Public posing on Hong Kong Police motorbikes

A funny bit of news in the paper today. Please see here and here for details.
Here's the quick & dirty rundown:

• Hong Kong Police were out conducting crowd control on the evening of Oct 1 (National Day).
• Members of the public decided to pose with the police for photos.
• Members of the public even mounted the police motorbikes for photos.

Whether or not this is acceptable is up for debate. But here's an excerpt taken from the South China Morning Post article.

A police spokesman said officers were on crowd-control duty at the time and the force required officers to be "lenient and pragmatic" to suit the festival atmosphere. He said officers were allowed to take photos with the public upon request, but police would look into the situation where some people sat on police bikes.

Hmm, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that after careful deliberation, the police would not find themselves at fault for this...

Seriously, are there safe-haven laws in Hong Kong?

On Sept. 28, 2010, a 26-year-old woman abandoned her newborn baby girl in the toilet of a Mong Kok motel room. The baby was discovered by motel staff at around 1pm. She was rushed to the hospital for treatment but was certified dead by 2:30. (Source) 

Stories like this seem to be a weekly occurance. Considering that there's probably much more unreported occurrences, it's just horrifying.

This child's life just began. Then shortly after, it was snuffed out. Life is resilient but not when being drowned in a toilet bowl.

We all came into this world as babies for a chance at life. Aren't we all entitled to that chance?

The people of Hong Kong are the most arrogant in the world

How awesome is this? A Philippine columnist saying HK is arrogant. Isn't there a written law that says "If your country's police incompetence killed some tourists, you can't insult the tourist's country"? With all the crap coming out regarding this hostage case, you could write an entire manual that describes what not to do during and after a hostage situation involving international tourists. The following text in italics and indented is taken straight from his article.

Why can’t the Aquino government put its act together?

Here’s comes Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Malaca? Communications Group saying the Chinese government would have the first priority in getting the results of the investigation of the special fact-finding committee on the Luneta hostage-taking crisis.

But Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, the committee’s chair, says the Chinese government and the Filipino people, through the media, will be given the results of her committee’s investigation at the same time.

Carandang’s statement that the Chinese government would get the De Lima report ahead of the Filipino public created a stir.

Some lawmakers – notably Senator Joker Arroyo and House Minority Leader Rep. Edcel Lagman – questioned the decision of the Aquino administration in giving the De Lima report to the Chinese government first and later to the Filipino public.

It now turns out it was Carandang, without consulting President Noy (Benigno Aquino III), who made the decision to have the Chinese government get the De Lima report first.

It shows that the Aquino government is composed of several fiefdoms, all acting independently of one another.

* * *

The Aquino government is stepping out of bounds in overly appeasing the Beijing government and the Hong Kong administrative regional government by having them receive the De Lima report first over the Filipino public.

How, when, and to who the government decides to release the report is irrelevant. The fact that there appears to be any discussion at all about this just comes to further show the incompetency of the national government. They don't know how to prioritize. Just release it simultaneously to everyone! Who cares? 

Haven’t we collectively asked forgiveness for the ineptitude of our police and security officials?

Nope. Listen to the Manila Mayor and the Vice-Mayors. None of them has admitted any fault in this. To this day, they believe that their actions were correct. Look at the President smiling on camera at the crime scene. Look at the civilians smiling and posing in front of the crime scene the morning after.

Haven’t we humbled ourselves by practically kneeling down before Mainland China and Hong Kong and being lectured by their people?

When you mess up, you need to be lectured. So, having messed up, you need to suck it up and take it on the chin.

What more can we do to appease them? 

* * *

In trying to appease the Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong people we’re making other countries trample upon our dignity and pride as a nation.

We are feeding on the Hong Kong people’s arrogance by our seemingly servile stance towards them.

Other countries are trampling upon your dignity and pride as a nation because of all the classless acts of blaming everybody else for what went wrong!

The people of Hong Kong are the most arrogant in the world.

Tourists from all over the world have complained of discourteous restaurant servers and department store clerks.

I'd love to see some supporting evidence on how people in HK are the most arrogant in the world. Is there some sort of list that someone compiled using some complicated formula to find an arrogance score for each city? Also, is there a single city where 0% of tourists complain about restaurants and shops?

Several years ago, I approached a Hong Kong policeman standing at a street corner in Kowloon district to ask for directions.

I didn’t know how to get to a restaurant where I was to have an appointment.

The Hong Kong policeman shouted at me and shooed me away.

I don't need to look at the police manual to know that it's not in the cop's job description to give directions to tourists. Some do it anyway, but that's overstepping their boundaries. I'd rather have rude cops that can effectively protect the community than polite cops that throw glowsticks into a bus taken hostage.

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble described the Hong Kong Police Force as "one of the finest and most professional police forces in the world" (source)

FBI Director Robert Mueller III said, "The citizens of Hong Kong are protected and served by one of the finest Police departments in the world. Hong Kong's law-enforcement officers are honest, sophisticated and highly professional, and have made this one of the world's safest cities" (source)

Discourtesy toward foreigners seems universal among Hong Kong people.

Anywhere a tourist goes, he invariably meets discourteous or arrogant Hong Kong residents who never smile.

I was asking for the price of a pair of glasses at an optical shop in Hong Kong when the clerk said I shouldn’t be asking if I didn’t have any intention of buying.

Just seems to me this guy is BS'ing his supporting evidence. A lot of people find store clerks in HK to be overly courteous to the point that you have to ask them to stop hovering. If his experience was true, then he must have either been either acting like a douche-bag or he was in a really bad part of town.

Also, this guy is suppose to be a columnist? What kind of writing style is this? Each sentence is its own paragraph. When he wants to further separate each "paragraph", he uses three asterisks? It looks like I'm reading the thoughts of a rambling 5-year-old.

The Manila Hostage Case - Still nobody with the guts to admit fault

I told myself that I wasn't going to write about this story anymore. But it seems every time that someone relevant speaks up in the Philippines, it does nothing but cause more disgrace to their troubled reputation.

Yesterday, an inquiry report was released which is essentially a transcript of what transpired on that day. It lists out what happened, what went wrong, and who are to be punished. You may download the report here. (Source)

I've never seen these types of reports so I'm not going to judge the contents of it. Everybody already knows what went wrong and who's at fault. But there are a couple of things that just really stands out to me like sore thumb.

1. They seriously couldn't produce a nicer cover page with images that aren't blurry? The image I used on top of this post is from the report cropped at 100% zoom.

2. Have a look at page 4. Is that the norm for these reports? The entire page contains just a quote from the hostage-taker. I felt like this was the beginning of a thriller novel. See image on the right.


3. Check out the signatory page (ie, last page). The report was signed off by the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and 3 members of the investigation committee. Noticed what Vice Chairman Robredo scribbled next to his signatory? It reads:

"did not participate in the deliberations on the determination of accountabilities of the parties cited."

If his statement is true, then why did he sign off on the report? Why is he even on the committee, let alone the Vice-Chairman? How did he contribute to the report? (Perhaps he's the one responsible for photoshopping those images on the cover page?) It sounds like he's scared that the parties at fault will come at him for revenge. Or he knows there's something fishy about the report and he doesn't want to be liable?

Anyway, today's article in the South China Morning Post highlights some reactions of those identified as accountable for that tragic event.

The following is from the article regarding Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim:

...he hit out at an inquiry report that recommended he and his deputy be punished over last month's tragedy.

Lim was near to tears yesterday as he repeatedly slammed a table with his fist during a press conference he called to contest recommendations of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC).

"Only the police would put their lives on the line in such situations and we get this," said Lim, a former Manila police chief. "The vice-mayor's and my inclusion, and even the negotiator, on the list of those found culpable by the IIRC is too sweeping and totally lacking in factual and legal basis," Lim said.

The Mayor of Manila is essentially pouting like a 4 year-old girl. I'm surprised he didn't stomp his feet and say "It isn't fairrrrrrrrrr!" Also, here's the "factual basis" he said is lacking according to the report:
He [1] failed to activate the the city's crisis management committee, [2] was absent from the command post at the most critical time (he was at dinner), and [3] ordered the arrest of the hostage-taker's brother.

According to the article, the Mayor

admitted that "we bungled" the crisis. But he said suspended Manila police chief Rodolfo Magtibay, the ground commander during the hostage taking, was more to blame.

This isn't the first time he threw the police chief under the bus. See here. I'm just surprised he did it again.

He said he was willing to be jailed as long as they spared Manila Vice-Mayor Francisco Domagoso "because he has no fault here. Me, I'm ready to face charges. We can't do anything because sometimes that's how the ball bounces".

When the leader is incompetent, the 2nd-in-command has the authority and responsibility to take action. Therefore, the Vice-Mayor is at fault even though he didn't do anything because he's suppose to be doing something! Also, that's how the ball bounces? Considering that 8 people died, that's just not something appropriate to say.

Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno also said he did nothing wrong and vowed that if Lim was jailed, he would join him. "I don't really understand why we, who managed to rescue nine [hostages] are being sanctioned," he added.

Wow. (Firstly, how many Vice-Mayors are there?) This guy should be jailed just for producing that idiotic utterance. He needs to get his facts straight. They didn't rescue nine hostages. The gunman just failed in murdering those nine hostages.

Moreno was cited by the inquiry for not taking Mendoza's demands to the Department of Justice, whose headquarters was just minutes away from the site of the crisis, as the gunman had requested. Instead, he traveled to the Ombudsman's office three hours away.

It's just shocking. The stories of stupidity of these so-called leaders are just shocking.

The Philippine radio station accused of preventing a negotiator from contacting Mendoza also rejected accusations that it contributed to the tragedy.

Aquilino Pimentel, lawyer for Radio Mindanao Network, criticised the official inquiry's call for three of its staff to be prosecuted for holding phone interviews with the hostage-taker. "The interview by [radio reporter] Michael Rogas gave the hostages an extra few hours to live," Pimentel told the station.

You would think that a lawyer would be educated enough not to say something that inappropriate. But alas, his decorated law degree doesn't protect him from the wave of stupidity washing over all the other Philippines top officials.

Anyone else sick of President Aquino's blame game?

The Philippines really just need to take ownership of what happened in the Manila hostage event and just stop trying to defend their actions (or inactions). None of their arguments are valid and just makes them look irresponsible in the international community. Some main quotes taken from today's South China Morning Post article:

Philippine President Benigno Aquino yesterday used a televised interview to rebuke the Hong Kong government over a letter from Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, which he described as "insulting".

Aquino said the letter took issue with his government's handling of the hostage crisis. "We were being told, in very minute detail, what we were supposed to do,"

"I decided not to respond to the official letter from the Hong Kong government, that in my view was insulting. [Instead] I conveyed through the People's Republic of China government that maybe sending that letter to me was not right. I did not like its tone."

Tsang's office said the chief executive had written to Aquino on August 26 "in a respectful and polite manner" thanking him for his government's assistance but also setting out issues he hoped the "independent, professional and comprehensive investigation" would explain. These included the processes of the hostage operation, details of negotiations, considerations behind police operations, the reasons why Philippine authorities could not make promises on the hostage-takers' requests, and the causes of deaths and injuries.

The letter may or may not be insulting. But even if it is, isn't it justified? The 8 Hong Kong tourists were killed in the Philippines by a Filipino hostage-taker because of the Philippines police force's inadequacies. Is the HK leader not entitled to be enraged? Aquino doesn't like the HK government's tone. Tell anyone here in HK that, and they'll tell Aquino where he can stick the tone up.

Tsang may or may not be telling Aquino what they were suppose to do in very minute detail. But even if he was, isn't that justified? Nobody knew what to do in the entire event. They initially thought the tour group was from Korea. The rescue was idiotic. The aftermath was chaotic with the media, general public, and medics storming the scene. They mislabeled corpses. They accidentally gave HK officials the cell phone of the gunman. They allowed HK officials to collect bullet casings from the scene but then stopped them at customs when they were leaving the country. Nobody knew what was going on and that is the fault of the country's leader.

"Maybe I'm wrong to tell you this. But I decided then that while someone wanted to quarrel with us, we wouldn't fight back in order not to widen the rift."

Here, Aquino wants to sound like he's doing the mature thing by taking the high road to avoid confrontation. Unfortunately, everyone knows this not to be true. He's not "fighting back" because he has no legitimate defense. Everything that can possibly go wrong during the rescue operation did indeed go wrong. Everything that can possibly go wrong after the failed rescue operation also did indeed go wrong. There's absolutely nothing he can salvage to turn into a positive point.

Philippine political strategist Billy Esposo said there was a dimension to the issue that many people were missing. "Have you noticed that China is not really pressing the issue?" Only Hong Kong was doing so, he said, because its local leaders had to reflect the sentiments of their people. Such an insulting letter, he said, "in other situations could even provoke a war".

Wow. Is this guy implying that the event is not a big deal because China is not taking a more proactive stance? Did his statements even get filtered through that brain of his before being uttered out his mouth?
On a more humorous note, speaking of war, I wonder if the Philippines national army soldiers are just as well-trained as their SWAT.

Referring to the phone call from Tsang on the day of the hostage crisis, Aquino said it had not been expected that day. "Let's clarify. If a Philippine governor suddenly demands to speak with President Obama or Hu Jintao, that would probably not be allowed," he said.

Wow, he's essentially saying the following:

• He's too much of a big-shot to take Tsang's call because Tsang is only the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (ie, local leader) while he's the President of the Philippines (ie, national leader).
• Tsang should have followed protocol by escalating to President Hu Jintao who would then contact Aquino.

It's obvious that nobody was in charge of handling the Manila hostage situation. So now, nobody is taking ownership of the blunders while everybody is taking turns blaming everybody else.
SWAT blames lack of training and equipment.
Mayor of Manila blames his Police Chief.
Police Chief blames the media and the hostage-taker's brother.
The President is now blaming HK's Chief Executive?

Am I being unfairly harsh because I'm Chinese or are the Philippines officials really this moronic?

Mayor of Manila speaks about the hostage situation

It's amazing what's coming out of the mouths of the Philippines officials about the hostage situation. Everyone watched on live TV how every step taken in the rescue went wrong. And now, every attempt to defend the actions are backfiring.

Here are some things that Manila mayor, Alfredo Lim, has said according to today's article in South China Morning Post.

Regarding the opportunity for snipers to take down the gunman in the afternoon:

"I think that was a mistake, the failure to take that opportunity [to shoot], but at that time he was already releasing some of the hostages and no harm was being done to them."

He said earlier that as a general rule, a hostage-taker was not shot if he was not hurting the hostages. "But there is also a rule that if a clear shot could be given ... and no one else would be hurt, the negotiator has to take advantage of that opportunity."

How idiotic is that "general rule"? Isn't it too late already if he was hurting the hostages? Do they have to wait until it's too late before taking action? Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened.

Lim also denied that he ordered the arrest of Mendoza's brother, Gregorio, the event that spurred the gunman into his killing spree. "I said to handcuff him, not to arrest him," he said

Alright, Lim didn't order the arrest of Gregorio which spurred the gunman into his killing spree. Lim ordered the handcuffing of Gregorio which spurred the gunman into his killing spree. What a relief now that that's cleared up.

He (Lim) also insisted that as chairman of the city's crisis management committee, he was just a consultant to the rescue operation, which was led entirely by city police chief Rodolfo Magtibay.

Wow. Way to avoid responsibility and throw your police chief under the bus.

Lim also rejected suggestions that he ordered the operation be conducted by the Manila police SWAT team while 20 highly trained commandos from the Philippines' elite police units stood idle nearby. "I never said don't use the Special Action Force ... what crazy person would say that when the SAF is fully equipped," he said, without explaining why the force was not deployed.

If he was aware that this Special Action Force was ready to be deployed, then he has the responsibility to order them to be deployed. Not doing so represents failure on his part.

At that time, about 6.45pm, he had decided to leave and told Magtibay that "this will probably take you until early morning to resolve. Have patience, wait for him to tire and maybe he will release the hostages".

This is just ridiculous. The time was 6:45pm. The city is in the international spotlight because of a high-profile hostage situation. The mayor decided to leave? What event did he have to attend that's more urgent? Also, his strategy is to "wait for him to tire" and hope that "maybe he will release the hostages"? How is this guy still in office?

This Sunday won't be a day to remember for Hong Kong people and Filipinos

South China Morning Post reported today that there's going to be demonstration on Sunday. I can't see any good coming from this. This is going to turn ugly. I sincerely hope I'm wrong about this...

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Tens of thousands of marchers are expected to flood Hong Kong streets on Sunday in a demonstration organised by the main political parties to demand justice for those killed in the Manila hostage tragedy.

The march from Victoria Park to the Legislative Council building will be the climax of an outpouring of collective grief and anger in the city at the Philippine government's handling of the tragedy, following a series of protests, petitions and remembrance activities.

Organisers told police they expect 50,000 marchers but the turnout could be much higher. They said they did not expect the march to have a racial element but some have called for restraint because foreign domestic helpers and religious groups will hold their own day-long remembrance in nearby Chater Garden.

Update: Wow, I'm surprised at how peacefully the whole thing went. Nobody got into shouting matches and there were no violent clashes. I've underestimated the abilities of our citizens to stay rational.

Manila Hostage Event - Aftermath - various quotes

Inspector Santiago Pascual - member of the special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team who was relieved of duties because of this incident. (source)

Asked why snipers had not shot the hostage taker during the afternoon, when he was standing exposed in the doorway talking to negotiators, Santiago said: "It is unlawful for us to shoot the person when he is doing no harm to his hostages."

Comment: So, according to Santiago, the hostage-taker was still protected by the law even though he was heavily armed and had hostages. The hostage-taker's life was prioritized ahead of civilians. Perhaps it's because of his twisted thinking that he is now relieved of duties. 

Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz - Philippine National Police spokesman (source)

Cruz said the tidal wave of anger being directed at the police was unfair. "They [the critics] are all in the gallery watching. They should try being in the line of fire and let us see how they react."

Comment: The general public should not "try being in the line of fire" because we are suppose to be protected by Cruz's men, the police. Furthermore, the police should not be "reacting" in the first place. There should have been a plan and that plan should have been executed. Unfortunately, there was no plan and now, the police have effectively caused the death of innocent lives. 

Mei Jianming - Mainland criminologist; associate professor at the Chinese People's Public Security University in Beijing (source)

"The Manila hostage crisis was a typical kidnapping and relatively uncomplicated. However, the amateurish and lackadaisical response by the Philippine police led to the abject failure of the rescue mission."

Lorraine Badoy Partosa - Manila resident (source)

"This country shames me so. I would like to hang my head in deep and utter shame because I am a citizen of a country so rotten, [where] unspeakable tragedies like these are possible."

Comment: It's unfortunate that this event has raised racial hate issues. I sincerely hope that we can all see the truth, which is not every Filipino is to be blamed. They are mourning with us and we have no reason to associate them with their country's incompetent police force.

4 things that the Philippines National Police should take from this recent incident

I watched the whole fiasco once more thanks to the amazing thing we have known as the internet. Here's are 4 things that the PNP should do right now considering what happened.



1. Get a rubber grip handle for their sledgehammer so that it doesn't fly out of their hands when they use it.













2. Request for more equipment. They were so desperate they were using everything they found in their pockets. Including glowsticks! Did these guys just come from a rave?

3. Request for better equipment. If you want to use rope, get a decent piece of rope. ANY decent piece of rope will do. But the rope they used was apparently so cheap, that it snapped when they used it to attach to a car to try to tow apart the front door of the bus. Face palm!

4. Know the anatomy of a tour bus. There are 2 exits. The main door up front and the emergency hatch towards the rear on the side. Consider entering through the emergency hatch before throwing your sledgehammer and glowsticks and snapping cheap rope uselessly for an hour.

Zhouqu Landslide - update

Here's a couple of quotes from Professor Chen Ningsheng about the Zhouqu landslide that left 1785 dead or missing. He's a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Science's Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment and specializes in mudslide prevention.

"The building quality of these dams was so bad. They were too flimsy to hold the massive avalanche of rocks and mud rolling down from the hills."

"Given the millions of yuan we spent on these projects, the quality of the dams was certainly substandard."

"Apparently there are some problems with the design. For instance, I can't find any sign of auxiliary dams, which are normally built beside the main dams to support them - though it could be that [the auxiliary dams] were completely destroyed by the mudslides."

This just reeks of embezzlement by government officials.

"I certainly hope relevant government departments will look into this and launch an investigation."

Label me a pessimist for this, but from precendence, this isn't going to happen and even if it does, nothing will come of it. The government knows who is at fault (themselves). An investigation will just mean that the government will get someone to act as the scapegoat so they can act like they did something. Remember what happened with the melamine-laced milk powder case? Someone took the fall. And now, there's still melamine-laced milk powder out on the market.

"Some of these structures had been there for 10 years. We wouldn't be able to find out who was in charge of the project at the time."

Wow. I had to read this sentence a couple of times because I kept thinking I was reading it wrong. Note that I'm not blaming Prof Chen here. He's just stating the facts. The fantastic part of this statement is that he's implying that there are no reliable records dating back just 10 years. I can understand if it's 100 or even 50 years. But damn it, 10 years! No one can find out who built a friggen dam just 10 years ago?!

Manila Hostage Event

Seems like something out of Hollywood. By now, everyone in HK knows about the hostage situation that took place last night in Manila, Philippines. It ended in bloodshed with 8 hostages and the gunman perishing.

Surely, there's going to be some backlash against the Filipinos for this. It's not fair, but it's inevitable. I have no problems with the Filipinos. I've been to the country twice. I find them exceptionally friendly. It's the government and the law enforcement that should be the target of anger over this.

Anyone watching this on TV has to agree that the entire situation was poorly handled. A couple of thoughts kept going through my head:
"Is there any planning or coordination?"
"Oh my god, did these idiots even receive proper training?"

The reason I have these thoughts? Here we go...

1. There's a hostage situation. Do we even know what the gunman wants? The news kept saying he wants his job reinstated. Why don't they just agree to whatever he wants? It's not like words are legally binding in a hostage situation. If he wanted to become President of the United States, just say yes! Secure the hostages and then arrest the guy!

2. Look at this picture on the right. Even the cameraman had a direct line to the gunman. Surely, a sniper could have taken him down right there! Why was the shot not taken? Sure, the gunman didn't kill anybody yet. But he was heavily armed and he was holding hostages. That means the hostages must be secured by any means necessary, even if it means taking down the gunman. Oh my god, this just frustrates me! Just take the damn shot!

3. There was about an hour where the police surrounded the bus and tried to break in. This is where my frustration just boiled over and the Filipinos should all be embarrassed to know that they're protected by these buffoons.

They used hammers to try to break the rear window and side windows. It was not effective because the windows were very high up and the hammer wielder just couldn't muster enough force because he was too short by about 2 feet. Why don't they get a stool or something? Drive a car there and stand on the hood! Instead, he just looked like a helpless child trying to get to a cookie jar on the top shelf.

They used the same hammer to try to break the front door down. They succeeded in breaking the door windows but the flimsy looking door was still intact. At that point, I stood up and screamed "Crowbar! Use a crowbar to pry the damn door open!" Amazingly, they decided tie a rope to the door and use a car to yank the door off. The rope promptly snapped.

At one point, they threw a gas grenade into the rear of the bus, only to have it thrown back at their faces.

After a while, they were finally able to open the emergency exit hatch and started to enter the bus. The speed at which they were doing so was ridiculously slow. They fired at the gunman who instinctively fired back. As a result, the 2 officers inside the bus retreated. The speed of the retreat was 50 times faster than their entrance! In other words, they hauled ass! Then, guess what the other officers outside the vehicles were doing! Nothing other than laughing. Yes, seriously.

4. A bus is not a very secure spot for a hostage-taker. There are windows everywhere. So everything is in clear sight. Knowing this, the gunman drew down all the shades. What about the front windshield? Why can't a sniper just shoot through the front windshield at the gunman?

5. Surely it would be advantageous to be able to see what's going on inside the bus. The shades were drawn but are you telling me that a cheap piece of fabric is going to stop you? Just line up 3 or 4 cars on one side of the bus with their high beams on. You'll be able to clearly see any movement inside the bus from the other side.

6. They brought lunch to the bus at the request of the gunman. Why not drug the food with a mild sedative to knock everyone out. Sure, there's a risk of allergic reactions but isn't that a risk you would be willing to take to ensure everybody's safety?

7. No media-blackout? Apparently, the gunman can watch every single move the police made on the tv inside the bus!

8. Check out the picture here. I don't care who this guy is, but he needs to be fired. He approached the dead gunman, confirmed that he's indeed dead, and then he started smiling and waving his hands to give the all-clear signal and to tell everyone to come over. And I mean everyone! That is, cops, ambulance, media, bystanders, everyone! Of course, he needed everyone to come over because that will only help in getting the injured survivors off the bus. Hoards of useless people will never impede progress...

Why did the Zhouqu landslide happen?

There's been a lot of coverage recently on the landslide in Zhouqu, China. 1,700 people are either dead or missing after the tragedy.

The news coverage all seem to be in heavy praise for the leadership of the Communist Party in directing their massive rescue and recovery efforts. There are impressive photos and videos of hoards of soldiers with shovels digging and carrying out survivors. Truckloads of supplies are being directed to the area. Certainly, it's good to see this type of effort and response from the federal government. But hang on...

Why did this event happen in the first place? What the government wants the media to report is that record rainfall and the Sichuan earthquake (for loosening the geological structure) is to be blamed. See here for details.

The following are quoted from an article from the South China Morning Post dated 16 Aug 2010.

"Two years ago, geological experts recommended the town be moved because of growing safety concerns that were almost impossible to eliminate."

"...the ministry listed Zhouqu, in a valley between two mountains, as a key site prone to landslides. There can be no question, therefore, that the authorities were fully aware of the growing danger, yet they did nothing."

"...the risk had been exacerbated by reckless development leading to erosion and ecological damage, such as a rash of dam-building and logging, which deforested the mountainsides for 20-odd years until 1998. Since then, it has continued in defiance of a central government ban."

"The excuse of lack of funds to relocate Zhouqu, while real enough, raises complex questions about the nation's priorities. Surely, with all the money that is being spent on the Shanghai World Expo, or on the high-speed rail network, some can be found for urgent measures to protect people's lives. Co-incidentally, with the raised profile of the threat to Zhouqu two years ago, Beijing launched a four trillion yuan economic stimulus package to counter the global financial crisis. Government officials around the country lavished money on infrastructure projects, including their own pet schemes. Sadly, saving Zhouqu was not one of them, though the cost of making a start on it would have been a drop in the bucket."

"an explosion at a Henan coal mine last June that killed 49 workers. The mine probably should not have been operating, after a gas leak killed 12 men two months earlier. But official pressure and hush money was used to cover up the accident. Transparency and a proper inquiry could have saved a lot of lives."

So, where is the backlash against the government? 1,700 lives were lost because of government inaction. Why is nobody upset over this?

Let's compare this with Hurrican Katrina. Or even the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane was an act of nature. The oil spill was because of BP, a British company. Yet, the United States government took massive criticism. I'm not saying the US didn't deserve the criticism; they certainly did. But my point is, why is China able to walk away from this looking like the good guy when it's obvious they shirked their responsibilities?

As former US President George W. Bush would say, "China, you're doing a heck of a job."

Some thoughts on the soccer, the world sport.

It's World Cup time again. Every time this comes around, there's soccer fever everywhere. I'm not a soccer fan. I don't follow the sport and I'm just not very fond of watching a soccer match. Personally, I think there's a lot going on in the game, but just not very much is accomplished. It's too difficult to score; just too many things have to go right for the offense and many things have to go wrong for the defense to score. I would suppose fans of the sport would argue that that's exactly why they like the sport. I respect that, but just not my cup of tea, I guess.

That being said, here's just a couple of ideas that might make the game more watchable for myself...

1. Have fewer players on the pitch. 11 vs 11 is just too much. Often, you have 7 or 8 guys running offensive sets trying to take on all 11 defensive players. The goal area gets too packed and it's just not fun to watch. You almost always have to have a lucky bounce to have a chance at scoring. If there were fewer players, there would be better spacing on the field. This means that better players will be able to utilize their skills rather than be suffocated with 2 or 3 defensive guys pressuring them.

2. If you're going to have 11 guys on each side, at least limit the number of players allowed in the goal area. Again, spacing is the issue here.

3. Get rid of the off-side rule. I don't understand why they have this rule in the first place. What's the purpose? To lower the scoring rate of an already low scoring game? Doesn't make sense. If you don't want the offense to have an advantage by planting their players behind your defense, then the defense needs to work and adjust. They shouldn't be bailed out by the refs.

4. Get rid of the player disqualification thing. It's completely unfair and makes the game horrible to watch. I'm talking about the 2 yellow cards equals 1 red card which equals player disqualification. The fouling team loses a player for an entire game. That is, they go 10 vs 11 players. It's already hard enough to score with 11 guys so it's now near impossible to score with just 10. And the team with 10 guys often just give up on offense and focus on defending. So they pack all 10 guys around their goal to defend it, making it near impossible for the other team to score. There are other ways to penalize the fouling player/team. One way I just thought up of is to just limit that player's movement either to the front or back half of the field. That is, he is now stuck playing either offense or defense. Have him wear a sash or something so that he's easily recognized. If he crosses the half field line, then DQ him.

5. Allow instant replay. The field is too large and there are too many players for just 3 referees. Let them use instant replay because often, the foul that's called is wrong. And penalty cards are very often issued for the wrong reason. Soccer players are known for flopping. You touch them anywhere near the lower body, they'll fall down and grab their shin. You touch them anywhere near the upper body, they'll fall down and grab their face. Use instant replay to determine the right call for the foul and to determine if there's any flopping going on. Flopping should be penalized just as harshly as fouls.

6. Get rid of the goal keepers. How fun would this be?!

7. Put 2 balls on the field! The field is large enough and there are enough players. Why not?!

Australia vs Big Tobacco

I commend Australia for standing up to the tobacco companies. According to this article in the New York Times, they're banning images, colors, and logos from cigarette packaging. And they'll increase the tobacco tax by 25%.

It's amazing to me why this was not done by every developed nation long ago.

It's probably not realistic to wish for governments around the world to ban the sale of tobacco products. The reasons of which are probably best left in the dark. However, it does make you wonder why tobacco is legal when other recreational drugs are not.

Anyway, realistically speaking, if there's one tobacco-related law I would like to see passed, it would be this:

Make it illegal to move and smoke at the same time. The only exception would be if the smoker is walking within a confined smoking area.

The reasoning? I personally don't care much for smokers. If they choose to poison themselves slowly, then they're completely free to do so. But us nonsmokers should not have to be subjected to their fumes. The only defense we have is to walk away.

I'm sure everybody has experienced this. A smoker is walking in front of you. The only way to not be directly in the path of his/her fumes is to either stay put until the smoker is a sufficient distance ahead of you or you have to overtake that person. But what happens if you're in the following scenarios?

-The smoker is walking in front of you rather quickly and you are in a rush so you can't afford to stop. But you can't catch up to overtake the smoker.
-The smoker is walking in front of you in a large crowd so that it's impossible to stop or overtake the smoker.

There's nothing you can do but be forced to inhale the fumes. Speaking of the fumes, those that are coming from the burning end of the cigarette (known as 2nd-hand smoke) is actually more poisonous than the stuff inhaled by the smoker because it's not filtered. The fumes that the smoker exhales is quite disgusting too. It's inhaled by the smoker, passes into his mouth and lungs, and expelled back out into your own mouth and lungs. It's almost as intimate as kissing the person!

If the smoker is forced to stay still, then we won't have this problem. The smoker can smoke all he/she wants. And us nonsmokers would have an easy time avoiding fumes by simply walking around and away from smoking areas.

Foreign journalists' Yahoo email accounts hacked in China

More bad publicity for China. The article does not say that it was the Chinese government doing the hacking. But clearly something is awry here. Can anyone possibly believe that it's just a coincidence that the victims just so happened to be foreign journalists in China?

China has yet to issue a statement regarding this. Personally, it doesn't matter what the Chinese government says. Their public statements are never reliable.

Ask them about June 4th 1989.

Ask them whether or not they will grant HK universal suffrage as clearly stated in the Basic Law.

Ask them how many people do they executed annually.

Ask them about cutting greenhouse emissions.

Or even more recently, listen to what the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ma Zhaoxu, said in response to Hilary Clinton in January 2010:

"The US has criticized China’s policies to administer the internet and insinuated that China restricts internet freedom. This runs contrary to the facts and is harmful to China-US relations. We urge the United States to respect the facts and cease using so-called internet freedom to make groundless accusations against China."

They're actually saying that they don't restrict internet freedom when it's so obvious that they do. So please, China, don't respond to this Yahoo incident. You're just going to make yourself look silly again. And frankly, you're making everyone of Chinese ethnicity look bad.

China responds to Google pulling the plug on Google.cn

Through The Global Times and the People’s Daily, China has a couple of comments for Google. These 2 publications are produced under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party.

“With its action to shift its search service from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong yesterday, the world’s top search engine has made a huge strategic misstep in the promising Chinese market.”
Sure, Google is definitely giving up on potential revenue.

“Google’s efforts to make this issue into a political spat have naturally met with strong opposition and criticism from the Chinese government and society.”
Did I miss something? How did Google try to make this into a political spat?

“With the company’s credibility among Chinese netizens now plummeting, Google will be greeted with less sympathy and fewer parting sentiments from Chinese internet users.”
Really? All Google did was remove their censors. The average netizen experienced nothing new. Rather than being met with Google’s censors, they’re now being met with China’s censors. The average Chinese netizen should be disappointed, instead.

The paper slammed Google for offering China’s 384 million web users access to “pornography and subversive content”, saying the Chinese web would “continue to grow in a cleaner and more peaceful environment” without Google.cn.
Really? If you asked people to say the first thing that comes to mind when you say “Google”, I bet that not one person would say “porn” or anything subversive. If you say “internet” on the other hand, you may get the occasional “porn” response.

The overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the chief newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party accused Google on Wednesday of colluding with US spies, and said the firm’s retreat from China over censorship justified Beijing’s efforts to promote homegrown technology.
“For Chinese people, Google is not god, and even if it puts on a full-on show about politics and values, it is still not god. In fact, Google is not a virgin when it comes to values. Its co-operation and collusion with the US intelligence and security agencies is well-known.”
Seriously, this doesn’t even sound intelligent. You might as well all stay home and wrap tin foil over your heads.

Google “completely misjudged the situation, and does not grasp that Chinese people are extremely averse to external threats and pressure.”
What did Google threaten to do? They threatened to remove the censors from its search engine. Is that what the Chinese people are averse to? If so, then too bad. Welcome to the real world.

Exactly what is China afraid of when it comes to the internet? That people would find out about the June 4th incident? That people would learn about Falun Gun? That they would find porn (god forbid!)?

China really needs to pay attention to details here. Everybody here in Hong Kong has uncensored access to the internet. Have we all become anti-China. Have we all decided to join the Falun Gun? Have we all become sex-crazed lunatics?

If China wants to join the ranks of the elite countries in the world, they need to stop feeling ashamed of their history. Every country has their dark pasts. Their citizens should learn from them. So you’ve slaughtered countless innocent lives on June 4th 1989. Everybody knows about it, except your own citizens. Every Chinese outside of China knows. Yet, the existence of this event is openly denied by the Chinese government because they don’t want to be held accountable for their own actions. That’s just childish behavior. Grow up if you want to join the big boys…

Hong Kong's air quailty reaches new low

Yesterday, the air quality in Hong Kong deteriorated to record levels. It was so bad, it made the news in the NY Times.

Why has HK not adopted any policy to limit the amount of private vehicles on the road?
There are so many ways to do this but our government chooses to do nothing. They can toll cars for entering busy zones at specific times of the day. They can raise the fuel tax for private cars. They can make obtaining a license more expensive. Any of these should make some sort of impact on the number of cars on the road. Plus they generate revenue. It's just baffling why nothing is being done.

Why are dirty diesel burning trucks and buses not replaced by newer cleaner vehicles? This accounts for 33% of all trucks and buses in HK! What's the billions of dollars in surplus being spent on?

Why is it that a majority of our electricity still comes from burning coal and oil?

The air is so bad that we can longer see the brightly lit advertisements on the other side of the harbor clearly, even at night! So what do we do? We set up more and brighter advertisements and enormous LCD screens. Obviously, something is wrong with this trend. I can't be the only one who sees this.

Milgram experiment replicated. But why?

Anyone who has taken Intro Psych or ethics would have heard of the name Stanley Milgram. Here's the Wikipedia link to his most famous experiment back in the 1960s. In short, subjects were ordered to give increasingly severe electric shocks to another person. Most of the test subjects obeyed. What was unethical about it was not that someone was continuously shocked. That person was just an actor. But it was that it revealed a hideous dark side of the subject. They now have to live the rest of their lives knowing that they are capable of essentially killing another person just because someone told them to.

Recently, this experiment was replicated on a French TV show. See here for details. This begs the question: Why?

This has already been done. The results of this experiment was already well documented. So I suppose this is being done just to mess with people?

For the past several decades, the Milgram experiment was taught to all students in the scientific field. The purpose was to make them aware of ethics and so that such experiments do not happen ever again. Everyone who took part in replicating this experiment is just being sinister.