Egg Tart Etiquette

Yup, Chris Patten is not Chinese

And yes, Wang Guangya is definitely not British

Reference: It's years since Patten's day but egg tarts are still a treat (SCMP; paywall)

HKMAO chief evokes memories of the last colonial governor with a sweet-toothed trip to Tin Shui Wai
Martin Cheung
Jun 15, 2011

They say a week is a long time in politics, in which case 18 years must be an eternity.

That is the time that has elapsed between the arrival in the city of two senior political figures who could not be more different.

In Hong Kong politics though, some things never change - egg tarts.

Yesterday, Beijing's top man on Hong Kong affairs, Wang Guangya , went on a walkabout at a Tin Shui Wai market, immediately evoking memories of Hong Kong's last colonial governor, Chris Patten.

During his tenure, Patten was affectionately known as fei pang or "fatty Patten", largely due to his love of Hong Kong's famed artery-choking tarts.

The man who occupied Wang's position as director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office at that time took a slightly less charitable view of London's last man in Hong Kong.

Depending which version of history you believe, Patten's nemesis at the time, Lu Ping , egged on by state media, variously tagged the governor a "prostitute", "a sinner of 1,000 years" and a "tango dancer" for what they saw as his controversial democratic reforms.

This time round, Beijing's man had no such niceties to deal with. Democratic reforms were the last thing on his public agenda.

Indeed, accompanied by Secretary for Transport and Housing, Eva Cheng, his visit was welcomed by Wong Loi Hei, a resident on Tin Yan Estate, who said: "I'm really excited. I woke up at six this morning just to make myself ready." Wang also made a lasting impression on Siu Ping, the owner of a food stall. Siu said: "He seems like a very nice guy. It was a pleasure to meet him."

Others were less impressed. One meat stall owner said: "If he really cared, he should have asked whether we were leading hard lives, instead of asking where my meat was from"

After leaving the market, Wang looked at an empty 400 square foot flat on Ching Hoi Estate before arriving in Sha Tin to see the new headquarters building of rural affairs body the Heung Yee Kuk.

He was greeted and shown around by kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat.

martin.cheung@scmp.com

0849 HKSAR Name of the Day

Inti Tsui Kar-on, public relations consultant and co-owner of Dirty Laundry, a retail shop that sells casual wear along with providing a tattoo and piercing service, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

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0848 HKSAR Name of the Day

Angus Wong Chun-yi, senior campaign officer on climate, WWF, Hong Kong

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Rich Poor Gap Mentality

The local media reports all seemed to be positive about the fact that junior civil servants are to get a pay rise of 6.16%. Are the media also blind and ignorant of the fact that the middle and senior civil servants are getting 6.16% and 7.24%, respectively?

In absolute monetary terms since junior staff receive relatively lower salaries, their actual pay increase is less than their superiors in the government. And everyone appears to be happy? How absurd? Why is everyone so selfish?

The rich keep on getting richer, while the poor become poorer.


Reference: Junior civil servants to get bigger pay rises (SCMP; paywall)

Despite salary survey results, wage increases for lower grades to match that of middle-ranked workers
Martin Wong
Jun 08, 2011

Lower ranked government workers in Hong Kong's 160,000-strong civil service are to get a bigger pay rise than they initially thought.

Instead of receiving a pay rise of 5.16 per cent as expected, junior government staff will get 6.16 per cent more, the same as middle-ranking civil servants, the Civil Service Bureau said yesterday after the Executive Council endorsed the pay rise.

The 5.16 per cent figure had been suggested by the annual pay trends survey, on which civil service pay rises are based. But the chief executive and Executive Council decided to invoke a "bring-up" arrangement, under which staff on lower pay grades see their wage rises match those of better-paid staff.

"Under the `bring-up' arrangement, the pay adjustment rate for civil servants in the lower salary band may, subject to the decision of the Chief Executive in Council, be brought up to the net pay trend indicators for the middle salary band," a bureau spokesman said.

The bureau said the pay offers were based on the pay trend survey, the local economy, cost of living, the government's fiscal position, pay claims and morale of civil servants.

The pay trend survey involves 116 private organisations, each with at least 50 staff.

A 7.24 per cent wage rise will be offered to civil servants in the upper salary band, in line with the survey.

Eddie Ng Hak-kim, a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management's executive council, said the civil service pay rise would not affect private sector pay.

"The private sector will only consider its own business environment, competiveness and prospects when determining wage increases," he said. Many workers in the private sector received a generous pay rise last year, reflected mostly in the year-end bonus.

He was, however, concerned about the pay rise for junior staff.

"The wages of junior staff in the government is already way higher than that of those in the private sector. The gap is growing even bigger now," he said.

The Federation of Civil Service Unions, which is mainly made up of rank-and-file civil servants, welcomed the wage increase.

"It will be a huge boost to civil service morale," said its chief executive, Leung Chau-ting. "With present inflation at about 4 per cent, such an increase can really help to improve our quality of life."

martin.wong@scmp.com

0847 HKSAR Name of the Day

Kendy Yim Kit-sum, executive director, "Action for Reach Out" (sex workers' concern group), Hong Kong

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0846 HKSAR Name of the Day

Wyman Li, manager, Hong Kong Sanatorium Hospital, Hong Kong

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Morality and Religion

"[Lawyer Paul] Loughran told the court that So [Kam-tong] wished to change his plea as he was remorseful for his crime and had become a Christian."

from SCMP news story (see below)

There's a surprise. How many convicted criminals turn to religion or strengthen their religious fanaticism simply because they are publicly caught for being a bad person?

It is incredible that religions allow mass murderers, psychopaths and generally nasty people to claim that they have "found religion or found god" and therefore will be embraced and accepted into heaven, whereas atheists and other people who are morally good and who do not depend on religion are condemned for eternity. Yes, that makes sense [not!] that god will allow convicted criminals into his "kingdom of heaven" whereas all these good people who happen to be non-believers can burn for eternity.

Religious people who believe this, or who are brainwashed to believe this, cannot fathom that their false idol (i.e. god, allah, zeus, etc) is not just morally twisted but severely sprained (to paraphrase Douglas Adams). Religion is not the source of morality but of dogma.

Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what we are told

Religious dogma (or religious morality) is doing what we are told, regardless of what is right

Critical thinkers understand Why We Believe in Gods (YouTube)

"We are more vulnerable to religious belief when we are powerless ... and we're looking for an attachment figure [a caretaker] and social community."

Andy Thompson

Related Post
Hey, the Christians Are All Still Here ...


Reference
Double killer gets second life term (SCMP; paywall)

Convicted murderer changes his plea to guilty during a retrial over the death of an airline stewardess
Chris Ip and Austin Chiu
Jun 02, 2011

The killer of a Thai tourist whose decomposing body was found on top of an air duct in Revenue Tower was handed a second life prison term yesterday after he admitted strangling an air hostess.

So Kam-tong's guilty plea came part-way through his retrial on a charge of murdering Yau Hiu-yin, 21, in Tai Po on her way home from work early on May 15, 2008.

The retrial was ordered by the Court of Appeal in October after lawyers for So, who claimed police had used violence to make him talk, said the prosecution had not told them about a similar allegation by the victim's former boyfriend, Chu Wing-keung.

Tsang Shuk-yin, a female detective who was accused of beating So's chest and grabbing his testicles, was being cross-examined during the morning session at the Court of First Instance yesterday. During the lunch break, So and his lawyer, Paul Loughran, decided on the plea change.

So, 27, strangled Yau after getting her ATM pin number and later extracted a ransom of HK$100,000 from her parents by leading them to believe she was still alive.

Yau's decomposing body was found in a culvert near Lam Tsuen River a week after her death.

Police traced the ransom money to So's family home and arrested him. He initially pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter, saying he had only meant to choke her until she was unconscious.

Detectives turned up information that led them to uncover his involvement in the killing of tourist Charitar Kamolnoranath in 2005.

Loughran told the court that So wished to change his plea as he was remorseful for his crime and had become a Christian. In addition to the life term, So was sentenced to five years and four months' jail for blackmail.

So worked as an air-conditioning tradesman, decorator and waiter before his arrest on May 22, 2008, for Charitar's murder. The investigation into that death lasted more than 2 1/2 years, during which time So also killed Yau. He was handed a separate life sentence in March last year.

Charitar, the 40-year-old daughter of a prominent gemstone dealer, was robbed, stabbed with a kitchen knife and suffocated in Revenue Tower in Wan Chai in October 2005. Her body was found on top of an air duct more than a week later, near the machine room of the Environmental Protection Department.

So allegedly went up and down in the same lift waiting for a target. He dragged Charitar to a utility room where he killed her.

He pleaded not guilty, but a Court of First Instance jury convicted him of murder.

Referring to Yau's death when sentencing So for the murder of Charitar, Madam Justice Clare-Marie Beeson said the Thai woman had been a random victim but "clearly, you developed your scheme after you committed [the first murder]".

0845 HKSAR Name of the Day

Dobie Lam Kwok-keung (Mr), Hong Kong (security guard who throttled his ex-girlfriend unconscious in a sudden fit of rage; jailed for 54 months for GBH)

see 0203 HKSAR Name of the Day (for feminine form)

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