Facebook face-off

It’s been billed as a catfight of epic proportions, and sure enough the fur is beginning to fly in Hong Kong as two 50-plus women square up for an electoral battle next month, which will be a litmus test of the democratic aspirations of this erstwhile British colony.
Anson Chan and Regina Ip, both former civil servants, are the leading ladies in a by-election for a seat in the Legislative Council, Hong Kong’s unicameral legislature.

But given the political platforms of these high-profile candidates, the clash has acquired a higher profile than a lowly LegCo election might warrant. Chan is contesting as the pan-democratic parties’ candidate, demanding universal suffrage (or one-person, one-vote) by 2012; Ip is standing on the status quo-ist platform with the support of pro-Beijing parties.

The campaign is being conducted not only on the streets, amidst the towering skyscrapers that symbolise Hong Kong, but also by leveraging social networking sites such as Facebook.

Right after she was jeered at a public meeting, Ip noted that she had over 400 ‘friends’ on Facebook: last week, she interacted in the real world with members of the ‘Regina for Councillor’ Facebook group, whose numbers have since swelled to over 530.

However, a rival Facebook group, calling itself ‘No Regina Ip Allowed’ has close to 750 members — and a third group, ‘Anson Chan for Hong Kong’, has close to 2,400 members. It’s hard to say if these cyber-numbers are representative of the prospects of the two tai-tais. 

Other pointers in the run-up to the LegCo election bode ill for the pan-democratic camp.

In elections to district councils on Sunday, the pro-Beijing alliance trounced the democratic parties, although it must be said that the campaign themes in these elections were more local in nature.

How, you may well wonder, can lotus-paste pastry make for chai-pani material? The answer is in the ‘packaging’. A box of mooncakes may be gifted with elaborate accessories such as a bottle of expensive wine or diamond jewellery.

But on occasion, the stakes get considerably higher. A few years ago, a confectionery company offered a mooncake ‘set’ — which included a digital camera, a video camera, alcohol, a pen, a lighter and a (I kid you not!) a 1000 sq ft apartment — for $40,000!

Authorities in Beijing were compelled to issue directives to do away with expensive gift-giving at festival time. But they probably realise by now that it’s probably easier to put a man on the moon than to stop the timeless practice of ‘mooncake’-gifting. 

Three persons of Indian origin were independent candidates in Tsim Sha Tsui East constituency, which is home to a large number of South Asians in Hong Kong. One of them, Gopaldas Holaram Ahuja ran a good race, finishing a close second behind the pro-Beijing candidate who won.

The two others didn’t fare too well: Neeraj Brijendra Jain secured just 56 votes, and Yeshma Gobindram Sawlani a mere 34 votes.
I have to say that even I have many more Facebook ‘friends’ than that!

Last week, I had occasion to interact with a visitor from India who too uses the social networking platform Orkut effectively in his line of work.

Gopinath, who anchors a hugely popular Tamil talk show on Vijay TV, was in Hong Kong for a recording, and generated lively chatter on the day’s theme: the loss of personal space within a marriage.

A multimedia personality, Gopinath is something of a youth icon in Tamil Nadu (he’s been named Young Achiever 2007 by a popular newsweekly), and has a substantial fan following on Orkut. 

But, as he acknowledged, he also uses the Orkut platform to generate ideas on topics for discussion on his show, which just shows up the imaginative manner in which the organic synergies between traditional and New Media platforms are being used to build communities.