Jostling and clamoring outside a campaign rally for current Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權), pro-democracy activists said they were inspired by Taiwan's democracy and believed the way to obtain universal suffrage in Hong Kong is to boycott those in power.
On Friday evening, Emily Lau (劉慧卿), Chairwoman of Frontier, a radical pro-democracy party, led her supporters and party members in a protest outside Tsang's campaign rally, which was being held at Wan Chai Baseball Stadium.
Carrying a red coffin to symbolize how Tsang won promotion to the territory's top job, pro-democracy members marched around the stadium shouting slogans such as "stop closed-circle elections" and "universal suffrage in 2012." In Chinese, the pronunciation of "government post" is similar to "coffin."
Some protesters even tried to get into the rally in order to protest against the Chief Executive Election, calling it a "sham election." After some small altercations with the police, however, the protesters were quickly pushed back.
"The Chief Executive Election is nothing but a sham election because only 800 people are able to vote," Lau said through a megaphone. "It is not a democratic election at all. We don't want this kind of election."
"What we want is one person, one vote. But Tsang criticized us, saying that is a dream that can only be found in paradise. According to his logic, the people of Taiwan are all in the paradise," she said. "Hong Kong cannot compare with Taiwan in this regard."
Lau said that she would not vote today even though she is one of the 800 agents who have a right to vote on the Election Committee.
Despite the protesters, Tsang supporters continued to enter the rally, ignoring the opposition. A young mother, taking her two daughters who are elementary school pupils to Tsang's rally, told the Taipei Times that she came because she thought it was a good opportunity for her girls to learn more about democracy.
"I think this event is quite educational for kids. Although we cannot vote in this election, sooner or later, Hong Kong people will have the right to elect their leader directly," the young mother said.
Tsang's rival is pro-democracy legislator Alan Leong (
"I think Tsang is much more familiar with the operations of government than Leong. He has the experience of being a civil servant for over 40 years. I think he is reliable," said a 21-year-old college student, who was visiting the rally with two friends.
"Leong represents another voice of Hong Kong society. But about 15 percent of college students polled two weeks ago did not know who Leong was," the young man said.
About 2,000 supporters and some Hong Kong pop stars, including Leon Lai (
Leon Ng (
"I would say that if Taiwan's democracy has reached a college degree, then this rally has just about reached kindergarten," Ng said.
Ng, who has been to Taiwan to observe elections several times, said that Hong Kongers have no idea about how to show their passion and fervor for the candidate they support.
"What impressed me most was the passion and autonomy of Taiwanese voters when I joined in campaign rallies in Taipei," Ng said. "Although Taiwan holds elections nearly every year, I think it takes a step forward with each poll. I think Hong Kong could also have that one day."
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS