District council election hopefuls in Hong Kong fight for credit for tiny feat
As campaigning in district council elections gets under way, candidates race to take credit for a 10 cent cut in a planned bus fare increase
Campaigning for district council elections appears to have kicked off early as hopefuls compete to claim the credit for saving constituents the grand sum of 10 cents.
A banner in Argyle Street, aimed at shoppers headed to Mong Kok's street markets, trumpets Andy Yu Tak-po's success in reducing the planned fare increase for the 79K green minibus by 10 cents - to HK$4.70 from a proposed HK$4.80. The route runs between Mong Kok East Station and the Park Avenue private housing estate in Tai Kok Tsui, part of the Fu Pak constituency where Yu, vice-chairman of the Civic Party's Kowloon West branch, has been garnering support over the past two years.
He is tipped to be on the list of candidates fighting to represent one of the 19 constituencies that make up the Yau Tsim Mong District Council when Hongkongers go to the polls in November.
Meanwhile, in the neighbouring constituency of Charming, named after the Charming Garden residential estate, another banner proclaims the success of Yau Tsim Mong District Council chairman Chung Kong-mo in cutting fare increases on the 79K.
Chung, who is expected to seek re-election in November, pinpoints the section of the route between Reclamation Street and Luen Wan Street in Mong Kok when saying his successful lobbying saw the fare for that stretch cut to HK$3.40 from a planned HK$3.50.
He said his lobbying led the hike along the whole route to decrease to HK$4.70. "I pay attention to every detail in my district," said Chung, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
Yu said he submitted signatures from 800 constituents opposing the fare rises when he met transport officials on January 8, 10 days before the fare increases took effect. However, he added: "I don't rule out the possibility that the reduction was due to lobbying by other groups."
Unfortunately for Yu's case, the Transport Department informed Yau Tsim Mong District Council's traffic and transport committee on January 7 that the rises would decrease by 10 cents.
Levis Wong Wood-ling, the department's transport officer for Mong Kok, said officials took into account the minibus company's needs to continue operating the route and the residents' ability to afford the fare increases before reaching a final decision.
Chan Wai-keung, The Yau Tsim Mong district councillor who currently represents Fu Pak, did not respond to attempts by the to contact him.
The claims by Chung and Yu are reminiscent of DAB member Yim Kwok-keung's boast during the district council elections of 2003 that he had secured pedestrians an extra three seconds' crossing time at traffic lights. He, too, was vying for the Fu Pak constituency, but lost.
Dr Ma Ngok, a political scientist at Chinese University, said the banners put up by Yu and Chung showed how parochial grass-roots politics had become.
With just a few thousand voters in a constituency, a candidate can win the seat with as few as 1,000 votes. Fu Pak constituency has a population of about 18,800.
