Recording breaking price in time of recession

At the same time, Hong Kong has become the number one in the income disparity list. As the property market keeps rising in time of recession due to the inflow of hot money, the dream of sweet home is getting further and further away from ordinary people, such as 貝卡 from uwants:

天匯破世界記錄 一尺7萬蚊成交
如不才(我)要買這房子就以這樣計算

不買衣,不吃貴,不旅遊,不買手機
上例也不重要,以下還有
不養妻,不生子
我就能拿7000蚊出來供樓
工作10個月後就能買一尺
十年後我能買下十尺有多…
100年後我就能買下天匯房子
的一個洗手間了
這時我打比麥玲玲問下我有幾多歲命
佢話算到我有1千3百幾歲
在計下去
到左我8百幾歲的時後就能買下天匯的一個單位了

Stay away from the city center… and then from Hong Kong

When answering the question of a professional couple who could not afford to buy a decent house in downtown area, the Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang suggested them to build their home from smaller apartment unit away from the city, where there are still apartments marked at HKD4000 (USD520) per square foot.

Erynnyes from Those were the day discussed the implications of Tsang's answer:

若連律師、醫生也無法在中環買樓，要像煲呔說到偏遠地方買4000元一呎的樓，那其他人又怎樣？豈不連4000元一呎的樓也買不到？B說，假若有一天連律 師、醫生也要「進駐」新界之時，到時新界樓價，又豈止4000元一呎？那其他打工仔又怎樣？難道要搬到深圳住？煲呔是否不明打工仔的困苦？

In fact the Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang Ying-yen, has spelled out his vision for Hong Kong earlier this year that “by 2020, improved road and rail networks may mean Hong Kong people could be better off living in Guangdong than staying input.”

Hung One Bean was outraged by such logic:

有錢就自己人，冇錢就賤過人─唔該過主，或，你應該衡量下自己既能力，係咪適合係香港居住，當然，來打工是歡迎的，正是有見及此，即使付出昂貴的公帑，都要興建高速又完善的運輸系統。

Money game, number game

Recently a video clip of a TV drama in 1999 in which the protagonist was complaining about the economic situation when the property bubbles had devastated the middle class and the poor has been circulated widely among Internet users via youtube and facebook. Because of copyrights issue, the clip has been taken down several times but netizens keep on uploading and circulating the clip around. Below in a version that remixes the sound of the protagonist with photos of government officials, property developers and the poor:

Here is the transcription of the protagonist's speech:

I have tried, I tried my best to stick to my position, working days and nights and earned a living. I have tried. But people out there, people out there do they know anything about construction and building? They just invest with little bit of money and time, push up the property market and make a hugh amount of money. Is that fair? Please ask people around, ask any people randomly what do they need. Their answer is very simple. What they want is a very simple apartment. Why do they have to spend their whole life to pay the housing mortgage? Because the rich people is manipulating the world. The richer one is, they are more into this game. Is this world fair? Is this world fair?

Among the photos shown in the video clip is the “Conduit Road 39″ building. Apart from its price, the building also reflects how the property developer “played their game”. The 46-storey building turned into a scandal due to the “auspicious” floor numbering system. A total of 42 intermediate floor numbers are omitted in order to turn the top floor into “88th floor” (lucky number for Chinese) and the missing floors are 14, 24, 34, 64 and all floors between 40-59, and the floor number which follows 68 is 88. It seems that Hong Kong has become the Orwell's animal farm where monetary power can redefine our sense of number.

Donald Tsang Unwanted

People's anger cannot be contained. Netizens decided to organize a rally against the Chief Executive Donald Tsang on 1 of November. There are several groups in the facebook for the mobilization, including “Power of all citizens against Tsang“, “Light bulb Tsang, We have enough of you“. Below is one of the rally posters:

Non-Jewish readers will note that Rosh HaShana is the Jewish New Year, while Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement: a fast day 10 days after Rosh HaShana.

Rock of the Galilee writes about the special time of year between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.

This has been a crazy busy week between rosh hashana and yom kippur, I did two selichos [forgivness] tours, one in Tsfat with the boys… and then to Jerusalem the next evening with the girls. We also built our sukkah, which we got from our friends…

Today started at 4:30AM. That's not as early as it sounds because we changed our clocks last night, so it only felt like 5:30AM… Last night I had decided that I was going to go down to the nachal (stream) for an early dip in the mikvah (ritual bath).

Religious Jews, both men and women, traditionally purify themselves in the mikveh prior to the holy days.

At the Ingathered blog, Leah writes that there are two motivations for asking for forgiveness from G-D: fear of retribution and love of the divine. She explains that:

Though both types of teshuva [asking for forgiveness] are accepted, the first voids the sin and clears the scoreboard, while the second places the repentant at an advantage by turning his sins into virtues.

Over at Aliyah! Step by Step, Yael muses over the more practical aspects of preparing for the holiday:

Every year I am taken by surprised at this stockpiling mentality. It is like people are getting ready to descend into bunkers for the next 6 weeks or something rather than the stores simply being closed for 24 hours. The woman ahead of me kept sending her reluctant kids off to collect additional items, “Dudi, go back and get 4 more yogurts.”

On Yom Kippur, A Soldier’s Mother asks readers to remember the soldiers who protect the nation, referencing—as many Israeli bloggers did—the renewed threat of a nuclear Iran, following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week.

Our sons and daughters guard our borders, protected by a God who has promised us this land again and again. A God who has seen us brought home after more than 2,000 years to a land that was always ours, and always will be. The greatness of that covenant makes a mockery of Ahmadinejad and Iran. They are nothing, their missiles a joke compared to the Might of Israel.

(Click here for the full text of Ahmadinejad’s address to the United Nations on September 24th, 2009.)

At South Jerusalem, Gershom Gorenberg contemplates the ways in which Jewish ritual is shaped based on its relationships with the Diaspora communities from whence they were influences.

In subtle, indirect ways, it seems, our sense of divine mercy is shaped in part by the amount of human warmth we’ve met.

He writes that on a trip to Bangkok during Yom Kippur, he and his wife were able to visit a synagogue of Mizrachi Jews—Jews who come from Arab communities in the Middle East—and was taken aback at the different way in which they prayed, compared to Jews from European communities. He remembers:

It was our first time spending that long day of prayer and fasting with Mizrahi Jews. We were used to the mournful melodies of Ashkenazim on the edge of bursting into tears. In Bangkok, standing before heavily judgment, the Jews rocked. “Hatanu lefanekha, rahem aleinu” – “We have sinned before you, have mercy on us,” they belted out, as if no thought could be happier.

Jameel at the Muqata enacts the ritual of asking for forgiveness by doing so of his blog readers:

I would like to ask forgiveness:
- if I didn't answer your email
- if I forgot to link to your blog/add you to my blogroll
- if I neglected to write a post about something requested.
- if I wrote anything factually incorrect on the blog over this past year.

I have tried extremely hard to only post factual updates, complete with sources and hyperlinks and have tried to correct any story or post that I found to be inaccurate.

At eJewishPhilanthropy, Gail Hyman shares a related list (excerpted):

I wonder how many of these transgressions of communications we all share.
- Failure to get all the facts right.
- Failure to actively listen as an essential part of communicating.
- Failure to be open to hearing others’ opinions and points of view.
- Failure to recognize that there are many – not one – valid perspectives on a subject.
- Failure to speak out on matters that require your voice.
- Failure to communicate more often with those who need and deserve your attention.

Returning to the Muqata, Jameel also shares an interesting way that his community is commemorating Yom Kippur:

Our settlement is participating yet again in the “Biyachad” (Together) community prayer service, in which secular and religious Jews come together in prayer on Yom Kippur. It takes place in a local school, not in an official synagogue — yet in neutral ground so that no one feels “out of place.”

A community praying together, with ALL sectors represented is truly special. On this day of solemn holiness, the Jewish people put aside their difference, politics, and quibbles — and beseech G-d's forgiveness.

Over at Jerusalem Diaries and Jewlicious, bloggers Judy Lash Balint and Rabbi Yonah write about the ritual practice of kapparot. Kapparot entails a chicken (or other symbolic object) being swung around the head three times. Practitioners believe that the sin is transferred to the object and then, in the process of swinging, released from both the person and the object.

In her post, “Approaching the Big Day,” Lash Balint takes us through the steps of preparing for the holy days, starting with kapparot:

In a parking lot near Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda market, dozens of live chickens are whirled above the heads of men, women and children while a pronouncement is made declaring: “This is my substitute, my vicarious offering, my atonement: This chicken will meet its fate while I will proceed to a good, long life of peace.” …The chickens are then donated to the needy or redeemed with money that goes to the poor.

She continues:

In the streets later in the day, men hurry along with towels to the nearest mikveh (ritual bath). Many have already started building their sukkot (booths) in readiness for Sukkot, the one-week festival that starts the week after Yom Kippur. Sukkot structures of all kinds have sprung up on balconies, street corners and in front of cafes. The final decorations and theschach covering will be added right after the conclusion of Yom Kippur.

Lash Balint adds that newspapers predict that an estimated 71% of Israel Jews between 18 and 35 years old will fast this year on Yom Kippur.

At Jewlicious, Rabbi Yonah asks readers what object they are using for kapparot this year. Here were his results:

- Money (40%)
- Chicken (25%)
- Not doing Kaparos (25%)
- Vegetable (10%)
- Fish (0%)

Chaviva of Kvetching Editor reflects about her search for G-D among the prayers and practice. In a post entitled, “When I Call, Will You Answer?” she recalls her feelings about religion as she was struggling for answers at this time last year.

The one thing I always detested about “religion” was that it lacked rhyme or reason. Things were done because “that's just what we do.” You go to church on Sunday because that's what a good Christian does. You daven [pray] three times a day, because that's what a good Jew does…

The WHY gets lost in translation. That's also what drew me so much to Judaism…. It is enlightening and brilliant the amount of discussion and argument that goes into Jewish thought.

On a far more mundane note, Dion Nissenbaum of Checkpoint Jerusalem provides readers with a rabbinic rundown of whether or not Jews should wear Crocs on Yom Kippur. After reviewing the various opinions, the conclusion seems to be:

An ultra-Orthodox rabbi has determined that the ugly plastic clog doesn't provide the appropriate level of suffering for the Jewish holy day of atonement.

Jews are forbidden from wearing leather on this day, making Crocs, which are constructed of plastic, a popular alternative.

Steve of Israel Seen leaves us with a blessing of his own:

Bless all of you Jews and Non Jews a like in the celebration of life knowing full well that there are people all over the world that still suffer from oppression, poverty and lack of opportunity. Until all of us are free there will always be a piece of us that is a bit torn in the pain of the suffering.

Finally, Jewish blogger Ima On (and Off) the Bima, writing in an entry entitled, “I Hope You Don’t Have an Easy Fast,” leaves us with this fervent wish:

I don't want my fast to be easy.I want my fast to be purposeful. I want my fast to be meaningful. I want my fast to remind me that people are starving in the world. I want my fast to remind me that my spiritual self has work to do. I want to feel the light-headedness that comes at the end of the day when I've been on my feet for almost 12 hours leading services and I want that moment to lift me up and help me feel a true connection to God.

So this year I'm not wishing anyone an easy fast. May your fast be full of all that you need it to be. May your fast be powerful and purposeful and meaningful.

Apple Daily, a newspapers in Hong Kong, reported on 18 September 2009 that some students are annoyed by the prolong and compulsory rehearsals since the summer holiday. As the rehearsals has disrupted students' study after the school term started, some decided to act against the unreasonable arrangement:

有北京大學生不滿當局的安排，在網上發起罷練行動的同時，公然焚燒訓練服抵制演練。事件引起當局極度緊張，除封鎖消息外，還派人嚴控大專院校及嚴懲涉事學生。

Some Beijing university students are dissatisfied with the authority. They have started an online campaign to boycott against the rehearsals. Some even burned the rehearsal uniforms openly. The authority takes the students' reactions very seriously. Apart from blocking news reports, it has sent delegates to school campus in order to control and punish the students involved.

While discussions and reporting about these protests have been banned in mainland China, there are some discussions among overseas and Hong Kong Chinese.

On a forum in a portal for Chinese Canadian:

waves 2009-09-18 12:30: 學生真可憐，思想被奴化，肉體也被奴役，怪不得那麼多人爭破頭也要出國留學。

食量就是力量 2009-09-18 16:25: 就不明白, 為什麼不低調點, 悄悄過了就算了, 現在花了那麼多錢, 勞了那麼多民, 簡直就是壹場煙火, 看過了就算。

On One-forum in Hong Kong:

qingqing 2009-09-18 03:22: 讀大學了，還可以任由校外的“上級指示”的，到底是不是大學生呢？讀大學了，還要被迫去玩這樣的小兒科遊戲，不是侮辱了你作為大學生的尊嚴嗎？這樣也不敢抗議，杯葛，到時不合作演出，故意破壞演出，故意出錯，你們還是大學生嗎？

In another Hong Kong forum, Civilian Gunner:

louisli 2009-09-18 10:57: 係唔係要練到同北韓睇齊？

seamoncheng 2009-09-18 19:33: 大陸到而家都重係死要面…成班官都係無腦架..係到勞民傷財

Andy 2009-09-18 19:38: 佢地先有腦, 搞埋呢D面子工程, 攞正牌搵銀

[Photo taken from Apple Daily]

China: A farce of Democracy

There is a hot debate on whether Chen's life sentence is a farce or victory of democracy.

Wuluwufu from state-owned Qiangguo Forum argued that Chen's life sentence is a farce of Taiwan's democratic system.

陈水扁是靠操弄民主而上台的,一个操弄虚假利益冲突而捞个人实际利益的政客欺骗得了大多数民众,也太小看民众的智商了,它只不过表明一个最低政治操守都没有的政客是不能被利益强势集团容忍的,清除出局应是陈水扁注定的结局.

从这个意义上说,民主是局部地胜利了,法制也如帮规一样惩戒不守规矩的前帮主.但这种胜利如果超出这个范围去宣讲,甚致说是人民民意的胜利就太可笑了,反而,从大的角度看,说是民主法制的胜利勿宁说是民主法制的又一丑剧

111.167.234 added in the comment section,

记住了，陈水扁是卸任成了老百姓之后，台湾司法才敢制裁他。在任上的官僚陈水扁，台湾司法屁也不如。所以，台湾司法只敢欺负百姓。

Hong Kong: A victory of Democracy

However, Xiaoren from Hong Kong celebrated Chen’s life sentence as a victory of democracy in his blog,

台灣民主o既成功，證明法院係由人民開，而唔係政府。

有民主先有民生，如果香港呢家已經好似台灣咁民主發展得咁成熟，真係唔知會有幾多官員因為某 d 事件而下台。

Several netizens from Hong Kong Golden Forum used the graphic picture below to celebrate Chen's sentence. It said: “let's sing and dance!”

In Hong Kong Discussion Forum, a netizen udbkam posted a question, asking “Do you agree that Chen’s corruption is a minor problem because Taiwan enjoys universal suffrage?”

Helios agreed

呢個我同意，
至少陳水扁貪污之後唔會不了了之，
對岸嘛，想知邊個唔貪都難．．．．．．

Eric_from_1986 further elaborated,

將陳水扁「手多多」得來的錢跟大陸貪官比較，簡直蚊脾同牛脾，輸足十條街

但係阿扁咁樣已經要坐穿牢底，大陸呢？

Carlucci also shared similar view,

今天我很羨慕台灣人. 能把前貪污總統判無期徒刑. 公義得以申張. 中國人民共和國? 何時才能這樣???

Anti-CCP sentiment at work?

Another debate among Hong Kong netizens over Chen's sentence is on whether or not Chen's sentence is a result of the anti- Chinese Communist party's sentiment in Taiwan (as corruption is the biggest problem in China). It is interesting to note that such opinion is very different from some Taiwanese netizens viewpoint that the Taiwanese ruling party KMT is trying to please CCP with Chen's life imprisonment (via Portnoy's post).

Helen17162 in Hong Kong Discussion Forum disagreed with such association,

陳水扁的例子同反共有什麼關系呢？法律面前人人平等，人類生存才有希望，台灣加油啊，給中國共產党一個好好的警鐘，貪官的下場，沒有明天社會是黑暗的。中國要同台灣談統戰，共產党好好改革喇，走向民主法律的社會才是中華民族之褔。

(P.S the thumb nail picture is from NF daily news)

Of the three journalists, two represented Hong Kong television broadcaster TVB; referred to by many as CCTVB for its tendency to self-harmonize, the strong condemnation delivered by Cantonese-language channel TVB Jade of the way the journalists were treated spurred certain criticism and ridicule online, and the antagonistic stance taken towards the mainland Chinese authorities in recent days struck some as such a shift in character as to seem hypocritical; as written on the Libertines Pub:

…having a biased broadcaster to condemn others for presenting diverted facts is certainly a bit irritating.

Let's support our journalists in their protest against the violence to the media; but let's not overlook the hypocrisy of TVB News.

Hong Kong-based Stone Ip blogger Mr. Shek (石先生) shared a similar point of view in his post looking at the situation:

無線新聞對旗下記者於新疆被扣捕事件作出詳細報導，時間達 9:08。近年被稱為 CCTVB 的無線新聞部，這次的做法到底對洗脫 CCTVB 的稱號有幫助，還是最終令 CCTVB 成為絡印，真的要惜目以待。

P.S.　請留意一點，事件發生至今，無線電視 及 相關人士 並沒有發出任何形式的回應，回應均來自 無線新聞 新聞報導時段 中的無線電視新聞部。這個做法到底是正常做法，是集體負責，還是有人避免出面以影響未來，請自行考量。

A mainland Twitter user going by the handle @feifei1028 also tweeted:

TVB大篇幅報道記者被打，難道從此TVB就不會是CCTVB了嗎？

Reader Charles of the blog A Plastic Everyday - the Absurd Hong Kong commented:

做CCTVB的結果也不見得好．．．港人叫你CCTVB，你以為你已“入贅”姓共，有保險。傻啦，遲早被真姓“共”的“剷”著，橫死收場。投共從來沒有好結果．．．逗人工做報導而被毆打的記者，我們要同情並聲援。投共的傳媒，要鬧。

This is not an isolated incident. Back in August, two reporters from Now TV were accused of possessing drug in their hotel rooms when they were reporting the trial of citizen rights activist Tan Zouren in Sichuan. On Sep 6, again 5 Hong Kong reporters were detained in Urumqi. All these incidents are threats to journalists' personal security and the freedom of speech and press in Hong Kong. The Xinjiang government's statement, accusing journalists of inciting public disorder, has further outraged the public and many expressed their anger in blogs and online media.

Erynnyes from Those were the days cannot imagine how a government could tell such kind lie to the world.

童工從未想過，一個政權、一個大國，今天，總算是擠身於國際舞台、總算是在國際社會中，開始有點地位了，竟還可以如此無恥、無賴、無法無天，以非為是、以 黑為白、把受害人變犯人，扭曲事實、扭曲真相，這樣的一個偉大祖國，還可以厚顏無恥地叫香港人去愛國？敢問胡主席、溫總理，香港人何以從何愛這樣的一個偉 大祖國呀！

The 60th anniversary of PRC is approaching, Martinoei pointed out that there is nothing left to be celebrated:

乜嘢叫顛倒黑白，呢種就係，點只拉人打人唔駛本，連老屈人都唔駛本，明明新疆自己理虧在先，仲要大大聲惡人先告狀，老屈手持記者證嘅香港記者煽動。 好多記者聽完，慶到上頭，真係想針筒、釘鞋呀，乜叉都擲過去俾新疆政府班白痴嘆吓。依家大家明白，點解漢人同維吾爾人，可以咁慶走晒上街示威，個政府白痴 白爛成咁，俾我都上街喇。

「國慶」？好慶就有，嬲到要走去土耳其訂一百打鞋擲過去果種慶。免得報完更慶，所以小弟呼籲，今年十月一日，記者集體杯葛報導「國慶」。呢啲老屈人唔駛本嘅政府，十月一日佢地自己慶爆佢喇，記者唔去報免費又被老屈煽動國慶鬧事，然後打鑊更甘。

The blogger also opened a facebook group to boycott the celebration of PRC's birthday.

Another facebook group condemning the brutal action of mainland police has more than 750 members, here are some of their wall comments:

Huang XueTao:

香港，定要撑住新闻自由！不撑，就会倒塌。
据理反击，不仅捍卫记者的权益，也是给国内官员教训和进步的机会，还能为国内的记者撑开一丝空间。

Spare Tire:

請不要再對中國的人權存有幻想。

Andrew Brian Rex Tam:

Vicky Kwan:

新聞自由不可踐踏！ 如果公安指乜就拍乜，仲駛乜記者，新華社通稿就得啦！ 只要喺法律允可范圍內，公安武警冇權自己釋法，現時並非戰爭狀態，軍隊武警無權限制新聞自由。

冇錯，內地一直冇新聞自由，冇結社自由，所以，香港記者責無旁貸，中國新聞自由，由香港記者開始。 我支持你哋！

Leslie Leung:

哈, CCTVB成日自我審查, 擦阿爺鞋又如何, 阿爺d狗奴才咪又係唔俾面照打可也?

Dickson Cheung

中共根本就係黑社會!!!
D契弟成日話胡溫開明~我開佢老母!!!
以曾蔭權為首的特區政府每個月出我地香港人人工~理應為香港記者向中共嚴正抗議!!!並應取消捐俾四川的一百億!!!否則我地納稅人唔想再出糧俾曾蔭權班契弟!!!

Wanky Chik

這就是中國共產黨的真面目,信佢一成,雙目失明
還指望共產黨會給香港人一國兩制,高度自治?不要發夢了!
只有共產黨倒台,香港才有前途!!!

Po Cheung:

基本上從當地公安既行動來講, 香港記者受到既待遇已經與內地體齊.
真正的回歸祖國了 ~

It all started with the conviction of a 17-year-old girl for soliciting compensated dating online. In Hong Kong, it is deemed immoral and also a criminal offense. After that came the detailed reports on the barbaric, but enjoyed by most local readership, murder of the 16-year-old Kiki Wong in major Hong Kong newspapers.

Wong King Tin, a columnist called on the media and local government to use the “right” word when describing compensated dating here:

不知從甚麼時候開始，「援助交際」成為「當娼」的代名詞，貶義減輕了，造成一種「職業無分貴賤」的錯覺。

Facebook never runs out of groups echoing this kind of voices from the “moral high ground”. This “援交==賣淫 (正名行動) Compensated Dating==harlotry” group currently has 181 members. In the group description, they wrote:

援交=賣淫
賣淫=做雞/做鴨
援交的青年人,不要被美麗的代名詞所蒙蔽!

Although nothing much meaningful has been said  in this group “反援交少女 Against compensated dating girls“, 171 people joined, maybe merely for the name and the groundless rant and rave.

Sadly, I found only one 42 members Hong Kong group in Facebook which holds a more rational alternative view. “支持援交女無罪聯盟 Alliance supporting the decriminalisation of compensated dating” thinks that the high profile arrest of these young girls by undercover police operation is not fair. They think that help should be offered to these young girls, instead of arrest and conviction.

After all the reports, arrests, conviction, and imprisonment, only one conclusion is drawn by the majority of Hong Kong people: that our kids have problems and they should be condemned so that they won't do immoral things.

Darkman might have put it rightly, that we have this moral panic in the city these days:

吸毒、o靚模、援交，我唔知有幾咁大件事，要「嘩！」，只係你未見過社會既另一面，或者係叫做你從未坦誠面對過自己心裹既另一面．．．

The Libertines Pub, Hong Kong think otherwise. I wrote clearly in this entry that one needs to prove with reason that prostitution, which compensated dating falls under its category, is immoral, before one can morally condemn such act. I indeed think that condemning compensated dating itself is immoral, because it marginalises the young people involved. I wrote:

The reason why we should not call sex workers “whores” instead of “sex workers” is that by calling them “whores”, we make everyone believes that they're lower lives; we marginalise them.

It might be a bit hard to understand, especially when you have a strong but unfounded belief that prostitution is immoral, but an analogy might help.

Imagine you're now in 1980s, you're a patient who needs regular blood transfusion. Misery likes company, you got infected with HIV. At the time, it's a popular belief that you could only be gay to have aids. And being homosexual was taken to be immoral. You don't want to even show up in the hospital for your aids treatment, because you know people around will call you “faggot” and condemn you for your “sin”. You end up dying one month after your infection at home alone.

That is the harm marginalisation brings. Similarly, because those young people in compensated dating know that you “adults” would condemn their acts, they go deeper underground. Those who wanted to help them can never find them anymore.

I know where these condemnations are coming from. Some of you don't want your kids to live in a future world where compensated dating became an extra-curricular activity, that's why you want to condemn it and hope that it will be killed and cleaned.

I am quite sure that the recent hype on compensated dating is a deviancy amplification spiral; compensated dating won't become an extra-curricular activity. Moreover, prostitution of any sort will always be there. There is always a possibility of your children getting involved, face it!

Condemning it with pejoratives will only make it harder for us to help these young people, possibly any of your kids, in the future.

So, what have we learned here?

However, privacy commissioner Roderick Woo Bun challenged the proposal and pointed out that guardians had no authority to give consent on behalf of a minor. Hong Kong Bar Association also pointed out that the government proposal is self-incriminatory and has violated children's rights. The Catholic church criticized that the drug test is against the principle of love and trust in education.

The making of drug addict suspects

Even though there is no scientific proof of the effectiveness of school drug testing, the government still wanted to push it forward. The Chief Executive Donald Tsang said:

若學生不肯驗毒，那是給予學校、社工和家長信息，讓他們及早介入，輔導吸毒學生。

Those were the days pointed out the danger of such logic:

即學生不肯驗毒=學生已/懷疑吸毒，這，豈不等於不肯讓警察搜身等於犯法？

Charles Mok elaborated the argument and pointed out that the scheme is an excuse to discipline obedient citizenry:

大人物、校長堅稱計劃不會帶來標籤效應，但事實上無論是家長不簽回條讓子女參加、學生拒驗，在任何一個環節不肯乖乖就範，也必然被標籤為「疑似吸毒犯」，驗前驗後承受重大壓力，年紀小小的學生無奈接受之餘，有何長期心理影響無法評估。對政府而言，卻正是個培訓順民好機會。

Government against its own law

Wong On Yin looked into the Dangerous drugs ordinance (CAP 134, 49D), which prohibits the disclosure of records without the consent of the addict.

政府的安排，不但老師、社工、校長、家長知，還有就是連警察也知，早無機密可言，完全違反法例。

It is quite obvious that the school drug testing scheme is in conflict with existing laws and regulations, which makes the Secretary of Justice Wong Yan-Lung's role in the campaign more problematic. Neoak pointed out that as the head of the judiciary, Wong should have warned the government of the legal implications of such policy, rather than telling unprofessional lie in front of the media:

由於校園自願性驗毒計劃過於粗疏，惹來社會上廣泛的批評，政府面對如此局面，未有從善如流，反而更加著力去推動計劃，以為可以借著於暑假期間多宗學生濫藥 的事故，沿用在豬流感疫症早期證實有效的「恐慌式公關手段」，霸皇硬上弓，甚至不惜要身為律政司司長的黃仁龍粉墨登場，親身上前線向傳媒解畫，強調「推行 禁毒刻不
容援」，甚至睜著眼說謊指「美國對校園驗毒成效較為正面」…

事實上，在事件之中，律政司司長應該嚴守本身的專業，早於規劃之初就應該向有關官員點明，驗毒計劃的多個問題，包括屬於本身範疇的「私隱條例之衝突」，又或起碼，先經內部諮詢，與私隱專員進行商討…黃仁龍在事件之中的問題，是走得太前…

Where's the public consensus?

Although the government claimed that it has public consensus for the policy (even though there is no public consultation document issued so far) and campaign propaganda have penetrated all major mainstream media, the public opinion in the Internet tells another story:

In the facebook, 1,122 members have joined the group: Respect young people! Protest against the compulsory school drug testing political show! （尊重青年人！強烈抗議「假自願、真強逼」校園驗毒大龍鳳！）While the group supporting drug test only has 43 members.

Doctor Fat suggests a brain test for government top officials:

這幾天忙於預備醫學既PRESENTATION，未有空去理會學生驗尿驗毒的新聞，今日得知民主黨和民建聯竟然贊成驗毒，實在令人可怒也。
我個第一個反應是：要學生留小便驗毒，不如叫高官議員開左個頭驗腦。

Leflamme posted a comic at inmediahk.net to mock at the drug test scheme. The comic depicts school life as: sharing of homework, food and then urine!