WHEN I drop my ballot into a box on September 18, I know for whom I shall be voting. It's a man I have never met. I've no idea what he does for a living or from where he hails.
I don't know what sort of label you can slap on this fellow, and I don't really care. I shall be ticking the name of Pang Cheung-wai because he is the only politician on the planet who has ever done anything directly to help me. And that's what politics is all about: you vote for the people who are on your side, those who help you, those who listen to the problems of their constituents and do something about them.
Far too many of our District Board members seem to talk about matters far from their local bailiwick. They spout off about human rights in China, international trade and relations with other countries. They worry about matters far from their domains, issues over which they have no control or influence.
They are, of course, entitled to their opinions on such matters. But that is not what they are elected for; District Board members should be concentrating on improving the quality of life and services to people in their areas. Like Mr Pang . . . A few months ago, myself and hundreds of others who live in Fotan were being tormented every single night by the wailing, whooping and agonised squeals of vehicular anti-theft alarms. I live up the hill from a public car park run by Hong Kong Security, and every night I was dragged from sleep by an uproar as alarms fitted to expensive cars made the night hideous. It seems the alarms were so delicate that when another vehicle rumbled into the car park, they were set off.
It invariably seemed to explode at about 3am. The racket of a half-dozen sirens echoed up the valley and bounced, amplified, off granite quarry walls and the faces of other buildings. It was a nightmare.
I once drove down to the car park but the aged gentlemen locked into the guard hut would not speak to me. I called the managing director of Hong Kong Security but, despite promises of action, the nightly uproar continued.