Then & Now | Cow or bull dung, one’s garden will still grow. Perhaps the same applies to Hong Kong district council election candidates
- Choosing a candidate was a challenge in the recent District Council polls in Hong Kong – they all seemed homogenous. Maybe that was the intention
- Past elections were popular expressions of civic will, where anyone could stand. Maybe, like the contents of one’s garden slurry, it ultimately doesn’t matter
In the weeks before Hong Kong’s recent District Council elections, pre-election hip-hooray-and-ballyhoo rowdily materialised around my generally quiet corner of the New Territories.
Seemingly endless motor cavalcades drove randomly along the road, emitting a perpetual loop of tinned noise through scratchy-sounding rooftop loudspeakers; other increasingly frantic campaign efforts were easy enough to ignore.
Did these mobile performances help sway any lingering doubters? One couldn’t possibly suppose.
Billboards at the station, posters strung out along the roadsides and glossy printed fliers shoved through the postbox are silent, at any rate, and can be readily disregarded or discarded, according to individual preference.
Growing up in Queensland, voting was compulsory, and enforced by fines for non-compliance; a characteristic Australian response to public distaste for devious politicians, and consequent electoral apathy. Nevertheless, voting remains a profound civic responsibility.
