Politics, The HK Economy, and Functional Constituencies
@ Mon 28 June 2010 12:59 PM HKT by Tom LeggSo Executive Councillor Leong Che-hung has called on people to leave behind the arguments over political reform, and to focus on improving people's livelihood. The only problem with this is politics is the argument over how best to improve people's livelihoods. As my Republican ward boss US Government teacher in high school said, "Politics is deciding who gets what, when, where and why?"
If the Executive Council had really wanted to improve the average HKer's livelihood, they'd have asked Beijing to remove the restrictions of the NPC interpretation and abolished Functional Constituencies the past week. This week, they'd resign and call for new elections of a new Chief Executive that has a popular mandate to work for what is best for all HKers and not just the small handful of HKers represented by the Functional Constituencies and that actually support the CCP's Liaison Office without being paid HK$200 and a seafood dinner. (What could be better proof that the Functional Constituencies and friends add zero breadth of representation to the Legislative Council than the need to either pay off or threaten the livelihood of their supporters.)
Watching bits of the LegCo debate I was struck by the anemic defense of the Functional Constituencies by their representatives. They went for the oldest canard in the debating book in saying they'd resign if abolishing Functional Constituencies would eliminate ALL of HK's problems. L4M3! They say they are pragmatic, but refuse to resign or abolish their own jobs based upon basic pragmatic utilitarian principles. The best policy is that which does the most good for the most people. Why do they fall back to this all or nothing position? Because even with only a Primary 3 grasp of math, the cost-benefit analysis of keeping the Functional Constituencies obviously shows that the current policies may have kept unemployment low, but that more and more of the HKers who are working are falling in to poverty. The Functional Constituencies and the Executive Council, including the representatives from the shoe-shining DAB and Federation of Trade Unions, are killing the dream of those working under the Lion Rock.
Much like young factory workers across the border calling for independent trade unions that they elect and actually represent them, the people of HK need full universal suffrage, including the abolition of small circle nominations that have produced wonders like Bowtie, Tung Chee-hwa, and diploma-mill graduate Philip "one-finger" Wong, in order to improve their livelihoods, because the folks in power now are only holding them back with empty words and empty promises.
Only Ones Looking Stupid Are HK SAR Govt - Liaison Office - NPC
@ Tue 22 June 2010 11:25 AM HKT by Tom LeggI understand the rift between the pan-democrats. There is no doubt that the amended bill on reform is no step forward towards universal suffrage. Of course no reform bill would really have been a step forward towards universal suffrage due to the National People's Congress' interference in the political development of Hong Kong. The pushed the same limitations on to their hand selected guy as they did on the evil-incarnate Chris Patten. So the National People's Congress looks really really stupid now. Especially the ones that claimed the Democratic Party's ideas violated the Basic Law and then changed their minds. Definitely shows the NPC still hates the rule of law when it might get in the way of rule by them.
The HK SAR government and Liaison Office come off smelling like pig farm waste. They look like the most mindless of shoe shiners. Instead of gaining praise from the community for being pragmatic and compromising with the Democratic Party, they look like idiots who have to have someone else do the thinking for them. The fact that every time that Donald "I promised a road map and gave you a road apple instead" Tsang and his band of untelegenic idiots went on television to berate Hong Kongers about passing their piece of pig waste package, the public support for it went down. Even in the polls by shoe shining groups like the One Country, Two Systems Foundation prior to the debate, the support was dropping like a lead weight. And after the debate, the government had to abdicate authority over the package.
What's really funny is that the HK SAR government and Liaison Office still seem more deluded than partiers in Mongkok on ketamine. They seem to think that somehow passing this reform bill will cover them in glory and prestige and reduce the pressure for radical action on universal suffrage. BWAHAHAHAA! The biggest positive thing it will do is reduce the ability of shoe shiners to fall back on blocking real reform by arguing that the Basic Law doesn't allow radical change towards universal suffrage. (It'll never get rid of their ability to fall back on this argument, because shoe shiners are like American tea partiers: immune to reality, logic, and truth.) Beyond this it will remind Hong Kongers that 2.5 times as many people voted in the LegCo by-election than are eligible electors for all 30 Functional Constituency seats combined and that even if voting for Functional Constituencies is expanded to the general pubilc, it'll still produce LegCo members not worth much more than the lowest-rated members like shoe shiners Mr "One Finger" and Mr "My Father Supported Sports".
After the passage of the bill, no Member's Bills from the pan-democrats will make it to the Chief Executive's desk. After the passage of the bill, there will be no change in the voting results for the Functional Constituencies in support of government bills and blocking all pan-democrat amendments to those bills. Nothing will really change and the anger that this will produce will be targeted directly at the next Chief Executive, the Liaison Office and the worthless National People's Congress.
I've Been Zapped By the Great Firewall Bowtie of Sir Donald
@ Tue 15 June 2010 3:48 PM HKT by Tom LeggWhile checking some network issues with a netbook at a local neighbourhood library, I discovered something interesting. My domain is inaccessible from the FreeGovWiFi provided by the HK SAR government. I told you they weren't interested in free and open public debate on the issues concerning Hong Kong.
UPDATED: Here's what you'll see when you use the free gov wifi and surf to a site with possible improper material.
click on the image for a larger version
The 17th Amendment And Universal Suffrage
@ Tue 15 June 2010 9:40 AM HKT by Tom LeggAs an American, here I'm referring to the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution. This isn't one of the big ones on US history or government syllabi. It is the implementation of universal suffrage for US Senators. Originally US Senators were to serve as the representatives of state governments and were elected by the legislatures of the individual states rather than by direct ballot from the people.
In the late 1800s the US went through the Gilded Age, which was gilded for the robber barons and filled with massive economic boom/busts that impoverished pretty much everybody else. At the forefront of protecting the institutional corruption that resulted in massively unequal economic distribution were the Senators elected by indirect popular votes. So as the Progressives pushed for an end to the institutionalised corruption in the US, one of the items on the checklist was the election of US Senators by the State legislatures.
Now why would I be posting on this obscure bit of information now? Because one of the key men at Beijing's Liaison Office opened his mouth on Universal Suffrage.
A senior official from the Beijing Liaison Office has attacked the Democratic Party's political reform proposals, calling them unnecessary, overdone, and legally groundless. Hao Tiechuan, the Director-General of the Liaison Office's Publicity, Culture and Sports Department, also insisted that indirect elections are 'a form of universal suffrage.'
Sadly, No!
Of course we forgive the Liaison Office for their ignorance of universal suffrage, since they've never bothered to implement it or live under it. And thankfully history from the US shows exactly why these Functional Constituencies exist: to protect the institutionalised corruption that maintains the massive inequality in society.
What If HK Students Were Rewarded For Failure Like Stephen Lam?
@ Tue 8 June 2010 12:33 PM HKT by Tom LeggSo the question becomes, did the HK SAR want their Constitutional Reform proposals to fail or are the folks in the HK SAR government and the local CCP Liaison Office dumber than stumps and more deluded than ravers on ketamine?
Secretary for Constitutional Failure and Mainland Shoeshining Stephen Lam told RTHK that every effort has been made to move democracy forward in HK.
The government announced on Monday that it will put its 2012 political reform package to a vote on June 23. There will be two resolutions - and the contents will be the same as the original proposals put forward in April.
The government knew the original proposals were doomed to failure, but decided that failure was more acceptable than actually allowing the HK people to choose their own leadership.
The overall sentiments of the people of HK are that the government proposals don't go far enough, even among the people who say they'll accept a half-assed package as better than nothing.
As HK's students sit for exams, the HK SAR government provides a fine example for them. If something is really urgent and important, it's best to neglect it for your full term and then try to cram all of your effort and studies in to the last minute. And when faced with a study plan certain to fail, you may not deviate from that study plan or take advice from others. After all if your parents won't forgive you getting an F on your exams, you can always say that you made every effort to pass your exams and the Party will be sure to forgive you and protect your job. As long as you shoeshine, the measure of what constitutes success is not on an A to F scale.