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Joshua Wong, Benny Tai and Jimmy Lai were voted the most hated political figures according to a poll by the Silent Majority for Hong Kong. Photos: SCMP
Opinion
Public Eye
by Michael Chugani
Public Eye
by Michael Chugani

Joshua Wong, Benny Tai and Apple Daily boss Jimmy Lai top list of HK's most hated - but behind all polls there lies an agenda

Sceptics would dismiss the poll - organised by an anti-Occupy group as rigged to produce the desired results

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most hated of them all? Public Eye can almost hear the reply in unison: Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. Well, you're all wrong. The three political figures Hongkongers hate most are student leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Occupy co-organiser Benny Tai Yiu-ting and boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, according to a poll by the Silent Majority for Hong Kong. The pollsters didn't say who ranked first. But are they really loathed more than Leung? Not if you ask James Tien Pei-chun, the pro-establishment camp rebel who was expelled from China's top political advisory body after he asked Leung to resign. Tien hates Leung. Public Eye has been told the feeling is mutual. But whether Hongkongers hate Wong, Tai and Lai more than Leung depends on how much credence you put on the poll. The Silent Majority for Hong Kong - an openly loyalist group - was formed to oppose the Occupy movement. Tai initiated the movement, Lai partly bankrolled it, and Wong was its face. Sceptics would dismiss the poll as rigged to produce the desired results. But isn't that true of all polls done by vested-interest groups? If the pan-democrats did a poll on the most hated political figure, Leung would surely top the list. Polls. Bah! Humbug!

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's to blame for the fall? Leung blames localists for last month's 9.8 per cent fall in mainland visitor numbers compared to a year ago. Localists are a soft target. That doesn't mean Public Eye condones their thuggish tactics to scare away mainlanders even though the localists represent a widespread sentiment that the city is being swamped. Visitor numbers have fallen across the board, not just for mainlanders. Many factors are to blame. China's economy is faltering, its currency has weakened, ours has strengthened, the corruption crackdown has spooked crooks with dirty money from coming here, and visitors are tired of our same old tourist attractions. Add all that to the greed of our landlords, pharmacies and even taxi drivers and you'll know why we're a faded tourist mecca. The television news two nights ago told of a Causeway Bay landlord who had been pocketing an outrageous HK$1.5 million a month for a 1,000 sq ft shop, finally driving the tenant out. The landlord has slashed the rent to HK$400,000 but still no takers. So mirror, who's really to blame for the fall?

He has ridiculed women as fat and ugly, Latinos as rapists, and has now mocked Chinese and Japanese for their business styles and broken English. But his poll numbers keep rising. What other groups are left for US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump to mock? Oh yes, Jews and African-Americans. Both groups have sensitive histories of having been oppressed. Politicians in the United States have traditionally steered clear of taking them on. Dare Trump mock them? Will his popularity still rise if he does? Our guess is he won't have the guts, but second-guessing what clowns do is tricky business.

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