“Teacup in a Storm” is the name of one of Hong Kong’s most popular radio talkback shows. This week its recently departed former host Allan Lee proved he could also provoke a storm.
Mr Lee is the third popular radio host with pro-democracy views to take himself off the air in the past month.
This week he told a specially convened Hong Kong parliament legislative panel, that he was pressured to keep quiet about his support for democratic reforms, but that rather than yield he quit.
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When a retired communist official tells you they met yourself and your family at a fashion show, and goes on to say, “Your wife is very virtuous and your daughter is beautiful,”
Do you..
a) Say “Thank you.”
b) Not be able to sleep at night.
c) Quit your job as a political talk how host?
I know there has been a big fuss over this, but I can’t but feel disappointed by the actions of radio hosts crumbling so easily to political pressure. There has been no direct threat from the government, except hassling phone calls, from who we don’t even know. Shouldn’t they just go right on the air and tell the public this is happening instead of keeping quiet or at least just continue with their jobs? I know someone else who had emails and phone calls also (not me) and although they were upset, I said, “ignore them, they are empty threats of a few busy bodies, if the threats become personal, call the police.”
Since I am not privy to the conversations, I think it’s cowardly to quit over a few phone calls. I watched the feed of the panel on the TV, and just went, “That’s it? That’s all he said and you quit?” We already know our free speech is being eroded, and it about time people stood up and fought for it, rather than run away. If all is takes is a mention of your family by someone who is retired and say the Central Government is not happy with what you are doing (Surprise! I could have told you that with a phone call too.) then we might as well give up now. It takes a bit of guts to stand up to what you’re supposedly about. Unlike a lot of people in this city, I am not going to defend this decision. I think it’s a little pathetic.
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Worries as Hong Kong talk show hosts quit: Telegraph UK
By Richard Spencer in Beijing
The Chinese authorities are using “dirty tricks” to cow critical voices in Hong Kong and Taiwan, say activists and even former supporters.
Afraid that pro-Beijing candidates will suffer a backlash in Hong Kong’s legislative council elections in September, mainland authorities are accused of co-ordinating attacks against pro-democracy figures in the former British colony.
Two radio broadcasters known for their political talk-shows have quit, saying they had received threats against them and their family. A replacement, Allan Lee, has said he is also resigning after veiled threats against his wife and daughter.
Mr Lee, a member of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, and a leading figure in the usually pro-Beijing Liberal Party, said a mainland official telephoned him after he stood in on the show, Teacup in a Storm.
“He told me my wife was very virtuous and my daughter was very beautiful and that they had left a deep impression in his mind,” he said.
Beijing is concerned that the Hong Kong public might inflict a serious poll defeat on its candidates in September following its decision to delay indefinitely progress towards universal suffrage.
In the past month, there have been numerous reports of residents being rung by mainland relatives and contacts and asked to vote for pro-Beijing candidates.
One woman said her employer told her she had to vote for a pro-Beijing candidate and take a picture of her voting paper with her mobile phone to prove it.
The authorities have much less leverage in Taiwan, where they are worried about the pro-independence leanings of the recently re-elected President Chen Shui-bian.
But this week an official in Beijing said businessmen who backed Mr Chen should not try to invest in the mainland. “Those who have earned money on the mainland and returned to Taiwan to support independence are not welcome,” he said.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 
To be fair, some of them claim to have received death threats…. Under those circumstances I would think twice about anybody saying anything about my family.
But you\’re right. Caving in is not the answer.
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I just want to add this.. thing is Allan Lee knew this before he started. Albert Chang stood up and did this for a good few years after being attacked, after being threatenned, and he kept right on. The other two quit after two weeks. Did they think it would be different for them? Do you think Martin Lee and Emily Lau have never gotten those phone calls. I am sure they have. Sometimes, you gotta stand up for something for a while at least to earn the respect of others. Unless he’s not telling the whole truth, one comment (his daughter even said she did not feel threatenned herself over the conversation.) Just seems weak. If you’re gonna stand up and fight and speak out, having a backbone would go a long way.
I recorded a news show on this whole thing. I am gonna watch it and think about it a little bit more, but I still think at the very least the other two should have turned up at the pannel and told their stories instead of turning down the invitation.
yan
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Just because he goes in front of a panel, doesn’t mean he’s telling the whole truth.
I’m sure there’s more that the public won’t be privy to.
Or this is lame civil disobedience.
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Well then they need to get out there and TELL the whole truth. That’s what I mean as cowardly. Come on and put it on the table. Let me know what is really going on so I as a member of the public can make an informed decision and feeling of what I am actually facing and dealing with in my own city. It’s time for truth.
Also, you mean civil obedience right? Disobedience would mean you peacefully do things against the higher power. I am not being rude, just pointing out a possible mispelling.
Yan
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Ironically, Yan, your words echo those of Ma Lik.
He said the same in an article May 12 I believe or a little after.
The Beijing backside kisser tells Teacup in a Storm host to fess up over something his party is most likely responsible for. Suppose that’s politics.
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No, I mean civil disobedience.
I sure hope he doesn’t think that by retiring he’s calling attention to the lack of free press.
That’s the wrong way to go, mister.
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Gotcha. Yeah, Very very lame civil disobedience, because if he was committed, he would tape the conversations and then PLAY them on air, and keep right on going.
yan
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And Ma Lik and a whole lot of pro-Beijing people are often blind to what is going on, or at least shuts it out, therefore it’s actually possible he doesn’t believe there has been any further threats or there is anything to tell. When I listen to the pro-beijing people talk, they really do not synthesise information, just mouth pieces. So today I agree with him for a moment, I am sure we don’t see eye to eye on a load of other things, 🙂
Yan
PS is he the guy who has a TV commentary show on ATV? I saw it the other day, he was one of the PB people talking about why that those shows are not actually good for society because it causes dissension and that the radio hosts needs to come clear. Not sure who is was, but I amused my aunt by talking back to an inanimate object because I was so incensed. Ha Ha.
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To me the very tenor and mood of China is very clear in someone like Ma Lik, and if he did say what you say he said (wow), then this is even more clear:
China realizes it has a problem on its hands. It considers Hong Kong a very beautiful wart. It is something it wants affixed to its country, as one country, but it cannot have it there if it going to make the whole country look unappealing. It cannot have tension, even though the people have always felt tension against the gov’t in some ways. So, they increase the amount of pressure on dissension, causing more tension like this and other things we’ve witnessed.
As it was told to me at dinner tonight: It’s like this, China will expect the rest of the world to learn how to be Chinese rather than this whole country learn how to work harmoniously and in good faith with the rest of the world. You can see it in the way they treat Hong Kong: a part of the country that could in some ways model the rest of China, but what does the NPC project? Act better! Be like your bros. and sisters. Do not go your own way.
To me this seems like a dishonourable way to treat one’s own country. Does that mean that Hong Kong cannot be a model province for a harmonious country? Yes, apparently.
And it should be the other way around. China should love Hong Kong, warts and all.
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Here in America it seems like all the radio talk show hosts are pretty much in lockstep with the Bush White House. It would be nice if we had a few liberal hosts (besides Air America, which doesn’t play in my town), even if it was just so they could retire…
But I see your frustration — when one of the few voices willing to speak out goes silent.
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allan lee has no backbone,by not telling the truth he is labelled a coward.so who here will take his place on “teacup in a storm”?who here will stand up and put theirself and their family in the same position as allan lee?anybody?
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He didn’t put himself in that position. When push came to shove he removed himself from the position. There is no heroics in that.
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And the story continues…
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=12661
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