Voting for "Long Hair", again!

Barely two years ago, I cast my first vote in Hong Kong for "Long Hair". (There's a previous blog entry on this momentous event.) Today, I voted for him again in what's called the Five District Referendum.

It was actually a one horse race, the horse being Long Hair. But, it was important to vote for reasons I'll outline below. I was pleased to see these young supporters of Long Hair who had come all the way to Sai Kung to canvass for him. The shorter guy on the left is a Philosophy major from the University of Hong Kong (a friend who teaches there said that the Philosophy Department has become a "hotbed of militancy", what with firebrand Christina Chan also being from Philosophy). The other canvasser is a secondary school student from Tuen Mun. With supporters like these, there is still hope for Hong Kong.

Opposite Starbucks, I ran into Daisann, the "human billboard". Daisann runs the Learning Cantonese blogsite http://daisann.com/ and is a staunch supporter of Long Hair. She was distributing handbills that she herself had designed. At the last election, when Daisann was in Sai Kung with a similar billboard, she was jostled and harassed by despicable DAB supporters. This time, she had a few minutes to chat with me.

Here I am, opposite the polling station (Sai Kung City Hall) with my polling card.

Sai Kung definitely looked better with fluttering banners for Long Hair.

So, why did I vote when many in Hong Kong didn't? Here are four reasons (with acknowledgements to Daisann.)

1. Donald Tsang was hedging, wondering whether to vote or not. (He finally didn't.)

2. Steven Lam, the puppy-dog Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, threatened the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats, saying that they "will be banished by the community".

3. Peng Qinghua, the despicable vice director of the Liaison Office, stated that "proposing sensational and extreme slogans like 'civic uprising' and 'liberating Hong Kong'" was "a total violation of mainstream public opinion".

4. Gordon Wu, yet another rapacious tycoon, said that he hoped street activism "won't lead to a wave of emigration". (I sincerely hope he would be the first to leave.)

Enough said!