The opinion polls following the Chief Executive candidates’ debate last night show: CY Leung 36%; Henry Tang 21%; Albert Ho 14%; None of this rabble 20%; Don’t know 9%. This brings CY’s lead over Henry well within the 20-point range that landlord Allan Zeman judges to be necessary to qualify Henry for appointment. Those of us with a more demanding definition of credibility may consider 36% a bit of a stretch – and that is presumably the pro-Henry camp’s hope in this bitter struggle: drag CY’s ratings down so he becomes as unthinkable as CE as their own candidate.
Henry announced at the debate that he had gone to the Independent Commission Against Corruption to make an official whine about CY’s accusation that he was 
lying when he said CY wanted to tear-gas Article 23 demonstrators in 2003. It seems the ICAC has become a sort of notary public willing to accept sworn statements on any subject from politicians who have been, or wish to appear to have been, slighted.
Henry’s breach of the rule of confidentiality – even if he is in fact innocent of the offense because he is making up the whole tear-gas story – has done him more harm than good. He made himself look better last night on the occasions he pronounced his fulsome support for universal suffrage. It is late in the day and of course, like his protestations about the public interest, totally unconvincing – especially when billionaire supporters joined in the fervent applause. But it highlighted CY’s almost painful reluctance to show any enthusiasm for what hardcore Communist loyalists dismiss as ‘Western-style democracy’.
If the pro-Henry camp want to make the most of an anyone-but-CY-(even-if-not-Henry) strategy, and can’t produce halfway decent smears, the way to go must surely be to highlight CY Leung as culturally alien to Hongkongers. Obviously they have to do it without appearing less than proud as Chinese, but it is perfectly acceptable for the great and good in the Big Lychee to go on and on about how much they cherish freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, of assembly and how much they adore common law, and juries and judges in wigs. All these things get Beijing’s stamp of approval on this side of the border courtesy of the Basic Law, even though serious patriots consider them necessary foreign and colonial evils at best, and certainly can’t bring themselves to celebrate them. It is one way the tycoons can drive a wedge between CY and the masses.
CY could fight back more forcefully against apparent smears – but he doesn’t. Perhaps he is hoping that by turning the other cheek and being polite he will please Beijing officials who are shocked and dismayed by the strife within the Hong Kong establishment and have called for a bit more peace, love and understanding. But his reticence isn’t helping him in the polls. If Beijing has abandoned Henry, and doesn’t want the embarrassment of holding a hasty and heavily rigged second campaign, it would help to give the remaining option a discreet boost. Maybe the Liaison Office would like to orchestrate a heavy pro-CY turnout at Hong Kong University’s ‘civil referendum’ on March 23. A 51% share of the vote would do the trick.
In all the excitement, poor old current Chief Executive Donald Tsang seems to have disappeared. Maybe he is keeping his head down and hoping we will soon forget his own humiliation at the hands of public opinion and the media over his tycoons’ yachts and Shenzhen apartment scandals. Lest he slip from our minds completely, I can’t resist this: an SCMP Harry cartoon, rejected by the prissy editors but now appearing in the Foreign Correspondents Club’s magazine…
What? No homophone humour allowed in the SCMP? Whale Oil Beef Hooked.
So, let me guess. Harry’s cartoon was rejected as misleading because it defies all notions of reality by showing Stephen Lam communicating about a current scandal?
Went to Charice’s rock concert at Kowloon Bay last night, right next door to the CE Forum.
There was shouting and foot-stomping at both venues, one happy the other not.
One is forced to say that Charice would make a better CE than the candidates if only for the cost savings on the police force, of which there was none for her and about 1,000 for the others.
“Liaison Office ‘lobbying for Leung’
The honorary chairman of the Liberal Party, James Tien, says Beijing’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong has been phoning members of the election committee to ask them to vote for C Y Leung in the Chief Executive election. Mr Tien says he expects Mr Leung will win the contest on Sunday. Mr Tien supports rival candidate, Henry Tang.”
Game over..nothing to see here….move along please, and enjoy the 7s…..
If Henry had an unatrophied brain cell left, he would offer Albert Ho the Chief Secretary job and form a Hong Kong Core Values alliance to totally outflank CY.
The popular support from the move would demolish CY and tell the tycoons that hey, the kid has brains and chutzpah. So let in Ho and let him piss out of the tent.
Ho would die of vainglory at being offered the position and shoe shine would become boot lick as quickly as you can say Hemlock.
The night calls, my creatures. Some people are always occluded. Henry is one of them.
I haven’t any phuking idea what tang is now doing : seems he’s gone completely out of control , or just lost it .
( Anyway, as Hemmers wrote yesterday and Alex Lo wrote today : what was SO WRONG about being a closet commie sympathiser in the mid 1980’s when to be such was at considerable personal risk ? And as for riot police and tear gas – I think they’ll need them on July 1 if the awful tang gets in
BTW: The ‘ civil referendum’ link in today’s column above tracks through nicely to the pop vote website : I just tried a trial vote and it works very well : type in your ID card number + mobile number , then send a SMS to the pop vote line ( it’s on the page) within the next couple of minutes to active your vote page , which then appears immediately , then vote .
The website is open now for trial voting until 20.00 PM tonight ( all trial voting results are erased every hour )
Henry seems to be complaining to the ICAC “because the wolf lied”. I very much welcome this enlargement of the underworked commission’s ambit: if everyone in HK were to lie at least once a day, often before breakfast, that would soon swamp the complaints against Donald and the Heung Yee Kuk’s friends.
There may be a simple explanation for the frustrating lack of new scandals about Henry: in previous rounds, it’s been the underdog who has benefitted from the juicy scandals. In other words, CY’s friends are still confident of winning, because of — or despite? — the Pekineses’ calls, and the racehorse will have to get a move on if public opinion, for what it counts, is to put a spoke in the “election’s” wheels.
So Albert Ho were you listening carefully – No Legco special enquiries, talk of blank ballots or mock polls for a couple of days – one of the candidates has offered you full universal suffrage nivana. Bite his hand off and throw your 200 votes behind him vocally now. See what the other one does ?
Of course The Horse has just shot his final fatal bullet as he is now unselectable in the CCP’s eyes (universal Suffrage – what was he thinking)Game, Set and Match to the Wolf.
@Bela Lugosi,
Great idea – for Albert Ho read Nick Clegg!!!
@RTP – “And as for riot police and tear gas – I think they’ll need them on July 1 if the awful tang gets in”
I’d suggest they will need them well before July 1 if Tang is “selected/elected”. Wonder how long before the Great Chinese Firewall surrounds HK (or is activated) and FB/Twit are blocked to stop the spontaneous protesters from joining up en-mass.
I am all pan-democratic and such but Albert Ho is not something Hong Kong needs.
@ Adrian
I think you’re correct.
And if you delve into the meat of ET’s accusation it was in the context that one of the various groups after the “great” July 1 march that toppled Tung ( which march I joined and it was a lot of fun and very peaceful) had threatened to get 100,000 people together to storm and occupy Central . Now that’s LOT of people.
I took part in last year’s July 1 march which was in total about 200,000. It was noisy – precisely because we had been told not to make a noise – but also a big, peaceful street l carnival. But then a few dozen extremists stayed on till the mid evening trying to occupy a space round about BOC building , and it got quite rowdy , and there were many comments afterwards that that stupid extreme behaviour by a few dozen ‘idiots’ detracted from the general positive feeling of the main march.
Translate that few dozen last year into 100,000 very angry, pissed off people with the specific aim of paralysing Central, then you have a situation where anyone on EXCO who did NOT consider using riot police and tear gas would have had to have been a phuking irresponsible idiot – or an opportunistic fence -sitter
What phuks me off is that there’s this hypocritic idiot ET who cocks his nose blatantly at laws/ rules made while he himself was CS , and now he has the cheek to accuse CY of “doing bad things” when all CY – and any other like-minded EXCO members at the time – were just trying to uphold the Rule of Law .
Read again David Webb today : by lying about his basement ET has also been guilty of tax evasion because he’s been underpaying his rates for the past several years, rates being based on actual floor area.
Who really cares if LCY was/is a Communist. I, for one, would welcome the tycoons leaving HK in droves, then we might all be able to get on with our lives. There are plenty of budding entrepreneurs in HK and around the world willing to take over their “monopolies”. I would welcome Sainsburies, Tesco, Carrefour et al to move in on HK with a decent monopolies law in place. Good riddance to the blood sucking leeches!
Highly amused at the sight of dear old “Long Hair” lambasting LCY for being a Communist whilst wearing his “Che” T-shirt!! Only in HK!!
Henry Tang complaining about someone else’s lack of truthfulness? I’ve seen everything now. If Tang is elected I’ll be marching as well.
Tang has screwed himself on all fronts. He’s embarrassed and annoyed BJ by defying two “instructions” to act out this farce in a gentlemanly manner to keep the numbers up. He’s been a non-runner with the public since the basement fiasco, he’s buggered any chance of joining the next administration, and he’ll be useless to his tycoon cronies come Sunday.
Not only that, BJ is going to give HK a bit of rope in 2017 but after witnessing the current ugly taste of “democracy” I think we’ll see a lot less rope.
Thank you dobbin.
Two months for breaking a flower pot & damaging a door. Ten years for an illegal basement please.
What a bloody farce! Let’s summarize … Henry has an illegitimate child, an illegal basement, has cheated on his wife and has just breached the undertaking he gave to keep Exco discussions confidential. This is a man who lied to his wife, lied to his employer, lied to his colleagues and lied to the public … and yet he believes we should trust him to run Hong Kong.
Is he the most delusional man in Hong Kong? Votes please.
Seems there’s a consensus among this group that ET has well and truly phucked up any chance he ever had as CE , besides pissing of not only 99% of HK and now also BJ
But that does not automatically mean everyone in HK likes CY. It’s strange how every other person I casually ask say they don’t like CY ” because he’s a commie ” : but when I point out that 90% of the DAB including Jasper Tsang are also closet commies and 100% of the Heung Yee Kuk are open triads they can’t see the irony .
But it DOES seem from today’s news that BJ has decided enough is enough and have scuppered ET’s campaign with a broadside below the water-line.
I wonder if anyone will even dare vote for the horse after this.
Apparently Leung will get more than 689 votes, including the 3rd government (aka the kuk), who have been promised an amnesty on illegal structures.
Since the “local” chairman of the CP will be running the show, I hereby propose that what used to be called the 2nd government of HK (the liaison office) be henceforth called the 1st one.
RTP’s vociferous defense of Leung is getting out of hand. Using tear gas and riot police against peaceful protestors is just “upholding the rule of law”? Li Peng would surely agree.
Let’s keep in mind that despite this forum’s pet cause of tycoon monopolization in HK, the problems of wealth gap (as measured by the Gini co-effecient) and crony capitalism are worse in the mainland than here. That the communist party has managed to combine these economic issues with a lack of freedom of speech, the press, and association is not to their credit.
At this point it is clear that Leung is smarter than Tang. But it is not clear that he is any more committed to Hong Kong’s vital tradition of liberalism. I fear that posters here are in for a sever case of buyer’s remorse in the next few years, and we may come to reflect on Donald’s reign as the good old days.