Picture of the Day: Sunset

Tail end of the sunset looked like this from Leighton Road in Causeway Bay

On Thursday after work, I was waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green when I looked up to see a gorgeous deep purple sky.

I quickly snapped the picture and glad I did.

Us city dwellers living in the concrete jungle forget to look up to see what's around us.

Best to do that once in a while to discover the beauty of Mother Nature around us.

The Uphill Battle for Minimum Wage

Fighting for minimum wage in Hong Kong depends on the economic climate

The Hong Kong government wants to do something about poverty, and yet it still caves into the business sector.

Minimum wage was finally made law in July 2010 and enacted in May 2011 set at HK$28 per hour. The rate is reviewed every year, and there were some decent increases in the past years.

Hong Kong has over 150,000 employees on minimum wage

This year, the proposal is only to increase it by HK$2 to HK$34.50 an hour, far less than the HK$41 union representatives had been asking for.

Employer representatives had asked that the wages be frozen at HK$32.50 citing the challenging climate.

If Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and his cabinet approve the new wage increase, it will be in effect May next year and affect 154,500 employees in the city.

The raise is only 6.15 percent, compared to 8.3 percent last year and 7.14 percent in 2013.

Leung Chau-ting, a member of the Labour Advisory Board was disappointed with the low increase, saying it was not ideal for employees at all.

Many cleaners are in their 60s and not well educated

"When we agreed to the minimum wage when it was first enacted, we were willing to give in to a low rate because we understood employers needed time to accept it. But after five years, we, as labour representatives, still always seem to be in a weaker position in all the bargaining," Leung said.

This seems strange, considering labour -- ones in mostly in restaurants, delivery, fast food, convenience clerks, cleaners and such -- are in low supply, one would think their value would go up.

Why do the employers get the upper hand?

In the case of dish washers, things have really come to a head. Not only can restaurants not find someone to wash dishes, they won't even take the decent salary offered that is up to HK$20,000 per month -- higher than minimum wage.

Dish washers are in demand but no one wants to do it

It is a physically tough job, working in very hot conditions and pretty thankless really.

Is this a sign that Hong Kong's work force now expects job satisfaction? Or that the "ah sum" or middle-aged women, typically not well educated in their late 50s and 60s who would have done these jobs before are all employed or don't want that work?

Perhaps it's a sign of the times when restaurants now hire companies to wash dishes for them overnight and get the clean ones back in the morning...

Joshua Wong's Preferential Detainment

Joshua Wong speaks to the media after returning from Bangkok yesterday

Why is Demosisto activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung considered a dangerous person by Thai authorities?

On the invitation of Thai student activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal to speak to students at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok about the 2014 Umbrella Movement, Wong flew to the Thai capital on Tuesday evening.

But the 19-year-old was detained by Thai authorities even before he reached the terminal -- he says he was surrounded by 20 police and immigration officers at the air bridge.

When he confirmed his identity, his passport was confiscated and he was detained in a cell for 12 hours where he was not told what he was being held for, had no access to a lawyer or could not notify the Hong Kong Immigration Department or family members.

Thai student activist Netwit Chotiphatphaisal invited Wong

Chotiphatphaisal was waiting at the airport to pick up Wong, but when he didn't show up, he asked airport authorities who told him hours later that student activist was detained, and so the Thai student immediately contacted Demosisto of the situation.

It turns out that Wong was detained at Beijing's request.

"Officials there have requested to take him back. It's Chinese officials' business. Don't get involved too much. They are all Chinese people no matter Hong Kong or mainland China," said junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

It's shocking to hear Thailand is so keen to do Beijing's bidding, but perhaps even more so is Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung's passive response to the matter.

"I personally do not believe such a matter would... require international pressure," he said, adding the incident was "purely Thailand's own handling" of an individual's entry into the country as a tourist.

So much for being concerned about Hong Kong citizens in other countries...

The Thai authorities were skittish about allowing Wong in because he would be speaking at Bangkok's leading university to mark the 40th anniversary of a student massacre, a highly sensitive time for the junta, who took power in 2014.

Thai junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha

Prayuth's office said the junta was "aware that Mr Wong had been active in resistance movements against other foreign governments, and that if such actions were taken within Thailand, they could eventually affect Thailand's relations with other nations".

China washed its hands of the matter, only saying it "respects Thailand's exercise of immigration control in accordance with law".

While Wong criticized the Hong Kong government for not looking into this case, he also felt "very fortunate" that he had been able to return home, compared to missing bookseller Gui Minhai who was taken from Pattaya and then resurfaced on the mainland under detention.

Will other Hong Kong citizens be detained in this way too if they travel to Thailand? Will the Hong Kong government show any interest in helping them out?

This only reveals the pettiness of the government for not seeing everyone equal under the law and allowing other countries to do what they want to Hong Kong citizens.

How is this just?

Remembering Bing Thom

Architect Bing Thom had thought deeply about good design around cities

It was a shock to find out that Chinese Canadian architect Bing Thom died suddenly yesterday afternoon in Hong Kong.

He had a brain aneurysm and died at Eastern Hospital with his wife Bonnie of over 50 years by his side. He was 75.

Thom was supposed to be a keynote speaker at Walk21, a week-long conference about how to make cities more accessible by foot. Thom was an advocate for making cities more livable, more connected, more accessible.

He was also here to check up on his Xiqu Centre, a theatre for Chinese opera that is being built in West Kowloon together with M+.

The Chan Centre at UBC is well know for its acoustics

I met him around 2005 in Vancouver when I was working for CBC Radio Vancouver. The public broadcaster presented a massive community discussion called Think Vancouver, getting people's thoughts about the city, what we love about it, how to make it better, its past and present, so many aspects.

We invited Thom talk about the city to an audience at the Vancouver Museum and he was so passionate about it, that one couldn't help but be swept along with his enthusiasm. Afterwards he talked to me about how pleased he was that we had organized such an event and that it was run very well.

Soon afterwards I was summoned to his office for an "interview", but nothing came out of it. While I admired Thom very much because he has thought very deeply about things as well as details, doing communications for an architect firm wasn't in the cards for me.

That was the last time I had contact with him, and then I moved to Beijing and then Hong Kong.

The Xiqu Centre is being built in West Kowloon

I was thrilled to read that he was going to design the Xiqu Centre and hoped there was some possibility of our paths crossing again; sadly it was not to be.

To me, his buildings can only be described as serene, strong and graceful. Everything is functional and practical. At The Chan Centre, a performance hall at the University of British Columbia, he was very proud of the acoustics which musicians have raved about. He worked very hard to learn as much as he could about acoustics and how to get the best sound from the design of the room.

An interesting side note is that the building has more washrooms for women than men, as there is always a line for women.

Another piece of trivial information is that he swam everyday in the Kitsilano Pool every morning when he was in Vancouver. 

In a way it's quite fitting Thom passed away in his hometown of Hong Kong, his life coming full circle.

He immigrated to Vancouver when he was very young and in a radio interview admitted he didn't know a word of English let alone the alphabet. He later studied architecture at UBC and UC Berkeley, and then worked at the offices of Fumihiko Maki and Arthur Erickson before opening his own firm, Bing Thom Architects.

We will miss him terribly. He had so much more to contribute with his ideas and passion, but one man can only do so much. Thankfully we have his buildings to remember him by, and hope we can continue to fulfill his vision.