Double Standards - August 98

Not the South China Morning Post Leon

24th August 1998 Double Standards by our own columnist... Leon in Canada Remember around this time last year when some crazy middle-aged lady walked into a land auction event and caused total chaos by her "bids"? Ironically, this was pretty much the same time when the Asian bubble economies blew their biggest fart. Pretty much ever since then, the pro-Beijing lackeys have been accusing those in the liberal media of applying double standards. They state that the democrats and their sympathizers turn a blind eye towards the faults of the colonial government while being overtly critical of anything that the SAR government does. After all this mumbo-jumbo, there�s the bullshit rhetoric about how these people should stop being the running-dogs of white men and learn to respect their race. Well, lets learn from these "patriots" exercise objectivity in judgment and present themselves as proud Chinese. An excerpt from Article 67 of the Basic Law stipulates that 20% of Legco representatives may be composed of members who have the right of abode in foreign countries. There were questions surrounding whether these legislators will be able to show their loyalty to Hong Kong and China. Some members of the pro-Beijing faction even stated that this allowance was an act of generosity to the democrats. After all, having foreign connections increases one�s likelihood to be a democrat due to a deeper influence of decadent Western values. Suddenly, the regulations concerning the last election were changed by Tung. Although 20% of those in Legco may have the right of abode in foreign countries, all of these members must be legislators from the elitist Functional Constituencies. The lame excuse from the pro-Beijing running-dogs is that these new regulations can calm the fears of the elite. In other words, a British passport on Emily Lau means that she�s a seditionist but the same passport on Ron Arseculli means that he�s a patriotic civil servant of Hong Kong who just happened to have a foreign travelling document. A few months ago, RTHK was harshly criticized by a prominent leftist for its "anti-Chinese" stance and being biased in favour of the democratic faction. Charges that the media in general were applying double standards when criticizing the British Hong Kong government and the SAR government have been made repeatedly by pro-Beijing groups, including the pro-Beijing business community. However, stories have surfaced concerning the fact that some in the business community have called upon the "overthrow" (as translated literally from Cantonese) of Tung Chee-hwa! If the liberal media was harshly criticized for their "double standards," these businesspeople should be put away in Stanley Prison for sedition. Guess what folks? These asswipes are the "foundation" of our community so it�s perfectly alright for them to make such constructive comments. With respect to the property market, Tung Chee-hwa had the right idea to solve the problem. Once his mandate started, he immediately took measures to lower the real estate prices by increasing the supply of homes for lower and middle income families. He recognized that money tied up in real estate can hurt the long term development of Hong Kong�s economy. But no, the real estate developers were losing out so they intervened and pressured Tung to water down his plans. Instead of freshly squeezed orange juice we were short-changed with Tang. As expected though, neither Beijing nor the pro-Beijing media accused these bloodhounds of destabilizing the economy. And of course, the attention is diverted at the evil foreign investors. Doesn�t that sound just like the Malaysian PM Mohammed "Madhatter" Mahathir? To all the Beijing butt-kissers out there, thinking for yourselves won�t give you brain tumor. You know, that crazy middle-aged lady doesn�t seem too crazy in hindsight after all! She pointed out in a unique and effective way that property prices in Hong Kong were (and still are) totally ridiculous.