The organizer of the rally, Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, said there were 150,000 people in the park. Well, there may be dispute about the actual figure, but by being there myself, I can testify that there has not been a rally in recent years that can draw so many people. Everywhere – the lawns, the football pitches, the park paths – was thronged with people. Many people just stood, against each other, for the whole two-hour vigil.

People stand for the whole vigil. They cannot even see the main stage and big screen. But they stand and just listen.

The big turnout is the pride of Hong Kong, where people demonstrate that a clear conscience is what matters in life – the economic prosperity in China and the prosperity it brings Hong Kong do not mean that the crackdown had not happened, the history should be distorted and the tragedy should be forgotten, as suggested by Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang on the eve of the June 4 vigil.

In his position, Tsang has every reason to say that in order to curry the favor of the Beijing authority who appointed him to the Hong Kong top job. Boss must be flattered, conscience can be sacrificed. That is his credo. I hope he would pray to his God for forgiveness – he goes to church every morning before going to work.

In the rally, around me, I saw faces that are obviously from mainland China. They took photos and sang songs along. I was glad they got the chance to breathe some fresh air of political and speech freedom.

Hong Kong is the only place on the Chinese soil that holds a large rally every year on June 4. In Macau this year, there were only dozens of people participating in a June 4 rally.

The memorial rally has been going on for the past 20 years, since June 4 1989, with the rally always held in the Victoria Park, on Hong Kong Island. And each year there is always a large turn out. If you want to see the soul of Hong Kong behind all the high rise buildings and busy traffic, you can always find it in the evening of June 4, in the Victoria Park lit up by candles.

This year, a bigger turn out is expected, because of the gaffe of the city’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang. When asked about June 4 in the Legislative Council two days ago, he said, “I understand Hong Kong people’s feelings about June 4, but the incident happened many years ago. The country’s development in many areas has since achieved tremendous results and brought economic prosperity to Hong Kong. I believe Hong Kong people will make an objective assessment of the nation’s development.”

What is more, he claimed his view represents the general view of Hong Kong people. He later apologized, saying that he did not mean what he said.

His remarks and apology is total nonsense and much ridicule, of course. His stupidity is simply hard to imagine. To say that your view represents the view of Hong Kong people, while you are appointed by the Beijing government, not elected by the Hong Kong people?

And what those in the top can do just to curry flavor to stay in power, and as a result make a fool of himself, look nowhere than Mr Tsang.

What is more, Mr Tsang, are you telling us that it is alright that you kill people, as long as you can get rich later?

A leader of no soul and a city of people trying to clinging to their souls. That is Hong Kong. So come to Hong Kong around June 4 to see the struggle.

I cannot tell you how much disappointment I have in the Hong Kong government headed by Chief Executive Donald Tsang. The latest saga is the appointment of deputy secretaries and political assistants under the so called “accountability” system. When the city is not pushing ahead with its democracy, our Chief Executive is pushing for this appointment accountability system. But when its people have no vote and no say in the government affairs, who are these officials accountable to? Of course not to us. And certainly to Mr Tsang, their boss, who appoints them.

Do you see the irony here? When the people here are demanding democracy, the government is going the opposite way, under the fancy word of “accountability’.

The appointments of deputy secretaries and political assistants have been under barrage of attacks by the wide local community for its lack of transparency and the showing of nepotism. What are these appointees’ responsibilities? How were they selected? Based on what criteria are they remunerated? The government has never been able to give us satisfactory answers. Not to mention that it did not come up with fuzzy answers until pressurized.

When the controversy has evolved to the detriment of his reputation, Mr Tsang came to the Legislative Council, urging the community to let the dust settle, so that the community can focus on the livelihood issues.

Give me a break! Does he know that we people want quality of life as well? We want clean air, clear sky and open space. We are not individuals just wanting to make a living and surviving on this planet. This government knows only to follow the talk of its boss in the mainland and is glaringly out of touch with the pulse of the city that it governs. That is why people here go to the democracy march year after year on 1 July, the Hong Kong back to China day.

Who are on the list of torch bearers? Besides some athletes, there are 21 business tycoons, 13 politicians and eight artists (singers/movie stars), all pro-China. Not even one grassroots representative or a member of the democratic camp was invited to relay the torch. 

Whenever I hear that Beijing Olympics should not be boycotted because sport has nothing to do with politics, I just want to laugh. Better give some other reason than this! Sport has been, and is always intertwined with politics. Hong Kong’s torch relay list of bearers speaks volume. Not to mention the vehement patriotism shown across China.

And there are just so many things that give me the sense that the Hong Kong torch relay is not a cause for jubilation. There are: the visa curb because of the Olympics, which causes so much inconvenience to so many travellers/business people; the turning away of Danish artist Jens Galschiot; and quiz of potential protesters by police ahead of the torch relay. I cannot but feel puzzled as to why those appearing on the TV seemed so excited.

In the public consultation carried out by the Hong Kong government earlier, over 50% of the Hong Kong people support universal suffrage of chief executive and legislative council in 2012. However, our current chief executive Donald Tsang recommended to the China central government that it is better for Hong Kong to have the universal suffrage in 2017, though he admitted that over 50% of the Hong Kong people want universal suffrage in 2012.

He is appointed by the China Government and knows what his boss wants. So to no one’s surprise, the China Government has adopted his suggestions.

And do not imagine that we can have real universal suffrage in 10 years time. Who can be the candidates and how are they produced? We, Hong Kong people, have no say on the rule of the election game. Will you trust the China government to allow Hong Kong real democracy when it dictates that this city’s people can only choose their government head, not to mention legislative council, in ten years time? The answer is abundantly clear.

Of course, it is understandable that why China does not want Hong Kong to have democracy. It is the fear of people in Mainland China to demand democracy, following the example set by Hong Kong.

Hong Kong won’t have real democracy, unless there is major change in China politically. And I don’t see that is coming. So I don’t see Hong Kong people can have real democracy anytime soon. Not in 10 years – that is for sure.

The reason to distort history in this case is understandable. The buzz word in the town nowadays is patriotism and nationalism. So even if something has nothing to do with nationalism/national affair, some people will make it possible that “this something” finds its way to relate to it.

Hong Kong, sadly, is losing its diversity and identity day by day.

But I never expected that he can be so bad. He can be so ignorant of history that in a radio program, he cited China’s Cultural Revolution as an extreme case of democracy, while Cultural Revolution is in fact a good example of how dictatorship can destroy a whole country.

Further, Tsang thinks if people have all the power, there can’t be good governance. In other words, democracy, people’s power, is at odds with social development and good governance.

It cannot be clearer that why Tsang was picked by Beijing to be the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. His idea about people’s power/democracy, something Chinese government is very fearful about, is just so similar to that of his boss.

View here for the text of Tsang’s interview on the radio program.

I was watching news yesterday on TV and could not help hold Hong Kong’s chief executive Donald Tsang in awe. Gosh, he was so good in imitating the Chinese leadership when making a speech to the Hong Kong-based Chinese army (PLA, People’s Liberation Army). Where he praised the army for its professionalism and friendliness, he skillfully raised the tone at the end of the sentence, and immediately the audience of the soldiers exploded in applauding. I found it both funny and pathetic.

Well, there must be reasons why Mr Tsang can be HK’s chief executive, and the above episode demonstrates why: You have to behave and think like you boss does.

It is saddening for HK, whose people have worked so hard to build the port city into a world renowned city, only to see they have no say in who with what attributes to lead them, and are told economic prosperity is the only thing they treasure. Their voice is fabricated and not heard.

When the government is spending a great deal of money to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of HK’s return to China, I find myself indifferent to all the fanfare.

The press organizations sent out strong teams to the event venue, only to find that the “big and important” event was China Premier Wen Jiabao had written to a Hong Kong primary school pupil. The premier wrote in clear writing so that the pupil could identify the characters, and he encouraged the pupil to study hard and love her country and Hong Kong, the press was told.

The following day, this urgent event was reported in a small corner of the non pro-China press.

For the China press, anything that the leadership says and does is important, and invariably becomes a headline story. With little knowledge about Hong Kong and its people, the China authority in Hong Kong attempted to apply that principal to Hong Kong’s press, only to see dismal results.

The sad thing is, the China authority in Hong Kong has refused to see the reality and the truth of the world, despite their ten years in Hong Kong, after the city’s handover in 1997. And it is these people who can influence Hong Kong’s future.

Why did the students have such an unfavorable impression? Let me show you the kind of answer Mr Tsang gave the students in the Q&A session.

Q (a student): What advice do you have for us?

A (Mr Tsang): You should make use of the “one country two systems” to wring from the Central Government (ie. Beijing Government) what is advantageous for Hong Kong.

Is this a “person” talking? It sounds more like an official giving lecturing to his/her subordinates, as in the mainland China. His answer is so boring and so impersonal. And I assure you this style is very typical of him. 

Whenever I hear Mr Tsang talk like a top official in the Mainland China, I conjure up a bleak picture for Hong Kong. He never succeeds, in his public speeches, in convincing me that he is a leader of imagination and humanity, not to mention the ability to inspire in people. 

Hong Kong is sadly a city without leadership. Will the city have one day? I doubt it, under the current ”one country two systems”.