from yesterdays nyt (see below.) how cynical is that: cy leung states that there should be no direct vote for the chief executive because the majority of the population is poor (earns less than us$ 1,800.- per month.) therefore, if the poor would determine the outcome of the elections, they would turn hk into a welfare state, which would harm the business elite.... HONG KONG — The Beijing-appointed leader of Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying, said Monday evening that it was unacceptable to allow his successors to be chosen in open elections, in part because doing so would risk giving poorer residents a dominant voice in politics. In an interview with a small group of journalists from American and European news media organizations, his first with foreign media since the city erupted in demonstrations, he acknowledged that many of the protesters are angry over the lack of social mobility and affordable housing in the city. But he argued that containing populist pressures was an important reason for resisting the protesters’ demands for fully open elections. Instead, he backed Beijing’s position that all candidates to succeed him as chief executive, the top post in the city, must be screened by a “broadly representative” nominating committee appointed by Beijing. That screening, he said, would insulate candidates from popular pressure to create a welfare state, and would allow the city government to follow more business-friendly policies to address economic inequality instead. Mr. Leung said that if “you look at the meaning of the words ‘broadly representative,’ it’s not numeric representation.” “You have to take care of all the sectors in Hong Kong as much as you can,” he said, “and if it’s entirely a numbers game and numeric representation, then obviously you would be talking to half of the people in Hong Kong who earn less than $1,800 a month.”
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 02:22:30 +0000
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