Hong Kong purports to have freedom of speech but it longer does.

Just 2020, the following political figures who represent the people have been arrested on very tenuous grounds:-

28 Februrary, 2020

• Jimmy Lai -Media tycoon of Apple Daily - the police have charged Jimmy Lai for "illegal assembly" which is a nebelous law that is open to abuse and also added an "intimdation" charge from 2017 in which he was purported to have sworn at a reporter - why wait so long?
• Yeung Sum - ex lawmaker (LEGCO) and former chief of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong
• Lee Cheuk Yan - general secretary of the independent Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU)

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2020/02/28/hong-kong-police-arrest-pro-democracy-newspaper-tycoon-jimmy-lai-labour-party-vice-chair-lee-cheuk-yan/

The 3 have been arrested for illegal assembly and the move is politically motivated. With tens of thousands and potentially hundreds of thousands attending the event on the 31 August why selectively arrest only these 3 people? and why after 6 months too? Why were the other participants not arrested and charged?

26 March, 2020

Ms Cheng Lai King, who is a district councillor, was arrested for a dracion charge of "sedition" because she was alleged to have shared the name of the police officer who fired a bean bag at a journalist’s eye. The police spokesperson said that "….Someone posted speech that advocates violence and incites hatred…." and hence the charge.

With the district council coming up in September 2020; it will be very important for the democratic camp to achieve more than 50% in LEGCO so that  change can effected like reducing police budget, blocking white elephant projects, spearheading the commission of an independent investigation into police abuse over the last 7 months of unrest.

Hong Kong is at a critical juncture with the Chinese Communist Party and its cronies abusing their powers to stamp out any dissenting voice. Time for Hong Kong to stand up to tyranny and preserve one country two systems.

Tags: abuse, CCP, China, choked, communist party, end of the communist party, freedom of speech, hong kong, police abuse
Posted in General News & Events, Politics in Hong Kong | Comments Off

Hong Kong has been descended into chaos and the crisis is deepening with every passing day  and there does not seem to be an end in sight. Carrie Lam single-handedly created this mess by announcing on the 10th June 2019 that she would push through the contraversial extradition bill even though 1 million people took to the streets on the 9th June, 2019. Just yesterday, she announced on 12 November 2019 that it was "wishful thinking" that the protesters will get any of their 5 demands. Her popularity rating is now at 20 and is the lowest that any chief executive has ever been able to achieve. 

Beijing cannot back down now after 25 weeks of unrest because the communist party do not want to appear weak before its people nor to International political watchers; especially when there is an ongoing trade war with the US. The protesters and the police have been battling it out for 25 weeks with a few deaths already and over 3,000 people arrested; so the protesters' are obviously livid and will not back down until their 5 demands are met. The police will not back down now either nor will it allow the government to conduct an independent inquiry.  All sides have suffered too much and there is too proverbial water under the bridge thus the situation has escalated to a level that is very hard for any side to back down. The events have overtaken the administration and evidently Carrie Lam’s government does not have the experience nor the political ability to deal with this crisis.

As an observer of the events unravelling I see with clarity why the crisis is deepening and why Carrie Lam’s administration is woefully incapable of handling the situation. Let us look at her background, she has been a civil servant for the last 40 years with little experience in PR, little contact with the working class and therefore little knowledge of  what life is like at the bottom. 40 years in civil service has left her extremely bureaucratic and must observe with exactitude a process before a decision can be made; her secretary would form a committee, contact each member to arrange a meeting, create an agenda for the meeting, have the meeting and a few resolutions are made, minute the meeting and then perhaps second meeting to finalise the strategy and then get the PR to draft the speech and then the communication is made. This whole process may take 6 weeks. Meanwhile the protests are unravelling at a staggering speed with fluidity that flows like water; one minute they flow to Wong Tai Sin and the next they are in Sai Wan Ho; so everything that Carrie Lam’s administration is responding to is 6 weeks too late. Unfortunately for her, she likes to surround herself with yes men and sycophants who do what she tells them and any voice of dissent will be quickly stamped out.  

The protesters have lost a comrade recently who fell off a parking lot and they are demanding a full investigation and condemnation of the police violence by the university chancellor. So far, neither of these demands have happened. The protesters are becoming ever more radical and they must be appeased otherwise the situation will only get worse before it gets better.

Given this complex web of interest groups each with their own agenda, demands and bottom lines, the situation is becoming increasingly more difficult to untangle with each passing day so what is the solution? What we need now is time. Time to slow down. Time to think. Time to put place strategies to deal with the unrest. Time to heal. We don't have time. And events occurring at an extremely fast pace time is what the government does not have. Although I would like to see it but the only solution is for Carrie Lam to commit suicide; if she commits suicide then it would allow Beijing to find a replacement without losing face domestically or internationally; it would cause the protesters to rejoice and also remove a person from whom they can make their 5 demands so whilst a chief executive is being sought they would probably quieten down giving the government precious time to regroup and re-strategise. Unfortunately, the situation has reached a political impasse and the only way out is for Carrie Lam to be the sacrifical "Lam". 

Posted in Environment in Hong Kong, General News & Events, Politics in Hong Kong | Comments Off

Peter Wong died on 11th March 2019. The blog is saddened by his death and sends condolences to his loved ones. 

He was remembered as a proponent of article 23. What benefits did he stand to gain from his staunch position as a supporter? I guess it garnered him favours from the overlords of Beijing. No self-respecting Hong Kong citizen would want to enact Article 23; only those who stand to gain personally from the enactment of the law would support it. We suspect Peter Wong was one of them. May he rest in peace and anyone else who supports Article 23.

Maybe it was God’s will maybe it was just karma. 

Tags: article 23, death, god's will, karma, peter wong man-kong
Posted in Environment in Hong Kong, Politics in Hong Kong | Comments Off

It is worrying that the government under CY Leung has denied the Free-TV license. This is no doubt the work of Communist Party who wish to control the media in Hong Kong; it is a violation of Hong Kong’s press freedom. Next, we will be seeing tanks in Victoria Park when we have a solitary vigil for the next June 4 commeration.

There is  no doubt that CY Leung is a communist party member. His open denial of the facts is a blatant lie.

Posted in Politics in Hong Kong | Comments Off

CY Leung must have witnessed the immensely-difficult line that his predecessors had to tread trying to keep both (i) the people of Hong Kong and (ii) Beijing happy. Unfortunately, these parties are so diametrically-opposite in virtually every way that any policy that favours one will invariably displease the other. National Education is but one of these policies. It will be important for the administration to assess properly the political calculus of trying to bulldoze through National Education and conduct necessary cost/benefit analysis.

If I had to identify the single cause of the current fiasco it would be China’s reputation management problem. Each time a bridge collapses, each time we are told that a blind activist committed suicide, each time a princeling crashes a Ferrari, each time milk is tainted, each time journalists are roughed up; China’s reputation is damaged. The less reputation China has the harder it will be to get policies like National Education through.

It would be churlish for the administration to try to bulldoze through National Education because of the political repercussions that will ensue. Instead the administration should go back to Beijing and say "We are trying our best to get National Education through but it is met with great resistance due entirely to your terrible brand/reputation management. You have made this an impossible task for us. This is how you can help - if you can dramatically improve your reputation over the next 3 years we will be able to get National Education through no problems. Can you help?". Politics is ultimately a trade - let us not be cornered into an unfavourable deal.

Tags: education, hk, hong kong, national, National Education
Posted in Politics in Hong Kong | Comments Off

Hong Kong needs a third runway and everyone can agree that it can help the economy.  The price tag of HK$ 130+ billion for building it is just insane.  Frankfurt airport managed to build a runway recently and it cost them HK$ 10 billion all in - why should it take us 13x that amount. Frankfurt has a minimum wage level that is higher than Hong Kong.

I think the government should offer a break down for that HK$ 136 billion before we should even consider this option further.

Tags: 3rd, hk, hong kong, RUNWAY, third, third runway
Posted in General News & Events, Gripes | Comments Off

Yesterday, I tried to vote (16 May, 2010) at my local polling station.

I had already completed, signed and faxed back my application to become an eligible voter which I found on Google to be http://www.reo.gov.hk/pdf/reo1_form.pdf around a week ago. A day or so before 16 May, 2010 - I received a letter which mentioned that I had become an eligible voter for a particular disctrict. However when I turned up at the polling station yesterday the local officials told me that I was not eligible and said that because this is a re-election only registered voters from 2009 could vote. I told them this is now 2010 and I am officially an eligible voter.

I tried to vote but couldn't - I wonder whether there are many others like me.

Posted in Politics in Hong Kong | 1 Comment »

Coming into effect today (1st April, 2010) is the new legislation that allows developers to force small owners to sell their flats within a building after it has acquired 80 per cent of the property interests in the building. This affects residential buildings older than 50 years.

Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) mentioned on the radio the day before Legco voted on the notion saying that this new law was in the interest of the Hong Kong public and revitalisation of Hong Kong but in reality the law lowers the leverage and bargaining power of small flat owners agains developers.

A seven-storey tenement block on Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (55 years old) along with three neighbouring blocks, has been an acquisition target. Richfield Realty which is helping Henderson Land to acquire this block stopped negotiating with one of the owners since January because they suspected that the law to lower the threshold would be passed and said the owner that they will talk contact him again in April.  Now the owner is worried that the developer will offer him an even lower offer than the one he had rejected before.

The original offer made by Richfield was ~HK$ 4 million or HK$ 5,700 /sq.ft. for the owner’s 700 sq. ft. flat which measures 1,200 sq. ft. if his share of common areas is included. A new flat developed in same spot would sell for ~3 times that; so effectively once the owner is compelled to sell he would need to move elsewhere.

A similar incident happened to an owner (Victor Sin Ho-yuen) who had a shop on Haven Street (希雲街) , in causeway bay who had to sell his shop on ground floor for ~HK$ 2 million. The court case cost him HK$ 4 million in legal fees. He laments that he would probably lose his second shop too in a similar way. Sin said that the supplementary measures and the mediation system were useless, because the developed showed no intention to mediate last time.

It is appalling that this is happening in Hong Kong. Individual rights are being eroded and it is sad to see Hong Kong heading down this route.

Tags: 80%, 90%, compulsory sale, developers, haven street, henderson land, kimberley road, kimberly road, lowering threshold
Posted in Gripes, Warnings | Comments Off

Henderson Land announced in October 2009 that 24 flats at their newly developed residential site on 39 Conduit Road had just been sold and one of them for a record of over HK$ 70,000/sq. ft..

Until today 29 March, 2010 - only 1 of the 24 transactions have completed, the remainder are yet to be completed. The Development Bureau’s 25 March press release is as follows:-

With regard to the transactions of 24 units of "39 Conduit Road", a
Government spokesman said today (March 25) that the Lands Department had
received the reply to its inquiries from companies of the Henderson Land
Development Co Ltd (the Companies) yesterday (March 24). "The Companies
replied that they had entered into a verbal agreement with the 24
purchasers to extend the completion of the sale and purchase for a period
of between two to four months, therefore no assignment had been executed or
delivered to the Land Registry for registration. Also, the Companies said
that the completion of the sales might be further extended," the spokesman
said. "Given that the Companies had entered into new agreements with
the purchasers verbally and could not be definite about whether the
transactions could eventually be completed, the Lands Department issued
another letter to the Companies today (March 25) requesting further
information. "We will continue to closely monitor whether the
transactions will eventually be completed and whether there is any
anomaly."

In normal sales and purchase of properties, the buyer and seller enter into agreement in writing and the buyer usually pays a deposit to guarantee the purchase and if the buyer fails to complete then he/she will forfeit the deposit paid and if the seller fails to complete then the seller has to return the deposit to the buyer and pay a compensation fee equivalent to the deposit. It is peculiar that no deposits have been forfeited for these transactions and furthermore the standard completion period is 2 months and it seems peculiar that Henderson should only negotiate the extension for completion when pressured by the government to provide answers 5 months after the buyers and Henderson Land entered into contract.

Moreover, it seems peculiar that all 24 buyers bought using British Virgin Island companies or other vehicles whose buyers cannot be looked up, so the identity of the buyers are to-date unknown.

Lastly, according to information from the Companies Registry, different shell companies were used to buy the 24 units. All of them used the same law firm, Lo & Lo Solicitors, also registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Tags: 39 conduit road, bvi, hong kong, law firm, lawyers, lo & lo, record property price, same lawyer, 天匯
Posted in Environment in Hong Kong, General News & Events, Politics in Hong Kong | 6051 Comments »

The URA receives HK$ 10 Billion each year from the Hong Kong government; it promulgates transparency and is registered as a non-profit organisation. However, the URA refuses to release a breakdown of its revenues and balance sheets. On its website (www.ura.org.hk), you cannot find information about its shareholders and their respective shareholdings nor can you find detailed financial information about joint projects.

The URA works on joint projects with developers in Hong Kong and the latest one that sickens even the most devout of free market believers is the Tsim Sha Tsui project called the "Masterpiece" jointly developed by New World and the URA; New World has sold 39 units to business associates at the beginning of the private sales followed by sales of units to top management and their relatives to generate an artificial image of high demand and also to give buyers an opportunity to evade the payment of stamp duty.  This controversial sales tactic was adopted at the "Merton" in Kennedy Town - the last joint project between New World and the URA 5 years ago which generated an outcry from the public and others in the industry and yet 5 years later the same unscrupulous tactic has been allowed to recur.

Lawmakers need to step up the regulation of the URA and enact new rules to make the URA more accountable to the public, reduce its collusion with private developer through legal means and ensure that the URA’s powers are checked.

Posted in Politics in Hong Kong | 9360 Comments »