Claudia Mo
A veteran journalist-turned-politician, former TVB anchor Claudia Mo is a founding member of the Civic Party, and is known for being an outspoken critic of the government. She talks to Yannie Chan about yelling at her boss, getting censored in newsrooms, and her frustrations with the current political process.
I was born and brought up here. My family was from Shanghai.
My teachers praised me non-stop. When you get such flattering feedback, it boosts your confidence. That convinced me that young people just need to be encouraged.
I remember reading “Children’s Paper” [a youth publication that ran from 1960-1966]. I started to write to the magazine, and I got sets of coloring pencils as prizes. Years and years later, Szeto Wah said, “I remember your name!” He had edited the magazine.
And then I went off to Canada. I still tended to translate in my head before I could express myself in English. By the time I could put my ideas into proper grammatical context, most of them had been expressed by others.
I still got good marks, because the teachers were giving me positive discrimination for being Asian.
My advisor at my Toronto high school warned us foreign students there’s no point applying to certain courses in university—including journalism at Carleton University.
So I applied mainly out of defiance.
I graduated in 1979 and then I worked on the sub desk at Agence France-Presse, translating French wires into Chinese. We used typewriters then. It took a lot of strength to type. I used scissors and glue to move paragraphs around. That was how I edited my copy.
The probationary period at AFP was the most stressful time of my entire life. I remember feeling jolly confident with my copy. It came back filled with markings. It was traumatizing.
I am not afraid of being assertive. While working as an anchor at TVB, my feature story was approved by the managing editor. The then-news-head Raymond R. Wong came in and said, “What kind of story is that?” I felt insulted. I shouted at him, “Who do you think you are?” He said, “I think I’m your boss.” I yelled back, “So what?”
After the incident, he said he appreciated that I wasn’t frightened of him.
I consider Tiananmen a watershed of my life. I was back at AFP as its chief Hong Kong correspondent. I saw the threats of the Communist regime. I interviewed Liu Binyan, a Chinese political dissident. The incident cemented my journalistic principles and political beliefs.
It’s not fair to say that other reporters do not stay firm on their journalistic beliefs. Some can’t afford to quit their jobs. I was never poor. I could always quit.
I quit later to spend more time at home. Is it sexist? It’s my natural inclination.
I stayed home, still doing freelance journalistic work, without any domestic helper. For five full years, I would scrub the bathroom floor and the toilet seat, cook and do the laundry. My sons love my deep-fried squid and steamed fish.
I never wanted to participate in politics. I was quite happy to be on the sidelines.
Why did I get into politics in the end? By the early 2000s, I started to get shooed out of newsrooms because I was being politically incorrect, criticizing Tung Chee-hwa.
In an RTHK phone-in program, someone said, “let’s put the Tiananmen Square massacre behind us.” I said, “If you do not treasure history, you can’t go forward.”
Then Audrey Eu invited me personally to join this new party she was mooting in late 2006. Might as well! By that time, my parents had gone, and my boys had both happily left the nest. I had all the time in the world.
What I’m really proud of so far is I’ve successfully brought into Legco this idea of anti-mainlandization.
We need to preserve the old Hong Kong, which HK Magazine has done quite a lot.
On Canton Road, you can hardly hear Cantonese. At Legco, they’ve started to have Putonghua translation simultaneously.
All languages should coexist. What’s wrong with Putonghua and simplified characters is that they are cultural cleansing tools that would uproot Hong Kong’s own spiritual facade and historical heritage.
I’m fighting against some post-election blues. Day in and day out, there are all these meetings. Most of the time, it’s just talky-talky, filled with gobbledygook and gibberish.
The pan-democrats are outnumbered at Legco. Through this very twisted election system, democrats may have more votes, but inside Legco, we have fewer seats because of the functional constituencies.
We can talk our lungs out during Legco meetings. By voting time, the motion’s vetoed. It’s quite depressing.
We need to fight on. You fight, you may not get what you want. But if you do not fight, you just don’t get what you want. We soldier on.
Hong Kong is a fun place. At the end of my Canadian days, I couldn’t wait to come back. I found Canada damn cold and jolly boring.
My only regret in life is not to have a daughter.
