蔡子強﹕政客廢話寶鑑 Political Cliche

因為前天獲蔡子強先生邀請，回去了中大母系(見：http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/kevin-wch/article?mid=1481)，回來後翻看了蔡生的一些文章。找到了這篇，轉載部份在這裡，輕鬆之餘，我也引以為戒。

我參與了選舉，現在是候任區議員，已可被歸入"政客"一類，雖然每次看到兩個字眼，都有頗不舒服的感覺，但我認為嚴格審視、批評從政者、官員乃至所有參與公共利益有關的人士，這符合公眾利益；畢竟，香港的自由和廉潔有賴於公眾輿論的嚴密及嚴厲的監督。　

而我還記得我讀中學時，陳方安生就引用了一句好像是甘迺迪(林肯?)的名言：每天清早，打開報紙就讀到批評自己的文章，這是在高位者的特權。

我們需要維護擁有這樣的批評意見的傳媒和社會，在高位者享有這樣的特權，我看，也算是自由社會的一項特徵吧。

我雖遠非在高位者，但同樣服膺上面的道理：如果你認為我做得不好，請直接批評。

蔡生部分文章內容如下，全文詳見下面網址，也可以參考BBC電台的http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/trad/hi/newsid_4480000/newsid_4482600/4482615.stm：

“Expert”——那些knows more and more about less and less的人。還有，當官員說「我們要先聽聽專家的意見」，又或者「more research needs to be done」，就是當政府感到一籌莫展，唔知點應付的時候，搬出來令人覺得政府做緊的擋箭牌。

“This is a hypothetical question”——即係話我唔想答，因為這是答會對我不利的問題。

“I am glad you asked me that”——傻仔，呢條問題其實我一早預，答案亦早已準備好，而家正好畀個機會我借題發揮。（順帶一提，如果你問唔問題，他就會說：「Yes, but the important thing to understand is....然後照把上述準備好的，照講一次。」）

“I hear what you are saying, but....”——除了「but」以後的說話之外，前面幾隻字全屬廢話。

 

Mr Choy Chi Keong of GPA Dept' of CUHK (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/kevin-wch/article?mid=1481)wrote a article on political cliche. You also see a related article on BBC at  http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/trad/hi/newsid_4480000/newsid_4482600/4482615.stm

Though being a district councillor-elect and a so-called politician now, I still feel uncomfortable to be named as a politician. It's quite a harsh word to me. But I do agree that anyone who take part in politics and those whose work concerns public interest, they should face harsh criticism. The public opinion should be an important role to monitor these people, including me now, and take a harsh approach to us, in order to make the society free, open and clean.

I still remember a saying from Anson Chan; she borrowed it from Kennedy ( Lincoln ?): It's a privilege of a person in high office to read reports and criticism in the morning post.

I'm not in the high office, but I totally agree that such privilege should be maintained, becuase it's one of the special characteristic of a free and open society.

So, if you find anything wrong in my work and conduct, please point them out directly. I welcome criticism, no matter in a gentle or harsh way.