Better than Banana Politician Raymond Wong Yuk Man, also known as Mad Dog, and his fellows in the League of Social Democrats once threw banana, swore and shouted at Chief Executive Donald Tsang to express anger towards the small amount of “fruit money” given by the government to senior citizens. He insists that his radical actions can attract the public‟s attention towards his arguments. However, voters and politicians describe him as barbaric and uncivilized. Raymond Wong throwing banana toward Chief Executive. Photo from hongkonggolden.com
Politician Anson Chan even criticized Wong‟s stunt as not constructive to Hong Kong‟s development. According the procedural regulations in the Legislative Council (LegCo), legislators have to be ejected from LegCo after they have vented their anger in such loutish way. Aggressive protests and actions may successfully grasp people‟s attention, but the essence of complaints is to initiate changes and improvements. Well before these furious legislators could voice out their tirades, they had already been escorted out of the room or arrested. Violent legislators are unable to speak for the grassroots and give suggestions to the government. Therefore, legislators should use a more positive way to voice out their complaints and discontent in order to create a more harmonious society. When thinking about ways to express dissatisfaction towards government, Hong Kongers usually go on protest or hunger strike. Protestors knelt every 26 steps to protest against the construction of the $8.6 billion high-speed railway. Protestors kneel every 26 steps in Anti-Express Railway protest Photo from Hong Kong Digital Vision
Heritage conservationists chose to undertake a hunger strike to stop the government from demolishing the Queen's Pier. These ways of expression were being criticized as blindly resisting government plans without offering constructive proposals. Do the public accept legislators‟ agitated behaviors? Are these legislators really representing the public? It seems that these actions can arouse people‟s attention but
not the messages behind. YouTube excerpt replaying the scene of throwing bananas accumulated 33,000 hits in one day but fail to initiate the discussion on „fruit money‟. Adding music elements to complaints It seems that aggressive protest may not be effective in representing public concerns. Protestors cannot persuade the government and society to change. Then how about using music to voice out opinion? Two Finnish artists adopted a totally innovative way in protesting. They initiated a lovely style to express public concerns by adding music elements into their complaints with the engagement of the public. The Complaints Choir made their first successful public show in Birmingham four years ago. More than 20 cities are adopting this concept of expression in their own way. A group of young Hong Kong artists also joined the league last year and performed in the 1 July demonstration.
Complaints Choir singing in the 1 July demonstration 2009. Photo from Complaints Choir of Hong Kong.
Bearing the slogan, “We speak out because we care for you”, in mind, the choir started collecting complaints from the public last summer. They tried to cover a spectrum of public opinion by receiving more than 700 complaints. These complaints ranged from 'my boss is so useless' to 'the education system is rubbish'. With guidance from prominent pop composer Ho Shan and lyricist Chow Yiu Fai, volunteers spliced colloquial lyrics together and composed catchy tunes. The performances are widely supported by the general public. A public online polling conducted at the beginning of 2010, shows that almost 70% of voters think they should continue to sing for Hong Kongers.
Both the members and audience show their positive attitude towards the complaints choir. Putting emphasis on the interesting and attractive lyrics in songs, members also suggested that the complaint choir can give hope to society. The real situation in Hong Kong can be better reflected through the song. The Choir is adopting a more positive and acceptable way to raise publicâ€&#x;s worries and complaints. A protester thinks that the lyrics are meaningful and humorous, also to some extent, sarcastic. Problems like the low salary of fresh graduates and poor education system are reflected in the songs. One student in the demonstration suggested that the complaints choir includes complaints from personal daily matters like dissatisfaction of own appearance to general social issues like universal suffrage. This new method to express complaints can arouse publicâ€&#x;s attention in a more acceptable way when compared with banana-throwing. This could be proved by the public participation in different occasions of demonstrations about different social issues. Although some participants might not know how to sing the song, they agree that the lyrics are describing the social concerns. This shows that the new complaint culture of singing out the complaints is better accepted by the public, when compared with other kinds of complaint cultures. The catchy tunes and colloquial lyrics have also contributed to the increasing public acceptance of expressing complaints through singing. More people from different background can involve in the complaints choir. Expressing complaints by sit-in protests or demonstrations usually involve a particular type or sector of related people. For instance, the demonstration of workers urging for enactment of minimum wage law was organized by several labour union. Different protests or demonstrations were organized by the unions in relevant industry. On the contrary, the complaint choir is open to every citizen in Hong Kong. Musician, housewife, teacher, hawker, student, people from all walks of life can involve in this project. New people join the choir in each performance, including students, professionals, or retired elderly. This demonstrates the diversity of people participating in the choir. More members are joining the choir since its establishment last year. The age range of the members is becoming greater, even 15-year-old teenager participates actively and dare to express himself in public. People express their anger and complaints through radical actions like swearing and shouting. Unlike these cultures, complaint choir uses a relatively mild way to voice public concerns and complaints. The reason of joining the choir is almost the same for
every member in the complaint choir. They want to show their love and care to the society. If legislators insist that they are speaking for their voters, they should stop their violent and uncivilized throwing and learn from the Complaints Choir. Please feel free to tell us what you think in the comment box below. Researching, Editing: Chan Lok Yee, Lo Wai Yin Audrey, Lun Chi Chun Jane References: Complaints Choir of Hong Kong. (2009). Retrieved 3st May 2010, from http://workandworkshop.com/cchk/ Complaints Choir Worldwide. (2009). Retrieved 1st May 2010, from http://www.complaintschoir.org/index.html. Chan, L.Y., Lo, W.Y., Lun, C.C (2010) Feel the City-Sing if you care. (Available from YouTube). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVQM-aoNzVw Gary Pollard (Executive Producer). (2009).Hong Kong Complaints Choir. Hong Kong: RTHK. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js74bfiOd1I Related Links News blog of Audrey Lo Newsblog of Kate Chan Newsblog of Jane Lun