Farcical threats and "developments" in the run-up to the Legislative Council "election"

 

 The "election" candidate I've been seeing the most publicity

for on the eastern side of Hong Kong Island

 

...and the MTR station he'll forever be associated with

(like Carrie Lam is with toilet paper)

 

It was a relatively slow news day yesterday in Hong Kong: with no noteworthy arrests or court decisions (as had been the case the day before, which also happened to be the first day that the Hong Kong government's Leave Home Safe tracking app was very inconveniently -- especially for people who don't/didn't own smart phones -- required to be used for entry into all restaurants, cinemas, gyms and a number of other establishments).  

 

This by no means meant that the insanity that Hong Kongers have been facing for too long now was put on hold, however temporarily.  Rather, news filtered in from London that a Hong Kong government representative had written a warning letter to Britain's Sunday Times alleging that one of its articles may be illegal under Hong Kong law which forbids the incitement of an election boycott.  

But while Gilford Law, currently director general of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London (and previously Carrie Lam's press secretary), may think that Hong Kong's laws can be applied to a newspaper in London, others are sure they are not.  And the way many people see it, actions like this (and the similar one against the Wall Street Journal earlier this week) really only serve to damage Hong Kong's previously sterling reputation.

As China watcher B. Allen-Ebrahimian Tweeted: "What has always freaked me out about Hong Kong-style CCP authoritarian extraterritoriality is that it carries the weight of law in a city that, until 3 second ago, had an internationally respected reputation for its rule of law." And then there's this Tweet by Samuel Bickett that tries for some black humor: i.e., "So I guess this is Hong Kong’s new thing. We’re Asia’s World City: known for dim sum, junk boats, and threatening foreign press with criminal charges if they don’t shut up about our fake elections"!

 

The feeling one gets is that the Hong Kong government is so desperate to get people to not boycott the upcoming Legislative Council "elections" that they've lost their minds, if they hadn't already.  Why else would they keep on making noises about "foreign agents" wanting the poll to flop and coming up with schemes that actually show how out of touch they actually are -- with the latest involving the offering of free public transportation on "election" day to one and all (even if, as is the case with most Hong Kongers, they live within walking distance of their polling stations)!

 

Speaking of public transportation and the Legislative Council "election": a candidate by the name of Edward Leung -- but who, obviously, isn't THAT Edward Leung -- has become the laughing stock of the town after he called on a TV election forum for a part of what would be his constituency to have an MTR station despite it already having one since 1985.   Adding to the farce is that "he dove into the MTR hole in order to dodge a question on what the Sai Wan Ho ferries' destinations are".  In other words: he's ignorant about more of Sai Wan Ho's public transportation options than just those involving trains!

 

As it turned out, his fellow candidates for the Hong Kong Island East seat are not much less ignorant than him.  More specifically, this Edward Leung actually fared no worse than two of the others while the fourth candidate was unable to answer two of the three questions designed to test his local knowledge -- meaning that the four candidates collectively were able to answer only one out of the 12 pretty simple questions they were asked (including "how much does tram fare for adults cost?"). 

Message to the Hong Kong government: if you truly want more people to vote in elections, give us better options!  It's not like Hong Kong doesn't have politicians who are intelligent, in touch with the populace and caring folks.  It's just that pretty much all of them are currently behind bars, in exile or have been otherwise "silenced" since China's national security law was imposed on Hong Kong!