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Funding for HK political parties

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  1. #1

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    Funding for HK political parties

    Jimmy Lai has been handing out millions to the Democratic Party, Civic Party and LSD, as well as people such as Anson Chan and Bishop Zen. See HK Standard.

    If it is made a requirement that there should be transparency regarding the source of funds above a certain level, something which I think would be a good thing, it would be interesting to see where the DAB gets its funding.


  2. #2

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    Openness is good but even in the USA where funding of individual politicians is the system it seems you get a high rate of corruption and voting for special interests. In a Parliamentary system where they vote on party lines or else the funding can get results for the party but not as much corruption as it is not going as much to individuals like the USA.

    Not sure how all of HK is funded but I'd be interested in learning more.

    This guy in HK is not getting anything for his money it seems as these guys are not running the show are they?

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  3. #3

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    Personally I don't see why they have political parties in HK.

    HK is never going to have universal suffrage or democracy. Therefore why are we kidding ourselves with political parties?

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  4. #4

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    Original Post Deleted
    Not when they are backed by the PRC government (yet).

    Also, plenty of democracies that have been overthrown.

  5. #5

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    All the political parties are legally registered as companies.

    dear giant likes this.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Football16:
    This guy in HK is not getting anything for his money it seems as these guys are not running the show are they?
    Interesting point. The parties which have received donations could be classed as the 'opposition' in Hong Kong, and under the Hong Kong system they are not going to be part of a governing party in the the next few years or even decades (even though combined they get over 60% of vote I believe). So, what's in it for Jimmy Lai, or is he just doing it for his love of democracy? If so, rich individuals giving money to one party but not another is not very democratic, although I suppose the argument would be that the pro government parties are not short of money from other sources.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by drumbrake:
    Interesting point. The parties which have received donations could be classed as the 'opposition' in Hong Kong, and under the Hong Kong system they are not going to be part of a governing party in the the next few years or even decades (even though combined they get over 60% of vote I believe). So, what's in it for Jimmy Lai, or is he just doing it for his love of democracy? If so, rich individuals giving money to one party but not another is not very democratic, although I suppose the argument would be that the pro government parties are not short of money from other sources.
    "rich individuals giving money to one party but not another is not very democratic"

    Could you clarify that? Isn't it up to the rich individual to choose to who they give their money to? Who says if I give to party A I also have to give to party B?

  8. #8

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    donations to political parties.

    [QUOTE=drumbrake;. So, what's in it for Jimmy Lai, or is he just doing it for his love of democracy? If so, rich individuals giving money to one party but not another is not very democratic" Unquote,
    One of the largest Business House in India solved this problem, by giving each party funds in proportion to the total votes received by each party.


  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    "rich individuals giving money to one party but not another is not very democratic"

    Could you clarify that? Isn't it up to the rich individual to choose to who they give their money to? Who says if I give to party A I also have to give to party B?
    Yes and no. It depends how rich the individual is, and what kind of influence he or she hopes to get by donating large sums of money. For example, Murdoch donating money to the political parties to gain influence means that wealth and power can and probably has bought influence.

    If the purpose of the donation is to promote political debate, then perhaps it should go equally to all sides. This is supposed to be the way public service television works with all major parties getting a proportional amount of coverage depending on their popularity, although with the declining influence of public service channels, more people are just getting a one sided view of the world - for example from Fox News in the US.

    At the end of the day, political parties should be careful about who they accept donations from.

  10. #10

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    So Apple Daily appears to have a lot of dirt on Beijing favoured Henry Tang. At the same time, Beijing backed papers have the daggers drawn for Jimmy Lai (owner of Apple Daily). Any connection between the two?

    More at Big Lychee.