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HONG KONG - These days in nightclubs, bars and social gatherings across Hong Kong, men are suddenly dropping to a squatting position behind women, gripping the edge of their skirts and taking a quick peep around. Not a word is said. But "doing a Chu Pui-hing" brings the house down.
It has been like this for a week, without let-up, even after Chu Pui-hing, director of broadcasting for the government-funded Radio Television Hong Kong network (RTHK), asked for early retirement, 10 months ahead of schedule, for his self-described "outrageous" (and intoxicated) behavior when he was caught by paparazzi walking hand-in-hand with a prostitute outside the Must Kara karaoke "hostess bar" near the red-light zone of the Wan Chai district, an area made famous by the novel and 1961 movie The World of Suzie Wong. But the government is likely to conduct an investigation into the scandal before considering his early retirement.
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?
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Emil Luis
Pod Bruskou 7,
Prague,
Czech Republic
Last updated: October 08, 2010