The "Fruit Money" Incident

2008.10.15, Mr. Wong 黃毓民, 掟蕉 Look how well-prepared was Wong, he had his bananas ready on his bench! Darting a "banana" (a Cantonese pun) at the Chief Executive is certainly an ingenious gimmick to arouse public awareness of the old age allowance (known colloquially as "fruit money") issue. The party calls for raising the fruit money to HKD$1000 and abolishing the relevant means test. The present allowance for a single senior, whose monthly income does not exceed HK$5910, is HK$625. These figures alone reveal nothing much, without knowing also the distribution of exact monthly incomes and the living cost. Hey, remember we have almost 3 billions of people in the world living on US$2 a day, HKD$480 a month. Last Friday evening, while pushing my way through the hectic crowd on a bridge in downtown Central, I passed by 4 senior beggars in 10 meters. In a modern prosperous metro scene, the traditional sound of er-hu composed a dirge in the background. If I was in a political party, definitely I would fight first for these abandoned souls, rather than requesting a uniform increment of fruit money.