Chung Kim-wah (inset) of Polytechnic University said it may not be wise for politicians such as Regina Ip to complain about being insulted by critics. Photo: HKEJ
Regina Ip complains about obscenities, insults
Regina Ip, chairwoman of the New People’s Party and Hong Kong’s former security chief, has criticized some pro-democracy protesters for attacking officials and lawmakers including herself with obscene and vulgar words.
“I have often been greeted with obscene language and was once even surrounded by a dozen protesters, who did not look like students but were shouting at me ‘communist dogs’, ‘shame on police’, ‘broom head [mocking Ip's hairstyle in 2003]‘, ‘you deserve death’, ‘go to hell’, ‘you are so f***ing ugly’,” Ip wrote on her Facebook page.
“And some protesters who are against the incinerator and landfill plan have shouted at me, ‘You deserve to be a widow’, outside the LegCo building,” she wrote.
Other establishment figures have been subjected to similar embarrassment, Ip said.
Elsie Leung Oi-sie, former secretary for justice, was followed by a 30-year-old man recently when she was leaving her office in Admiralty. Ip quoted the man as saying Leung “has not died at 80”. Leung is 75.
“We do not know if these people will go further and breach the line between using obscene language and a violent attack,” Ip wrote.
Such behavior runs against the Occupy protesters’ slogan of “love and peace” and violates the core values of democracy, she said.
“Democracy includes showing respect to others and tolerance for different political views,” Ip wrote.
She said some people are just using the umbrella of democracy to express a grudge against society.
Chung Kim-wah, deputy director of the Centre for Social Policy Studies at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said it is inevitable in a polarized society that politicians will be verbally insulted.
“If politicians mind these verbal attacks and try to fight back through the media, it may give the public a poor image of them,” Chung said.
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