Cyd Ho
If there can be hope for democracy and a better future in Hong Kong, it is because of people like Cyd HO Sau Lan.
Nickname Auntie Ho or "Ho E E" in Cantonese, Ho entered politics in 1991, when Hong Kong first had direct elections for a partial number of seats at the Legislative Council.
First as a volunteer for Emily Lau's campaign, she later co-founded a social movement championing the voices of the marginal and was eventually elected as a legislative councillor until the recent elections, where she lost by a sleander margin of around eight hundred votes.
For more than a decade, her policy focus has always been on women issues, freedom of the press and free flow of information.
I have heard Cyd Ho's name many times in the past. But only came to pay more attention to her after I heard her concession speech, where she said that it doesn't really matter that she lost the seat because it was the meaning of the process that matters and Hong Kong people have won in this election. She also hope that after the elections, the community will not be polarized.
The most touching part, I think, was when she thanked all those who have elected her to the Legislative Council and said that everyday in the past six years, she was very happy because she could do the work she love. (How many people really love their jobs?)
She was so calm and gracious. Never bitter nor angry except disappointed by a bad electoral system.
She said at an internet radio show that her lost at the recent elections should not be seen as unfortunate. The Legislative Council is only one of the many means for political deliberation. Her departure from it would give her time which she didn't have before to think of how to move the society forward and to do more work for the people at the community-level.
Cyd Ho is the most gracious politican I have seen. Very calm, genuine, well-mannered, balance, eloquent and wise. I have good faith she will help advance society and bring positive changes to Hong Kong. Definitely a person to watch. I hope to hear her more often on internet radio shows (she seems to have the talent for that).
