Hong Kong’s incoming Chief Executive John Lee’s ‘election’ platform will be ready within a week. Odd that no-one had already bothered to cut and paste something from his predecessors’ pseudo-manifestos – but it’s always very much an afterthought, for show.
(The only seriously drafted policy plans were those of CY Leung, who mysteriously got on the ballot when Beijing’s Jiang-era leadership prepared to appoint tycoon Henry Tang as a Tung Chee-hwa Mk II. It actually contained some well thought-out initiatives on welfare and other issues. Then Xi Jinping emerged as China’s new leader, Tang’s illegal basement conveniently came to light, and CY got the job at the last minute – and promptly embarked on a different hyper-patriotic agenda.)
A fawning SCMP op-ed lists all the things Lee should do as CE: reopen the city post-Covid, tackle housing, heal social divisions, etc. It duly notes that Lee has no experience in economics. Indeed, his only skill-set is raiding, arresting and jailing opponents and critics. If Beijing wanted someone with different expertise, it could have found such a person. If Beijing had wanted a CE to fix land/housing, it could have told Tung, Tsang, Leung or Lam to do so anytime over the last 25 years. Lee is not here to return Hong Kong to its old free and pluralist ways.
For an idea of Lee’s mission, consider the story of the viral video Voices of April…
“It’s just a record of actual events, what good does it do to censor it? Originally, we were just sad, not angry. Now it’s a revolt of the people. A cover-up only makes matters worse.”
In their desperation, censors ended up declaring the video a ‘color revolution’.
(Among the weirder vids from the Mainland – workers in hazmat suits bludgeoning bundles of green onion to death. Reportedly in Shanghai as a pretext to toss the veg for some reason.)
Would you be surprised to learn that China’s Covid ‘tsar’ has ties to the company making the quack voodoo medicine the government sent us all? Or would you be more surprised to learn that he hadn’t?
HKFP op-ed on the absurd wastefulness of the quasi-election.
Hemmers, old chap.
Why do you refer in your closing line to a “quasi-election”?
As you have been pointing out since time immemorial, the manner in which Hong Kong’s Chief Executive is chosen cannot be described as an “election” in any sense of the word, and that includes “quasi-election”.
Call it what it is: a “selection” or a “non-election”.
Thanks for the link to Hamlett’s piece, though.
Therefore perhaps CEENO.
Comments dwindling….
Anyone out there? Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?
Hong Kongers’ patriotic erections are much less a waste of money than many of you think.
They simply follow another of those well-thought-out devious schemes the commies have learned from LKY: Perform the same comprehensively (I love the term) convoluted Circus program every five years, and within less than one generation brain numbed Hongkies, who have long given up trying to understand what’s going on, will be convinced that there are indeed eLections in Hong Kong, and they will defend them against any criticism from those darn Westerners.
If you ever had a conversation with a SingaBorean ROBOT about their erections you know what I mean.
Comments dwindling? I’m still looking at that lovely picture of a moth.
@Wolflikeme: The amount of bullshit flying about in HK is just so rapid and constant that it’s simply overwhelming
Not commenting. But am reading. And being informed and entertained.
(Thank you Hemlock).