On May 30, Tung Chee-hwa was quoted in the South China Morning Post as saying, 'I'm elected by the people to serve the people.' This new use of the term 'the people' has caused me considerable confusion.
Does Mr Tung mean the 400 hand-picked, pro-Beijing delegates who elected him to his present office? If so then this begs a series of important questions regarding the term 'the people'.
For example, are 'the people' in the People's Republic of China's the same 400 hand-picked, pro-Beijing delegates? And who are 'the people' about to be liberated by the arrival of 10,000 troops from the People's Liberation Army? Since I didn't have a chance to elect Mr Tung and I already feel quite liberated, it can't be me. I'm obviously not of 'the people'. If it is the same 400 hand-picked, pro-Beijing delegates who are about to be liberated, that works out at 25 people liberators to every one of 'the people'.
Speaking as a taxpayer, this seems a somewhat excessive abuse of my money. Surely this 'liberation' can be obtained by cheaper methods? The whole issue has been further confused by the recent comments of Rita Fan Hsui Lai-tai, quoted in the Post lead story on June 11 as saying, 'We serve the people of Hong Kong, not foreign regimes.' This would seem to directly contradict the comments of Mr Tung, who seems to be serving a body of 400 selected for their positions by organisations outside Hong Kong.
ARTHUR KING Kennedy Town