The Democratic Party says that none of its members will run in the Legislative Council quasi-elections in December. One or two dinosaurs complain that the party is using its internal nomination process to keep would-be candidates off the ballot – amusing given that Beijing’s NatSec regime has imposed extensive vetting processes to exclude pan-dems from elections. The regime would like one or two ultra-moderate pan-dems to take part for appearances’ sake.
If it had more awareness and substance, the DP would have responded to entreaties to participate in the rigged pseudo-polls by saying it would do so only when and if pan-dem politicians elected in the last polls but now in jail were freed and allowed to run. Instead, the party has focused on its obscure and tiresome internal procedures.
The fact is that there will be no actual election either to run or vote in. The regime will probably try to pressure a feebler pan-dem or two to run; it might even place a few fake democrats on the ballot. It will also threaten (implausibly) to prosecute anyone urging voters to boycott the elections. I’m sure everyone, when deciding whether to vote, will give due consideration to what the regime wants them to do.
After doing everything possible to push up housing prices since the handover, the Hong Kong government suddenly wants a Singapore-style social-housing system covering 70% of the population. Or, to put it another way, Beijing – after letting Hong Kong governments push up housing prices for 20 years – changes its mind.
The Spectator’s gossip columnist gives Regina Ip a thorough kicking following her recent disparaging of Hongkongers moving to the UK.
Trailer for prize-winning May You Stay Forever Young, by Lam Sum and Rex Ren, set in Hong Kong in 2019. Banned in Hong Kong, of course.
“It will also threaten (implausibly) to prosecute anyone urging voters to boycott the elections.”
Implausibly? My dear Hemlock, after so many years in this city, you are still not nearly cynical enough. The Democrats will now be investigated and arrested for boycotting the election. If the government can say that participating in a primary election is subversion, then they can say that the Democrats’ tiresome and obscure internal processes illegally pressured members into a boycott. The goal is to put as many pan-dems in prison on any pretext and to pressure their parties into disbanding. The most unorthodox Legco member allowed will be James Tien. A few willing and/or blackmailable muppets will be found to run as fake democrats next time around.
If they did as you suggested and said that they would only run if their colleagues are freed, they would also be immediately arrested. After all, expressing approval or support for anyone accused of a natsec crime is itself a natsec crime. As the student union of HKU and the PR department of Vitasoy have found out.
Anyone seen SCMP’s editorial on Taiwan today? Looks like they’re not even bothering to try and hide their political allegiances anymore with lines like, “Tsai’s refusal to acknowledge that there is only one China is the cause of cross-strait tensions. Until she scraps her independence-minded rhetoric and policies, there is no chance of certainty and greater prosperity for Taiwanese.”
Of course, no byline either because they’re too cowardly for that.
I’d like to see Glasgow strip Ip of her degree, but I doubt it will happen.
Her daughter must be one of those “naive Hong Kong people” who are “mere objects of pity and welfare assistance” by choosing to live in Britain.
Note, not a peep recently from the Bauhinia Party re its ambitions for the Legco election. One of the three founders stepped down in June and the revelations about Bonjour will keep another busy. Looks like yet another damp squib.
A reminder of its lofty aims for those with a short memory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhinia_Party
Lets just say, we have been spared