them a renewed profile.

For So Yin-har, a 15-year veteran of the business, the "umbrella movement" presented her with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to combine her love for an item most of us are happy to leave on the MTR with the spontaneous empathy she felt towards the students in Admiralty, to whom she has donated more than 100 umbrellas since the protests began.

That act by So - a mother in her 50s who describes herself as non-political - has been reciprocated by students taking their broken brollies to her shop for repair in the days and weeks since.

"The umbrella is designed to protect people, in its new incarnation, it is simply doing what it was designed to do. I can't bear the thought of the rain coming down on the children," she said, sitting among brollies of all shapes and sizes in her North Point shop. "I just think of the students like a mother would - and they are all very polite children."

Across the harbour in Sham Shui Po, fifth-generation umbrella maker and repairman Yau Yiu-wai sold 800 umbrellas to the protesters at a heavily discounted price. "What they're doing is for the whole of Hong Kong. I hope they can stay safe and stay unharmed from the pepper spray and tear gas," he said.

Self-taught So's little shop in a mall in Marble Road, North Point, is stacked with umbrellas. So repairs about 50 brollies a day - during the rainy season.

"No one enters this trade any more, it doesn't earn much. Also, it's still a trade requiring rough hands, so no woman will enter the trade," she said. High rents have also had an impact.

Most customers are long-term, fixing umbrellas for environmental reasons or not wanting to waste something. But So said she had also had many coming in with common-looking and not-so-good-quality umbrellas, fixing them for a price higher than the cost of the umbrella, for sentimental reasons.

"I had a man come in to fix an average-quality umbrella seven times. He said it had a special bond for him - and then I didn't dare ask more about the 'bond'," she said.

While some people adopt the generation's "fast food" ways, So said there were still enough people who think otherwise to keep her business going.

Mending a simple broken stem would cost about HK$50, with more complicated repairs costing HK$200 to HK$300, said Yau, 60.

Renowned as the city's oldest umbrella repairer, Ho Hung-hee - who was fixing them into his late 80s - has not opened his little street stall on Peel Street, Central for over a month.

Over the phone, his wife said "current weather is not good for business".

"Plus, with the Occupy thing going, it's really hard for him to get to his stall up there. We live across the harbour," she said.