Dubious Achievement Awards 2007
Celebrating the stupidest things of the year.
HK Magazine’s Dubious Winner of the Year: The Fake Election
What an election! A closely fought contest between two feisty female politicians...Oh wait, that was the real victory. The Hollow Victory award goes to Donald Tsang for trumping Alan Leong in a match-up with odds unparalleled since David took on Goliath. If you wanted to quibble about fine detail, you might point out that the outcome was predetermined from the start. Nevertheless, Donald Tsang went all out to at least give us the illusion of a contest with Leong, who expressly said he was entering only to point out the absurdity of the system. Tsang took part in debates, shook hands from district to district as far as the cameras would follow, and even went so far as to invent a slogan - “I’ll Get the Job Done!” (almost as slick as Regina Ip’s “I’ll do better than my best”). The phrase became the title of his post-victory book, a collection of all his diary entries during the grueling race. So far, sales haven’t quite matched those of ex-Cookies member Theresa Fu’s memoir.
The Golden Muzzle: Freedom of Expression
It was not a good year for the freedom of expression. Oh, let us tally all the controversial decisions...
In May, the Obscene Articles Tribunal (OAT) found the February and March issues of the Chinese University Student Journal indecent because they contained questions about bestiality and incest. To protest the absurdity of this decision, 2,000 people submitted complaints about sex and violence in the Bible to the OAT for review.
The subsequent outcry this case, and another case where a man was arrested for posting hyperlinks to pornographic images on a forum, prompted blogger Oiwan Lam to post a picture of a naked women on her blog in protest. The OAT then labeled her blog indecent.
The OAT struck again at the book fair, asking organizers not to sell a book about Greek mythology because it featured the classical painting, “Psyche Receiving the First Kiss of Cupid” on the cover. As is common in classical art, Psyche’s breast was uncovered.
In spring, the MTR scrapped plans to punish anyone speaking foul language on the MTR with a $5,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
In fall, GOD founder Douglas Young and 18 GOD employees were arrested for selling postcards and shirts featuring “14K,” a triad reference. Also this year, three schoolboys were arrested for claiming online to be members of 14K.