The more chaos the better for Rafael Hui
While political party leaders are wondering how to avoid internal conflict over the lineup of candidates in the Legislative Council's Hong Kong Island contest later this year, former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan cannot wait to watch the battle. 'The more chaos the better. Otherwise where is the show?' Mr Hui said after popping into the Liberal Party's 15th anniversary party last night. What about the trouble faced by the pro-government Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong in finding a heavyweight to lead the ticket? He said: 'None other than Tsang Yok-sing. Who else can you find in the DAB to lead the army?' Meanwhile, former railways chief Michael Tien Puk-sun, the newly enrolled Liberal Party member tipped to contest Kowloon West, said his priority was to gauge the public's views, not engage in canvassing, during a campaign to encourage voter registration, 'I will not follow what other people do,' he said, referring to his expected opponent Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, who has stepped up campaigning.
Health expert's condition favourable
Scarlett Pong Oi-lan, a trained pharmacist and an authority on health issues, has emerged as the latest new face in the Legco geographical constituency election in September. Ms Pong, who ousted pro-democracy activist Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong in November's district council elections, plans to contest the New Territories East constituency under the banner of the New Century Forum. A source said private polls showed Ms Pong enjoyed considerable support in New Territories East. Most importantly, the source said almost half the respondents could recognise her face. That could be a big asset in a constituency with more than 800,000 electors in North District, Tai Po, Sha Tin and Sai Kung.
Get with money politics, it's the global trend
Perhaps no one else would so openly support money politics in Hong Kong, but Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun was as frank as he has always been at yesterday's Legislative Council constitutional affairs panel meeting. After the pan-democrats lamented how poor they were and said if the cap on election expenses was lifted it would favour rich candidates, Mr Tien, whose party is dubbed 'the rich party', hit back. 'We are spending only HK$2 million for each geographical constituency candidate ticket. See Barack Obama: he's spending more than US$300,000 on each TV ad. Money politics is the global trend and you can't just dismiss others' strength.'
