20120108

Heaven and Hell





The contrast between the fortunes of Taiwanese and Hong Kong people today couldn’t be clearer, as reviewed by the TV news today.

Following the report on the momentous election campaigns of the upcoming presidential election in Taiwan is the one on the farcical scenes of two clowns from the camp of Hong Kong pan democrats campaigning for being “elected” as the representative to participate in the “election” of the next Chief Executive. While the Taiwanese are proudly contemplating how best to make use of their votes to choose a president of their choice, we are condemned to fooling ourselves that the hallucination or downright lie that we have a say in who will be given Hong Kong’s top job next. (Not that it would make any difference, of course!)

The subsequent report was equally revealing about the pitiable state of Hong Kong people. Some vendors of pork complained about the two supermarket chains recently making a huge slash of pork prices by 30 percent, saying that this was an attempt to drive the small vendors out of business so that the chains can monopolise the market. Such aggressive moves of the supermarket chains are nothing new. Not so long ago, it was reported that they bullied wholesalers to stop supplying products to small retailers who were selling those products more cheaply than they did. Hong Kong people are cursed with the cruel reality of being exploited by, and at the mercy of, the tycoons who own those mega multi-billion dollar businesses.

I congratulate Taiwan for being the own region (or country, depending how you look at it) populated by Chinese which provides its people with the right to choose their own leader and government. While I won’t feel sorry for ourselves, the difference in fortune between the two peoples is a pill which is not easy to swallow.

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