The South China Morning Post stuns the world by revealing that the microblog feed of transcripts from the trial of Bo Xilai does not convey the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. For example, censors have deleted interrogators’ testimony of the disgraced Politburo member whining for mercy, lest we feel sorry for him. However, this overlooks the fact that the entire show trial has brilliantly diverted attention from – indeed, possibly deleted from the historical record – the huge scale of Bo’s true crimes, and thus the extent of corruption-verging-on-warlordism throughout the Chinese power structure. Even the international press has become engrossed in trivia about Bo hitting his police chief, the family steaming the son’s African mystery-meat, and the connection between the French villa and some newscaster-bim. It’s as if no-one was tortured to death, and no sprawling business empires were stolen, and the rest of the 
country’s political, military and state-business elite are far away and clean.
At the other end of the paper, one of the SCMP’s more insipid columnists spirals away into another alternative reality. She insists that the Hong Kong government’s pretentious travel alert system continue to put the Philippines in the same category as Syria and Egypt. “Some see it as nonsensical,” she says of the destination’s Black travel alert, as it “has done little to get the Philippine government to budge” on apologies or compensation for the shooting of some Hong Kong tourists three years ago. What is truly nonsensical is the idea that the purpose of a travel alert system is to get any overseas government to budge, or (to be more accurate) to pander to sentimentalized local public opinion by pretending to be pressuring foreign authorities who have far more important things to worry about.
The shooting was a tragedy, and anyone personally affected has every reason to mourn and to be angry. But as a community, Hong Kong has to drop it and move on. In Boston, London, Madrid, Bombay, Bangkok and a thousand other places crap happens. Most months, if not weeks, some Islamo-lunatic with a bomb or some mental case with a gun will kill innocent bystanders. It is only a matter of time before someone else from Hong Kong is murdered in some overseas mayhem; statistically, it will probably be in a country not even listed under the Yellow alert in the Security Bureau’s pointless list. To go on bleating about this one instance, and to endorse such bleating by stripping a travel alert system of any integrity, is puerile.
Which bring us rather neatly to James Tien – surely Hong Kong’s most distasteful excuse for a politician. What makes him so odious is his lack of self-awareness. If he pushed his slimy, self-serving, anti-consumer, anti-people, pro-landlord, pro-inherited-wealth agenda with a bit of attitude, that would be one thing. But he doesn’t seem to realize that the rest of us are sitting here, watching him, in the full understanding of what he is up to.
He declares that CY Leung is a worse Chief Executive than either the bumbling Tung Chee-hwa or the developers’ pet Donald Tsang. He also demands that CY ‘listen’ to pro-establishment parties – in other words, align policy more closely to the property, construction, retail and other interests that infest our political structure and cartelized economy. And in his naivety, the nematode imagines we will nod and take him seriously. Still, as praise for the beleaguered CY Leung administration, it is even more glowing than it is unwitting.
Show trial – those are when the confession is in the bag and the regime makes speeches of denunciation. Bo’s isn’t a show trial. Bradley/Chelsea Manning’s was.
I really do think we should ban more destinations to Hong Kong tourists. Vietnam has the right idea and charges them a not insignificant amount for a visa. It is always awful to arrive anywhere and find a group from Sunwah heading towards you.
Talking about keeping the riff-raff out, that is exactly what CY Leung has done to James Tien. Whining and dinning, you could call his latest effusion. What’s bad for James Tien must be good for us.
The SCMP is bashing teachers again. The Party doesn’t like intellectuals, as you know. We obviously need better background checks before SCMP journalists are allowed close to impressionable minds and others to practice their abuse of the truth. SCMP Journalists are not intellectual but they do need watching.
Wow, what a crap warning list that is. Thank god they put links to more specific lists from Oz, Canada, and UK. They at least pinpoint exactly where to not travel to, whilst not tipping a bucket of shit over the entire country.
Hemlock at his best, a perfect synthesis of bile and biliousness, political incorrectness and debunking of shibboleths, incisive common sense and to-the-point broad-brushing.
But you’re too kind to the Alice Wus of this world: who in their right mind would ever think of employing her as a “Political Consultant”, given her vapid, contextless, blinkered, ahistorical dribblings, whose only subtext is “I am Chinese” and therefore all others are inferior beings?
James Tien is to intellectual integrity as the PCMP is to unbiased honesty: in both you can see glimmerings of what might have been, maybe even briefly was at some stage, but is now drowned in a sea of mediocrity and compromise. It’s the vomit-inducing way it’s done as much as the contents themselves.
Bela, In the pre-revolutionary stage, the academics are the first to go, then the lawyers, the secondary teachers, the journalists and law enforcement, with writers and artists being mopped up as an afterthought. Your day will come!
O those wacky “Tien” brothers. James comes across as a bit thick whilst Michael comes across as a self important unlikable buffoon. But hey what do I know they both managed to get “geographically” elected – How ? Why ?
But despite James running his mouth of to Chugani, doubtless thinking he’s safe in the knowledge no one’s watching, we all know CY will last his full term. Why ? Because China has decreed it and the Tien’s will come to heel or there won’t be many G2000’s in China soon.
CY has proved predictably awful but CH Tung managed to get half a million on the street and opened the floodgates to our city to millions of mainlanders. Whilst I suspect the trial next year of former CS Rafael Hui is going to be a uncomfortable viewing for best mate Donald, even though he won’t be answering to a judge anytime soon. But for self serving Tien’s CY is worse. Really?
Twas filthy air and legcole toads
Did gurble neath polluted wave
CX doth brible demhoto
And nematodes fartgave
Beware the nematode my son
The smarmy smile, the lies that cloy
And shun the frumious TienTien Turd
The cartels’ running boy
Loose Carrol (2013)
But Property Developer must know that, historically speaking, the landlords and “property developers” are first against the wall.
During the 1905 Russian Revolution 3,000 manors were burnt (15% of the total).
After the October Revolution of 1917 all classes of nobility were legally abolished.
In China, it is thought that as many as 1 million ex-landlords were executed 1949-51.
A Day in the Life of a Hongkonger
Just off to Iraq for a holiday in Sunny Baghdad. Coming back via the Philippines for some tropical R & R. Better just check the SB website. Whoa, good job I looked! The Philippines is dangerous man. Iraq, Iraq, … nope, not even yellow. Looks good to go.
Thanks SB!
Bela Carrol, I’m flattered to be counted amongst “all classes of nobility”.
“In China, it is thought that as many as 1 million ex-landlords were executed 1949-51.”
That would be a good start.
@ PD
I am revising my opinions about CY (if that’s any consolation to you)
He’s certainly HK’s worst CE, except for all the others who were and who might have been – which list includes the awful Enery, the even more awful Tien, and now the corrupted Ho, To et al.
FUCK ! Would all good men please come to the aid of the party (that’s if there any good men left)
Hong Kong possesses people of ability & good character who could 1) easily outperform the three stooges we’ve had thus far, 2) attract talented people of diverse backgrounds to join them in government, and 3) bring a greater measure of unity of purpose to our public institutions and the wider society.
Unfortunately, these people are far too sensible to put their heads in the lion’s mouth of our dysfunctional governing model when they know the lion tamer’s whip is in the hands of the gangsters from the Chinese Communist Party.
@ PCC
You are correct.
So I regret will not be putting my name forward for CE in 2017
Reductio – in fairness to the HK government, they do say that their list only includes countries commonly visited by Hong Kong people. So while the Philippines’ ranking (barring parts of Mindanao) is certainly absurd, the omission of Iraq and certain other hotspots is somewhat less so. I haven’t seen package tours to Basra or Helmand advertised in HK yet (though I can think of a few local politicians I’d like to see join one).
As to the killing of landlords in China, Bela, it wasn’t only immediately after the Revolution. My father-in-law’s father was slaughtered during the Cultural Revolution, apparently because he’d been a landlord.