| The Honourable Raymond Wong Yuk-man 黃毓民 |
|
|---|---|
| Member of the Legislative Council | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 16 May 2010 |
|
| Constituency | Kowloon West |
| In office 7 September 2008 – 26 January 2010 |
|
| Constituency | Kowloon West |
| Chairman of the League of Social Democrats | |
| In office 1 October 2006 – 31 January 2010 |
|
| Succeeded by | Andrew To |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 October 1951 Hong Kong[1] |
| Nationality | Hong Kong Chinese |
| Residence | Hong Kong |
| Occupation | professor, current affairs commentator, radio host, published author |
| Profession | Legislative Councillor |
Raymond Wong Yuk-man (Chinese: 黃毓民; pinyin: Huáng Yùmín) is a politician, author, current affairs commentator and radio host. He is a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong , representing the Geographical constituency of Kowloon West. He worked in Commercial Radio Hong Kong and hosted many popular phone-in programmes.
He taught journalism in the Faculty of Communication and Journalism of Chu Hai College in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. He is a radical liberal Christian and a former chairman of the League of Social Democrats (LSD). He is known for his outspoken manners, his harsh criticism of the Chinese Central Government, and his ferocious speeches in defence of the rights of the lower classes; consequently, he has been given the nicknames Mad Dog (Chinese: 癲狗; pinyin: Diāngǒu) and Ruffian Professor (Chinese: 流氓教授; pinyin: Liúmáng Jiàoshòu).[2] He currently hosts "Wong Yuk-man Channel," a popular radio programme on MyRadio, which is an Hong Kong-based internet radio station founded in 2007. Outside of politics and religion, he owns a restaurant called "Yuk-Man's Beef Noodles".
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On 18 March 1996, Wong established Mad Dog Daily, a tabloid with a clear "Anti-communism" and "Anti-Tung" stance. However, the paper suffered from a low sales volume, which Wong jokingly blamed on its "journalistic integrity" and refusal to participate in sensationalist journalism.[3] After the Asian financial crisis, it transformed into a magazine in October 1997, and then was suspended shortly afterwards. As a result, Wong had to bear debts that amounted to a total of 15 million HKD. He repaid this debt in a matter of years by working in talk shows and other TV programmes.
In 2000, following the rise of IT industry, Wong established "CyberHK" and became the chairman of this listed company. This again turned into a financial disaster - the dot-com bubble of 2001 crippled the company and put Wong into debt again. To settle the debts, Wong concentrated on his radio talk shows, writing articles for newspapers, and running his beef noodle restaurant.
In 2003, Wong surprisingly converted to Christianity during the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong. He was attracted to liberation theology after his contact with the least-privileged in the society during the crisis. He was active in mobilising support for the Hong Kong 1 July marches.
In 2004, he took a sabbatical from his talk show "Close Encounters of a Political Kind", after being beaten up by gangsters allegedly paid by the Chinese Government, citing "political pressure". Following a self-imposed three-month exile in Canada, he returned to Hong Kong where he was sacked from his weeknight political phone-in radio programme, and moved to a late Saturday night slot (with significantly fewer listeners). In less than a year, the programme was cancelled and Wong was effectively and controversially taken off-air. This event was significant for Hong Kong as it meant that there was no longer any outspoken and critical radio talk show host on any Hong Kong radio stations. During his time off-air, he continued to run his beef noodle restaurant in Mongkok.
In 2006, he co-founded the League of Social Democrats, a left-wing, pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong. In 2007, he made a comeback to phone-in radio talk show, hosting a weekly political radio programme "Wong Yuk-man Channel" on MyRadio. The show quickly gained popularity and some videos of his broadcasts - captured by a studio camera and uploaded to YouTube - have become some of the most-watched videos in Hong Kong. "Wong Yuk-man Channel" has subsequently become a twice-weekly radio programme, now extended from one hour to 1½ hours. In 2008, he was appointed a trustee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
In 2008, he ran in the 2008 Hong Kong Legislative election, for a seat in the Kowloon West constituency, on a platform of "Without struggle there is no change"; he introduced a number of innovative actions to Hong Kong politics. On 8 September 2008, he successfully gained a seat in the Legislative Council with the second highest number of votes in his constituency.
On 15 October 2008, during Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang's delivery of the Annual Policy Address, Wong and his colleagues Leung Kwok-hung and Albert Chan interrupted Tsang's speech and heckled.[4] Tsang suggested that the HK$625 a month (US$80) pension (Chinese: 生果金; pinyin: shēngguǒjīn, "fruit money") paid to all senior citizens aged 65 or above be raised to HK$1000 a month (US$130), but with a means test introduced. Wong believed that this turned what was a gesture of respect to elderly people into welfare and is disrespectful to old people. Wong interrupted Tsang's speech and threw a bunch of bananas at him.[2][4][5] The three LSD members were ejected from the chamber for the act.[2]
The incident triggered much debate amongst scholars, commentators, fellow politicians, and the general public. The reception has been mixed[6] ,[7] as even some pro-democratic politicians condemning this radical move. One of the most prominent figures in the pro-democratic camp, Anson Chan, released a formal statement criticising the stunt.[8] On the other hand, the elderly of Hong Kong poured to the streets in a demonstration of mass support for Wong; some even urged him to do it again. Wong himself has claimed that this controversial move had been successful in raising awareness about the discussion of benefits for the elderly. Indeed, within a week the government raised the fruit money to HK$1000 a month and dropped the proposal for means testing.
Wong caused another uproar when he attempted to snatch the budget report midway through reading by the Financial Secretary John Tsang Jun-Wah, saying that the 2009-10 Budget Report did not address any policies to help lower class and lower middle class citizens in the financial turmoil. Some LegCo members, including several members of the conservative pro-democratic Democratic Party, and the pro-Beijing media together denounced Wong's actions as violent. Wong, however, defended that his actions were not, since he did not cause any physical harm to others, nor did he intend to. As usual, demonstrators took to the streets in support for Wong and his actions.
Despite being criticised, Wong commented that the society of Hong Kong was way too conservative, and many people did not understand and appreciate his actions, as opposed to what it was like in the past. In fact, he continued to gain support from a niche of the local population, especially those from the grass-roots, for his relatively radical approach.
In late-2009 and early 2010, a debate ensued amidst the pro-democracy camp on a more radical approach towards gaining universal suffrage. An agreement was reached between the social-liberal Civic Party and Wong's social-democratic League of Social Democrats for five members of their representation in the Legislative Council to resign and participate in a by-election, in order to create a referendum on the implementation of universal suffrage by 2012. In January 2010, Wong, and other four lawmakers, Albert Chan, Tanya Chan, Leung Kwok-hung and Alan Leong resigned and participated in the ensuing by-election.[9] On 16 May 2010, he was re-elected as a lawmaker in the by-election.[10]
In January 2011, Wong and Albert Chan announced that they were resigning from the League of Social Democrats over differences with the current leadership over what stance to take towards the Democratic Party in the discussions over Hong Kong's political development. As two of the party's three legislators, the move left the party and the remaining legislator, Leung Kwok-hung ('Long Hair') in a difficult position. Wong also said that factional fighting within the party has become so hostile that it was beyond [his and Chan's] ability to rectify the situation. The pair promised to reveal their future plans the next day.[11]
With Chan, he went on to launch People Power, under which name he continues to sit in Legco.
During the outbreak of SARS in 2003, he became a Christian. Since then, he started testifying for Christ. He helped the Media Evangelism Limited, a Christian media organisation in Hong Kong, advertise its programmes. However, he also referred the Society for Truth and Light, a conservative activist Christian organisation, as a "terrorist organisation," and said many of the STL's activities were "nonsense" and promoted the "Talibanization" of Hong Kong. [1] Wong considers himself as a radical liberal Christian; he was invited as a guest of the International Day Against Homophobia protest in Hong Kong on 21 May 2006.[12] In 2006, Wong recorded some songs with the Amazing Grace Worship Music Ministry.
| Legislative Council of Hong Kong | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lau Chin-shek |
Member of Legislative Council Representative for Kowloon West constituency 2008 – present Served alongside: Starry Lee, James To, Priscilla Leung, Frederick Fung |
Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| New political party | Chairman of League of Social Democrats 2006 – 2010 |
Succeeded by Andrew To |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Albert Chan Member of the Legislative Council |
Hong Kong order of precedence Member of the Legislative Council |
Succeeded by Saeed Hamad Ali Al Junaibi Consuls general from United Arab Emirates |
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