My Take | You say decline, I say change for the better
- Those who are in charge of the new regime will always say their system is superior; those of the old regime, if they survive, will defame and denigrate the new regime. Only time will tell who’s right
Several prominent local commentators have quit for good recently. First, there was Michael Chugani, who was, for many years, the host of TVB English-language programmes Straight Talk and News Watch English, and columnist for the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Economic Journal.
Now, it’s Ivan Choy Chi-keung, who after more than two decades, may be the longest-serving columnist at Ming Pao, the respected Chinese-language broadsheet. He is also a senior lecturer in politics and public administration at Chinese University.
I can’t say I generally agree with them, or share their political positions. But I respect and admire their insights and knowledge. There was a deep melancholy expressed by both men when asked about their decisions.
“I just feel really tired, and I have been doing this for so many years, I have not had the time to rest or relax,” Chugani told a local online news site. “I’m, frankly speaking, very burnt out, and I just don’t have any inspiration left to continue to do anything.
“We all know that there are red lines, and I just want to think carefully [about] what these red lines mean for me, so that’s why I’m taking a break.”
Choy wrote a long farewell column in Ming Pao last week, also citing fatigue, but hinting at deeper despair, a general mood he detected within the local community.
“Today everyone feels this deeply,” he wrote. “In the past two years, the people of Hong Kong have cried and expressed their determination to change, and they did not hesitate to pay a heavy price for this, but the result was worse than if they had stood still.