Star Ferry is Drowning in Debt

How much longer can the Star Ferry continue to operate?

Another victim of the pandemic is the Star Ferry, one of the best known icons of Hong Kong which is now in dire financial straits.

Painted green and white, and chugs across Victoria Harbour between Central Tsim Sha Tsui and Wan Chai, the Star Ferry is having trouble covering employees' salaries and paying down debts, and it even projects it will still be in the red in 2047 after two years of losses totalling a whopping HK$70 million (US$8.9 million).

Passengers have dropped off since 2021

It was affected by the 2019 protests -- though there were a few nights during the occupation of Hong Kong Polytechnic University when tons of people crowded onto the Star Ferries to get across to Hong Kong Island -- and now the pandemic into its third year.

David Chow Cheuk-yin, the Star Ferry company's general manager, said in a statement on Monday that the firm had accumulated losses of more than HK$70 million over the past two years, saying ridership in the first two months of 2022 had plunged by 73 percent compared to the same period in 2019.

Last year the Star Ferry carried only 9.57 million passengers, a sharp drop of 46 percent from 17.97 million passengers in 2019.

"It is disheartening to see our iconic Star Ferry is now a company with negative equity," he said. "In view of the threats posed by the current environment, I am afraid I can't be optimistic, as much as I would love to be, for Star Ferry to survive this wave."

The company is now borrowing to pay its daily expenses, as monthly revenue isn't even enough to cover employees' salaries.

"Enormous losses have far exceeded the company's total assets. The Star Ferry has struggled with negative equity for a long time and now counts completely on loans to cover daily operating expenses," said Chow.

Central ferry pier was at Edinburgh Place

He even hinted the company may not even be able to repay its loans even after 2047.

When a company as famous as the Star Ferry is in negative equity that's tragic. Even worse the government has done nothing to save this traditional form of public transport that has made Hong Kong famous.

If anything some of the budget from the Hong Kong Tourism Board could be funnelled into keeping the Star Ferry literally afloat, as everyone associates the city with the boats crossing the harbour.

It would be an absolute travesty if the government lets this company die because no other company or tycoon would bother taking over a money-losing business.

But let's face it -- the Star Ferry already began dying its slow death back in 2006 when its pier was moved from Edinburgh Place to another 500 metres away on reclaimed land to Man Kwong Street. It used to be so convenient to cross the harbour by Star Ferry, just past the Mandarin Oriental and the Central Post Office. 

Original steamboat from the 1880s

Now it's a commitment to want to take the Star Ferry from either Central or Wan Chai -- where the pier is not close to anything at all.

How can the Star Ferry survive with the odds stacked against it, and yet it is everyone's favourite ride crossing Victoria Harbour. It is the closest people can feel to taking transport back in 1880, when Parsi cook Dorabjee Naorojee Mithaiwala acquired a steamboat to ferry his baked goods across between Kowloon and Central.

Anyone want to start crowdfunding for the Star Ferry? Or is that considered to be violating the national security law?

Picture of the Day: Cross Harbour Tunnel Overpass

The empty overpass at the cross harbour tunnel towards Poly U

This morning I went to Hung Hom to attend the funeral of my parents' friend.

The funeral parlour is conveniently located near Hung Hom station and the bus stop for cross harbour tunnel buses. So when the service ended at 10.30am, I needed to take a cross harbour tunnel bus to get to the office.

Usually the overpass has lots of people walking across it at all hours, but this morning there was no one.

The overpass is lined with yellow water barricades to deter anyone from doing anything. But to see no one walking along the passageway was very eerie, following protesters' clashes with police in mid-November that led to a standoff for almost two weeks at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Yesterday the campus reopened certain sections of the campus that have been cleaned up. Other areas will be opened in phases later this month and in January depending on how the clean-up goes and safety inspections.

The second semester will start January 13, though the first two weeks will be scheduled with exams that were supposed to be taken last semester, and then classes start again February 3.

Back to the Sunday March

A fraction of the marchers who came out this afternoon in Wan Chai

This afternoon Hongkongers came out in droves to Victoria Park for a police-sanctioned march from Causeway Bay to Central. It seemed like a lot of people showed up, but organizers say it was 800,000.

To many this was disappointing, as they hoped a big number would make the Hong Kong government to take notice and finally get down from its ivory tower and engage with the protesters to resolve the now six-month long political crisis.

Nevertheless 800,000 is still an impressive number, but will Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor do anything?

A gaggle of Pepe the Frogs and LIHKG pigs hanging out

I had friends marching separately who were stuck in Causeway Bay for hours, unable to move. Meanwhile waiting for the marchers in Central were the police, armed with riot gear and rifles.

Oh by the way did you hear the police arrested 11 people and seized weapons, including a semi-automatic pistol with five ammunition magazines, three of which were loaded, along with three daggers, knives and 105 bullets.

The police claimed "radicals" planned to use the arms to "create chaos" during the anti-government march in the afternoon.

Senior superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah said: "Intelligence showed that the radical group had taken part in an unlawful assembly on October 20, when they used a lot of petrol bombs to attack Mongkok Police Station.

"Their plan is to use the gun to create chaos during the march later today, including shooting at our officers or turning the blame on officers themselves by hurting the innocent passers-by," he said.

Li said the police had thwarted a crisis, but added the discovery of the weapon was evidence that people should stay alert during the march and rally, organized by the Civil Human Rights Front.

For the most part the protest march was peaceful

On Twitter, people criticized the timing of the news of the arrests and seizure of the weapons just before the march in a bid to scare people from turning up at 3pm in Victoria Park.

However that did not deter them at all and they came out, determined to show the government that they still want all five demands met even though only one, the extradition bill has been withdrawn.

Getting a lot of attention were people wearing large headgear featuring Pepe the frog and pigs from LIHKG. Everyone wanted to take pictures with them.

One marcher wore black, a yellow helmet and gloves and crawled on the ground, apparently to remember those protesters who had to crawl through the sewers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University to escape.

There was also a young boy who played Glory to Hong Kong on his violin over and over. Did he know he'd have to play it so many times?

Musical performance at Hong Kong protest today #GlorytoHK pic.twitter.com/n3ohNlZvp1

— Missy Lao (@missy_lao) December 8, 2019

 

By the time marchers reached Central near the Landmark,  organizers CHRF persuaded people to leave by bus, MTR, or ferry to avoid any confrontations with the police.

There were a few black-clad protesters armed with umbrellas who had a standoff with police near the Hang Seng Bank headquarters, but they decided in the end not to push their luck and slowly retreated. However, riot police seemed trigger happy using pepper spray at the bottom of D'Aguilar Street in Central to disperse people this evening.

A petrol bomb was thrown at the Court of Final Appeal

And the judicial system seems to have been the target of other protesters who threw a petrol bomb at the Court of Final Appeal and High Court. The government has already issued a statement condemning the attacks on Rule of Law.

Legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok Wing-hang expressed regret and whatever the motive, one should not commit such acts. But he also blamed the government as the "Number one culprit" by forcing the courts to rule on something essentially political.

So it continues, and while people have voted with their feet again since August, one wonders what the government will do next!

Police on Mission to Convict

Officers from the bomb disposal unit walk around Poly U campus

   

The Hong Kong Police continues with its agenda of opaqueness and vindictiveness.

Yesterday Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu reported to the Legislative Council that over 5,800 people had been arrested since June, and that 932 of them have been charged with various offenses.

Containers of petrol bombs are rounded up together

Some 2,600 people had been injured during the demonstrations and sent to hospital, including 470 police officers. Meanwhile 19 live rounds were fired in the past six months, hitting three protesters, all of whom have been discharged.

When it comes to tear gas, Lee says about 10,000 rounds of tear gas were fired, the highest number fired in a single day was November 12 when the police fired 2,300 canisters in seven districts, including at Chinese University campus.

There were requests to reveal what chemicals were used by the police for crowd dispersal including the ingredients of pepper spray, the blue dye shot from the water cannon, and tear gas.

However, Lee denied lawmakers' request to know where the police had bought their weapons, saying it would be inappropriate to disclose the information as it "would affect police's operational capability".

Protesters and the public have been exposed to tear gas

The same refrain was repeated today when the new Hong Kong police chief Tang Ping-keung told a news gathering that he could not reveal the ingredients in tear gas as it would reveal too much information. He said the Environmental Protection Department could do its own testing for dioxins in the environment and how it was generated.

This is outrageous for the police chief to claim the chemicals used in tear gas cannot be disclosed. We all know tear gas is toxic, we want to know by how much so that we can better treat people -- over 85 percent of the population.

But no, apparently this is a trade secret.

By the way Tang said the force did not oppose an independent inquiry, but strongly suggested all complaints be filed with the IPCC or Independent Police Complaints Council.

Police chief Tang Ping-keung welcomes independent inquiry

Huh huh. So far, over 1,200 complaints have been filed. So what are the complaints and how have these cases been dealt with so far?

Meanwhile this morning the police along with firefighters, psychologists, police negotiators and paramedics entered Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus to try to find any other protesters left there, but more importantly to collect evidence.

They found petrol bombs, chemicals stolen from laboratories on campus, and the police began not only photographing what they found, but even dusting the items, particularly petrol bombs to try to find out who made them.

This just shows how keen they are to prosecute, leaving little room for any kind of negotiation, which is what is really needed now following the landslide victory of the pro-democracy camp in the District Council elections. The pro-democracy councillors represent the will of the people, which means there are four more demands to be met.

Police dusting petrol bombs for any clues of who made them

With both sides still at odds with each other, the chances of any kind of resolution still remain far apart...

Elation Turns to Frustration

Carrie Lam makes her first public comments after District Council Elections

From an ecstatic high yesterday coming off of the landslide victory for pan-democrats who won 392 of the 452 seats in Sunday's District Council elections, the atmosphere in Hong Kong plunged back to frustration when Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor held her press conference this morning.

What did she say?

She basically repeated her statement from yesterday, thanking the unprecedented number of voters for coming out, thanking the civil servants for running a smooth election despite the challenges (what challenges?) and that she had heard what the electorate have said.

Office workers protested at IFCin Central... with Doraemon?!

Her conclusion?

That the people voted for an end to violence.

Err we want an end to this crisis that has destroyed Hong Kong for the past six months because of her!

She even added that Beijing did not blame her for the losses suffered by her supporters, the pro-Beijing parties that are blaming her for throwing them under the bus regarding the extradition bill.

When reporters asked her whether she would listen to the people's demands of considering the other four demands, Lam basically said no, that she had already withdrawn the extradition bill that had sparked the protests in the first place, and no there would not be an independent inquiry into the police either.

The only thing she offered was that an independent review committee to look into the underlying causes of the anti-government protests was being set up.

Other office workers in Kowloon Bay disrupted traffic

Hello? We already know the answer. It's YOU, Carrie!

Any other government with a shred of integrity would have resigned months ago.

But no, Beijing apparently did not give her the honour, nor did she give an indication that she even tried to quit.

Despite everything -- every blunder Lam has made in the past six months, Beijing still insists on backing her. They must be living in a parallel universe. There is no other way to explain the complete disconnect.

Sadly in Hong Kong we cannot impeach her for her incapacity to govern or inability to listen to the people. We are stuck with an ineffective leader, nay, a glorified civil servant who cannot and will not do what is best for Hongkongers, and instead follow Beijing's orders.

This has just further infuriated the 57 percent of the 2.9 million who voted for the pan-democrat and probably the pro-Beijing side too for Lam's inaction.

So as expected, people in Central went to IFC mall to voice their protest, while traffic stopped in Kowloon Bay for about 20 minutes with people saying, "Five demands, not one less!"

Some protesters are still at Hong Kong Polytechnic University

These protests are just going to continue on and on and on.

The sad thing is that the people holed up at Hong Kong Polytechnic University are tired, hungry and desperate, while the Cross Harbour Tunnel will be reopened as of 5am tomorrow. Lam has repeated her call that those under 18 will not be arrested but their details will be taken down, which surely means they will be prosecuted later, with a possible 10-year sentence for rioting over their heads.

This is not how to de-escalate the situation.

With the pan-democratic win, Lam should be offering to work together with these newly-elected politicians and come to some kind of compromise. However she dismisses them as district-council level people who don't influence the Legislative Council much.

Has she forgotten that these pan-democrats can decide who will be the 117 people who will be on the 1,2000-committee that chooses the next chief executive?

Her arrogance knows no bounds.

What did we do to deserve her?

BBQ in Aberdeen Country Park

Meats roasted in various stages including my char siu about to be cooked

We take a break from protest programming to describe an outing we had last Saturday.

Now that the weather has cooled down considerably, my relatives came up with the brilliant plan of having a barbecue -- at 10am.

We all met at Aberdeen Centre and from there took a short mini bus or a taxi ride up to Aberdeen Country Park where there are barbecue pits free of charge. For me it was the first time taking the no. 58 mini bus from Kennedy Town to Aberdeen Centre, which took about 20 minutes.

The country park has a nice (developed) setting for barbecues

One of my uncles who lives near there went ahead earlier and occupied one of the pits which is the perfect spot: under the trees for shade protection and next to a picnic bench. Nearby are public toilets and even a commissary should you need extra snacks and drinks to supplement your barbecue.

This uncle had already placed newspapers on top of the picnic bench, then a big plastic sheet over the table top and held it down with string in three places. So professional.

My other uncle and his son started the fire by arranging the charcoal bricks like a Jenga tower but with spaces in between. This turned out to be completely unnecessary once the fire started going and the charcoal became white and the tower collapsed.

They had also brought marinated meats along, like chicken wings (two kinds), thin pork fillets in a char siu marinade, and a selection of offal, like liver. There were also processed meats like sausages and even fish balls and squid balls. And being Chinese, we also had a container of pickled vegetables, fresh cabbage leaves, corn, and sweet potatoes that we placed in the pit to roast.

Walking along the path to the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir

Once the fire toned down and the charcoal started turning white, that's when the real barbecuing began and it was quite fun sitting around shooting the breeze and slowly cooking our food. In the background I knew there were clashes going on at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, but this was a good way to get our minds elsewhere.

When I was pretty full, I asked my relatives where I could go for a walk and they gave me directions to walk to the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir. 

It was about a 15 minute walk up a gentle slope, where there are more barbecue pits. However they seemed to have attracted a family of wild pigs! The mother led her five piglets away from the barbecue pits and into the hillside and for me it was my first encounter with wild pigs so close up. The mother didn't seem to mind us humans, otherwise she would have been defensive in protecting her piglets.

A family of wild pigs near a barbecue site!

I walked passed them and kept going until I hit the upper reservoir, and it was quite an impressive sight. There were also lots of butterflies everywhere, enjoying the sun.

The Upper and Lower reservoirs were built to supply water to the west side of Hong Kong Island. The project began in 1929 and finished two years later. The Upper Reservoir stores up to 820,000 cubit metres of water, and together with the Lower Reservoir have a total capacity of 1.23 million cubic metres that served 850,000 residents.

From here I turned around to go back and again encountered the same wild pig family, that seemed to like to linger in the area... I wonder why...

When I came back the fire was perfect for roasting marshmallows and helped my cousins get that golden brown, slightly crunchy on the outside, and wobbly gooey inside. I couldn't help eating a few myself!

A scenic view of the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir

We finished in the late afternoon and needless to say there was no need for dinner except for some fruit! But it was also a good mini escape from the stress of the protests and enjoy a bit of nature (and food).

Hong Kong Government Denials

Protesters dealing with non-stop tear gas in an earlier protest

Last week it was Matthew Cheung Kin-chung who left us all flabbergasted with his comment that he didn't understand why people were still angry even though the government had withdrawn the extradition bill.

This week it's Sophia Chan Siu-chee's turn.

Sophia Chan refuses to disclose the chemicals in tear gas

There have been calls since the protests began, asking what exactly is in the tear gas in terms of chemical composition so that the public and healthcare workers know how to treat victims of tear gas.

However, Chan denies there is a harmful effect from tear gas use, and refuses to disclose the chemical composition of the gas for fear it would affect police operations.

So police operations are more important than people's health?

Chan added the police were sourcing "safe and suitable equipment globally according to the established procedures".

Many dead birds have been sighted

She even had the gall to say in the Legislative Council that there was no evidence to suggest the use of tear gas can produce dioxins or cause dioxin poisoning.

"Given the short time of combustion of a tear gas canister, any cyanide produced will be quickly dispersed in the air," the health secretary said.

We know where this government's priorities are.
Then the environment secretary Wong Kam-sing attributes the toxic substances in the air to the burning of shops, and garbage, and Molotov cocktails.

So 10,000 rounds of tear gas don't mean much?

Have Chan and Wong seen the dead birds and squirrels around the city, especially around Hong Kong Polytechnic University these past few days?

These animals didn't commit mass suicide or all ate the same bad apple. 

Again these comments not only show how out of touch Hong Kong's senior officials are, but also how desperate they are to show they are in line with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, or with Beijing.

Wong Kam-sin says pollution is created by the protesters

With their integrity is virtually non-existent these days, perhaps they think they can lie about everything.


Do they seriously think people believe them, regardless of what side they are on?

These elites are really astounding in their tone deafness...

Anger Continues to Seethe

Hong Kong Polytechnic University was on fire late last night

Today, a lot of Hong Kong people were really angry.

They were angered by the police's heavy handedness in dealing with the protesters holed up in Hong Kong Polytechnic University, not allowing them any way out, while firing endless rounds of tear gas and water cannons at them and threatening to use live rounds.

Meanwhile the protesters were trapped inside the campus and running out of food and drink. There is a video circulating on Twitter of two social workers who read out a message in English saying the police wouldn't let them out, that they are stuck inside Poly U, and that the protesters who are trapped inside are emotionally distraught, and some are injured but can't get medical aid.

We've received this exclusive footage from 2 social workers trapped inside HK Polytechnic Uni (19:50 HK time), under siege by police. “The police told us it was safe to leave, but when we went out they released tear gas.” The police must immediately defuse the standoff at #PolyU. pic.twitter.com/pbHIqtfBDJ

— Amnesty International (@amnesty) November 18, 2019

In the morning many Hong Kong residents didn't go to work and instead headed towards Poly U to distract the police and to offer help the protesters. However the police kept them at bay with teargas, but that didn't deter them from leaving the area.

At lunchtime as expected, office workers in Central occupied Pedder Street and Connaught Road Central, carrying umbrellas and ready to take on the tear gas with umbrellas.

Long lines waiting to catch the Star Ferry back to HK Island

And around the same time came some good news to cheer about -- the High Court ruled that the government's anti-mask law that was put into effect on October 5 was unconstitutional.

High Court judges found the mask ban introduced under emergency legislation was "incompatible with the Basic Law".

Two judges also found the measure that gave police the power to require a person to remove his or her mask at public places a disproportionate measure given its "remarkable width".

"There is practically no limit on the circumstances in which the power under that section can be exercised by a police officer," the judges wrote.

A lot of people are back to wearing masks again.

Tonight after work, so many people -- thousands -- wanted to head to Poly U to offer their support that to deter them, the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station was closed, so they took the Star Ferry instead by the droves. It's probably the best day in business the Star Ferry has ever had in a long time.

Protesters abseiling down from a bridge to motorbikes below

Despite getting over to Kowloon, and then marching a few kilometres to Poly U, the next challenge was having to fend themselves from tear gas and the threat of arrests by police. As I write this, thousands of people have descended on the area, and trying to make their way to Poly U. It's not that easy, but they are determined to make it there.

To see so many people out there trying to help, even just moral support is amazing. To see so many people willing to risk arrest to help the protesters just shows how much the respect for authority in Hong Kong has fallen by the wayside.

Meanwhile some protesters found a creative but also dangerous way to escape the campus by abseiling down from a bridge using a hose and then getting away by waiting motorbikes below. Apple Daily has reported at least 100 protesters escaped this way before the escape route was spotted by police.

And now leading politicians, including former president of the Legislative Council Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, Ip Kin-yuen, the education sector lawmaker, have gone into Poly U and promised that those under 18 would not be arrested, but that the police would note down their details.
 Some 150 students took the deal and left the campus, but other protesters warned them not to trust "outsiders".

It's hard to say... should these people be trusted? But at the same time, these kids are mentally and physically exhausted.

Meanwhile where is Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor? Earlier in the day she visited the policeman -- police liaison officer -- who was shot in the leg with an arrow. As she left the hospital she didn't take any questions from the media about what was happening at Poly U.

It seems she has left that to the police to handle while she waits in her ivory tower for the mess -- her mess -- to be cleaned up... 

Hong Kong's Battle to the Death

Earlier in the day police tried to pummel the protesters with water cannons

Students and hardline protesters have been literally at war with the police at Hong Kong Polytechnic University all day today. Even though the police have water cannons and armoured vehicles, the protesters with their makeshift weapons have managed to fend them off for over 12 hours. One policeman was even shot in the leg with an arrow.

Water cannons unleashed blue dye on the protesters

At around 9pm, the protesters were given until 10pm to leave the campus, but guess who was waiting at all the exits? The police.

The kids are literally fighting to the death now and managed to stop an armoured truck from entering thanks to Molotov cocktails thrown at it. Pretty impressive.

Some lawmakers tried to negotiate with the police, like Ted Hui Chi-fung, except the police replied by pepper spraying him. 

Again the Hong Kong government is hiding behind the police who are doing all the dirty work, trying to clear the university and also unblock the Cross Harbour Tunnel so that life can get back to normal.

Molotov cocktails stopped an armoured truck from advancing

Except that life isn't normal here anymore.

I went out for dinner tonight at Causeway Bay and asked the host to push up dinner earlier. They complied and we met at 6pm thinking the MTR would still be running until 10pm. However at just after 7pm there was an announcement that the MTR would close at 8pm at Causeway Bay. How convenient.

By the time we finished dinner around 9.20pm disruptions were happening in Central... needless to say I waited for a bus and nothing came. It also didn't help that in the distance I could see three or four riot police with shields crossing the road. I walked to Queen's Road East and managed to catch a taxi.

A policeman with an arrow shot in his calf

At Cheung Kong Centre in Central I could see lots of riot police standing around, and then as the taxi drove by, I saw at least 10 young people behind detained by the police, some wearing white T-shirts. It was unsettling to see.

Meanwhile there are protesters who are surrounding the police who are surrounding Poly U.

It's going to be a sleepless night for everyone...

The Polarization Continues

The entrance to Baptist University is effectively blocked by mini Stonehenges

As I write this, students at Chinese University of Hong Kong are retreating -- about a dozen volunteers have come with cars to take them out.

This ends the four-day occupation of the university safely... but they have left behind a giant mess.

However it seems Hong Kong Polytechnic University is still going strong, the students have prevented any traffic from going through the Cross Harbour Tunnel and even have security checks of every person who walks into the campus.

A fire erupted near Chinese University prompting evacuation

I talked to one professor from the University of Hong Kong -- and it is also his alma mater -- and he said this was the first time he ever had to climb over barricades to get to his office.

The situation has become untenable and the heads of nine universities here have issued an open letter to the government urging the authorities to set up and resolve the political deadlock in the name of safety and security of the whole city.

The letter says:

Hong Kong society is currently fractured, with deep divisions across social groups, political parties, and even amongst family and friends. The past week has seen a rapid escalation of violence and confrontation throughout Hong Kong: several universities are now under protestors’ control; on-campus hazardous materials have been taken; staff and students have left campus out of fear for their personal safety. These events are challenging our universities in the most fundamental way.

No political viewpoint gives a licence to damage property, employ physical threats, or use violence against individuals. It is regrettable that societal disagreement has led to university campuses becoming major political battlefields, and that the government response has so far not been effective. However, any demand that universities can simply fix the problem is disconnected from reality: these complicated and challenging situations neither originate from the Universities, nor can they be resolved through University disciplinary processes. They are reflections of Hong Kong-wide disagreement, and the government must take the lead with swift and concrete action to resolve this political deadlock and to restore safety and public order now.

Earlier in the day students manning No. 2 bridge in Sha Tin

Hong Kong is our home. We call on all quarters of society to work together to bring peace and order back to Hong Kong.

Prof. KUO Way, President, City University of Hong Kong
Prof. Roland T. CHIN President & Vice-Chancellor, Hong Kong Baptist University
Prof. Leonard CHENG, President, Lingnan University
Prof. Rocky S. TUAN, President & Vice-Chancellor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Prof. Stephen CHEUNG, President, The Education University of Hong Kong
Prof. TENG Jin-Guang , President, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Prof. Wei SHYY, President, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Prof. WONG Yuk-Shan, President, The Open University of Hong Kong
Prof. ZHANG Xiang, President & Vice-Chancellor, The University of Hong Kong
(Listed in alphabetical order of universities)

Earlier in the day a newspaper article talked about how the government was getting pressure from all sides, including the pro-establishment parties to do something to resolve the situation. Everyone is tired and frustrated by the government's inaction, just constantly condemning the protesters as rioters and how the violence needs to be stopped.

This only gives more license to the police to have their way with anyone, including bystanders, which in turn makes people even angrier. Surely the government must have figured this out by now.

Carrie Lam not very empathetic at town hall meeting

At lunchtime today scores of people came out not only in Central and Taikoo, but also Wong Chuk Hang and Kwun Tong. A lot of Hong Kong's population are angry with the government.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has said that she is open to dialogue and yet she has not had engaged the public since her disastrous town hall meeting on September 26.

What is she waiting for?

The best way to diffuse tensions is to initiate dialogue but instead Lam would rather inspect trashed MTR stations than meet with people to hear their frustrations and fears. Did she think people would give up?

As someone who was directly involved in dealing with the Umbrella Movement five years ago, Lam hasn't learnt her lesson at all. She has just dismissed it as a blip in Hong Kong's history. For the rest of us, those 79 days were seared in our memories.

Civil service head Joshua Law sends warning to civil servants

Meanwhile civil servants may want to think twice about protesting. Secretary for the Civil Service Joshua Law Chi-kong wrote a letter to the 180,000 civil servants and warned they would face immediate suspension or other disciplinary action if they were arrested for taking part in unlawful activities.

"The government will not tolerate civil servants breaching the law," he wrote. "It would be difficult for the community to accept an arrested civil servant being allowed to continue to exercise the powers and functions of office.

"In this regard, we will interdict the officer in the public interest when an inquiry against him is being undertaken," he wrote.

If this letter was written a year ago, most people would agree. But given what has happened in the past five months, including a rally for civil servants to protest against the extradition bill, most residents would not mind if a civil servant was arrested and continued working -- until they were convicted.

What happened to following the tenet of "innocent until proven guilty"?

The polarization continues...

Hongkongers Should Live Better with Pride

 

Douglas Young (left) talks about his lifestyle brand, G.O.D.

Yesterday Douglas Young, the founder of G.O.D. or Goods of Desire, came to our office for an informal chat with some of us.

He is the creative brainchild behind this Hong Kong lifestyle brand to show his love for the city, how it has unique features, and how they can be turned into fun products. By the way G.O.D. is a homophonic translation of the Cantonese, "住好啲" or ju ho di which means "to live better".

Chinese culture inspires Young's design creativity

And the brand has many of these homophonic references that make it more fun for locals than for non-Chinese who don't have a deep understanding of the language.

Anyway, Young explains when he was young he went to school in the UK and ended up studying architecture but didn't practice it. He says architecture is all about maximizing space which seemed kind of boring to him.

By the time he came back to Hong Kong, Young says he had spent the same amount of time in Hong Kong as he did in the UK and felt he was straddling two worlds. When his UK friends visited Hong Kong they would point out things they found interesting that he thought was mundane; he later realized the city could be the inspiration for products that are unique about the place.

One of his more attention-grabbing slogans is "Delay No More", which sort of sounds like the Cantonese swear word 屌你老母 or diu lei loh mo, basically "f*** you". But in English without any context it can mean don't waste time, which is what Hong Kong is about too.

A G.O.D. store in Central with "Delay No More" on it

Not all of his products are related to dirty words -- instead there are fun T-shirts, and Chinese-style jackets and qipaos, environmental shopping bags with porcelain designs, panda-shaped pillows for sleeping on planes, notebooks and file folders with old school mail boxes or tenement buildings,

He feels it's important to promote Hong Kong, and locals should have pride in the city too. Young says maybe because of its colonial history that Hongkongers look down on local things and prefer Western things, but he thinks the city has so much potential if we give it a chance.

Someone in the audience asked him what he thought of local design schools in Hong Kong and Young replied they are fine, but the students are not given an opportunity to work on projects. For example he says at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, there are projects to develop a space in the school or design chairs and so on, and the design students there are not given an opportunity to take on this real world challenge, and instead outside professionals are hired.

Some fun creative items that can be bought at the G.O.D. store

Young continued, saying there wasn't enough patronage of the arts in Hong Kong, not like in Europe and the United States, and that the government should take the lead on this to nurture local talent, to give them opportunities and to show them they can make a living from doing design.

Then he hinted -- well not hinted, he said straight out that he was looking for someone, a creative mind to take over his business. Young said he didn't mind selling G.O.D., but that would mean he would have to continue generating the ideas for the business, so no one would buy it, he said with a laugh.

But he seems to come up with a lot of ideas all the time, and his passion for Hong Kong, and things Chinese are great -- some aren't executed well, but he has the idea, and that's important. The city is lucky to have Young trying to do some creative stuff and make locals proud of their hometown.

October 1 Unpatriotic Banners

A pro-independence sign hangs at Baptist University in Kowloon Tong

For many in Hong Kong, the October 1 National Day holiday is just another public holiday -- and this year it falls on a Saturday so many people took advantage of going out of town. We're so patriotic.

This contrasts with the Hong Kong government, that attends a flag-raising ceremony at the Golden Bauhinia sculpture next to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. This morning there was some rain that marred the festivities.

Another banner at the University of Hong Kong...

However to mark the 67th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China, banners that read "Hong Kong Independence" in Chinese and English were hung up in eight universities around town. They included the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the University of Science and Technology, Baptist University and City University.

Some of the tertiary institutions removed the banners.

The Hong Kong National Party, a pro-independence group, admitted to providing the banners to the students, but insisted it was the students who put them up themselves.

At Chinese University hangs a large pro-independence banner

A few days ago the party had a message on its Facebook page, telling students not to celebrate National Day and called China a "colonial master" of Hong Kong.

Were any caught putting up the banners? Will they be punished? Or will their actions fall under freedom of speech?

The pro-independence movement, despite being scoffed at for being completely unrealistic and illegal, seems to be growing in popularity. Young people are becoming more radical in their outlook in their hopes to have the Hong Kong they want.

Not exactly what the Communist Party had in mind...