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Buzz: Oh Wise One
Long live Hong Kong's Tung Chee-hwa
By TERRY McCARTHY
July
26, 2000
Web posted at 3:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 3:30 a.m. EDT
Let's face it, folks, there's nothing like putting a sunny spin on things, accentuating the positive, looking on the bright side. So when a key aide to Hong Kong's commanding figure of power, Tung Chee-hwa, had a casual conversation with a Hong Kong University head last year about opinion polls -- which were showing a drop in Tung's popularity -- of course there was no pressure on the university to reign in the pollster. Far from it. How could anyone think such heresy in the Perfumed Harbor, where everything smells lily-white and is above board?
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And when the pollster, Robert Chung, went to the media and said he had been warned to stop his polls, or else funding would dry up, it came as a complete shock to the university vice-chancellors involved. One of them was on holiday in London at the time -- he was scandalized, nevertheless, and flew back to Hong Kong to set the record straight. Academic freedom and separation of powers are, of course, a fundamental aspect of Hong Kong's new status as an appendage of China, where academia has a long history of respect. (China, of course, doesn't need opinion polls, as everyone is of the same view as the party, which is of infinite wisdom).
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So sunny-side up it is, and the less bad news we hear about Tung the better -- long live comrade Tung. After all, Hong Kong is booming, with its economy set to grow by as much as 10% this year, according to the more optimistic forecasts (remember, we are accentuating the positive). And what's more, Hong Kongers have higher annual incomes than their racist, former colonial masters, the British, who refused to offer Hong Kongers British passports pre-'97 in case "good old Blighty" was swamped with hordes of Chinese. Seems the other way round, now, with Brits trying to get high-paying jobs in Hong Kong -- even their barristers are on the prowl, looking for more lucrative work than they can get in London, defending soccer hooligans from their periodic rampages around Europe.
Hard to imagine, then, why Hong Kongers keep demonstrating -- doctors, apartment owners, teachers, you name it -- against the ever wise one, Tung. After all, Chinese President Jiang Zemin himself has vouched for the man, and Beijing has indicated it is so impressed with Tung's stewardship of Hong Kong that they might back him for another term after his current one expires in 2002.
Five more years of Tung -- Hong Kongers should be rolling around the streets in joy. His popularity will be unchallenged by any negatively inclined pollsters, the economy will continue to expand under his guidance, and friction with Beijing will be reduced to a minimum. All Tung needs now to ensure his blemish-free image is to hire some of the cops Beijing uses in Tiananmen Square on the Falun Gong demonstrators. They can deal with any signs of civil discontent in Hong Kong -- that way there will be no more demos, no more protesters shouting angrily on TV (interrupting viewing of Tiger Woods winning another major tournament), and no need for university vice-chancellors to interrupt their holidays for the sake of some scandal that should never have reached the press anyway.
Come to think of it, who needs a free press? If the most populous
country in the world can get by with a government-run information
service, why should a tiny enclave like Hong Kong worry about having
so many competing voices in the media? Long live Tung Chee-hwa,
Hong Kong's Dear Leader, beloved of all classes of society, lodestar
of the SAR.
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