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January 27, 2005
You are on the invidual archive page of Sticky ports. Click Simon World weblog for the main page.
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Sticky ports
Yesterday John Tsang, Hong Kong's The reality is if we judge Cyberport by its original intention, it has been an unmitigated flop. Ex-post justifications for awarding the project to PCCW without tender don't wash. As was expected, the whole project is a residential property project in which the Government shares a small amount of the upside and in return granted a private, albeit well-connected*, company public land at bargain rates. Ah, I hear you say, but at least the lessons have been learnt and it won't happen again. To which I give you the West Kowloon "Cultural District", or Cultureport. * No pun intended. Update: Firstly read Hemlock's Thursday entry (reproduced at the bottom of this post). The Standard's article that Hemlock refers to, headlined "We are no mouthpiece", is reproduced in full. It is a must read: On Tuesday evening, The Standard was visited by what, in another democracy, would be considered an extraordinary request: Print, unedited and uncut, 1,800 words of the government's rationalisation for its 1998 decision to bypass the legislature and hand over 24 hectares of some of the most valuable land on Earth to the son of Hong Kong's biggest tycoon in a bid to belatedly drag the SAR into the cyber revolution.It's time to switch my paper subscription over to The Standard. The full article by John Tsang: If there is one project that has attracted continued attack from selected sectors of the community, it is Cyberport. Six years after the government launched the project, criticism and cynicism persist. Hemlock's Thursday entry: A little before 6.30 in the morning, and RTHK Radio 3 decides to rouse Hong Kong’s English-speaking community with a friendly public-service message. “The Chief Executive in his policy address explained how the Government is working for a vibrant economy,” says an irritatingly cheerful and enthusiastic male announcer. “And it is creating jobs! It is also working to bring about a caring community with social harmony.” I miss the next few sentences, owing to my futile but instinctive habit of hurling abuse at helpless electronic equipment conveying offensive broadcasts. “…bringing you people-based government!” gushes the sickening voice in conclusion. This comes just two days after officials asked newspapers to print a 1,800-word article by pitiful Technology and Industry Secretary John Tsang, laboriously claiming that Cyberport – Tung Chee-hwa’s gift of billions in public wealth to Li Ka-shing’s son – was not cronyism. The newspapers were required to print it unedited and without comment, orders with which the South China Morning Post droolingly complied, to the disgust of The Standard.posted by Simon on 01.27.05 at 10:21 AM in the
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TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blog.mu.nu/cgi/trackback.cgi/64589 Send a manual trackback ping to this post. Publish and be damned Excerpt: On Wednesday I was glancing through the online edition of the SCMP and came across a rather idiotic opinion piece about Cyberport and PCCW by one John Tsang, Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology. Weblog: OrdinaryGweilo.com Tracked: January 27, 2005 11:03 PM Simon's China and East Asia Highlights: 2005-2-15 Excerpt: The following is a digest of highlights from the past month's Asia by Blog series over at simonworld.mu.nu. The round-up has four key areas of focus: China, Taiwan & Hong Kong (Politics, Economy & lifestyle, History sport & culture, Information), Korea... Weblog: Winds of Change Tracked: February 15, 2005 04:37 PM
Comments:
I know the feeling. I remember that short period of time before iMail became a sensationalist tabloid (and then later a total rag) when I had hope for the Hong Kong press. It's nice to know that one paper has journalistic ethics. posted by: Johnlouis Swaine on 01.29.05 at 09:55 AM [permalink]This sort of stuff wouldn't happen in Singapore, lah! For a start, it'd be a CyberHUB, not a Cyberport. And the usual suspect's family name is spelt Lee, not Li. According to Mr Brown, the letter D stands for Despot. (Hope you can penetrate the Singlish - it's a key article.) Seriously though, I'm Very Impressed by The Standards' standards. E@L posted by: expat@large on 02.17.05 at 07:24 PM [permalink] |
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