SC Yeung | 19 August 2014 | EJ Insight
Robert Chow Yung, the spokesman for the Alliance for Peace and Democracy, should apologize to the public over the issue of payments to participants to join the anti-Occupy Central demonstration as reported by the media.
If the reports are true, such a practice is a blow to the Hong Kong core value of honesty and can only stir public discontent toward the pro-Beijing campaign.
18 August 2014 | EJ Insight
Participants in the mass protest organized by the Alliance for Peace and Democracy on Sunday were given cash and other gifts amounting to HK$200 to HK$350 (US$25.80-45.15) each for taking part in the demonstration against the Occupy Central movement, according to reports by several local newspapers and television stations.
The reporters said members of the Federation of HK Guangxi Community Organization offered participants HK$200 each upon showing up at the march, as well as a gift pack of food items worth around HK$130, Apple Daily reported on Monday, citing undercover reporters who joined the march.
18 August 2014 | EJ Insight
Many elderly people joined the anti-Occupy Central rally on Sunday and some of them did not know what they were protesting against.
The Alliance for Peace and Democracy, which organized the march, claimed that 193,000 people took part in the march.
Some seniors said they just came along on the march when asked by leaders of their associations, AM 730 reported.
SC Yeung | 18 August 2014 | EJ Insight
Sunday’s pro-government march will be remembered for a lot of things but not for what it hoped to achieve — win over Hong Kong people.
Let’s get the latter part out of the way and say it out loud: the march was an utter failure.
More than that, it was an embarrassment, the way a bad joke humiliates a comedian. But more remarkably, it will go down as a bizarre show of force.
18 August 2014 | EJ Insight
Anti-Occupy Central organizers are eyeing foreign domestic helpers to help them fulfill their political agenda, some reports said.
The Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Hong Kong said some employers asked domestic helpers for their Hong Kong identity card, saying that they needed it to file a claim, Next Plus reported Monday.
18 August 2014 | EJ Insight
The anti-Occupy Central rally in Hong Kong on Sunday drew much lower turnout when compared to the July 1 pro-democracy march, a fact that will not escape the attention of various political groups in the city.
The Alliance for Peace and Democracy, which organized yesterday’s rally, said 193,000 people took part in the march, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported Monday. According to the Public Opinion Pogramme of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the turnout for the pro-Beijing rally was in the 79,000 to 88,000 range.
Mark O’Neill | 14 August 2014 | EJ Insight
My moment of awakening came one morning on a crowded Hong Kong subway from Tsuen Wan to Central.
There were four “strong country people” sitting together, three adults and one boy aged about five. He began to feel uncomfortable and his father quickly pulled out the plastic bag he had prepared: the boy did his business and father caught it in the bag. Then his mother produced an iPad; playing on it, the boy was immediately distracted.
14 August 2014 | EJ Insight
Next Media Group chairman Jimmy Lai Chee-ying on Thursday appeared on a short video in response to an anonymous obituary published by a local newspaper, saying he is sorry to have disappointed the author for still being alive.
“The joke is not good enough because I don’t look like I have AIDS… Do you want me to die? It’s so easy. Just keep cursing me, and with your mother’s power, perhaps one day I will die,” Lai said. “I am sorry to have let you down.”
SC Yeung | 14 August 2014 | EJ Insight
If nothing else, the battle between pro-democracy and pro-Beijing forces for the hearts and minds of Hong Kong people is turning our fair city into a highly politicized society.
This all seems to come down to the partisan line “you’re either with us or against us”.
The fact is most Hong Kong people are politically neutral and would prefer to be left to go about their lives.
But they can’t help being caught up in the fevered campaigns by the opposing camps to bring down each other.
Either way, Hong Kong’s silent majority has a lot at stake.
14 August 2014 | EJ Insight
Occupy Central is set to launch civil disobedience in Hong Kong as soon as the National People’s Congress (NPC) approves an election reform package that fails to meet its expectations, Ming Pao Daily reported Thursday.
China’s legislature is expected to announce its decision in the last week of August during its annual session.
Vey Wong | 14 August 2014 | EJ Insight
An average Hong Kong family would need to scrimp and save for about 14 years to be able to buy a tiny 400-square-foot apartment in the city’s urban areas, according to a survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).
The overall quality of life in Hong Kong has deteriorated over the year through 2013, with property affordability the weakest in 12 years, the survey found.
SC Yeung | 13 August 2014 | EJ Insight
First, 10 years, then another 10 years, then another 10 years. How long will we have to wait to finally be able to elect the leaders of our own choice?
An unnamed source told RTHK that Hong Kong people may need to wait until 2027 before they can enjoy universal suffrage if Beijing’s proposal for the 2017 chief executive election is voted down in the Legislative Election next year.
Occupy Central with Love and Peace 