Coffee or Tea

Scurrying across the bridge in Wan Chai to the Hong Kong Houseware Fair last week, I stumbled across several youngsters in bright tees with their clipboarded stacks of forms for voter registration. Given how user-enemy the online registration procedure is, I came really close to stopping at their booth to serve my duty. But that was 40 minutes before the closing of the fair so I thought "what the heck, this thing ought to still be here next week when I come to the Gifts & Premium Fair."

I'm going to the Gifts & Premium Fair tomorrow. Sure as I am that the voter registration booth will be there at the exact same spot, I'm still contemplating whether I should still register for the seemingly meaningful gesture that masks the democracy-depriving reality.

The Chinese NPC Standing Committee's decision on our city's constitutional development is the one thing Hong Kongers are more disappointed in than Tung's performance as our chief executive.

It's like offering caffeine-intolerant me the choice of coffee or tea when what I want is water with a side of universal suffrage.