Tuesday, 10 November 2009

• The irony of the century (my headline)

  By Patsy Moy, November 10, 2009 (The Standard)

   

  Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission has been taken to court by its former director who claims she was sacked because of a physical disability and her sex.

  Former director Priscilla Sit Ka-yin is claiming two years' wages totaling HK$3.5 million (US$449,000) from the commission, former chairwoman Fanny Cheung Mui- ching and former chief executive Angela Ho Choi Wai-yee due to the early termination of her employment contract.

   

  On the first day of the hearing yesterday, the District Court was told Sit was given a three-year contract as commission director in 1996.

   

  She was paid a monthly salary of around HK$100,000 with a further HK$50,000 in fringe benefits.

   

  In May 1997, Sit began to suffer from muscle pains in the neck and arm as well as other ailments and had to take sick leave repeatedly.

   

  In September 1997, the then chief executive Ho complained to chairwoman Cheung about Sit's poor work performance and attitude.

   

  Ho allegedly listed nine specific complaints against Sit, such as her failure to provide proper guidance or to prepare the commission's major meetings, the court was told.

   

  Sit accused the commission of refusing to give her opportunities to explain and defend herself before her contract was terminated on September 25, 1997.

   

  Sit's lawyer told the court she was not even given a verbal warning and that the early termination had caused severe damage to Sit's reputation.

   

  Sit also accused the commission of favoring her male colleague, Tong Kin- sang, who was the director (disability), by sending him to workshops and meetings outside Hong Kong as well as appointing him acting chief executive.

   

  Sit claimed the arrangement was not through a formal assessment or any objective standard.

   

  The hearing, which is set for 15 days, continues today before District Judge David Lok Kai-hong.

   

  • 2:47 PM
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• 中國仍然有很多改善的空間

  中國仍然有很多改善的空間，例如在人權方面。我已經寫了一篇網誌是關於這題目的，不要被該網誌的標題所誤導，標題是這樣寫的:“民間四項優勢產業”。事實上，這網誌是關於中國的人權（或者說缺乏人權更為貼切）。請點擊下面並閱讀該網誌：http://choyshinglin.xanga.com/716088713/%e6%b0%91%e9%96%93%e5%9b%9b%e9%a0%85%e5%84%aa%e5%8b%a2%e7%94%a2%e6%a5%ad%e4%bf%ae%e8%a8%82%e7%89%88/

  • 12:20 PM
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• China still has a lot of room for improvement

  China still has a lot of room for improvement such as in the area of human rights. I have written a blog about this. Don’t be misled by the title of the blog which reads “industries which Hong Kong has comparative advantage”. In fact, it is about human right (or rather the lack of it) in China. Click on the following to read that blog: http://choyshinglin.xanga.com/716091610/industries-which-hong-kong-has-comparative-advantage/

  • 12:05 PM
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• Berlin Wall, communist rule and mass poverty

  November 9, 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Twenty years ago, more than 40 years of communist rule in Eastern Europe came to an end at last.

   

  Communist rule is characterized by mass poverty (although a few privileged people live better than others). In Hong Kong, I have experienced some days of poverty, but this is nothing when compared with what the general population of Mainland China had experienced during the Cultural Revolution. In 1979, China had just started the reform and opening up policy, people's lives had not yet improved much. I remember in 1979, whenever we went to Mainland China to visit relatives, we would certainly bring a can of cooking oil. Because people lacked cooking oils and other fatty food (at that time cooking oil, pork and so on were in short supply, and need to be rationed. Each person was given a certain amount of cooking oil coupons and pork coupons, and with these coupons people could purchase a specified quantity of the food at an official price. I don’t remember the details, because I was not living in Mainland China at that time), people in the streets of Guangzhou (a city in southern China) had very similar appearance. Each person's appearance was exactly the same, that is, they had deeply concave cheeks (not just one or two people were like this, but all the people in the streets were like this).

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• 從柏林圍牆想到共產統治

  2009年11月9日是柏林圍牆倒塌20周年紀念日，20年前，在東歐40多年的共產統治終告瓦解。

   

  共產統治的特點是集體貧窮(雖然有少數擁有特權的人生活較其他人好)。在香港，貧窮的日子我曾經有過，但仍不及文革時期中國大陸一般人民那麼窮。在1979年，中國剛開始實行改革開放政策，人民生活仍未有多大改善。我記得在1979年到中國探親時，必定帶一罐食油回去。由於人民缺乏食油及其他有脂肪的食物(當時食油、豬肉等都供應不足，這兩種食糧都需要配給，每人分配到某數量的食油票和豬肉票，然後拿着這些票按官價購買指定數量。詳細情形我也記得不清楚，因為那時我並不是在大陸居住)，在街上見到的廣州人，每個人的模樣都是一模一樣的，都是臉頰深深地凹下去了(不是一兩個人是這樣，而是街上所有的人都是這樣)。

  • 1:40 AM
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