Peter Tsang Yu-hung on SCMP (5)

Pony Ma & Others

27 August 2013

Bob Choi: Peter Tsang, I wrote and posted the following poem back in 2007. I am not sure if you have read it or not. At any rate, it was my way of expressing how I felt about that particular moment in time.

Attachment

Summer of ‘67

On May 6, 1967,

What started out as a labor dispute

At a factory in San Po Kong

Became a political riot of great magnitude

In one of the darkest hours of Hong Kong

Taking cue from the Great Cultural Revolution,

Thousands of “Red Guards want-to-be,

Waving their banners and throwing rocks "

Death to the white-skin colonial pigs

And the yellow-skin running dogs!

The unwary, the na’ve and the misled

Seduced and mesmerized by propaganda,

Prepared to take even innocent lives.

Stooges serving for a political agenda

Under the pretense of nationalistic pride!

People say: let sleeping dogs lie,

I say: to forget, we must first remember;

To ignore, we must first recognize;

To learn, we must first admit error;

Before we close, we must first open wide.

Forty years on, the world is now topsy-turvy:

“ struggles” give way to diplomacy,

Yesterday’s rebels are today’s loyalists,

Economic reality triumphs over ideology,

We now call ourselves capitalistic socialists!

Where were you then my dear comrades:

“Marching on the streets? Or hiding in confusion?

Would you talk to your children"

With pride, in angst or with trepidation

About what you did in the summer of ‘67?

Peter Tsang: Bob Choi, I wish I could write as good as you. But I am pretty sure I can’t. As a matter of fact, I need a English teacher like you to polish my written / spoken English & to have it be further improved !

The poem you have so beautifully written is ; rich in vocabularies, solid in contents & well expressed in sequences.

Thank you Bob, I am happy to be one your NMC schoolmates.

Bob Choi: Peter Tsang, my poem ended with an invitation to my "comrades" to share publicly their experience in '67. While I did not write this with you in mind, it certainly applies to you. If you decide to submit an article to SCMP (instead of one of the the Chinese newspapers) to state your case, I will be more than happy to proofread it for you.

You have got name recognition, Peter. Many people in Hong Kong have come to know you by name and they will be interested in what you have to say. Now is the time for you to put your thoughts into words. Never mind the "committee", take your case directly to the public (the people's court).

-The End-