Glutter

Awaiting a Democratic Hong Kong

I am listening to RTHK Radio 1 in Hong Kong streaming and they just discussed Mr. Ching Cheong's press conference and so far he's thanking everyone for his release.

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They are playing part of his statement.

(I was translating real time with the feed, so not exact but very very close)

"After thanking everyone, I just want to say some simple things about my situation.

Number 1: I have never done anything to hurt the country or its security. I have no shame and regret, and I honestly say I deserved the out pouring of support by the public without shame in my heart.

I have never spied on China. I have never had any intentions of spying on my country. I have never intended to hurt the country's security. I have never touched any classified documents and never given classified information to Taiwan.

To me the country's security is very important to me personally. I take the idea of spying very seriously. It's not something I would consider. It is the complete opposite of my personal belief.

As I said in court. Since university graduation every major decision I have made is for the best of the country. When this situation happened, I first thought of what was important for this country's security before myself, my own safety. Which is why I handed over my computer. This showed I have nothing to hide and did not have any question and fear.

A Hong Kong journalist who was jailed in mainland China on spying charges has been released after serving less than half a five-year sentence. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7227695.stm

Just a short note for the KCRW listeners who may have come to the blog when they heard my donation read over the airwaves. Right now the blog is more geared towards my personal discovery in LA, although there are many political articles in the blog as well. I meant to write more or add the old posts up, but my internet is down at the moment, so please come back sometime.

As for those not in California or the US. KCRW is a public radio station in the US, and they do rely on fund raising drive to keep it on air. Last week I made a donation and they asked me if they could thank me on air. I didn't really need to have my name read on air, and decided that I rather use my 3 second sound bite for something more useful, which of course is to remind people that the issues of free speech in China is still contencious.

So what they read instead was, "Glutter.org supporting Free Speech in China."

Say what you may about the fact a public radio station in a country needs donation rather than being completely supported by the government like the BBC or RTHK is, but for not too much money, I was able to get an idea to a huge geographic spread and a lot of different people.

I am currently using my neighbour's email at this moment, so I shall get back on line at some other time.

Yan

I heard Martin Lee on the radio yesterday. I sat in the parked car in hot LA sun to listen to the whole interview. It struck me that in the quiet of America, there is no Chinese Propaganda. There is no hoopla about the reunification, nothing exploding in the sky to commemorate the special day, no national glory -only the reasons why the Hong Kong legislators do not have power, how we got 62% of the votes yet only 40% of the seats. How they can vote on governmental bills but not policy. How in order to ensure Hong Kong gets to keep it's freedom is through universal suffrage.

It was strange -I never heard those words out of context of what was going on around me. Hong Kong felt so small, fitted in with another hundreds of new stories that circulate through the NPR (National Public Radio) though the months I have been here. It is not front and center. Just another story of social justice around the world, in between global warming stories of Polynesia, mental health issues of returning US soldiers, women trying to make a business in Africa. My home seems small, when it used to feel like the biggest city in the world.

In my pottery class, there is a man from Tel Aviv, my teacher is Armenian who came to America during the Soviet times, a program by one of the Jewish centers to help Jews leave communist countries. We each have our stories of where home is, what is going on there, and the struggles of the people left behind.

It all seems very far away, not immediate but bombs do go off, rights get taken away, and people are very poor and electricity isn't always there. But it doesn't compute completely, because we're all sitting in a quiet room making pottery.

I think that's what America does to you. It's so big, even in a city like LA, we all own our house, we have our very small lives, and we live it. We're thinking of getting a dog, we're talking about how we might have a family one day, we're getting shade trees from LA county for free because it will reduce electricity use, as it will keep the house cool.

But sometimes I think of Hong Kong, and democracy. I think how strange that every time I sit in a room here, if I say that "I think Hong Kong people should get to rule themselves, I think that Chinese people should have democracy." No one, practically no one will disagree. And it's not really out of ignorance, it's not because president Bush feels that the country should spread the tenants of American government to the rest of the world that makes most people feel that way.

They feel that way because they live the benefits of a stable government every day. Many many people in LA comes from somewhere that is politically unstable. Where regimes changes, and people fight. Here they feel empowered to do something if they don't like the policy. They can lobby their congress representatives, write letters, and vote -if they choose to, they can also do absolutely nothing and still reap the benefits of being in America.

I have been going around saying "Free speech is not political, free speech is about getting to live every day life. It's about being able to explore the options and talking to people if they want about whatever that comes to mind."

We joke about California succeeding from the United states all the time. We are the world's eighth biggest economy, 30 cents of our federal tax dollars goes out of state to other places, every time the federal taxes comes into our lives, I give some money to the government and I don't know where it goes. I would like to think it goes to museums and schools, but who knows. And with the extra 30 cents maybe my nephews can have health care, and the lady down the street can have health care, and every body can have health care.

And the nice thing is, no one is accusing us of being unpatriotic, the FBI is not tapping my phone, this blog is not going to be banned in the United States, coz we talk about maybe California would be better off if it was it's own country. We're not buying guns and building up a military to fight the federal government, we're just talking about it.

But if you're in Hong Kong and you say Hong Kong should have universal suffrage, if we talk about being it's own country. That's being revolutionary, it's being radical, that's not being part of the "harmonious society." My blog is still banned in China, I probably won't be visiting for a good long while, and really no one in Hong Kong is looking to depose anyone, to take power from someone with anything but a legal and peaceful way.

My aunt woke up the other morning because Hu Jin Tao came to Hong Kong and she wanted to see his speech. i really didn't want to, and it took me a while to realize I have a hard time listenning to people who I don't know how they got to power.

I tried to work out how Hu Jin Tao came to power outside of the fact he worked up the party and Jiang Zimen liked him. I wondered if he had to depose anyone, did he get rid of someone in a back handed way to get where he is. I only know the official story and I don't have much faith in that. There is no one who will come out and discuss the unsavory things about Hu Jin Tao.

I don't know how the leaders in China really got to power and I never will.

I don't know if the stories of how they are doing a good job, how they are fair and good to be real or just propaganda.

I wonder if the vote of no confidence Blair had to take could possible happen so publicly in China without him going under house arrest, even if just to make sure he stays out of the way so he and his supporter can't engineer a coup to regain power.

I wonder how it is that China has never had an exchange of leaders who don't agree without blood, imprisonment, war or arrest.

A long time ago, before my grandmother died, she pointed to Bill Clinton shaking hands with George Bush the original as the democrats took over the white house and said, "Look at that, they are shaking hands... that would never happen in China."

I think maybe one day.

Maybe when you're so far away from home, you can actually think things that you cannot when you are there. You can think, I am not being counter-revolutionary, I am not being radical. I am not asking to depose the Chinese government. I just want the leaders to shake hands when they exchange power even if they don't agree. How bad can that be? You think that is a normal want, that people deserve to have a say, deserve to live in peace and not fear major changes.

I feel that what I believe in is no longer anything ridiculous or asking too much. I don't even think it's worth that much that I need to say. It's like the quiet makes things clearer, and you end up not shouting so loud. You just believe and hope and live your life.

Awaiting a Democratic Hong Kong.

My friend Edwin Lee made this video for SCMP.com

As I wait for the webfeed to come in and talk in the conference, I thought I would do something I had meant to for a good year or so. Which is to republish the old articles in the former version of Glutter and put it on the Reporters Without Borders Servers. I took them off line a while back because I wanted to just keep certain posts that was of relevance and the delete the ones that were not so interesting.. but never had the time. I figure this is probably the best time to do it, best time to relaunch the blog as it will co-inside with the launch of Irrepressible.info campaign of Amnesty International. I hope the campaign will put Internet Repression back in the public consciousness, and maybe people would find the old articles interesting as well.

That is really the great things about NGOs working towards raising profiles on issues, it doesn't just make people aware but remind those of us who have worked on the issues that there is still a lot of work to do.

I am about to go on soon....

Awaiting a Democratic Hong Kong

For a few weeks, I thought it was great that we actually had someone running against Donald Tsang. I thought well, a process has started. I thought maybe with pressure our new Chief Executive will put out a blue print of when Hong Kong will get suffrage. I thought it was a good thing that the election results matched the public polling. And then I walked up a hill this morning laden with groceries and I thought, EIGHT HUNDRED?

EIGHT FLIPPING HUNDRED special interest people get to vote for the leader of our home of nearly SEVEN MILLION PEOPLE? And they get to call is an ELECTION?

Not really.

They might as well send someone all the way from China like the British did because I think somehow I can stomach that better. At least there is no smoke screen. There isn't a spin they can put on it to cover Hong Kong people's eyes. They can't actually pretend that it's an election of any sort and that Hong Kong people actually have a say in the matter.

It's kinda a joke isn't it?

It reminds me of a movie set where everything looks just so right, but once you walk into it a little deeper, it's all just plywood. But if you spend long enough in the set and don't walk out. You can settle quite well and sit on the couch.

There must be something better than pretending. There must be something better than listenning to all the talk and accepting it. Even if it doesn't happen. Even if one decides that it's better to be part of China. That we are one country and we have to be part of the central government. It's still better to see that the last elections is a charade than believe in it. One doesn't have to want democracy or want universal suffrage or want political change, but we still have to see it as what it is. And if one does believe in such things, it's imperative that we see it exactly as it is.

800 simply is not enough.

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Democracy in China

Hong Kong's make-believe election
Mar 15th 2007 | HONG KONG
From The Economist print edition


Nobody doubts that Donald Tsang will be returned as chief executive. But China is under pressure to allow a more open contest next time

Get article background

THE people of Hong Kong were treated to a startling sight earlier this month: their Beijing-approved leader, who is up for re-election, was arguing it out live on television with a pro-democracy challenger seeking his job. Despite the appearance of a genuine contest, however, real democracy has not yet arrived.

The selection of a chief executive for Hong Kong is still a choreographed affair that will return China's man, Donald Tsang, with a big majority. The candidates may be pressing the flesh in housing estates, but the public has no direct say in the matter. Instead, the choice will be made on March 25th by a committee of 800 members, mainly pro-Beijing politicians and worthies chosen by business and professional groups that shun confrontation with the authorities in China.

Yet things are changing. To democrats' surprise, a new election committee chosen last December had just enough members of the right bent to enable a pro-democracy candidate—Alan Leong, a barrister and a member of the local mini-parliament known as the Legislative Council (LegCo)—to be nominated for the first time.

In the last two elections for chief executive there was no contest and, according to Mr Leong, the government in Beijing had not expected opposition this time either. Mr Tsang is now having to put on a show of electioneering. In the televised debate on March 1st with Mr Leong, he appeared uncomfortable and defensive. Mr Leong noted that the public had not been invited to the event; only members of the election committee were allowed in and the few pro-democracy protesters who burst into the venue were bundled out. Another debate was due to take place on March 15th with questions from the public. Mr Leong says the political landscape of Hong Kong has been changed for good; no chief executive could expect to be elected again without having to face the people.

The election comes at a crucial juncture in Hong Kong's post-colonial development. According to the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution which was approved by China in 1990 and took effect when the British left in 1997, the territory's ultimate aim is to have universal suffrage. Many in Hong Kong had thought this could happen this year for the chief-executive election, and next year for the semi-democratic legislature.

But China's rulers decreed three years ago that Hong Kong would not be ready for democracy so soon. Pressure is now growing on Mr Tsang to set a target date. In the televised debate (seen in parts of the mainland), Mr Tsang avoided giving any such timetable. He says his government will issue a green paper later this year setting out ways of expanding democracy. Then, after three months of public discussion (he says he hopes to complete this by Christmas), the government will produce a single preferred option to submit to the authorities in Beijing. Mr Tsang says he will bow to the public will, but he says opinion polls show that 65% of Hong Kong people think they would not be ready for full democracy when chief-executive and legislative-council elections are held in 2012.

Mr Leong's Civic Party, which was formed last year, and other pro-democracy groups demand universal suffrage by then. Some democrats fear the government will use the public consultation in the same way the British-era government used a similar exercise in the late 1980s to delay reform. Anson Chan, who retired six years ago as chief of Hong Kong's civil service and enjoys huge popularity, has proposed a more gradual move to full democracy in 2016, but even her ideas have been received coolly in Beijing. She argues that Hong Kong is inherently unstable: at present there may be a feel-good factor thanks to the economic upturn of recent years, but the next slump could bring a groundswell of discontent unless there is quicker progress to democracy.

A big obstacle to any reform is LegCo, two-thirds of whose members have to support any political change. In 2005, pro-democracy members managed to block a package of limited government-inspired reforms, saying they wanted far more. But pro-business members, who tend to support China's stance, could block any attempt to change the current make-up, which reserves half the seats for business and professional groups. A major worry for them is that a fully democratic LegCo might demand more welfare spending and raise the cost of doing business.

Mr Tsang says Hong Kong is nowhere near finding consensus on reforming the legislature. But he says there are the makings of a deal over his job: instead of choosing the chief executive, the election committee could draw up a list of candidates to be voted on by the public.

Allowing the public its say may not give power to the democrats. Mr Tsang lacks charisma, but opinion polls suggest he would win a comfortable majority because of his experience—and his ability to get on with those overseers in Beijing.

Awaiting a Democratic Hong Kong

One of the last tasks I had to do before leaving Hong Kong was to go to the newly opened Dr. Sun Yat Sen Museum. Not only because he is the founding father of modern China, the museum is also located at the bottom of the street and area that I grew up on and my family has been for four generations. My great grandmother lived there, my grandmother and father lived there, and so did my mother and I. It was both political and personal.

My first feeling of going inside was how great it was that I could enter the building that I walked pass so often, and remember asking my grandmother what it was. Previously, it was a home of a rich man, but as long as I remember it was a Mormon temple of sorts. It was impressive no doubt. A mixture of Chinese and western architecture that is usually found in the old buildings in Hong Kong, the staircase was incredible as most old houses are, with some stained glass on the window.

The exhibitions were somewhat small -lots of historical knickknacks that are important but not always very interesting to look at but important all the same. As everyone, I know most of the facts of Dr. Sun's life. Born in China, lived in Honolulu, returned to China, exiled to Hong Kong and Macau where he set up a number of revolutionary groups until the colonial government also removed him. After that he went to the US and organized a number of uprisings that failed while abroad and finally succeeded in 1911 returning to China to be the leader of the Republic of China. He died in 1924 and China remained a democratic nation until the invasion of the Japanese followed by declarations of the PRC in 1949.

What I learnt in the museums was the Chinese ideals of human rights of food, shelter, and clothing did not come from Mao, but Dr. Sen. That he was kidnapped by the Qing dynasty in London, and through that became known as the Chinese Revolutionary abroad. After the fall of the Qing dynasty he was forced to succeed the title to the general whom than proclaimed himself emperor, which left China in another Warlord period and Dr. Sun Yat Sen again had to overthrow.

What I also didn't know was the reason he came to Hong Kong to study was because went into the family temple in his home village and smashed up the gods on the alter as a symbol of ending superstitious thought and was exiled from his village. That part of the reason he decided to make a revolt against the Qing dynasty instead of pushing for reform was the Sino-French war that the Imperial court lost.

But what struck me as the most interesting was during his time he spent in Hong Kong, he asked, (I am paraphrasing here) is that how can 4000 years of history in China leave the country less prosperous, organized and well run than Hong Kong with it's mere few decades?"

His conclusion was that Hong Kong was a government that was open to Science and the rest of the world. That it no longer followed the old superstitious ways. That although was a colony, it was run by a country with a democratic background. And those conclusions lead him to believe in a new and better China through democratic reforms and end of Imperialism.

What stuck me was in less than a century later we could still ask the same question. What is it about Hong Kong that makes us more modern, more prosperous, and more dynamic than China right now?

The answer is still that same. We have freedoms that those on the mainland don't have.

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Address: 7 Castle Road, Mid-Levels, Hong Kong

Opening hours. Monday to Wednesday and Friday to Saturday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
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FREE: Wednesdays and the anniversaries of Dr. Sun's birth (Nov 12th) and Death (12 March)

Enquiry 23676373

http://hk.drsunyatsen.museum

Awaiting a Democratic Hong Kong

I am on my way out of Hong Kong. Been packing for nearly a week. There is so much to throw away, so much to decide and so strange to go through one's life to consider what is important and what is not. I had planned to leave for so long, I am just not sure why I had not done what I wanted to. Just that there was always something better to do than stay home and put value on memories. It's been eight and a half years since I came back. It all happened so fast. Life really gets ahead of us does it not?

I think of all the things I have learnt and who I am now, and it's not like the girl that came home eight and a half years ago. All these ideas I had in my head about who I wanted to be, what I wanted to experience, how I would like to see the world is formed in the way it was not then. And that's the oddest part as who I will be living with is someone who knew the girl I used to be. But of everyone he probably did know me very well and after the last three months, know me best again. One more day of packing and the packers will arrive and the house will be nearly empty.

Before I came home, I knew I believed in freedom, I believed that my city was owed the right to have it's own voice. Not what the British thought was best, and not what the Communist government felt was theirs. I will always remember when my dad explained to me that our city was being given back to China, all my 14 year old brain could ask was, "Why don't they ask us? Who are these people? they don't even live here. Why do they get to decide?"

And after eight years, there is one thing I know I did. I spoke and I thought. I learnt about what that hope actually meant. I was able to put that simple childish thought of thinking that people who did not live here shouldn't get to decide what happens to us into the framework of politics -into the context of universal suffrage. Into the idea that 800 people should get to decide our leader.

As I leave I am at least pleased to see the beginnings of that forming. Donald Tsang had to debate an opponent. There was actually a real candidate that he had to fight against, even though there is no way of winning. A real process has begun, and as Atticus Finch explained to his daughter: baby steps but steps no less. That makes me happy.

As I leave, I have one hope. That I will still be able to participate in that growth -I hope that my life will not get so busy that I no longer look home.

Actually, I have two hopes. I hope on the day of the first ever general election in Hong Kong, I can fly back and place a vote and that I can do that every four years for the rest of my life. Democracy doesn't end with one election. The premise is that the process continues. Far too many countries have one election and see it end there. I think I must believe..

For now, I have a lot of traveling to do.

I love you Hong Kong. You will always be a great city to me.