We all know that they are interested in the HK Government Chief Executive (CE) post. And they have been one way or another canvassing public support. But none of them has expressed publicly their intention. So they are named CE candidate suspects in our conversations and in the media.
These suspects are Chief Secretary Henry Tang, convenor of the Executive Council Leung Chun-ying, and former President of Legislative Council Rita Fan, all pro-Beijing.
The so called ‘election’ will take place in March 2012, with the CE being elected by an 1200-member Election Committee, which represents about 0.01% of Hong Kong’s population. On top of that, we all know that only a pro-Beijing figure will be ‘elected’.
Isn’t it odd? Only about half a year is left from the March 2012 CE ‘election’, but we only have candidate suspects and the media jump on these suspects for comment whenever big issues arise, treating them as if they are real candidates, and rightly so.
Let me tell you more. The government has lately been criticized for deploying heavy security for the visit of Vice Premier Li Keqiang and violating freedom of speech. A man wearing a June 4 protest T-shirt stepped out the building where he lives and he was immediately followed and moved by police, because they did not want Vice Premier Li to see any protest. The building complex where the man lives was being visited by Li.
Asked for comment, Henry Tang, widely seen as the forerunner in the CE ‘election’, simply shrugged off, saying the criticism is ‘completely rubbish’ . In another occasion, Henry Tang asked the youngsters of Hong Kong to learn to be the richest man in Hong Kong, Li Ka Shing.
Another candidate suspect, Rita Fan, when asked for comment on the heavy security, replied by asking Hong Kong people not to ‘overuse freedom’, saying that it does not matter if the protest can be seen or not by the state leader. Anyway, she as a deputy to the National People’s Congress, was always shown ‘positive things’ in mainland China.
So this is the kind of language used by the CE candidate suspects and their mindset. What do you think of the future of Hong Kong? The city is so sealed in its fate.
