Three former beauty queens are running for council seats on November 22 - and all insist they have more to offer than their famous good looks
NG KANG-CHUNGkc.ng@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 11 November, 2015, 12:01am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 11 November, 2015, 8:47am
Uny Chiu
Three former beauty queens hope to rise above sexist judgement and assumption and bring focus to their policies as independent candidates as they look to win seats on district councils in next week's elections.
The three, Uny Chiu Chit-ue, Pauline Yam and Erica Yuen Mi-ming, have all either won or reached the finals of high-profile beauty pageants - but their candidacies are about more than adding a splash of colour to the tense race for seats.
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They may also offer a local test of the findings of overseas studies, which show that people associate a pretty face with positive emotions, giving beautiful people an electoral edge, according to political observer Dr James Sung Lap-kung.
But he was quick to add: "For district level elections, just a pretty face and a nice body cannot guarantee success. You need to be seen to have served the residents long enough, and are able to greet the residents by their names before you can begin assessing your chance of winning."
Chiu, 28, shot to fame after winning the Hong Kong division of the Miss China pageant in 2010. She is contesting the Tsing Yi Estate constituency on Kwai Tsing District Council as an independent candidate.
She first tried her hand at politics in 2013 after joining the New People's Party, helping organise district activities. But she formally quit about six months ago and is now a social services officer for a local Tsing Yi pressure group, the Association for Greenfield District.
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"You face a lot of restrictions being a member of a pro-establishment party," she said of her decision to go independent. "You are expected to fully support the government. I am not anti-government. But I don't feel comfortable having to support the government all the time no matter what. I like to take a centralist approach."
Her opponents, all of whom are running as independents, are incumbent Simon Chan Siu-man, Elaine Cheng Hiu-ling, and Yu Lap-on.
Chan, who has served on the council since 1991, did not think Chiu would pose a threat because of his long service in the district.
But Chiu said: "He is of course very experienced. But some residents want to see changes. I am young, I am bright, I have new ideas. And I think I have an edge over others."
Yuen, 35, is perhaps the city's most famous beauty queen turned politician.
Although she only made it as far as the final five of the 2005 Miss Hong Kong pageant, she has made waves in political circles. She chairs People Power, a key pan-democratic party and a leading supporter of last year's Occupy protests.
But Yuen played down her beauty queen past, saying: "It is always the quality of your work that matters."
She will take on incumbent Judy Chan Ka-pui of the New People's Party in South Horizons West, Southern district. It is a rematch of a by-election last year, in which Chan won 2,023 votes to Yuen's 1,083. A third candidate, the Democratic Party's Sin Chung-kai got 920 votes and is not standing this time.
And Yuen is optimistic of a better result this time.
"Especially after the Occupy movement, people see that the pro-establishment councillors only do what Beijing expects them to do. They have no independent thinking," Yuen said.
Chan hit back subtly: "It will not be an easy battle. She was a finalist in the Miss Hong Kong pageant, albeit defeated at last. She runs a beauty shop, and is also a party chairman. I am only a hard working district councillor."
Rounding out the trio of beauty queens is Pauline Yam, 42, who is running in the neighbouring Southern District Council seat of Aberdeen.
More conscious about her beauty queen past, Yam declined an interview, saying she did not like publicity just because of her background. "That would be unfair to other candidates," she said.
Yam's rivals for the seat, which is being vacated by incumbent Vincent Wong Ling-sun, are Zico Man Ho-keung of the Civic Party, Ho Wai-chun, and Lee Kit-hing.
While artistes turning their hands to politics has been an international trend - from actor turned US president Ronald Reagan to Italy's equalities minister, former model Mara Carfagna - few Hong Kong celebrities have turned to politics.
Former actress Christine Fong Kwok-shan, 49, previously of the Liberal Party and now independent, is the incumbent councillor for Wan Po North on Sai Kung District Council. She is seeking another term, taking on Liberal Party candidate Chiu Ting-pong.
Actor David Lau Chi-wing was once an elected Yau Tsim Mong district councillor. A senior member of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, he died in 2008 at the age of 56.
Pop radio DJ Angel Leung On-kay was also elected to Eastern District Council in 1999. She was not re-elected but is still an active democracy advocate.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1877610/queens-polls-former-beauty-pageant-contestants-turn-politics
