Hong Kong Votes and Obama's Apparent Snub

Taikoo Shing earlier this evening, where lots of people were waiting to vote

The polls for the Legislative Council election have technically closed as of two minutes ago (10.30pm), but there are still people out there queuing to vote. They will allow them to vote, but only those who were in line before 10.30pm.

It's pretty amazing to hear reports like this, that people have come out in droves and I hope this demonstrates to the Hong Kong government and to Beijing that we care about who we vote for and we don't want to lose this right to vote directly for people to represent us.

Last minute checks at the polling station on who to vote for

Apparently social workers were out in some elderly homes to make sure seniors weren't coerced into voting buses to cast their ballot for a certain candidate or party, though Apple Daily reported some elderly had numbers written on their hands of which candidates to vote for.

I voted this morning at 11am in Kennedy Town and there was no line-up. I gave them my poll card, but they didn't want it -- they just wanted my Hong Kong Identity card. Surely they should at least match the two together? And take the polling card to cross-check later just in case? I find this a very strange practice.

A friend, YTSL, had asked if there would only be names on the ballot or numbers. It turns out EVERYTHING is on the ballot -- the person's name in Chinese and English, their political party AND their picture. Surely you can't get your vote wrong so hopefully there won't be many spoiled ballots.

US President Barack Obama emerges from Air Force One

In the next several hours the votes will be counted at AsiaWorld Expo, and the results will be out in the wee hours of the morning.

It's pretty exciting to see so many people come out, though it's expected that those in their 60s and above probably voted pro-establishment, while those 50 and under voted pro-democratic, and probably those in their 20s for localists.

Another big story today was the arrival of American President Barack Obama in Hangzhou for the G20 summit and things didn't work out too well because he didn't come out onto the rolling staircase, but instead emerged from the belly of the plane, which is usually reserved for high security risk areas.

A White House aide and Chinese security official arguing

Then the New York Times reported a shouting match between a White House member of staff and a Chinese security official. When she pointed out this was not normal protocol, he could be heard clearly saying to her, "This is our country".

Also the media had trouble on the tarmac too. The Times reporter who said he had covered the White House for six years, and never had he seen a foreign host prevent media from watching a US president disembark.

Then at the West Lake State House, where Obama would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, White House aids, protocol officers and secret service got into another shouting match about how many Americans would be allowed into the building before Obama's arrival. The reporter said there were fears things could escalate to a physical confrontation.

"Calm down please," an American official said, according to the pool report. A Chinese foreign ministry official said, "Stop please... there are reporters there."

However, a Hong Kong media outlet claims the "staircase snub" was not that at all, but that it was Washington's decision.

"China provides a rolling staircase for every arriving state leader, but the US side complained that the driver doesn't speak English and can't understand security instructions from the United States; so China proposed that we could assign a translator to sit beside the driver, but the US side turned down the proposal and insisted that they didn't need the staircase provided by the airport," the official was quoted as saying.

That reasoning is hard to believe -- what happens in every other foreign country that the US President arrives in?

It still seems like a deliberate snub at Obama to show him who's boss. He didn't make much of a fuss about it in front of the media, advising them not to "overcrank the significance".

But one can't help but wonder, the arrival of every other state leader in Hangzhou was fine...

Good Laughs

Saturday night was filled with laughs thanks to comedy night in Wan Chai

I just came back from Tamarind restaurant in Wan Chai which held a comedy night put on by Punchline Comedy Club.

A colleague, his girlfriend and I arrived earlier for a bite to eat at the buffet... a pan-Asian selection of food, mostly samosas, chicken tikka, vegetarian curry, naan bread and salad, where we ate under really bad lighting.

Then about 8.20pm, we got up to the main area, where seats were set up theatre style, and we managed to get three seats in a window alcove as if we were in our own little box.

Maff Brown warmed up the audience...

This proved to be the best move, as the rest of the seats were crammed together, and there was hardly any room for people to get in and out.

The first comedian was Maff Brown from the UK and he spoke very fast so sometimes the audience had a delayed reaction to his jokes, or the jokes themselves were so bizarre, it took a second to process what he'd said.

Many of the jokes were related to sex, like shagging a friend's mother, or how his girlfriend is keen to get pregnant, but he's not interested in kids. He'd make fun of audience members, like right in the beginning, one woman near the front, who seemed to get his jokes much later than everyone else, so he'd periodically check to see if she was on the same page.

After a break, Stephen K Amos came on, with a very warm welcome from the audience. He too made fun of people, like a 22-year-old who had no idea what Amos was talking about when he said he used to be a DJ and would carry around a turntable to his friend's place but instead brought the sewing machine. And it was a Singer. Bada-boom.

He talked about his family, how there were eight children, and he has a twin sister. He'd joke that his mother complained about making her life hell, and how his father made them run faster by taking off his belt...

... followed by Stephen K Amo's routine, touching on racism

Jokes aside, Amos also wanted to add a measure of seriousness, with a message, saying that on social media we have to think about what we say online and not just react to what people post or say.

He gave examples of how some comments can be what he calls "casual racism". Amos said he didn't want to be called black, but that he was Stephen. Sometimes this is hard for people to understand or realize, but people are people, no matter who they are or where they came from.

The whole evening was full of good laughs which gave the abs a good workout. Laughing is a wonderful stress reliever and we definitely chilled out afterwards.

More Drama on the Hustings

Are you clear on who you're going to go vote for on Sunday?

This year's Legislative Council elections are already shaping up to be a wild ride -- and we haven't even voted yet.

First of all the Election Commission barred six people from becoming candidates because of their pro-independence views.

Then Ken Chow Wing-kan of the Liberal Party claimed a higher force was threatening him and people close to him -- a force so strong that it is even more powerful than the Liaison Office or the triads.

He was so scared he fled Hong Kong and doesn't plan to come back from the UK until after September 4.

Five pan-democrat candidates have suspended their campaigns

Now we have five pan-democrats pulled out of the race in the hopes of consolidating the pan-democratic vote.

The five are: Paul Zimmerman, Kalvin Ho Kai-ming, Sumly Chan Yuen-sum, Chu Chi-kin, and Suzanne Wu Sui-shan.

It seems so strange -- and desperate -- to do it three days before the vote -- why couldn't they have coordinated among themselves earlier? Surely they would have known that the sheer number of political parties was going to further dilute the vote especially for democratic-leaning parties, compared to one big pro-Beijing one (the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong).

And also, on Sunday, their names will still be on the ballot, so stopping their campaign isn't going to really help the situation at all, but further confuse people about who they want to vote for.

The chain of events started when Labour Party chairwoman Wu, contesting the Kowloon East constituency, said she wanted to set an example for her pro-democratic allies to "focus on the whole picture".

Zimmerman and fellow independent Chu, who beat DAB lawmaker Christopher Chung Shu-kun, stopped electioneering.

"I hope you will all consider your vote for democrats who are almost in," said Zimmerman in a statement, suggesting his supporters switch to Demosisto candidate Nathan Law Kwun-chung.

Then when it came to the functional constituency, where voters can also choose one candidate, two others dropped out, Civic Party's Chan, who funded his own campaign, as the party initially opposed his electioneering, announced he would stop campaigning after he had canvassed the Central area.

"[We] urge voters to utilize their wisdom and ensure that the pan-democrats retain three super seats," said party chairman Alan Leong Kah-kit.

Ho of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood also quit the race for a super seat.

The latest poll figures show the pan-democrats could only win 11 seats in the geographical constituencies, which is down from 18 in 2012, meaning they could lose their veto power.

Perhaps it's an indication the public is tired of the pan-democrats' filibustering, which caused a major backlog of bills from being passed in a shorter period of time.

From an observer point of view, this latest twist to the otherwise already exciting race, is making it hard for all of us to catch up, but also who do we vote for?

What else is going to happen from Friday evening to Sunday morning?!

Fact of the Day: 28,000 Cross-border Students

Students going through border control check points before going to school

Did you know there are 28,000 kids who live on the mainland and cross the border everyday to go to school in Hong Kong?

In the 2010-11 school year there were 9,899 of them, and 24,990 2014-15.

Twenty-eight thousand is a staggering number of them, but also illustrates the demand for good education by mainland parents.

Today was the first day of school, and for some of them -- the poor things -- had a four-hour commute.

Four-hour commutes to school are tiring for children

They were up at 6am to take the school bus to the border at Man Kam To by 7am, but it took over an hour to get through immigration. Then to make matters worse, the school bus drive in the Hong Kong side took a longer route to get to Tsuen Wan Trade Association Primary School in Tsing Yi.

Those 20 students didn't arrive to school until 10.15am.

Another 40 students coming from Huanggang border point arrived an hour late, but it was 45 minutes earlier than last year.

The school principal, Chow Kim-ho, says the school admitted 50 primary one cross-border pupils this year, which made up 62 percent of the total intake in this grade. He said it would take about two weeks for the buses to adjust and arrive to school on time.

Up until 2013, North District schools were inundated with an influx of cross-border students and it was that year when the Hong Kong government introduced a separate cross-border school catchment area, where 122 primary schools in eight districts, reserved 3,000 spots for students.

School buses shuttle students to and from border points

Previously cross-border students would compete with local ones for spaces.

But some cross-border children who live closer to the border may have to go further into Hong Kong to go to school in areas like Tsing Yi, Tung Chung or even Wong Tai Sin.

Pity these kids who have such long commutes, and then have to go home, have dinner and do homework and then do it all over again the next day.

Their parents really do think the education system is better in Hong Kong, while ironically local parents would rather their children be educated in international schools if they can afford it.

Guess it's all relative...