Glutter is Back! (Third Time Lucky) and Since Last Time We Spoke, the Two People I Complained a Lot About has Resigned.
Glutter is up and running again. Due to software problems I was unable to get into the blog all week. What a nightmare. All my settings are gone once again. Sigh¡K So much I missed too. Third Protest for democracy. Democratic Party launches a smart coalition platform which personally I think showed up all the critics that Hong Kong don’t have the political structure and the “talent” to be democratic.
But more importantly firstly Regina Ip and Anthony Leung both resigned. Supposedly they resigned a while back, but only got around to announcing it last night at 7pm and 9pm respectively. Is it for fun they do things this way? Was it to prevent too much jubilation in the city at once? To make sure journalists work for their keep? So normal TV programming can be interrupted? What’s the reason of not announcing the two major resignations in a sensible manner ie at once and at a reasonable time of day, with replacements already in place?
Supposedly, Regina resigned on June 26th, which is three weeks ago. It makes no sense for it to be announced last night two hours before Anthony’s resignation. One was announced by Tung, the other Anthony himself. This might be a sign our government really is falling apart. (That is a joke but still).
Worse we had to hear Tung say that he regrets her resignation, and that she was “wise.” Maybe honest to herself, maybe even fearless, maybe how she is committed to her beliefs when popular opinion is against her, and even maybe shows remarkable tastes in sunglasses, lipstick and hair (you do have to say nice things when someone resigns I suppose), but WISE? No.
It’s not wise to insult people left right and center. It’s not wise to say that Taxi Drivers, Waiters and MacDonald Workers won’t have the ability to understand Article 23 and therefore won’t be able to debate with her line by line, or that some people who went out to protest is doing it because it’s a holiday, and it’s just something for them to do. She maybe many things, but WISE is not a good choice of word.
It is another of those quotes that proves Tung likes to tell people in Hong Kong he really doesn’t respect our opinions in a round about way. Come on dude! Say it outright!
Mr. Tung, I would sleep better at night if you came out and said, “I really hate you Hong Kong People. I don’t care what you think. I have no interest in how I will be remembered in History. I just have to do this because I have a lot of business interests in China, and through the years, I owed a lot of people favors, and I have to stay on this job.”
At least the very first sentence in Ms. Ip’s resignation statement is, “It is my regret that the security bill was not passed on schedule.” It’s a nice political way to say, “Just because I am resigning doesn’t mean I feel I did anything wrong, and I still think you are all a bunch of morons.” She gets some respect from me, for being so honest and unapologetic. I guess when you have nothing to lose. The day before it was announced her popularity rating was the lowest ever recorded for any public official, 34.6, a drop of 18.6 points from the last poll. Why not stick to your guns?
They had a “Regina Ip’s Memorable Quotes Medley” on the Chinese stations. I have to say there was some pleasure to see her face again when she realized what was printed on the “thank you flag” some university students presented to her. At first she thought it was something nice but it actually read, “This is for her unending ability to please the Central Government.” This by default means she’s not working for Hong Kong, and that she’s a bit of a lap dog.
I was hoping to see the footage of the time another bunch of university student booed her at a conference on Article 23, when she said something like, “I think you should read the fine lines, you haven’t understood it.” I have to admit it was one of the most pleasurable TV watching experiences for me in recent times. They did have her Macdonald worker’s quote, and also the time when she told James To, he was rude, loud, and disrespectful and therefore she is going to refuse to answer any more of his questions during a Legco debate while pouting through it.
They also had a bit of Anthony Leung’s attempting to sing “Under the Lion Rock,” out of tune and his famous quote addressing our economic crisis “If you have been irresponsible, arrogant, and facetious, then the time you suffer poverty and pain, will be equal.” It’s one of the few quotes you will never read in the English papers because “Fung Lao” and “Zi Dor” are extremely difficult to translate, but I tried my very best.
I still can’t believe he said that. Even at our very best times, we were on top of the world in terms of the worse distribution of wealth. A huge part of our population live well below the poverty line, although Hong Kong never had an official poverty line to speak of, (Hey thanks Britain! Wasn’t it nice you never had to pay anyone a minimum wage?) So we could ignore all those mostly old people who live on 20 Hong Kong dollars a day. That’s around 2.50 US. This is not India, 2.50 does not get you food. It doesn’t even get you a packet of instant noodles.
I don’t know. I know I am part of the “Educated Middle Class” the papers, TV and the radio keep referring to as the driving force of this democratic movement. I find the whole thing obnoxious. It’s the same sort of attitude that feeds people like Anthony and Regina to insult the Hong Kong public because they don’t think they matter. And people like James Tien to say “The people are not ready for democracy.” I met a lot of people who didn’t go to the college at the protest. I didn’t think any of them didn’t deserve a say anymore than I do. As far as I could see we were on the same side.
10:07:03 PM
My Little Theory on Last Night’s Events.
I just read the editorial of SCMP and even the editor isn’t sure if we could take the reasons and timing of the two resignations “at face value.” I thought I would add my theory.
1) Regina resigned at a much later date (oh, maybe last night at six pm?) rather than June 30th or June 26th (one from the TV News, one from SCMP) But just to let her “lok toi” which is “Get off stage, with her pride intact,” they said she did it for personal reasons before the protests and not because of public opinion. She somehow convinced Tung to do this as soon as possible because it would make no sense to delay this announcement anymore.
2) Anthony got the divvy on the content of the report of his “Lexus Scandal” that ICAC handed over to the Justice Department yesterday and realized it really wasn’t good, he could be prosecuted, and really wanted to get out before it blew up. And since Anthony had tried to resign earlier, (in March, on July 1st and July 3rd.) but each time Tung refused to accept it. Last night’s announcement of Regina Ip’s resignation got him so mad he decided to do it himself at 9pm to end the quarrelling.
This has no basis whatsoever, but it all seems really strange for it to be unfolded this way.
I admit this is all very “Mo Liu.” “Mo” as in Nothing, “Liu” as in stir. Mainly it denotes anything that is has no reason for existence, but we all do it anyway…
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 