Erasing Hong Kong's colonial past: only the insecure would seek to disguise their history

How do you decolonise? By wiping out all physical evidence of past colonialism? Or by changing hearts and minds? Go ahead, cover up the royal insignia on colonial-era postboxes, as Hongkong Post is reported to be doing. What next? There's an imposing bronze statue of King George VI in the Hong Kong Botanical and Zoological Gardens, placed there to commemorate 100 years of British colonial rule. Should we put a hood over it? Better still, let's just get rid of the damn thing. Victoria Park's main entrance has an imperious statue of Queen Victoria. How insolent. It must go. Coins with images of Queen Elizabeth II are still legal tender. They belong in the rubbish dump. Is this what Hong Kong is about - colonial cleansing? Colonialism has no place in the 21st century. It was morally and legally right to end British rule with the handover in 1997. But that doesn't mean we should purge our colonial past. Only insecure societies whitewash their histories. Hong Kong is now part of China. Accepting this is done through winning hearts and minds, not through covering up colonial-era postboxes.

Jamella Mangali Lo is dead. She was just 19. What a beautiful name, Jamella. But our politicians cared more about Johannes. They paid little attention to the frail Jamella on her deathbed. They preferred politicking over whether or not Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun would be appointed a pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong. Jamella desperately needed a lung transplant. But even though Hong Kong likes to think of itself as a world city yearning for Western-style democracy, it has a dismal organ donation record compared to the West. Jamella died waiting for a heartless Hong Kong to give her a lung. Imagine if the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy politicians who squabbled over Chan had given at least some attention to saving Jamella. Imagine if they had united to appeal for a lung donation and to campaign to change mindsets over organ donations. It may not have saved Jamella but at least they can say they tried. Ah well, we can always imagine.

Shock! Horror! Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has appointed three pro-Beijing people to the council of Lingnan University. The alarming way the media reported the news it's as if pro-Beijing people have horns on their heads, fangs for teeth, and hunt out children in the dead of night. Critics singled out two of the three as Occupy opponents. Does it mean only those who backed Occupy qualify as council members of universities? Let's not forget half of Hong Kong opposed Occupy. For the record, Leung appointed five new members, of whom only three are perceived to be pro-Beijing. Also for the record, Leung did not appoint six members to HKU's council as widely believed. He only appointed two. Donald Tsang Yam-kuen appointed the rest.