Open-source intelligence (OSINT)
🔻 IMPORTANT 【重要】 Hong Kong Glasnost 政治捐款來源透明化和嚴格利益申報制度可確保國家安全
▪️ 2024年2月11日，本身擁有物業/投資公司的，新界超級炒家之一，新界鄉議局主席劉業強（Lau, Kenneth Ip Keung）照樣未經市民授權而代表全民在車公廟抽籤，並勉強歪曲籤文「家宅平吉，占病作福，婚姻不合，自身平安，求財未遂。」為自身的利益主張，即所謂全面撤辣，進一步減除股票印花稅。甚至，把「斧斤持以入山林」曲解為政府（指中港政府）不要捨棄金融和房地產，而改採創科產業。換言之，地產霸權及其炒家階層都反對香港進行產業轉型，即香港從地產股市泡沫經濟模式轉為科技產業主導型經濟。這足以代表目前騎劫體制的本港統治階級中，炒家階層的政見，憂心和心聲，也就是反動勢力，既得利益集團的集中意志的體現。甚至，這個香港統治階級（資本）的主張指涉的正是它們在香港過去和將會發生的政治事件背後的動機和貪婪金主們的慾望。這點自從反修例風波以來一點都沒有減退，反而更囂張。簡言之，目前香港統治階級的政治立場是，死撐炒樓炒股的地產投機主導的泡沫經濟模式（境內外游資的投機猖獗損害實體經濟，是因為實際用以本地勞動生產/服務的固定/流動資本減少和最終打擊本地消費能力等，實體經濟的各環節為投機份子的私利而遭受剝削和壓縮，譬如，香港深層次矛盾，物非所值的四高為典型，即境內外游資大量流入和吸乾一般港人財富的超高地價，超高樓價，超高租金，超高物價），而堅決反對香港進行產業轉型。同時他們為保持其統治地位，而在表面上不惜做出所謂愛國者公關。但他們已經用盡了反對派的棋子，所以他們也不想親自直接明反和自己毀壞其愛國者的敘事。那麼，究竟誰是真正的，直接的破壞力量？那並不是美國，而是香港本身的炒家階層。
On February 11, 2024, Lau, Kenneth Ip Keung, Chairperson of Heung Yee Kuk, one of the super speculators in the New Territories who owns property/investment companies, drew lots on behalf of the whole community at the Che Kung Temple without authorization from the public. He also reluctantly distorted the label to read: "Good luck in the family, good luck in illness, bad luck in marriage, good luck in self-protection, and bad luck in seeking wealth". In order to further reduce the stamp duty on stocks, the super speculator has been advocating for its own interests, that is, the so-called total abolition of the anti-speculation tax and the reduction of the stamp duty on stocks. He even misinterpreted the phrase "to take the ax to the forest" to mean that the government (meaning the Chinese and Hong Kong governments) should not give up the financial and real estate sectors and should not adopt the innovation and technology sector instead. In other words, the real estate hegemony and its speculative class are against Hong Kong's industrial transformation, i.e., Hong Kong's shift from a real estate and stock market bubble economy to a technology-led economy. This is representative of the political views, concerns and voices of the speculator class in the ruling class of Hong Kong, which is currently riding on the hijacking system, which is the manifestation of the concentrated will of the reactionary forces and vested interest groups. Even the claims of this ruling class (capital) in Hong Kong refer to their motives and the desires of their greedy moneymakers behind the political events that have happened and will happen in Hong Kong. This has not abated at all since the anti-amendment storm, but has become even more arrogant. In short, the current political stance of the ruling class in Hong Kong is to support the real estate speculation-led bubble economy model of property and stock speculation (rampant speculation by domestic and foreign investors is damaging the real economy because of the reduction of fixed/liquid capital that is actually used for the production of local labor/services, and ultimately impacts on the purchasing power of the local consumer, etc.), and the various segments of the real economy are being exploited and suppressed for the private interests of the speculators, e.g. the deep-seated conflicts, the four major problems of the economy, and the lack of qualitative value for money in the economy. For example, Hong Kong's deep-rooted conflicts are typified by the four "highs" (i.e. the massive inflow of domestic and foreign capital into backing super-high land prices, super-high property prices, super-high rents and super-high commodity prices that have drained the wealth of Hong Kong people systematically), and they are adamantly opposed to Hong Kong's industrial restructuring. At the same time, in order to maintain their ruling position, they have gone out of their way to make the so-called patriots public relations. But they have already used up all the opposition's pawns, so they don't want to directly oppose and destroy the patriot narrative themselves. So who is the real, direct destructive force? It is not the US, but the speculators in Hong Kong itself.
▪️ 東方日報在2024年2月13日報導了令人震驚的事實（區議員利益申報：有區議員擁95間公司 逾450土地物業）。該報導的三料議員正是上述的新界鄉議局主席劉業強（Lau, Kenneth Ip Keung：政府公布179名委任區議員名單 劉業強將成唯一「三料議員」）。就整體而言，重點是，超乎尋常的超級炒家們大舉以多重兼職方式已進入區議會，立法會，行政會議，法定機構，所謂政黨等事實。極少數的朋黨成員同時兼職（騎劫，壟斷）多重公職，多重政治職位是香港極為誇張的生態。他們朋黨網絡（基本上是資本）透過其多重公職不但容易取得和分享政府內部消息和動向，其接受政治捐款，利益輸送的管道也是多層次的。區議員的多數也都是身兼立法會工作和其他多重公職的資本/超級炒家，因此，光是管制區議會議員的利益申報也根本無阻。這就是國安問題的來源，在港，政客們其利益衝突，利益輸送，知情交易，內部消息洩露，腐敗貪腐的管道是四通八達的。
政治捐款來源透明化
23條立法應該超越區議員履職監察制度指引（指引非法律/條例）的程度，而為區議會，立法會，行政會議，法定機構，所謂政黨等單位制定透明化所有政治捐款來源的機制（Glasnost）。透明化哪一個議員究竟實際代表哪一種境內外勢力/公司，這就有助於選民和市民進行的公眾監察，也有助於國安單位檢舉收受敵對勢力捐款的議員和政黨。不過，該東方日報報導的最大衝擊是，連日要求全面撤辣的那些政客自己就是其最大獲利者，那些代議員僅代表自己利益而已。騎劫多重公職的政客們，所謂自稱精英的朋黨成員們代表的正是他們自己的利益！這就是香港的真正國安問題所在。公權力被商界資本朋黨私用才是香港的政治經濟危機所在。與此對比，美國根本不是什麼敵人。
Oriental Daily News on February 13, 2024, reported a shocking fact (Declaration of Interests of District Councilors: A District Councilor owns 95 companies and more than 450 landed properties). The three-member councilor in that report is none other than the above-mentioned Chairperson of the Heung Yee Kuk of the New Territories, Lau, Kenneth Ip Keung (The Government Announces the List of 179 Appointed District Councilors, Lau Yip Keung to be the Only "Three-Member Councilor"). On the whole, the key point is the fact that an extraordinary number of super-speculators have entered the District Councils, the Legislative Council, the Executive Council, the statutory bodies, the so-called political parties, etc. in a big way and in each person with overly multiple job titles. The fact that a very small number of cronies are holding (hijacking, monopolizing) multiple public offices and multiple political positions at the same time is an extremely exaggerated ecology in Hong Kong. Through their multiple public offices, their crony networks (basically capital) not only have easy access to the government's internal news and movements, but also have multi-level channels for receiving political donations and transferring benefits. The majority of DC members are capitalists/super speculators who hold multiple public offices and work in the Legislative Council. Therefore, there is no obstacle to manipulating the declaration of interests by DC members alone. This is the source of the national security problem. In Hong Kong, politicians are well-connected to the channels of conflict of interest, transfer of benefits, informed dealings, leakage of inside information and corruption.
The legislation of Article 23 should go beyond the guidelines of the system of monitoring the performance of District Council members (the guidelines are not a law/ordinance), and set up a mechanism for District Councils, Legislative Council, Executive Council, Statutory Bodies, the so-called political parties, etc., to make the sources of all political donations transparent (Glasnost). Transparency as to which legislators actually represent which forces/companies, both domestic and foreign, would facilitate public scrutiny by voters and the public, as well as help the national security apparatus to identify legislators and political parties that receive donations from hostile forces. However, the biggest impact of the Oriental Daily's report is that the politicians who have been calling for the total withdrawal of the anti-speculation tax are themselves the biggest beneficiaries, and the substitute legislators only represent their own interests. Those politicians who have hijacked multiple public offices and the so-called self-proclaimed elite cronies are just representing their own interests! This is the real national security problem in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's political and economic crisis lies in the misappropriation of public power by the capitalist cronies of the business community. In contrast, the US is no enemy at all.
▪️除此之外，香港政府本身的官僚中，也有不少是炒家。有些官僚本身也經營地產投機，難怪反投機稅也正在被逐漸瓦解。因此，港府官僚本身的利益申報結果也令市民失望了。就整體而言，在香港的從政者應該專心從事單一公職，而應該禁止多重兼職。極少數朋黨資本成員壟斷和私用多重公職是本港政治經濟危機，極低效率的主因。最離地的是，代議員和官僚自己本身變為超級炒家之後，本港政治經濟政策自動化地為自己利益謀福祉而已。難免淪為利益衝突和利益輸送。這就同時變為向炒家階層整體的利益輸送，也就是本港政策向地產金融界嚴重傾斜的元兇。反修例風波充分曝光了這才是個根本的國安問題（內因）所在。不應該輕易地轉移焦點到境外勢力身上。
In addition, many of the bureaucrats in the Hong Kong government are also speculators. Some of the bureaucrats themselves engage in real estate speculation, so it is no wonder that the anti-speculation tax is being gradually dismantled. Therefore, the declaration of interests by the bureaucrats in the Hong Kong Government has also disappointed the public. On the whole, politicians in Hong Kong should focus on a single public office, and each person occupying multiple public jobs should be banned. The monopolization and use of multiple public offices by a handful of crony capitalists is the main cause of the political and economic crisis in Hong Kong, and of the very low level of efficiency. The most outrageous thing is that, after the representative legislators and bureaucrats themselves have become super-speculators, our political and economic policies have been automated to serve their own interests. Inevitably, they degenerate into conflicts of interest and transfers of benefits. This has also become a transfer of benefits to the speculators as a whole, which is the culprit behind the serious tilt of Hong Kong's policies towards the real estate and financial sectors. The controversy over the anti-amendment legislation of 2019 has fully exposed that this is where the fundamental national security problem (internal cause) lies. The focus should not be easily shifted to forces outside Hong Kong.
▪️ 更新/Update:
據東方日報在2024年2月14日報導，連推動減辣的房屋局局長何永賢（Winnie Ho Wing-yin）自己也是個持有中西區商用物業出租，並在中環和西區擁有出租（投機）用的住宅單位的炒家（投機份子）。換言之，何永賢自己政策代表的正是自己的利益。這就是香港政治的問題所在。當決策者們都淪為炒家之後，他們制定出來的政策都自動化地服務自己的利益而已。減辣，撤辣正是其最佳例子。
According to the Oriental Daily News on February 14, 2024, even the Secretary for Housing, Winnie Ho Wing-yin, who promoted the reduction of the anti-speculation tax, is herself a speculator who owns commercial and housing properties in the Central and Western District for rent. In other words, Winnie Ho Wing-yin's own policies represent her own interests. This is the core problem with Hong Kong politics. When policymakers become speculators, the policies they formulate automatically serve their own interests. The reduction and withdrawal of the anti-speculation tax is the best example of this.
🔻 NEWS / FACTs 【事實關係】
▪️正月初二（2024年2月11日）車公誕，新界鄉議局主席劉業強按照傳統習俗，今晨在沙田車公廟為香港求籤祈福，他求得第15號中籤，籤文為：「斧斤持以入山林，未得之時那處尋；損了良材失卻力，勸君留住待春臨。」解曰：「家宅平吉，占病作福，婚姻不合，自身平安，求財未遂。」有解籤師傅指，籤文最後雖說「待春臨」，但對此句有保留，認為香港仍有問題，政府要先處理好民生，料經濟要到今年九月後才會好。財案本月底出爐，他也建議財政司司長陳茂波派多些錢予香港市民，最好每人派5000元，以助政府穩定民心。
▪️為免與區議會討論的議題出現利益衝突的情況，區議員亦須申報持有公司、受薪工作及物業。部分區議員是「無殼蝸牛」，亦有部分區議員持有不少公司股份卻沒有物業，亦有個別區議員是「地王」，有區議員擁近百間公司股份和逾450幅土地及物業，另有區議員更擁有35個工業物業。
▪️身兼行政會議成員的「三料議員」、屬於屯門區議會的當然議員，其受薪工作填報了95間公司，當中不乏是用作投資，同時亦申報在港擁有逾450幅土地及其他物業，屯門區擁353幅土地、6幢住宅物業、一幢7個單位住宅物業、一層商舖、一層商業物業及3個商舖物業；元朗區有55幅土地、兩個住宅物業；北區有43幅土地；大埔有一幅及大嶼山有4幅土地；而在湖北及惠州各有一幅工廠廠地。另一名區議員陳貴和亦填報在掃管笏擁有7塊土地，亦有一個出租物業，月租4,000元。
不少元朗區議員亦持有土地及物業，作為老字號餅家CEO的委任區議員王偉樑申報有35個工業物業，而當然議員文祿星在新田擁有45幅土地及物業；委任議員文嘉豪亦填報在元朗有多幅土地及多個住宅物業，但沒透露數量，直選區議員梁明堅亦申報在大棠擁有數幅土地及元朗有一個住宅物業。離島區當然議員吳文傑填報在長洲擁有兩個住宅物業、梅窩有一個地舖，貝澳有9幅土地，另與兄長在梅窩擁有16幅土地。
▪️上屆區議會被外界狠批為「黑暴基地」，為完善地區管治，政府定立《區議員履職監察制度指引》規管新一屆區議員的操守，並訂立懲處的制度。指引中列明區議員其中一項標準是上任一個月內申報利益，卻有部分區議員疑未有遵照要求。先是本月初有6個區議會網頁未上載申報利益表格，即使其後已放上網，但北區區議會仍未見3名區議員的申報表，而6名西貢區議員更是逾期遞交。有學者直指區議員提交利益申報屬基本要求，批評政府對遲交的區議員不發警告，更枉論監察。
▪️ 政府更新行政長官、各政治委任官員及行政會議成員的個人利益申報資料。資料顯示，行政長官李家超及3名司長申報並無變化。多名局長則減持物業，其中保安局局長鄧炳強，不再以個人名義擁有南區一個住宅物業；而民政及青年事務局局長麥美娟，今年1月已申報不再擁有用作出租的九龍城住宅單位，連同文體旅局局長楊潤雄，今屆政府共有3名「無殼」局長。而醫務衞生局局長盧寵茂亦減持物業，他去年申報與妻子在英國擁有一個空置住宅，惟今年申報僅剩下油尖旺區及南區兩個單位，分別作出租和自用。
問責局長中，財經事務及庫務局局長許正宇蟬聯樓王，他申報的本地和境外物業最多，共有7個，分別在灣仔區、中西區、澳洲、杭州和新加坡，其中一個由他全資擁有。
行政會議成員方面，召集人葉劉淑儀今年申報，以公司名義間接持有中西區自住的住宅單位連車位。行會成員陳克勤亦新申報在深圳擁有出租物業。另外，有7名行政會議非官守議員申報有哥爾夫球會會籍，包括葉劉淑儀、林健鋒、湯家驊、任志剛、劉業強、鄭慕智和陳清霞。
▪️ 實際上，有3名身兼官守成員的局長去年亦申報了減持香港物業，其中民政及青年事務局局長麥美娟沒申報擁有用作出租的九龍城住宅單位，而何永賢與丈夫共同持有的中西區商用物業，則由自用改為出租用途。
除減持物業外，有3名行會非官守成員的受薪職務亦有變動，包括陳清霞、高永文及陳克勤。陳清霞在去年9月27日在個人利益登記冊新增邁進(香港)有限公司高級顧問一職，同年12月20日刪去朗生醫藥控股有限公司獨立非執行董事；高永文則在去年8月10日增加維達力科技股份有限公司獨立非執董一職，而陳克勤在今年1月12日申報出任香港培僑書院深圳龍華信義學校教育服務有限公司顧問。
在申報加入團體或組織方面，陳克勤新增申報的團體多達11個，總共有66個，新增的團體當中包括大灣區醫護教師社工協會、國際新能源產業聯盟及香港高才通人才服務協會等，而多名行會成員亦加入了中國和平統一促進會香港總會，政務司司長則刪除了國際商務委員會主席、內地合作督導委員會主席、氣候變化督導委員會主席及第四屆廣東省粵港澳合作促進會榮譽顧問等4項。
▪️ 議員梁美芬向來在買樓投資方面甚有研究，早在2021年新冠肺炎疫情爆發一年左右，梁在「疫」市下於大灣區買樓投資，其後在2023年的申報中，再在內地購買一個住宅物業，她透露物業在杭州。至最近的申報，即上月31日，發現她在新界西再多一個住宅物業，換言之，是在去年政府宣布樓市減辣措施後購入。對於樓價跌買樓，她卻表示樂觀，又指該物業好大可能是自住，而長遠來看，即5至10年，對樓市仍然保持樂觀，「已經跌咗咁多」，而無人有水晶球，不知將來樓市是升是跌，覺得啱心水便購入。根據個人利益登記冊，議員管浩鳴在去年8月申報在香港擁有物業，但他指該物業屬於承繼，是父親留給他的遺產，位於銅鑼灣區。被問到是否擔心樓價跌勢不止，他表示不太擔心，建議市民買樓前多考慮地段等其他因素，又稱不少旺區的舊樓都已跌至低位，重建價值高，呎數不錯，都是可以考慮的。
東方日報：2年間物業變動 近10議員「疫」市買樓
🔻 COMMENT 【評語】
一言以蔽之，在香港，身兼多重公職（區議會，立法會，行政會議，法定機構等）的資本本身都是超乎尋常的超級炒家。這就是說，他們代議員代表的就是自己利益。他們連日主張全面撤辣，進一步減除股票印花稅就是服務他們直接的自己利益而已。在此，民主，民生被棄之不顧。除了更嚴格的利益申報制度以外，我建議23條立法至少應該建立徹底向公眾透明化公職人員政治捐款來源的機制（Glasnost），否則無法有效監察和執法。
READ MORE:
In a nutshell, in Hong Kong, capitalists who hold multiple public offices (District Councils, Legislative Council, Executive Council, statutory bodies, etc.) are themselves extraordinary super-speculators. That is to say, they represent their own interests on behalf of the people. They have been advocating for days that the total withdrawal of the anti-speculation tax and the further reduction of the stamp duty on stocks is to serve their direct self-interests. Here, democracy and people's livelihoods have been abandoned. In addition to a more stringent system of declaration of interests, I suggest that the legislation on Article 23 should at least establish a mechanism for thorough public transparency of the sources of political donations of public officials / politicians (Glasnost), otherwise effective monitoring and enforcement will not be possible.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.