Changing of the guard
in Hong Kong

Interesting economic note
about Hong Kong turnover

Thank you for the extensive coverage the Star-Bulletin gave to the historic moment when Hong Kong transitioned from a colony of Great Britain to the government of mainland China. This history-making event deserved the wide-ranging attention that your newspaper and all other media paid it.

I couldn't help but notice, however, that there was one very noteworthy aspect of the Hong Kong transition that was seemingly missed by reporters and journalists worldwide.

This closely watched event marked the first time in history that a colony, on the day that it was relinquished by its colonizers, could claim to have a higher per capita income than the very country that colonized it.

In 1995, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the per capita gross domestic product in Hong Kong was $23,300. This figure is higher than the per capita GDP in Great Britain, as well as many other European nations.

If this growing per capita income of Hong Kong is not enough for us to change our mind about our old images of Asia, we need to remember our GDP per capita in Hawaii in 1994 was only $27,000 and still not growing!

State Rep. Gene Ward
Minority Leader
House of Representatives

Maybe fate of Hawaii
will follow similar path

I am heartened by the turnover of the British colony of Hong Kong to the Republic of China, and hope that the same will occur with Hawaii. Someday, the United States will similarly return the Sovereign Nation of Hawaii to its rightful people, the indigenous people of Hawaii.

The lowering of the Stars and Stripes and the raising of the "Nation of Hawaii" flag would show the world, just as with Hong Kong, that Hawaii is a sovereign nation without the bonds of citizenship to the U.S. mainland.

The first order of business after independence would be to install Bumpy Kanahele as the rightful king of Hawaii, former Gov. John Waihee as treasurer, and Hayden Aluli as attorney general, charged with removing those people without Hawaiian blood flowing through their veins.

God bless the Nation of Hawaii.

Garry "Kimo" Smith

China has historic right
to own and run Hong Kong

The Star-Bulletin's June 27 front page headlines, "China readies 4,000 troops" and "Freedom takes a back seat" are inflammatory and betray Hong Kong's past and future.

In any Western lease arrangement, when a lease is up, the owner is entitled to re-entry; in this case it's China, which was conned and forced into accepting the lease to begin with.

Hundreds of Chinese perished in the Opium Wars in the mid-1800s while being forced to accept dope for hundreds of millions in gold and a lease of Hong Kong, literally at gunpoint by British, European and U.S. troops.

Now, when China rightfully and proudly re-enters 150 years later with 4,000 troops to replace part of the 10,000 British troops, it's a big deal.

The manner in which the British are departing with reluctance and negotiated arrangements to retain wealth and power mocks the history of the original Chinese, who died protecting their country from foreign drugs and occupation.

Freedom takes a back seat? Colonial "freedom" has meant misery for more than 90 percent of Hong Kong's residents, most of whom live in "cage" apartments and in unsanitary tenements.

Sherwood S.H. Chock
(Via the Internet)

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Hong Kong
Series Archive

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We don't have 'justice'
— only a legal system

Regarding Charles Memminger's funny and thought-provoking June 30 column, wasn't there something in the news about the judge in the Janto case saying that he could not help but release Janto since he had completed his prison term for the rape of the child?

If so, maybe (the fault) isn't the judge so much as it is the criminal justice system, which isn't a justice system so much as it is a legal system.

Now that we have a Megan's law, maybe people like Bongak Koja will pay attention when the news is released that a sexual predator is living in her neighborhood.

But that won't help others who may live in a different area of the island and fall victim to the predator who decides to go hunting afar.

Anna Mistele
(Via the Internet)

Iberian peninsula doesn't
produce world's criminals

It is hard to believe the Star-Bulletin would publish a letter so redolent of ignorance and bigotry as that expressed by James McKeague, who asserts, apparently based on nothing more solid than his own racist imaginings, that "70 to 80 percent of criminals bear surnames that come from the Iberian peninsula."

McKeague is evidently not aware that Spain and Portugal, the two nations composing the Iberian peninsula, have among the lowest crime rates in Europe, which means, of course, that they are well below the United States in crime.

One reason for this is undoubtedly that both the Spanish and Portuguese cultures place a strong emphasis on family, pride and honorable behavior.

In the U.S., persons with "Iberian" surnames, like other minority groups, may be somewhat over represented in the prison population, but I am certain their number comes nowhere near the figures so cavalierly put forth by McKeague.

Patricia J. Harpstrite

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Same-sex archive

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