Friday, May 18, 2007

Hong Kong: Ma Lik

Hong Kong legislator, member of the Basic Law Steering Committee, chairman of the pro-Beijing political party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), Mister Ma Lik sat down for tea with some journalists earlier this week.

So it was that in between sips of Jasmin, Ma explained that Hong Kong was not ready for universal suffrage because, for starters, many Hong Kong people wrongly believed there was a massacre in Tiananmen Square [in 1989].

Ma and the DAB have since backpedalled on his Tiananmen comments and Ma has now sought shelter in Guangzhou where he is being treated for colon cancer.

Wish him well for the future.

But why go to Guangzhou for treatment when Hong Kong's three major public hospitals deliver world-class cancer treatments? There is speculation Ma may have been put off by the hospital names . . . Prince of Wales (New Territories), Queen Elizabeth (Kowloon), Queen Mary (Hong Kong island): hemlock

Anyway, Ma cited the Tiananmen "belief" to show that Hong Kong people were "not mature enough", that they lacked patriotism and national identity, and would thus not be ready for democracy until . . . 2022.

Just so you know.

Oh, and he also questioned whether gweilos (a Cantonese semi-contemptuous term for Caucasians) should be the ones to interpret the truth about Tiananmen.

To be continued.

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