The 14th day of the 7th
month in the lunar calendar is the Hungry Ghost Festival. I guess the younger generation living in newly
developed housing estates, especially those luxurious ones, might not have seen
the rituals. They might read in
newspapers and magazines, electronic versions of course, about some of the
ghost stories and taboos for the Hungry Ghost Festival. I wonder how many would go and watch the Chinese operas held on temporary bamboo stages to praise the
charitable and pious deeds of the deities. My
clinic is at Western District, one of the oldest parts of Hong Kong Island
where very old buildings and old traditions are kept. Even the MTR Sai Ying Pun Station features
many photographs and pictures of the old days. Each year, I can tell the beginning of the 7th
month by seeing and smelling people tending roadside fires and burning faux
money and offerings. These rituals
climax on the 14th and 15th days. People believe that business is linked somehow
to ghosts. Therefore shops take such
rituals and offerings very seriously. They
practically set fire on the motor roads. The fires easily reach 3 stories high and need
hoses and fire extinguishers to put off after the ceremonies.
I always wonder: Is it dangerous
to do so? Would it block the roads and
affect traffic?
Blocking the roads once or twice
every year might be tolerated by the police and citizens. It is however not unusual to find
road-blocking every day. When I
sometimes cross the Western Harbour Tunnel to visit the Baptist Hospital, I
have to be very careful at night time when going through Yau Ma Tei because up
to 2 lanes might be blocked by workers loading and unloading boxes of fruits. Of course I have to be careful not to run anyone
down, or run into cargos. But also I have
to be careful not to sound the horn. I
have heard stories about lucky drivers being surrounded by loads of fruits
after sounding horns at leisurely walking workers. They are said to be lucky because the unlucky
ones are surrounded by workers instead of fruits.
I am sure those workers block the
roads and affect traffic. I wonder if
they are tolerated by law enforcement bodies because of historical reasons and
the fact that road-blocking occurs at night time.
Not surprisingly, roads are
blocked every day in daytime. Take an
example, in Central, Queen’s Road Central is blocked by cars in office hours
and office days. Some are lorries and
vans for loading and unloading cargos. More
are private cars, expensive cars, with chauffeurs waiting for their bosses, or
guests of their bosses. Everyone knows
that traffic is horrible in Central. A don’t-know-stupid-or-clever
guy even takes his time and money to write a report to look into the matter and
comes up with a conclusion of cutting the trams off their rails. Most people, or in fact most people with the power
to control or to solve the problem, turn a blind eye to the obvious-to-everyone
cause of the traffic jam.
I am naive to think that there
are too many simple solutions to the Central traffic problem. The police can station “Mong-Kok-officers-with-arm-extensions”
there to wave illegally parked cars away. Since
money is the answer to many problems, the rich tycoons can easily solve their parking
problems. They can walk a little bit to exercise.
They can rent a dozen car parks nearby. They can even build their own car parks on
whatever locations they like as they own those buildings.
However, a hypocritical friend of
mine told me that money is not used in this way to solve problems. Money is used to enjoy privileges. Money is to make sure that the owner is more
equal before the law. He speculates that
if a police constable is complained unofficially by tycoons to his superior for
carrying out his duty but at the same time causing inconvenience to them, he
would sure be in trouble. His superior
would teach him a lesson so as to please the rich without costing himself a
dime. Of course he is hypocritical and I
do not agree with him.
Everyone can see when a road is
blocked. Most would realize that some
laws are broken without obvious consequences. However, many a time it is not as obvious when
rules are broken or when procedures are not followed. You might not know why the University of Hong
Kong Convocation has to pass a resolution to urge the University Council to act
in accordance with established procedures and precedents. You might not be surprised when the chairman
of an association knows nothing about its articles of association or procedures
of meetings. You might not be as crossed
as me when you find an action committee puts an important agenda item in the
AOB section of a meeting and sends out documents at midnight the day before
meeting. You might not be able to stand
firm when the chairman of a tribunal ridicules you only because you hold a
different view from her.
Facing these, I must pay tribute
to the Legco Chairman in the “Wait-for-Uncle-Fat Incident”. He could have maneuvered not too difficultly
the situation to the advantage of his affiliates. However, maybe out of instinct, or out of
respect of rules, or maybe out of conscience, he acted according to procedures.
But, I guess, those were the
days.
(Source: HKMA News September 2015)
