Elsie way out of touch
I am writing in response to Elsie Tu's letter of abuse against Governor Chris Patten (South China Morning Post, February 18).
She is a fine one to call someone else's conduct 'despicable'. It is hard to think of anything more despicable than what she has done; having lost a fair election, she spent the next few years crying foul. Mr Patten also lost his seat in Bath but he took it like a gentleman - he didn't scream and yelp.
And to top things off, Ms Tu had the insensitivity to worm her way back on to an unelected organisation - the provisional legislature. This is a despicable act towards the people of Hong Kong who had already used their votes to show they did not want her any more. Ms Tu is right when she says people should be careful about throwing stones.
Ms Tu rambled on about the Governor, reflecting an image of racism. Anyone who knows the Governor will know what arrant nonsense she is talking. The worst kind of racism is inverted racism - especially when someone is bending over backwards to ingratiate themselves to another race and is unable to see anything but good in that other race while condemning everything that is done by one's own people.
It seems this loudmouthed Western woman knows little about the Chinese. It is a Chinese characteristic not to compound a loss of face. And this is exactly what Ms Tu did when, following her defeat, she embarked on a public and undignified exercise of showing what a poor loser she is.
After a few years of domination by the oppressive communist dictatorship over the border, Hong Kong people will look back with yearning to the freedom and prosperity they had during the Patten years.
Ms Tu is well past her sell-by date. I suggest she goes to that nice little shop in Admiralty that sells knitting needles.
JOHN McLEAN Tsim Sha Tsui
