Hong Kong’s new Chief Executive

With the 2012 elections over, I ponder over the vote results. Of the total possible 1,193 votes, C.Y. Leung gained 689, Henry Tang 285 and Albert Ho 76 votes. There were 82 invalid votes and 61 absentees.

Congratulations to C.Y. Leung. The South China Morning Post (front page today) deemed this an unconvincing victory as he had won with only 57.7 percent of the votes available. In contrast, the first Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa won 320 of 400 votes in 1996. In 2007 the incumbent, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was re-elected to his current term with 649 votes from the 796 strong Election Committee (or 81.5 percent). Well, in my opinion, it was a decisive win when you look into the genesis of the race. In the beginning, Henry Tang was a shoo in. In the end, he gained less than half the votes C.Y. Leung did having lost the confidence of his early supporters. The cynic might say that C.Y. Leung did not win the race but was handed victory by Henry Tang who could not keep himself out of negative limelight. Towards election crunch time, Henry Tang’s chances of being elected started to fade. The question then on people’s minds was whether C.Y. Leung could gain the threshold 601 votes.

There is also a ground swell of the Hong Kong population who are unhappy that anyone had won. These are the people who favour returning “white tickets” 白票 to demonstrate their dissatisfaction over the three candidates. The HK University ran a mock poll open to all HK residents with a permanent identity card. 220,000 people voted. The majority of people returned “white tickets”. This may be appropriate for a mock election but I query whether this would be practical in the case of a real election. In any case, C.Y. Leung polled slightly better than Henry Tang, with 17 percent of the mock votes.

Another question that mystifies me is the number of what I’d call “no votes” i.e. the invalid votes and the absentees. In a jurisdiction where the population is craving for universal suffrage, did these fortunate 143 people entrusted with the important task of selecting Hong Kong’s next Chief Executive not appreciate the privilege and the responsibility they carried? Surely these 143 appreciated the fact that there is no “do nothing” option? By doing so, they have allowed others to decide for them. If they have reservations about all three candidates, did these people not realize that in any event, one of the three candidates was likely be elected anyway and it would have been better to vote for the best of the three than to bury your head in the sand and hope for the whole thing to start again with fresh candidates? Fortunately, it was not a close outcome and the 143 votes would not have changed the results. In the end, C.Y.Leung won by 404 votes and he had the necessary minimum number of votes. Fortunately, these 143 “no votes” did not matter in the end. However, in my opinion the privilege should be permanently withdrawn from them.

Dressed Salads

I love salads but usually not for dinner. So I was really glad my daughter convinced me to make an exception on Friday when we popped into Dressed Salads in the ifc Mall (Central). I had the "special of the day" which was lamb kebab with a Greek salad. It was a beautiful meal with just the right portion of meat, fetta cheese and olives. Here's a picture of the dish:

Election for Chief Executive of Hong Kong

So this is it. The night before THE DAY. How the tables have turned. Like they say, a day is a very long time in politics. 6 months ago, it seemed Henry Tang was the shoo-in. Even 2 months ago, it still seemed like he was invincible. And now, CY Leung seems like he has pulled ahead.

Well, I think that it is important that the matter is resolved tomorrow. The politicking and mud slinging has gone on long enough. I don't think I'd like to see another few months of this fiasco in the event that none of the candidates receive the requisite minimum of 601 votes. Possibly with one or two new candidates and probably with also the same ones. To what end? I'd like to think that all the factions have laid their best cards on the table (if not why not?) and the existing 3 candidates are the best of the breed. So why bother to have another round of politicking? What is obvious is that politicking is a new profession in Hong Kong. Dare I say - what we have had to date are more akin to administrators.

Well, I do hope that whichever candidate wins tomorrow's election appreciates the opportunity to prove himself and most importantly, remembers that public office in a democracy is a privilege not a right. May the best man win! The people in Hong Kong deserve that much. Most importantly, may all the politicians, the Public Service and the people of Hong Kong bear in mind that it is important to re-unite for the sake of the economy and for the welfare of the people. Thank you to all three candidates (CY Leung, Henry Tang Yin Yen and Albert Ho) for campaigning vigorously.

Umbrella .... in Cantonese

Look at the cute umbrella I spotted in a gift shop at the Peak. With some Cantonese rain related phrases, it would make a practical yet nostalgic momento for a home sick friend living overseas. The umbrella comes in several colors including blue and black.

The versatile chopsticks 筷子

I was using a pair of chopsticks to beat some eggs for my breakfast omelet this morning when I started thinking about how useful chopsticks are in the kitchen. First of all, do you ever use chopsticks as an egg beater? Honestly, it is the best tool for the job. Of course, there are limitations. I wouldn’t use it for beating eggs for a chiffon cake, for example. Only a balloon whisk would be up to that task.

Instead of steaming baskets or steaming racks, mum would use a pair of bamboo chopsticks to hold up dishes to be steamed in a wok. To prevent a pot from boiling over, she would place a chopstick across the top of a pot to tilt up the lid a little. This way, the lid is covering the pot but there is sufficient ventilation to prevent messy boil overs. I used to own a pair of super long chopsticks which I’d bought from a Chinatown grocery store in Australia. This was exceptionally useful when deep frying food. With this pair of chopsticks, I could stay a safe distance away from splattering oil. Also, the bamboo chopsticks did not get as hot as a pair of metal thongs would. Nifty. Too bad I haven’t been able to find these in Hong Kong.

Here are some interesting tid bits about chopsticks:

Chopsticks originated in ancient China as early as during the Shang dynasty (1766-1122 BC). However, some people believe that it was probably not until the Han dynasty when chopsticks were used as eating utensils. Prior to that, chopsticks were probably used for cooking – for example, for stirring the pot and picking up food. But then again, Zhou, the last emperor of the Shang dynasty, was reputed to have used a pair of ivory chopsticks. Gold and silver chopsticks became popular in the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). It was believed that the silver chopsticks could detect poisons in food.

In Japan, around 24 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are used a year. This works out to around 200 pairs per person per year. In China, an estimated 45 billion pairs of disposable chopstick are produced annually. This adds up to 1.66 million cubic meters of timber or 25 million fully grown trees every year.

If you are now interested to learn more about the humble chopsticks, you may wish to visit a chopsticks museum in Shanghai. The address of the Kuaizi Museum is 191 Duolun Road (Hongkou District) 多伦路文化名人街上海市虹口区. In Hong Kong there is a specialty chopsticks retailer called Chopsticks Gallery at the Ngong Ping 360 Village (Lantau Island).