Azalea and Election

In the old days, when I was a medical student, I was told during my Students’ Union Orientation Camp that there were many azaleas (杜鵑) around the Main Campus.  These azaleas were also known as “panic flowers”.  (“Panic flowers” is my translation; actually they were called 騰雞花.  The term 騰雞 was quite popular at that time.)  This was because azaleas bloomed around March and April, and they served as a signal for the rush to study for the final exams.  However, I was then told in the Medical Orientation Camp that this signal did not apply for medical students.  The unique saying for medical students was that we needed to study and to prepare for the exams when there was grass around Sassoon Road.  Literally, this meant that we had to work hard around the year.

These stories suddenly came to my mind when I saw a young lady wearing a ribbon wave to me while I was driving down Old Peak Road from the Canossa Hospital.  She was standing in the middle of a pedestrian refuge, waving vigorously to every driver that passed by.  The next day, early in the morning, there was another young man standing in the same site waving to me and other drivers alike.  So these waving candidates and the banners reminded me that it was time for elections.  They were the azaleas in the Main Campus.

Actually those are the candidates for the coming District Council Election.  The polling will be held on 6 November 2011 (Sunday).  Hong Kong is divided into 412 District Council Constituency Areas under 18 Districts.  Together with the 102 appointed members and 27 ex-officio members, there will be a total of 541 members in all 18 District Councils.  The District Council Election 2011 has been regarded as a “super election”, as it is significantly related to the Legislative Council Election 2012 and also the selection of members of the Election Committee for electing the Chief Executive in 2012.  

The Hong Kong Chief Executive Election 2012 will be held on 25 March 2012.  The Chief Executive will be elected by a 1200-member Election Committee.  For the medical functional constituency, there are 30 seats out of the total 1200.  And these 30 representatives will be elected by doctors and dentists.  The date for voting for the Chief Executive is not of so much concern to most of us.  However, if you would like to be one of the lucky 30, you need to remember that the nomination period for the non-District Councils subsectors of the 2011 Election Committee Subsector Elections will run from November 8 until November 15.  For most of us, all we need to remember is the polling date, which is December 11. 

Another more important date to remember is December 1.  This is the deadline for returning the ballot paper for the yearly Medical Council Election.  We need to cast our vote to elect three Members to fill the three vacancies in 2012.  Information of the candidates and the ballot papers will be sent out to all registered doctors on October 28 (a few days after you receive the News).  We need to return the ballot papers by post before December 1.

Distracted by the “waving azaleas” on the pedestrian refuge and all those thoughts about elections, I still needed to concentrate on driving.  I doubted very much the use and the meaning of such waving exercise.  Where were the candidates before the blooming of the azaleas?  Had they ever been active in district affairs?  Where would they be if they were elected?  Could I stop the car and try to discuss the election platform with the candidates?  Would their actions endanger drivers and pedestrians?  Would people just vote for the candidates because they saw them waving hands on one fine day?

I am not sure whether such waving practices will help, since they seem to be routines in elections.  However, as doctors, we have been trained to look for the grass against the azaleas.

(Source: HKMA News October 2011)