The scandal is being fanned by the Sichuan hooker, who goes by the professional
name of Coco, through interviews with one gossip magazine after another.
Pro-Beijing rags are largely leading the way. Hong Kong's sleazy magazines
usually pay for such interviews, so Coco may be making up for enforced absence
from the Must Kara karaoke where she dances on table-tops in addition to
singing and playing bar games with clients.
Like all sex scandals, this one will die down. And Chu, who rose through the
broadcasting ranks after starting as a talk-show host, is destined for the
shadows. There will be no regrets; even those who have stood beside him are
distancing themselves from a man who publicly described his reaction to the
paparazzi ambush as "outrageous". In a largely Cantonese interview with the
anti-Beijing Apple Daily newspaper after the rush of embarrassing publicity,
Chu was not without candor and a sense of humor when he added in English: "The
only comment I would make is that alcohol is not conducive to good behavior. So
my advice is, drink less."
The vital question is how much damage Chu has done to a campaign to turn
government-run RTHK into a full-fledged public-service broadcaster. The
campaign has been going on for more than a decade and is now only months away
from final resolution. RTHK is unique in that enjoys a fairly high degree of
editorial freedom and is operated as an independent department in the
government under the Broadcasting Authority. RTHK operates seven radio
channels, and produces television programs.
As RTHK's director, Chu is necessarily a civil servant. But he has publicly
stood up for its conversion into a public corporation, similar to the British
Broadcasting Corp. He is the strongest, if not the only, voice inside the
administration of Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang who favors the
conversion.
The issue is highly political, hence some pro-democracy activists have been
quick to see Beijing's hand in Chu's fall from grace. But others have
pooh-poohed the suggestion because this would mean Beijing involved a lot of
other unlikely people.
The paparazzi had originally gathered to wait for Hong Kong singer-actor Kenny
B and his posse, who were whooping it up next door. In fact the photographers
had initially decided to ignore Chu, but in that split second of
decision-making the director of broadcasting dived down behind the hooker's
bottom to give Hong Kong one of its most hilarious news photos ever.
Beijing is known to be strongly opposed to turning RTHK into a public
broadcaster. And the pro-Beijing camp has been extremely vocal in condemning
RTHK for openly criticizing the administration. Complaints from the pro-Beijing
camp were numerous in 1999 after a show discussing the separation of China and
Taiwan. Later that year, the head of RTHK radio broadcasting, Cheung Man-yee,
found herself exiled to Japan as a trade officer and Chu taking over.
The complaints, however, continued, as had the agitation for conversion of RTHK
into a public corporation.
In January 2006, Tsang set up a committee to look into the issue. This had been
preceded by rumors that Beijing had told Tsang to resolve the issue once and
for all. That March, the committee turned in a report that proposed setting up
an entirely new public-service broadcaster, run by a board almost entirely
appointed by the Hong Kong government. The committee did not dwell on the
future of RTHK other than to say that its role would be reduced.
The Hong Kong government is expected to issue a paper for public consultation
in the coming weeks. The consultation process is expected to close at the end
of the year and the government to make a final decision some time in the first
half of next year.
Meanwhile, pro- and anti-government forces have been squaring up a major
battle. A Save RTHK Campaign has been launched by 16 organizations to try to
stop the government closing down RTHK and replacing it with a new
public-service broadcaster. The campaign has the support of the International
Federation of Journalists as well as the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists.
RTHK has been publicly reprimanded for producing and showing a documentary
about homosexual lovers, improper accounting, and failure to comply with
regulations in management, entertainment expenses, overtime payments,
outsourcing services and accepting sponsorships. Accusations of corruption have
also been leveled by investigators, though no charges have yet been laid. All
these are seen by Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates as government pressure to
bring RTHK management into line before a final decision is made.
The pro-government media have also been making the case that RTHK employees
want to continue to enjoy their full civil-service benefits while demanding
complete freedom from civil-service strictures in terms of responsibility and
freedom to criticize government policies.
This having-the-cake-and-eating-it message has gone down well with the general
public; various opinion polls have shown little support for the campaign to
turn RTHK into a public-service broadcaster.
The Hong Kong government also appears to be playing on public concerns that
certain popular cultural programs and television shows will disappear
altogether if a public-service broadcaster is established.
Until now some of the public-service broadcasts have consisted of controversial
talk shows, in essence non-stop rants by a few individuals from the
pro-democracy camp. (There have been a number of unauthorized broadcasts in
Hong Kong over the past years - though not on RTHK, but via low-watt, pirate
radio transmissions. Some of the people involved with those, including
outspoken anti-Beijing Legislative Representative "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung,
will be tried in coming weeks.)
The pro-government media have also been floating the idea that people may have
to start paying for radio licenses to finance a public-service broadcaster.
Listening to the radio has always been free, so strong opposition to a new
public-service broadcaster is most likely if fresh revenue has to be raised.
This may be one good reason many people are playing "Chu Pui-hing". In English
that "translates" simply into "hiding behind a woman's skirt". But in Cantonese
"hiding behind a woman's bottom" is utterly shameless. What more, a hooker's
bottom?
Augustine Tan is a freelance journalist based in Hong Kong. Re-posted from
Asia Times Online with permission. Please visit
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