Political Animal

Michael Tien lashes out at mean bosses

Unionists and political activists have an unexpected ally in garment retailer Michael Tien Puk-sun, chairman of G2000. The wealthy businessman voiced his support for the fight against restaurants scrapping paid meal breaks and for the release of food safety activist Zhao Lianhai . In a message posted on Facebook yesterday, Tien noted some bosses argued that the fight by workers to retain paid meal breaks amounted to attempts to gain a reward without working for it.

'Such remarks are mean and unfair,' he wrote. Without naming anyone, that was an oblique reference to a remark by Federation of Hong Kong Industries chairman Cliff Sun Kai-lit.

And on Friday, Tien wrote to Wang Shengjun , president of the Supreme People's Court, urging him to release Zhao, who was jailed for 21/2 years by a Beijing court last week for 'provoking quarrels and making trouble'. Zhao helped parents of children affected by melamine-tainted milk to fight for justice and compensation.

Tien is by no means a lone fighter for the release of the milk scandal activist. Frederick Fung Kin-kee, a lawmaker from the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, submitted a request for an adjournment debate on Zhao's imprisonment at the Legislative Council meeting tomorrow. Yet the tireless Tien is about to enter battle on another front. The core member of the Liberal Party, who was defeated in the 2008 Legco election in Kowloon West, recently decided to stand in New Territories West in the 2012 Legco elections.

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