唐英年手執378張選委提名票正式報名參選特首,更揚言絕不放棄。一場泥漿摔角式的鬧劇由是質變而為對民情輿論的徹底踐踏蔑視。一如他的政治伙伴田 北俊所言,即使當選,誠信盡失的唐英年又能作有效管治麼?行政主導的特區之首而管治無由,由深層次矛盾衍生的爭拗內耗又焉能不進一步惡化?
於 此可見,若然唐英年果以七百萬人的福祉為念,那麼在他的豪宅被揭發嚴重違規僭建激發全城公憤後,退選以謝港人又豈非更近乎人情道理?唐英年不圖此上上之 策,反而堅決繼續角逐特首,要麼他的資質果然是低得如傳媒挖苦的笨豬一般;再不然便是有不能宣諸於口的苦衷,故此不得不硬着頭皮把這場令人慘不忍睹的小圈 子遊戲繼續下去。 早在港英時代唐英年已開始從政,先是在1991年被委任為立法局議員;過渡後進入行政會議,自02年起便出掌不同司局,參選前更是特首一人之下的政務司 長。以這張履歷表視之,說唐英年的資質一如笨豬,那是說不過去的。若然他有常人般的100智商,在「感情缺失」、僭建等連串風波導致誠信破產後,尚堅持角 逐特首,那便不能不令人懷疑他是否有什麼欲罷不能的苦衷了。 從提名唐英年參選的選委名單來看,則不難體會其騎虎難下之困。這些提名人除了包括他出身的工業界,還有以李嘉誠為首的四大地產商及代表新界利益的劉皇發。 這些選委代表的財團利益不一定認同唐英年的能力品格,毋庸置疑的是他們都對梁振英有個共同的恐懼,非要阻截他上位不可。他們怕些什麼? 一怕是當了特首,梁振英會重蹈八萬五的覆轍,大建公屋、居屋以致打擊地產物業市道。二怕他會為了取悅基層而慷納稅人之慨,走社會福利主義路線,終致陷香港 於歐洲為國債所困的不歸路。若然唐英年此刻就此棄選,此又豈無異於拱手給梁振英送上特首寶座?唐英年不能棄選,因為商界財團要以時間換取空間好安排另一個 足以抗衡梁振英的候選人也。 當下的困局是梁振英的支持度達五成,那固然遠高於唐英年,也把葉劉淑儀及可能參選的曾鈺成比下去了。這不是說毋須向香港人問責的1,200名選委投票要以 民意為依歸,只是選出個像唐英年般完全不為香港人認受的人出任特首嗎,那必然引發極大的反彈,陷特區於管治危機。故此即使是小圈子選舉亦不能完全漠視民 意。 解鈴還須繫鈴人。功能組別、小圈子選舉通通都是北京背棄「港人治港」承諾的苦果。要化解這個最深層次的矛盾則還得回到《基本法》去,兌現「一國兩制、高度 自治」的許諾,否則類似今趟特首選舉的鬧劇將不斷重演。
唐英年欲罷不能,因為商界財團要以時間換取空間。
不要「二世祖」出任特首
壹角度 23/2/2012 林本利
行政長官選舉可算峰迴路轉,原先親建制派的兩大陣營互相角力,正鬥得難分難解。之後傳媒陸續爆出梁振英和唐英年的醜聞,令市民質疑二人的誠信,是否適合出任特首。有人想乘虛而入加入角逐,希望鷸蚌相爭,坐享漁人之利。
全港只有不足1,200名選委有權提名和投票選出特首。對於絕大部分沒有資格投票的港人來說,今次選舉過程正好凸顯整個特首小圈子選舉的荒謬,各方勢力為求得到個人政治和經濟方面的利益,可算無所不用其極。 過去幾個月事態的發展,從積極方面去看,正好反映過去十多年,在特區成立至今的政經生態。一小撮權貴為了自身利益,竟然可以顛倒是非黑白,指鹿為馬;他們的醜態,完全暴露在港人眼前。 香港地少人多,土地是香港的珍貴資源。小市民要窮一生的積蓄才能置業,建立一個安樂窩,讓家人可以安居樂業。但社會上一小撮權貴,卻可以透過政策上的種種方便,以合法和非法手段取得大量土地,毋須向政府付出分毫地價。 過去數十年,本地的地產商透過大量興建發水樓而賺取數以千億元計的利潤。回歸後,地產商售賣發水樓和向買家提供失實資料的情況變本加厲,到近年政府才正視問題,收緊新樓發水比率及規管地產商售樓。 此外,樓宇僭建問題日趨嚴重,新界村屋僭建情況更令人咋舌。去年政府回應審計署報告,開始正視有關問題,負責官員竟然遭人恐嚇和謾罵。傳媒披露,由特首到主要問責官員,不少人的私人物業之內存有違規建築物。
近 日特首參選人唐英年被揭發私建地下行宮,室內面積竟然有2,000多呎之大。當日唐英年出任政務司司長,作為問責團隊之首,竟然知法犯法;被揭發後還試圖 將責任推卸給妻子,實在令人不齒。難怪唐英年叫人學習專起發水樓的李嘉誠,又指新界村屋違規建築物是「所謂」僭建,丁屋可建六層甚至九層高(不知是否包括 地下行宮)。 筆者相信,類似唐英年在大宅之下私建地庫,或者在大屋之內加建大量僭建物的情況,絕非個別單一事件。本地的權貴和土豪惡霸,早已享受政府各項政策的優惠和 方便,竟然還不知足,將公眾使用的通道據為己有,以及用盡各種方法和手段,增加居住面積而不向政府補足地價。他們自以為十分聰明,可以逃避政府的規管;誰 不知天網恢恢,疏而不漏,最終可能要負上刑責。 梁振英涉嫌在西九設計的評審工作上沒有申報利益,同樣絕非單一事件。公職人員私下收受利益,沒有做足利益申報,將工程合約批給自己人的情況愈趨普遍。另 外,浸大負責民調工作的講座教授將未完成的民調公布,負責唐英年大宅地下工程的建築師沒有履行專業責任,都顯示本地學者和專業人士的操守,都出現問題。 唐英年曾經說過他出身富裕家庭,不像梁振英出身草根階層,是他自己不能選擇的。然而,他可以運用上天賜予的自由意志,選擇應否搞婚外情,應否在大宅之下私 建地庫,在泳池底增設天窗。去年曾特首的班子出現僭建風波,他可以選擇作出申報,並及早糾正。現在因私建地庫而被指缺乏誠信,失去公信力,他同樣可以選擇 退選,不再被利益集團操控。 港人不需要一個「二世祖」出任特首。懇請唐英年及早退選,給港人一個重新出發的機會。
林本利
曾任教於理工大學,現為專欄作家及教育中心校監
港人不需要一個「二世祖」出任特首。懇請唐英年及早退選,給港人一個重新出發的機會。(《蘋果日報》圖片)
刊於1146期《壹週刊》
The game is over - only Henry does not know it
Second Opinion 23/2/2012 Stephen Vines
“Why do they always think they can get away with it?” This rhetorical question came up when I was a lowly political researcher working in London for the then ruling Labour Party. The person posing the question was Ian Mikado, possibly one of the shrewdest members of parliament. Mikado, universally known as Mik, had been called in to provide advice on one of the messes created by the questionable private life of a government minister.
I can’t recall which precise mess Mik was talking about but I’m pretty sure it concerned a sex scandal, which usually meant a matter involving minimal amounts of sex but a maximum amount of personal embarrassment for the politician, almost always a man, who was cheating on his wife. The Mik principle of dealing with these matters was perfectly simple: either this was a sufficiently irrelevant matter, in which case the hapless colleague should keep quiet and follow the ‘don’t explain, don’t complain’ edict or he needed to be removed from the scene with maximum haste before further damage was inflicted on the party as a whole. The problem always was, and remains, that the person at the center of the scandal is the one least likely to understand its consequences. Since Mik’s day the public has become more tolerant of sexual indiscretions but remains highly intolerant of politicians who lie about them. Only those with the most formidable skills can extricate themselves from these situations. Former US President Bill Clinton comes to mind as someone who managed to weather the storm of a sexual encounter with a White House intern and actually turned the scandal to his advantage. But here in Hong Kong skilled politicians are thin on the ground. The hapless Henry Tang is certainly not in this class. Yet he did indeed get away with a sex scandal and must have thought that having succeeded once he could do so again when a new scandal erupted over illegal structures in his home.
Instead Tang has provided a textbook case of how not to handle a crisis. First he kept quiet, somehow assuming that no one had the evidence to nail him, then he offered a series of mendacious excuses, flaunted his power by getting a servant to send away government officials inspecting the premises and finally ended up blaming his wife. At this point he was dead in the water but went around bleating about how he should be given a second chance. Well, even Henry should know that second chances are hard to come by in politics and quite impossible once you have shown yourself to be so desperate as to blame your wife. The only other strategy Tang could possibly have tried would have been the Gingrich Ploy. Newt Gingrich, the American presidential candidate, did not invent this ploy but he has shown mastery of it. Gingrich carries a lot of personal baggage as a result of his tangled sex life and money making activities as a Washington lobbyist. A lesser man would have been submerged by this baggage but the Newt came out fighting, turning on his questioners and accusing them of being preoccupied by trivia while his eyes were focused on the higher ground of fixing America’s problems. This strategy can work, although it ended up not really working for the Newt and was not available to Henry Tang who found it very hard to conjure up anything resembling a credible vision for the future of Hong Kong. The Newt at least sounds convincing but poor old rich boy Henry merely sounds like a man only capable of memorizing a script, which someone else has written. And once Tang’s very name started to induce ridicule, the game was over, the miracle is not that he didn’t see it but that his backers persisted in the delusion that the game was still on, it maybe, but there is no way he can win.
Stephen Vines is a journalist, broadcaster and businessman who has lived in Hong Kong for more than two decades.
Hapless
Savvy (AP photo)
刊於1146期《壹週刊》
唐唐力場 防抄牌
唐英年不但僭建一身蟻,之前又被揭虛報耶魯學歷,睇嚟唐家上下知法犯法係家規之一。好似上週四記者去灣仔唐營競選辦採訪,唐坐駕HT 10泊喺對面街,記者見個司機泊完車就閃咗,咪錶顯示「EXPIRED」。
起初以為個司機去咗洗手間,但等咗差唔多二十分鐘,有交警路過趕車走,唯獨唔趕無入錶嘅「唐坐駕」,就絕塵而去。記者於是問個司機點解唔入錶,佢口窒窒咁話:「啱啱過咗鐘。」跟住就開車速逃。連司機都咁好家教,官大過法,你做咗特首仲有法治真係搵鬼信!(林子斌)
貿發局「種票」
對 商界影響深遠嘅《競爭法》本月廿八日開公聽會,政府建議豁免法定團體有貿發局,激嬲展覽業界,事關貿發局轄下嘅會展提供場地俾人搞展覽,但同時自己都搞埋 一份,明顯地同好多公司有競爭,但《競爭法》又竟然豁免佢,你話點通。 不過立法會近兩個月收到有一百二十幾封意見書撐貿發局,咁多人撐?記者發現當中十幾封係「一稿多用」,例如大昌行物流、亞洲專利授權業協會、 Universe Watch Trading交的意見書,連分段、字眼都幾乎一模一樣。 一稿多用不特止,有人更用多達五個不同身份交意見書,好似黎衍橋就用香港精密科技有限公司、香港精密鐘錶有限公司、香港精密電子廠有限公司、浪西錶有限公 司同埋蕾菲亞國際有限公司,入同一樣的意見書;德國寶老闆陳國民,又同埋遠紅外線協會會長、各界商會聯席會議召集人入信。貿發局咁樣「種票」法,唔怪之得 好似好多人撐啦!(蔡傳威)
司機在唐營競選辦對面街泊完架車就閃咗,不過個錶仲顯示着 EXPIRED。(王偉洪攝)
(羅國輝攝)
「唐駕」 HT10一出大廈就俾傳媒包圍,司機為避傳媒將架車泊喺對面街候命。(王偉洪攝)
車輛登記顯示,HT10 為唐英年個人持有。
「廚房大佬」陳國民一人用三個身份提交一模一樣的意見書,其餘唔少意見書都係一稿多用,做戲都唔做全套。
刊於1146期《壹週刊》
消失的地下室
我們都曾經試過,把那一夜的淚水,藏在被窩裏。是媽媽責備你嗎?
是訂情音樂盒不再轉出情歌嗎?
還是老去的玩具熊已沒有力氣微笑?
躺在憂傷的枕頭上,望着一串串時間,
掛在天花板,把夜拉得很長。
當青春慢慢鋪成身影後的天階,
我們變得比年少時沉默,只管追趕着遠方的太陽。
營營役役的腳步,踏碎了遍地童夢,揚起一鼻子灰。
有時候,我們會不覺間,偷偷把車駛到一個奢侈的站頭,站頭的名字,叫後悔。走進用回憶搭建而成的地下室,撫摸着生命樹上的年輪,竟隱隱滲出淚水。
哀悼塵封在蜘蛛網中的「諾言」,安慰瑟縮於一角的「遺憾」,低頭望着水影中的自己,逐漸有點陌生。
有人說,生活像一把無情雕刻刀,
改變了我們的模樣。有些情,留住卻不曾盡心。
有些事,勉強也無能為力。有些人生,莫非只有認命,
只信宿命,只剩下宿醉?
然而,我們都是不能停下來的倦客,
只能在前行的夜色中,
把歎息丟在風裏。
你我注定活在現實的擂台上,你抹上一片黑,我留下一處白,爬起又倒下,倒下再爬起;天亮了又黑起來,黑了又亮起來。
明天在你我,歷練是一條用嘴角的血和淚,鑄造成通往地下室的鑰匙。當歲月愈挖愈深,埋藏的心事如冬雪一樣厚,就讓一串串清冷的夜,掛在漸溶的窗花,隨風雨響起「叮嚀叮嚀」的聲音,伴你乾杯,共你笑着醉去。
沒有留言:
張貼留言