The All Pro-Beijing and Patriotic Media Formation Bed-Wetting Festival continues. The Standard warns that the Abode Floodgate Opens after applications for permanent residency from overseas maids leap from around one a month to a grand total of 17 (with official hearsay of 20 in one day). China Daily quotes a staff union boss as saying the Immigration Department could need an extra 300 to 400 officers (easy enough to recruit, surely, if you have 912,000 Filipinos suddenly joining the workforce).
The Beijing-controlled media have always engaged in orchestrated intimidation as a tool of suppressive government. In the early days of the PRC there were the Suppression of Reactionaries, the Three Anti’s, the Five Anti’s, the Elimination of Counter-revolutionaries and the Anti-Rightist campaigns, and that was before everything got really deranged in the 1960s. In this day and age, especially in nice, pluralistic Hong Kong, it comes across as a curious anachronism. On reading the daily spewing of venom about publisher Jimmy Lai and his American-controlled Gang of Four, notably Cardinal ‘devil in his heart’ Zen, you can only imagine that someone has his tongue in his cheek. An editor has ordered him to produce it, so the editor can pass it up to his boss in the Ministry, so his boss in the Ministry can cover his backside if some rival for a coveted post on the Politburo accuses him of being soft on US-backed Catholic subversives in Xianggang.
Which is why I can’t keep myself from reading it. How often do you get to see the headline…
How clean is Anson Chan? Having stood in close proximity to the diminutive Dame, I can confirm that she is as fragrant as can be. But the Wen Wei Po editorial reproduced in China Daily begs to differ. “She accepted huge amounts of cash donations without informing the relevant authorities,” it fumes (twice) amid an outpouring of ‘exposed’, ‘abuse of power’, ‘favouritism’, ‘scandal’, and ‘bribery’. The benighted schmuck reporting the old girl to the Independent Commission Against Corruption is treated as a novelty item by most of the press. They know there is no law against gifting money, and no relevant authorities to report it to, and as an attempt to smear her and Lai it can only backfire. But the Wen Wei Po writer urges investigation because Chan “undoubtedly has ignited suspicion she might have taken bribes,” in flagrant violation of the Suspicion (Alleged Ignition) Ordinance. It would be glorious if the Beijing mouthpieces accused the ICAC of being part of the imperialist plot when it tosses the complaint aside, but such a ‘contradiction’ will sadly go unnoticed.
Click to hear ‘It’s Fun to be Clean’ by the Human Beinz!
Off topic, but what is that word/concept Hemmers and others have mentioned before, the Chinese need to be first, or at least not to be without what others have?
I find it both funny and scary that the guys in Beijing are so out of touch with the reality of Hong Kong that they actually believe that a public temper tantrum in the form of personal attacks works.
They’ve come a long way since I first moved here in the stone age, but it only shows how far they have to go…
Wow !
Now even Anson Chan is accused of receiving “dirty funds” !
Wonders never cease
I wonder who sponsored “Wong Chi-wah, ( aged) 71” to file his complaint to the ICAC
And I noticed yesterday that the SCMP carried a full Leader saying that the DAB et al get about 40 – 50 $ Million in anonymous donations ( not to mention Albert Cheng’s op-ed to the same effect )
If there is one person in the whole of HK whom I would think of as epitomising TOTAL HONESTY it’s Anson Chan ( and whom I happen to know personally)
What on earth is happening these strange days ?
The irony is that their actions only prove a lot of what Mrs. Chan has to say. Far from silencing her, such articles I’m sure, will only strenghthen her resolve to see a better Hong Kong.
I think you’re thinking of kiasu, Sir Crispin.
Ya thanks Iffy!
2 countries, 2 systems, they said in 1997.
But I am getting the feeling that we in HK are more and more being held hostage and bullied by those from the other system.
And if it really was 2 systems, Jasper Tsang would not be chairing Legco.
I think the larger picture is this – The next CE and legislature (involving DC Super Constituencies) are going to be tasked with formulating political reform and passing it into law. According to Beijing’s timetable this allows for universal suffrage first for the CE and then for the legislature.
Beijing has to start the process of insuring the right sort are involved at all levels to make the system so skewed in their favour – number of nominations from the election committee, keeping the functional constituencies etc – that effective control is kept. So start with the Jimmy Apple (the Banker), Dame Conscience, Cardinal Devil Heart and those nasty Civics’ for helping brown people move here.
Next Autumn it will be the Democrats.
In fairness, Anson should come out and explain what was done with the money. Cardinal Devil Heart has given an explanation. Maybe she bought more handbags
Perhaps you’re reading too much China Daily? Like the Daily Mail, it’s bad for blood pressure. A man your age…etc….
Is that really Anson Chan or her twin sister?
If a heart attack is imminent, you might as well bring it on by reading a rag featuring page 3 boobies rather than communist nonsense.
Is time to stop pussy footing around. Sue China Daily for libel.
What worries me most of all is the “spaced-out” face of Stephen Lam in the pic ( almost Zen – like / forgive the pun )
What on earth is he smoking these days ?
Surely not Henry’s used socks……
Just clicked the link to ” how clean is Anson Chan” and read in detail
What pure BS
So … retired Govt officials getting small money from Jimmy Lai is verboten
OK – la
But what about retired Govt officials getting big money from property tycoons ? Nicht – verboten !
Methinks I will personally report 39 Conduit Road to the ICAC and see what happens