Hong Kong to Continue the Same Path

Lau again picked a neutral fortune for Hong Kong today

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the prophecy for Hong Kong is drawn through fortune sticks at Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin.

Early this morning, Heung Yee Kuk chairman Kenneth Lau Ip-keung got on his knees and shook a bamboo container filled with fortune sticks at an angle until one fell out.

It was number 38, considered a neutral fortune. By the way the two previous times he has picked neutral fortune sticks -- perhaps it's time to give the job to someone else? 

Lau got number 45 last year and number 92 in 2020.

Warning for Lam who may run for CE again

In any event the fortune read: "Men up above seek the fruit of truth. I head to the low ground to pick ginger and Chinese mustard.

"An altar may well be a kitchen. Act not as a hero to teach hunting," it added. The omen came with a brief explanation telling the city to "stick to the old ways on everything.

Everything?

If anything the city needs to innovate if it wants to survive...

Lau interpreted the fortune as continuing on the same path in battling the on-going Covid-19 pandemic.

More groans can be heard all over Hong Kong.

"My understanding is that as the pandemic rages on, everyone should keep up their work. One should not expect the city would be able to end it in one go. We step out of difficulties one step at a time."

Meanwhile fortune-teller Chan Tin-yan said the message was also directed at Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who has yet to disclose if she will run again for the top post or not.

Che Kung quashed uprisings and plagues

"It said one should not act like a hero. It was telling the chief executive not to act like a hero," Chan said, adding the prophecy also suggested that any other entrants into the March leadership race should be more experienced than Lam "so that the economic and pandemic situations in Hong Kong will stabilise."

Interesting to note that Che Kung Temple was built over 300 years ago and named after a Song dynasty commander who was known for quashing not only rebellions, but also plagues...

Warning for HK Govt in Year of the Ox

Lau shows the prophecy he picked out with the fortune stick

 

The Year of the Ox has a cautious warning for Hong Kong authorities.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the ritual fortune stick is chosen at Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin, and this year the interpretation is for the government to be more decisive.

Kenneth Lau Ip-keung, who chairs the powerful rural body, the Heung Yee Kuk, picked a "neutral" fortune stick, though he said it should serve as an alarm call for officials, referring to the year-long coronavirus pandemic.

Che Kung Temple is in Sha Tin

"Hong Kong is facing a big problem. The people suffer pain. It's hard to do business now and many people are left jobless. Every step of the government is important, particularly at this stage," said Lau, who is also a pro-Beijing lawmaker.

"If it is not decisive and moves a wrong step, then the problem will be big. The fire will grow bigger. So the prophecy asks the government to implement its policies in a decisive, precise and timely manner, otherwise the problem will be big."

The fortune stick is one of 96 in a bamboo cylinder, each stick is numbered and refers to an omen, with 35 good ones, 17 bad, and 44 neutral. To pick the fortune stick, you have to shake the bamboo cylinder at an angle until one stick falls out. If two or more fall out at the same time, then put the sticks back in and shake it again.

Each omen is written as a poem, and usually people ask a fortune teller to help them interpret what it means. Lau's stick was number 45. It roughly translates as:

"One must discuss with others before taking any action. Matters of the world are fraught and in vain.

Shake the bamboo container until a stick falls out

"The wood that piled up in one's storage is not burnt for nothing. The knowledge knows before a fire burns."

It goes on to say:

"Everything is not ideal, but the self should have peace and the family has some luck. Those who seek money cannot yield a great outcome."

If one looks at how the Hong Kong government has handled the pandemic, the omen seems to describe it well, as the authorities have done several U-turns on many policies in battling the virus, including the latest decision on allowing the Lunar New Year flower markets to open, when originally it said they would be cancelled.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has also been criticized for relying on a small circle of advisors instead of consulting more broadly. Perhaps one remembers the time when the government stopped allowing all meals in restaurants and had to reverse the decision in 48 hours after seeing people eating takeaway lunches in the rain?

The government u-turned on the flower market

Lau said: "The pandemic is just the same as fire. If it is not put off in a timely manner, it will spread so fast."

As the number of new infections was 12 today, but no closer to Lam's goal of zero, Lau said the government needed to do a better job in tackling imported cases and improving contact tracing.

When asked by reporters whether the prophecy suggested the Beijing-imposed national security law could not address the city's problems, Lau said: "The administration could not walk its talk on many occasions. I believe when making policies, the government should make them go forward, aside from thinking about them carefully."

Sounds ominous.

He gave the example of Hong Kong's housing and land shortages, saying it took two decades to develop an area.

Lester Shum was one of 50 arrested last month

Reporters also asked Lau whether Hong Kong authorities should refrain from prosecuting opposition figures, give that one interpretation of the prophecy suggested the importance of harmony.

"Politically, striving for harmony is always the best. People's grievances should be addressed. It can't always use tough measures. That can't solve the matter. Every society needs harmony and unity to go forward," he said.

Wonder if he meant to send that message to Beijing as well, after how it dealt with the social unrest in 2019 followed by over 10,000 arrests of protesters, and last month's arrest of 50 former lawmakers and pro-democracy activists for subversion in an alleged plot to "overthrow" the government...

HK's Short T8 and Lau Wong-fat

Tropical cyclone Roke came and went through Hong Kong today

Yesterday was so hot and humid, it was a sign a typhoon may be coming. Late last night it was T1 and I didn't think much of it.

But this morning it was already T3 and I got a text message from the Hong Kong Observatory, saying it would be T8 by 9.20am with Roke making landfall at Sai Kung East Country Park at 10am.

The T8 signal didn't feel serious this time around

That was such a surprise -- I didn't see that coming at all. So I stayed at home all morning and afternoon, and by 3.10pm the signal was lowered to T3.

I decided to go for a swim and the outdoor pool at Kennedy Town wasn't open, but the indoor ones were. It wasn't packed, but I had to weave around people in the smaller pool.

There was no rain at all, a bit windy outside and I finished the rest of my shopping and came home.

But by 7.30pm it was pouring rain when I went out for a late dinner in Central. Luckily I brought my big umbrella with me, but I should have worn boots. However within 10 minutes in the MTR, the rain had subsided in Central.

After dinner at 10.30pm it was pouring again in Central -- even harder than before. There was no choice but to get wet even under an umbrella. And then back in Kennedy town there was very light rain even though there is amber rainstorm warning. So bizarre!

Heung Kee Kuk strongman Lau Wong-fat has died

The next two days are expected to be unsettled followed by really hot sunny days Friday may see showers and then sunshine again on the weekend. Or that could all change tomorrow.

In other news, former Heung Yee Kuk leader Lau Wong-fat has passed away at the age of 80. He has been ill for a while.

For 35 years he represented the indigenous residents of the New Territories, and became known for his fight to include an article in the Basic Law to ensure that indigenous interests were still protected after 1997.

This includes the small three-storey houses they build and allows every male child to do the same, while the rest of us are crammed into shoeboxes in the sky everywhere else.

A few government officials previously dared to stare down Lau and his gang, but retreated with their tails between their legs. Are they really that threatening? Apparently so...

However, Lau's son, Kenneth Lau Ip-keung has taken over as leader, though he has yet to bare his teeth like his father.

May be now the government can really start pushing the housing agenda forward to make it more equitable for everyone...

Cracks in Heung Yee Kuk?

Heung Yee Kuk chairman Kenneth Lau will be sworn in as a lawmaker...

Are we seeing weakness in the notorious rural force known as Heung Yee Kuk?

Its chairman, Kenneth Lau Ip-leung was elected uncontested last month in the Legislative Council elections, and he will take the oath of office on Wednesday.

It was suggested in their internal meeting that 10,000 rural villagers show up to Legco to demonstrate their support for Lau, but now that has drastically been scaled back to a few hundred at most.

While Li Yiu-ban, a kuk ex-officio executive councillor who is helping to organize the rally, says it's better to have less people at Tamar because it "may cause inconvenience to others", others say Lau isn't taking a strong enough stance on rural issues like his father, Lau Wong-fat, who stepped down for health reasons after running the kuk for 35 years.

... and so will Eddie Chu (left) who exposed the kuk's violations

The rally was also meant to protest against incoming legislator Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, who has single handedly exposed kuk members bullying the Hong Kong government in the Wang Chau development in Yuen Long.

The Wang Chau site is a brownfield site the government had wanted to take back to build some 17,000 flats, but some kuk members are using it -- and profiting from it -- and refuse to hand it back, forcing the authorities to retreat and instead develop a green-belt area nearby and evict residents of three villages.

This whole fiasco has made the kuk realize they need to revamp their image and plan to hire a public relations firm to help them.

While the Basic Law protects the traditional rights of indigenous rural residents, rural leaders says it should include hillside burials, the right to build small houses and exemption from government rent.

Perhaps the strongman days of Lau Wong-fat are over?

At the same time there is no official figure on the number of indigenous residents in Hong Kong who can trace their male ancestry back to residents of the New Territories in 1898, though some rural leaders estimate it could be at least 300,000 of them.

So while the Heung Yee Kuk wants to put a positive spin on its image, who is going to believe it?

Peter Lam Yuk-wah, a public relations consultant, said rural leaders should give up the idea of a PR campaign to get people to accept their views and instead be prepared to make compromises.

"A campaign is more than forcing your views on others. There will be feedback. And how are you going to deal with that feedback is more important. Otherwise, you can make things worse," Lam said.

Perhaps members of the kuk need to realize Lau Wong-fat's strongman days are long gone and the only way to repair the PR damage is to do the right thing and return the land to the government...