Show some courage and stand up to rural leaders
There is only one reason why government officials have for decades tolerated the blatantly sexist and morally bankrupt small-house policy that gives adult male heirs from New Territories villages free land to build homes. They are cowards who dare not face down rural leaders, many of whom look more like triad bosses. Low-income families must wait years for public housing. Many live in squalid subdivided flats the size of jail cells. Middle-income families must pay HK$3 million for 200 sq ft flats. Property prices are so high that ordinary Hongkongers cannot afford homes. Yet our gutless government saves large chunks of scarce land for so-called indigenous villagers. There is nothing indigenous about them. They either sell their free land or build houses for sale or rent. It's time to prove Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has spine.
Beijing does not trust Hong Kong voters with what pan-democrats call a genuine choice of candidates for the 2017 chief executive election. The pan-democrats say this mistrust is misguided because Hongkongers are politically savvy enough not to elect an unpatriotic chief executive. Civic Party chairwoman Audrey Eu Yuet-mee repeated that mantra on radio last week. So let's understand this: Beijing wants a chief executive it can trust. The pan-democrats say no problem, voters will do just that. Sounds like both sides want the same thing. So why do the pan-democratic lawmakers want to veto a reform framework that screens out unpatriotic candidates when they say voters will not elect such candidates anyway? Puzzling, unless a genuine choice of candidates really means the choice to elect someone Beijing does not trust.
Food and Health Secretary Dr Ko Wing-man must be scratching his head. Many will remember his astonishing outburst when confronted by a man who berated him for urging Hongkongers to accept Beijing's political reforms. Public Eye thought television images of the mild-mannered Ko standing up to a protester would earn public applause. Wrong. Ko, the most popular government minister, saw his public opinion rating plunge. Another poll showed officials' district visits to sway opinion for the reforms had backfired and support had dropped. Pan-democrats must be scratching their heads, too. They have disrupted officials' events so often it makes Ko look like an angel. Last week, legislator "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung and others wrecked a school debating contest to heckle Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and other officials. They did not care about robbing the pupils of their moment in the spotlight. Which should turn people off more - a government official losing his cool at someone who scolded him or protesters ruining a school debate? But will the next poll show a plunge in Long Hair's rating or in support for the pan-democrats? No way. When officials hit back at critics, their ratings dive. When radical pan-democrats hurl bananas and swear at officials, nothing happens. Is there a moral to this?