DOCSLIB.ORG

Global Connectivity and Local Politics: SARS, Talk Radio, and Public Opinion

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Global Connectivity and Local Politics: SARS, Talk Radio, and Public Opinion 2 Global connectivity and local politics SARS, talk radio, and public opinion Eric Kit-wai Ma and Joseph Man Chan In times of global health crises, local communities are connected regionally and globally to form an interlocking web of flows. This heightened con- nectivity is both material and imaginary. People, diseases, money, supplies, technologies, information, images, and imaginations travel around the globe at high speed. However, in such circumstances, global connectivity is not a flooding of homogeneous patterns of practices, influences and effects, but an activation of local politics in the specific sociocultural contexts of connected locales. This chapter examines the media politics of Hong Kong during the health crisis of SARS in 2003, with the aim of mapping the local manifes- tations of global connectivity. At the peak of the Hong Kong SARS outbreak in 2003, Albert Cheng, the influential radio host of the morning talk radio program “Tea Cup in a Storm,” was named the “Hong Kong Chief before Ten.” The program started at 7 a.m. every weekday and ended at 10 a.m. During the crisis, the studio was described as the command center of the Hong Kong Special Admin- istrative Region (HKSAR). These popular labels suggested that, in the eyes of the public at least, the HKSAR chief executive and his office did badly while Albert Cheng and his radio program better served Hong Kong people in managing the crisis. In fact, Cheng not only intervened during his airtime: after the program ended each day, he campaigned at charity initiatives and mobilized self-help programs for the health professionals. The interface between media discourses and social actions became direct, triggering a special media–social dialectic quite different from commonly understood broadcast media. This typifies what has been described as the “surrogate democracy function of the media” in post-1997 Hong Kong. (Chan and So 2003) This surrogacy, to be explicated in a moment, can be seen as the trespassing of media personalities into governance. Dominant conceptions of the media, such as liberal pluralist and critical perspectives of media studies, cannot be easily applied to the boundary-crossing media system in social crises in rapidly changing societies such as Hong Kong. In this chapter, by analyzing the 20 Eric Kit-wai Ma and Joseph Man Chan specific sociopolitical conditions of Hong Kong’s media surrogacy, we want to theorize the media as the “drive engine” of public opinion apparatus in times of social crisis. The case of Hong Kong We want to posit the SARS story in Hong Kong’s specific sociopolitical conditions and analyze how the transnational SARS crisis was connected to local media politics. Thus a brief review of the Hong Kong case is essential. In the years after the Second World War, Hong Kong fostered a strong local identity that was distinctly different from that of mainland China. In order to maintain political and economic stability, both the colonial and the Chinese government refrained from attempting to mobilize strong nationalistic sentiments in the territory. (Leung 1996) The media took up the role of cultivating the imagination of a collective Hong Kong community in cultural rather than political terms. This mediated imagined community was sustained by the great difference in ways of life in the colony as opposed to the main- land. Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese had very different lifestyles, daily routines, career patterns, aspirations, and values. Although there had been frequent exchanges between Hong Kong and China since the open-door policy in the 1970s, life across the China–Hong Kong border was still conspicu- ously different. (Ma 1999) These differences can be described in two broad categories of state-led and market-led features. Hong Kong had a weak (or invisible) state and a strong market, exhibiting a highly consumerist lifestyle; lives on the mainland, in contrast, were marked by a highly visible state and a deficient market. Hong Kong politics was absorbed into colonial “mana- gerialism” (King 1975; Law 1998) while mainland politics was turned into frequent “revolutions” and campaigns. However, Hong Kong’s sociopolitical conditions have been undergoing drastic changes since the sovereignty reversion in 1997. Here we are not offering a sociopolitical analysis of post-1997 Hong Kong. Rather, we present a few discursive formations, which can contextualize Hong Kong’s mediated politics. Since 1997, there has been a clash between progressive political desire and regressive political infrastructure. During the decolonization and democ- ratization programs in the 1990s, proposals of political reforms had encouraged the development of high expectations on democratic politics. In the final years of British rule, Hong Kong developed a dual power structure in which the British and the Chinese were fighting for political control over the colony. This political duality provided a contingent space for participation of the general public. Exploiting this political space, Hong Kong people had voiced in the media their demands for more progressive democratic reform. However, since 1997, the dual power structure has regressed to the con- servative and weak administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative SARS, talk radio, and public opinion 21 Region. HKSAR government is backed by an autonomy licensed by the Chinese central government but not legitimized by democratic election. Unfulfilled political expectations clash with regressive political reality that turns into frequent protest and opposition mediated by the populist media. However, the Hong Kong government, which is not legitimized by a demo- cratic polity, has not been able to renegotiate new ideological consent. The economic crisis in 1997 and its after-effects have also triggered a series of chain reactions. The discourse of unfailing capitalism could no longer serve as a stable base from which local identity was built. A widening gap between the rich and poor breeds despair and unrest, and at the same time the myth of upward mobility, which was a dominant discourse in the colonial years, has failed to absorb and dissipate the disappointments of the underprivileged as it did in the past. These changes have generated strong social sentiments, which have spilled over into different walks of life. Workers are disappointed with structural unemployment, new immigrants from mainland China are tangled in the controversial issue of the right of abode, middle-class families have been struck by the collapse of the property market, lawyers are protesting against the erosion of the rule of law, and doctors are doing the same against deteriorating working conditions in the medical field. At the same time, the Hong Kong government has accused the general public and the media of spilling out too much bitterness. These disputes dilute social solidarity and encourage dissolution and opposition. The discourses of renationalization, downward mobility, failed market economy, and weak local governance have cultivated a context for a populist and confrontational media. As we will see in the case study that follows, these local conditions were crucial in shaping the unique media configurations during the health crisis of SARS. Perspectives on media studies and social crisis In the Hong Kong case, dominant media theories such as critical political economy or the liberal pluralist perspectives do not easily capture the com- plexity of the current moment. In critical media studies, the media are ide- ological agents reproducing dominant social relations. (Curran 2002) Among the critical culturalists,1 the focus is the hegemonic articulation between the media and dominant economic and especially ideological processes; whereas critical materialists such as Golding and Murdock (2000) stress the political economy of media institutions. In either perspective, however, the media by and large are agents of ideological reproduction, and in particular major parts of the ideological apparatus of state control. In contrast, liberal plura- lists argue that market competition promotes diversity and checks state power in a media forum where different social parties and agents are free to express themselves. The media form a market place of ideas, and it is a platform of public opinion monitoring the performance of the state. Together with a 22 Eric Kit-wai Ma and Joseph Man Chan democratic polity, the media serve not as apparatuses of state control but as watchdogs promoting timely social and cultural revisions. Media analysts with respective theoretical inclinations tend to follow prescribed lines of analysis and restrict themselves to their discrete theoretical camps. Critical media theorists see the civil society as a hierarchy of social groups with those in the subordinate positions accepting the dominance of the status quo. Media professionals are socialized within media institutions to produce dominant voices in the seemingly non-ideological language of professionalism. In contrast, liberal pluralists see the civil society as competing social groups advancing their interests with relatively equal opportunities. Media professionals are autonomous and relay social voices professionally. The media articulate social sentiments and voices to form public opinions, which promote social debates and foster consensus. The combined effect of these processes is the functioning of a vibrant and democratic society. Yet, critical theorists are skeptical about this non-ideological notion of public opinion; they consider public
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Beijing's Visible Hand
    China Perspectives 2012/2 | 2012 Mao Today: A Political Icon for an Age of Prosperity Beijing’s Visible Hand Power struggles and media meddling in the Hong Kong chief executive election Karita Kan Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/5896 DOI: 10.4000/chinaperspectives.5896 ISSN: 1996-4617 Publisher Centre d'étude français sur la Chine contemporaine Printed version Date of publication: 4 June 2012 Number of pages: 81-84 ISSN: 2070-3449 Electronic reference Karita Kan, « Beijing’s Visible Hand », China Perspectives [Online], 2012/2 | 2012, Online since 30 June 2012, connection on 15 September 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/ 5896 © All rights reserved Current affairs China perspectives Beijing’s Visible Hand Power struggles and political interventions in the 2012 Hong Kong chief executive election KARITA KAN ong Kong’s next chief executive was revealed on 25 March 2012, reignited frenzied probes into Tang’s extra-marital affairs and added fuel to when the 1,193-member election committee, made up largely of incriminating remarks about his dishonesty, infidelity, and “emotional fault” Hbusiness leaders, professionals, and influential persons loyal to Bei - (ganqing queshi 感情缺失 ). jing, voted in majority for Leung Chun-ying. Leung defeated his main op - Commentator Willy Lam Wo-lap and Open University computing profes - ponent, former chief secretary for administration Henry Tang Ying-yen, by sor Li Tak-shing both raised the alarm that these “black materials” ( hei cailiao garnering 689 votes over the 285 that Tang received. The third candidate, 黑材料 ) might in fact have come from national security and intelligence Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, secured only 76 votes.
    [Show full text]
  • Fair Comment, Judges and Politics in Hong Kong
    —M.U.L.R- Cottrell_finalproof.doc — Title of Article — printed 04/22/03 at 12:35 PM — page 33 of 32 FAIR COMMENT, JUDGES AND POLITICS IN HONG KONG ∗ JILL COTTRELL [Until recently, the Hong Kong courts assumed that the defamation defence of fair comment may be defeated by proof of malice — meaning improper motive. The Court of Final Appeal, through Lord Nicholls, recently held that only proof that the defendant did not genuinely hold the opinion expressed can defeat this defence. This article places this decision in the context of debates about the role and rule of law, and the judiciary in Hong Kong. More specifically, it defends the Court in the face of criticism that the decision is an unheralded and unwarranted imposition on the common law of Hong Kong. This article therefore analyses the development of the defence of fair comment, in the common law world as well as in Hong Kong, especially as it concerns the notions of ‘fairness’ and ‘malice’.] CONTENTS I Introduction...............................................................................................................33 II Politics of Transition and the Hong Kong Courts .....................................................35 III Fair Comment, Honesty and Fairness .......................................................................37 IV The Hong Kong Courts and Freedom of Expression................................................41 V Defamation Litigation in Hong Kong .......................................................................43 VI Fair Comment and the Hong
    [Show full text]
  • When China Rules the World
    When China Rules the World 803P_pre.indd i 5/5/09 16:50:52 803P_pre.indd ii 5/5/09 16:50:52 martin jacques When China Rules the World The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World ALLEN LANE an imprint of penguin books 803P_pre.indd iii 5/5/09 16:50:52 ALLEN LANE Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London wc2r orl, England Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada m4p 2y3 (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.) Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offi ces: 80 Strand, London wc2r orl, England www.penguin.com First published 2009 1 Copyright © Martin Jacques, 2009 The moral right of the author has been asserted All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book Typeset in 10.5/14pt Sabon by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire Printed in England by XXX ISBN: 978–0–713–99254–0 www.greenpenguin.co.uk Penguin Books is committed to a sustainable future for our business, our readers and our planet.
    [Show full text]
  • Institution of Civil Engineers, Hong Kong Association Chairman’S Report 2017-18
    Institution of Civil Engineers, Hong Kong Association Chairman’s Report 2017-18 Dear Members, It has been an honour to serve as the Chairman of Institution of Civil Engineers, Hong Kong Association (ICE HKA) for the 2017-18 session. Building on the success of previous years, this session was another eventful and exciting one. My sincere thanks go to all those who have contributed to this session, including ICE HKA Graduates & Students (G&S) Division, guest speakers, sponsors, helpers and in particular the following: ICE Vice President International Prof CK MAK, GBS, JP ICE Representative for Hong Kong Mr Chi-keung HON, JP ICE Council Representative Mr CM LEE (until 30 Nov 2017) Dr Patrick CHAN (since 1 Dec 2017) Honorary Auditors Dr John LUK Mr Kenneth LAU Honorary Advisors Prof Francis TK AU The University of Hong Kong Mr Peter Scott CALDWELL Caldwell Ltd Mr Allan CHAN Hip Hing Construction Co Ltd Mr James DB CHEN Mr Albert CHENG Construction Industry Council Prof KF CHUNG The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Mr Daniel KW CHUNG, JP Highways Department, HKSAR Ms Ada FUNG, BBS, JP Mr Thomas HO Gammon Construction Limited Mr Jun KAN China Road and Bridge Corporation Mr Michael KWOK ARUP Mr Sai-hung LAM, JP Civil Engineering and Development Department, HKSAR Prof Hong LO The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology Mr Kevin POOLE Airport Authority Hong Kong Mr Samson SIN Atkins China Limited Mr Edwin TONG, JP Drainage Services Department, HKSAR Mr CS WAI, GBS, JP Urban Renewal Authority Mr Charlton WONG AECOM Asia Co. Ltd Dr Philco WONG
    [Show full text]
  • Received the Alexan- Der Saxton History Award for 1999-2000. We
    lyzing Urban Patterns of Anti-Asian Violence,” received the Alexan- der Saxton History Award for 1999-2000. We hope this special issue of Amerasia Journal will serve to encourage others to explore their own histories, to imagine alter- native futures, and to develop new languages that ask new, braver questions of social reality. 2 Arnerasia Journal 26:1 (2000):2-30 Musings of a Chinese Arne r ican Historian Him Mark Lai No Tradition of Scholarship Among my forebearers, there was no tradition of scholarship. Thus, my deep involvement in Chinese American historical re- search was largely due to fortuitous decisions made at important junctures of my life. My father Bing was the eldest son in a poor peasant family surnamed Maak (anglicized Mark) in rural Nanhai, part of Sam Yup, west of Guangzhou (Canton). He came to America through the generosity of his maternal aunt who had retired to Guangzhou after sojourning in San Francisco Chinatown as a hairdresser and maid at the turn of the century. She not only provided financial aid but also persuaded her cousin, a merchant with the surname Lai, to bring my father along as his son. Hence my father em- barked on the S.S. Siberia and arrived at San Francisco during the beginning of 1910 as Bing Lai, a merchant’s paper son. He was among the Chinese immigrants transferred from the dilapidated shed at the Pacific Mail Steamship Company wharf to become the first tenants of the newly opened Angel Island Immigration Detention Barracks. I am doubtful whether my father was in any mood to savor this historic occasion.
    [Show full text]
  • OFFICIAL RECORD of PROCEEDINGS Friday, 28 January
    LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 28 January 2005 3973 OFFICIAL RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Friday, 28 January 2005 The Council continued to meet at Nine o'clock MEMBERS PRESENT: THE PRESIDENT THE HONOURABLE MRS RITA FAN HSU LAI-TAI, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE JAMES TIEN PEI-CHUN, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ALBERT HO CHUN-YAN IR DR THE HONOURABLE RAYMOND HO CHUNG-TAI, S.B.ST.J., J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEE CHEUK-YAN THE HONOURABLE MARTIN LEE CHU-MING, S.C., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE DAVID LI KWOK-PO, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE FRED LI WAH-MING, J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE LUI MING-WAH, J.P. THE HONOURABLE MARGARET NG THE HONOURABLE MRS SELINA CHOW LIANG SHUK-YEE, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE JAMES TO KUN-SUN THE HONOURABLE CHEUNG MAN-KWONG THE HONOURABLE CHAN YUEN-HAN, J.P. 3974 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 28 January 2005 THE HONOURABLE BERNARD CHAN, J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN KAM-LAM, J.P. THE HONOURABLE MRS SOPHIE LEUNG LAU YAU-FUN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEUNG YIU-CHUNG THE HONOURABLE SIN CHUNG-KAI, J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE PHILIP WONG YU-HONG, G.B.S. THE HONOURABLE WONG YUNG-KAN, J.P. THE HONOURABLE JASPER TSANG YOK-SING, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE HOWARD YOUNG, S.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE YEUNG SUM THE HONOURABLE LAU KONG-WAH, J.P. THE HONOURABLE LAU WONG-FAT, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE MIRIAM LAU KIN-YEE, G.B.S., J.P.
    [Show full text]
  • Six-Monthly Report on Hong Kong January-June 2004
    Six-monthly Report on Hong Kong January-June 2004 Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs by Command of Her Majesty July 2004 Cm 6292 £ 7.00 © Crown copyright 2004 The text in this document (excluding the Royal Arms and departmental logos)maybe reproduced free of charge in any format or medium providing it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document specified. Any enquiries relating to the copyright in this document should be addressed to the Licensing Division, HMSO, St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ. Fax 010603 723000 or e-mail: [email protected] FOREWORD This is the fifteenth in a series of six-monthly reports to Parliament on the implementation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong. It covers the period from 1 January to 30 June 2004. The six months covered in this report have been dominated by the issue of constitutional reform, against the welcome background of a steadily improving economy. In our last report we described the delay to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government’s planned consultation process, and the establishment of the Task Force on constitutional reform. On 6 April the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) issued an “Interpretation” of the Basic Law, followed on 26 April by a “Decision” which set limits on constitutional developments in Hong Kong. This “Decision” ruled out the possibility of the election by universal suffrage of the Chief Executive in 2007 and the Legislative Council in 2008.
    [Show full text]
  • In Hong Kong: Creating a Yellow-Red Peril Discourse
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Digital Commons @ UM Law LOCALISTS AND “LOCUSTS” IN HONG KONG: CREATING A YELLOW-RED PERIL DISCOURSE Barry Sautman and YAN Hairong* Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION: TIME OF THE LOCUST .............................. 2 II. ANTI-MAINLANDER PREJUDICE IN HONG KONG ............ 12 III. CREATING A PECULIAR RACISM: COLONIAL MODERNITY AND RACISM IN SHANGHAI AND HONG KONG ............................................................................. 20 IV. HONG KONG INFESTED BY MAINLAND VISITORS? ........ 24 V. LICE! COCKROACHES! LOCUSTS!: INSECT LANGUAGE AND RACISM ...................................... 35 VI. THE ANTI-LOCUST CAMPAIGN AS ETHNIC VILIFICATION ........................................................................... 50 VII. LOCALIST LEADERS AND THEIR FRIENDS ....................... 66 VIII. CONCLUSION: PUNISHING THE VILIFIERS? ...................... 86 * Barry Sautman is a political scientist and lawyer at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. His main areas of research are China-Africa links, the Tibet Question and ethnic minority rights in China. YAN Hairong is an anthropologist at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and author of New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development, and Women Workers in China (Duke University Press, 2008). Her research interests include China-Africa links and the agrarian transformation in China. Her intellectual interests include labor, gender, rurality and rural- urban relations, socialism and post-socialism, etc. (1) 2 CONTEMPORARY ASIAN STUDIES SERIES I. INTRODUCTION: TIME OF THE LOCUST “A vast army of locusts has invaded my land. It is a terrible army, too numerous to count. Its teeth are as sharp as the teeth of lions . Bring the leaders and all the people into the temple of the Lord your God and cry out to Him there.”1 The Old Testament’s Book of Joel (1:6-16) depicts locust swarms bringing ruin to ancient Israel and foretelling the “End of Days” for hu- manity.
    [Show full text]
  • OFFICIAL RECORD of PROCEEDINGS Thursday, 26 June
    LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 26 June 2008 9305 OFFICIAL RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Thursday, 26 June 2008 The Council continued to meet at Nine o'clock MEMBERS PRESENT: THE PRESIDENT THE HONOURABLE MRS RITA FAN HSU LAI-TAI, G.B.M., G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ALBERT HO CHUN-YAN IR DR THE HONOURABLE RAYMOND HO CHUNG-TAI, S.B.S., S.B.ST.J., J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEE CHEUK-YAN THE HONOURABLE MARTIN LEE CHU-MING, S.C., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE DAVID LI KWOK-PO, G.B.M., G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE FRED LI WAH-MING, J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE LUI MING-WAH, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE MARGARET NG THE HONOURABLE MRS SELINA CHOW LIANG SHUK-YEE, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE JAMES TO KUN-SUN THE HONOURABLE CHEUNG MAN-KWONG THE HONOURABLE CHAN YUEN-HAN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE BERNARD CHAN, G.B.S., J.P. 9306 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 26 June 2008 THE HONOURABLE CHAN KAM-LAM, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE MRS SOPHIE LEUNG LAU YAU-FUN, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEUNG YIU-CHUNG THE HONOURABLE SIN CHUNG-KAI, S.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE PHILIP WONG YU-HONG, G.B.S. THE HONOURABLE WONG YUNG-KAN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE JASPER TSANG YOK-SING, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE HOWARD YOUNG, S.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE YEUNG SUM, J.P. THE HONOURABLE LAU CHIN-SHEK, J.P.
    [Show full text]
  • A Question of Patriotism
    A Question of Patriotism: Human Rights and Democratization in Hong Kong A Human Rights Watch briefing paper September 9, 2004 Introduction................................................................................................................................... 1 Background .................................................................................................................................... 6 The July 1, 2003 protest........................................................................................................... 6 The November Elections ........................................................................................................ 9 A Question of Patriotism........................................................................................................... 12 The Patriotism Campaign......................................................................................................15 A Question of Interpretation ....................................................................................................20 Intimidation of Prominent Journalists..................................................................................... 22 The threats against Cheng and Wong..................................................................................24 The Allen Lee case..................................................................................................................27 The September Elections..........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Profile of 'Radical' Hong Kong Legislator Raymond Wong Yuk-Man
    UNCLASSIFIED This product may contain copyrighted material; authorized use is for national security purposes of the United States Government only. Any reproduction, dissemination, or use is subject to the OSC usage policy and the original copyright. Show Full Version Report: Profile of 'Radical' Hong Kong Legislator Raymond Wong Yuk-man FEA20091002951146 - OSC Feature - OSC Report 02 Oct 09 [This item was originally filed as CPP20091002786002] Raymond Wong Yuk-man -- aka "Mad Dog" -- has been a virulent critic of both the Hong Kong Government and of more moderate voices in the opposition "pan-democratic camp" since his election to Hong Kong's Legislative Council in 2008. The Hong Kong press has voiced concerns that Wong and his allies may divide the Hong Kong opposition and set back the process of democratization. Since his election to Hong Kong's Legislative Council (LegCo) in September 2008 as a member of the radical pro-democracy League of Social Democrats (LSD), Raymond Wong Yuk-man's behavior and vehement criticism of the Hong Kong Government have earned him a large amount of media attention. -- In April, while criticizing Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah's proposed economic relief package as not generous enough, Wong called Tsang "Tai Bu Gai," meaning "you should not have done this." The term is a near-homophone for the vulgar Cantonese expression "pok kai," meaning "drop dead." Wong also began referring to Hong Kong citizens using the English phrase "poor guys" -- another pun on "pok kai" -- despite a reprimand from LegCo President Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, according to independent English-language daily The Standard (3 April 2009).
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons in Patriotism
    Current affairs China perspectives cefc News Analysis Lessons in Patriotism Producing national subjects and the de-Sinicisation debate in China’s post-colonial city KARITA KAN ifteen years after the former British colony’s “reunification with the ahead to the future of mainland-Hong Kong relations in the 18th Party Con- motherland” on 1 July 1997, the relationship between mainland China gress era. Fand Hong Kong remains as uneasy and conflict-ridden as ever. An in- creasingly porous border, evidenced by an influx of mainlanders from day- Learning to love China trippers to real estate speculators, as well as what is seen as the growing political influence of Beijing, have sparked popular fear in the Special Ad- During his visit to Hong Kong in commemoration of the 10th anniversary ministrative Region (SAR) over the imminent “mainlandisation” (daluhua 大 of reunification in 2007, President Hu Jintao highlighted the need to 陸化) of the city. Deepened resentment towards the mainland has also be- strengthen national education for youths in order to “pass on Hong Kong come more openly and unabashedly expressed: In February 2012, a full- compatriots’ glorious tradition of loving the country and loving Hong Kong” page advertisement was printed on the local tabloid Apple Daily (aiguo aigang de guangrong chuantong 愛國愛港的光榮傳統). This manifest condemning mainlanders as “locusts,” in retaliation for Peking University instruction from Beijing was swiftly heeded by the administration headed by professor Kong Qingdong’s provocative remarks that Hong Kongers are “bas- then Chief Executive Donald Tsang. The budget for national education wit- tards” and “running dogs of the British government.” (1) nessed a staggering six-fold rise from HK$5 million in 2006 to HK$35.3 million These recent flare-ups bring to the fore deeply rooted issues of belonging in 2007.
    [Show full text]