Public Eye
Holding our noses as leading judge is dumped
Something stinks yet we are choosing not to smell it. We should demand answers, but we are not even asking questions. Why? This business of Mr Justice Kemal Bokhary being ousted as a Court of Final Appeal judge due to age reeks of sewer stench. It attacks judicial independence. And that, in turn, is an attack on our free society. But we are not circling the wagons. Except for a few lone voices we have remained mute. Bokhary's liberal activism as a top judge has got up the noses of our rulers. They fear his dissenting voice. So when retirement age came they ousted him. Yes, ousted because they replaced him with an older judge. How else can you sensibly explain sticking to the retirement rule for Bokhary yet not for his successor? Did Bokhary fail to fulfil his duties? Did he abuse the system? Was he on the take? Our rulers have not made any such claims. In fact, his peers applauded his dedication to the rule of law. Yet our rulers dumped him. That's why the whole thing reeks. Who decided not to retain him beyond retirement age when others have been kept on? If we remain mute we are allowing sewer stench to infiltrate the independence of our judiciary.
Carrie Lam should forget Henry and tackle the kuk
Something else stinks. And it's got to do with double standards. Remember how development chief Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor (pictured) pounced when the media revealed former chief secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen's illegal basement? She ordered her people to his house within days to conduct a high-profile probe under the glare of the media. She herself talked tough before television cameras, declaring she'll do everything by the book. Her dislike of Tang is no secret. Her ambition to be the number two for incoming chief executive Leung Chun-ying is no secret, too. If she so insists on doing everything by the book, why are all those illegal structures in the New Territories still standing? Why haven't there been high-profile searches for illegal structures at the homes of all those defiant Heung Yee Kuk bosses? Many illegal New Territories structures have been there for years. Why hasn't she demolished any? Does she fear the kuk? Or is it a case of nauseating double standards?
Political disharmony can work in public's interests
Oh no, not another dinner. But mercifully, the alleged triad boss nicknamed 'Shanghai Boy' isn't being invited this time as a mystery guest. That's because tomorrow's sit-down isn't about canvassing votes. It's about the 'great reconciliation'. Organiser Tam Yiu-chung, chief of the Beijing-friendly Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, wants it as a unity dinner after the election mud-slinging between the C. Y. Leung and Henry Tang factions of the pro-establishment camp. Beijing's top man on Hong Kong matters, Wang Guangya, also wants a 'great reconciliation'. Who are they kidding? Don't they know there is no such thing as political harmony? Those who believe in it are delusional. Besides, the Leung and Tang people loathe each other. Any 'great reconciliation' will be just a show. And what's so wrong with establishment supporters loathing each other anyway? If the disunity ends their slavish support for the government then the people win.
Let protesters stay until our problems are fixed
Voices are growing to throw out the 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters who have camped out for months now in the HSBC concourse in Central. Let them stay, Public Eye says. Their eyesore stands as a daily reminder of the excessive power of the tycoons, the wealth gap, rising poverty, sub-divided slum flats, caged homes and all the others things that have sparked the class war we are now seeing. Until these things are fixed the anti-rich protest movement should stay where it is. It is an eyesore only to those who live in upscale homes and have fat pay cheques. To everyone else, it is not an eyesore. It is hope.
