San Shek Wan, Lantau South
San Shek Wan (traditional Chinese: 䃟石灣; simplified Chinese: 䃟石湾) is a small village located on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It is home to China's first "gweilo" (white skinned person or westerner) village chief.
On the most prominent hill west of the village itself, is a campsite managed by the Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association.
The village has a resident population of around 50 people, of which over half are expats. Only 11, including children, meet the 'indigenous' criteria that has traditionally determined who is allowed to vote for village representatives (the 'Indigenous Inhabitant Representative'), that is men whose families have been in the village since 1889.
Since 2003, following a landmark ruling by the Court of Final Appeal, a second village chief (the 'Residents Representative') has been elected by all residents, including indigenous ones. Elections for both posts are held every three years, and voters are only eligible if they have resided in the village for a minimum of three years and hold the right of abode in Hong Kong.
The current village chiefs are Mo Ngan-fuk (Indigenous Inhabitant Representative) and Andrew Brown (Resident Representative). Brown was elected for his third consecutive term in 2011; Mo has held his position for many years.
The relationship between the two village chiefs is acrimonious. Mo is notoriously spiteful towards all expats, and keeps the key to his village office, refusing to allow Brown to enter or village proceedings to take place there. Instead he uses it as his laundry room. Brown holds village meetings in his home, and carries out his duties anyway. He has said, "I have something of higher priority to do. My major role is to improve the infrastructure of the village."[1][2][3][4]
In the first vote under the new system, in March 2003, Brown's electoral opponent for Resident Representative was Mo's son, Mo Kam-tong, while in the following two polls it was Mo's brother, Mo Tim-hee. Meanwhile, in the 2003 vote for Indigenous Inhabitant Representative, Mo was unsuccessfully opposed by his own brother, Mo Wai-sum, who called him "very selfish", saying "He has not and will not consult us on anything. And when we object to his ideas he gets sore at us. How can we rely on such a man to represent us?" The incumbent Mo had attempted to muddy the waters by accusing legisator Albert Chan Wai-yip, whose wife owns a property in the village, of encouraging challenger Mo to stand.[2]
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References
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- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lawmaker focus of village row, SCMP, 3 Aug 2003, Marcal Joanilho
- ↑ Expat poll winner's village lockout, SCMP, 14 Feb 2011, Tanna Chong
- ↑ Village Representative Elections 2003 - Press Releases, Home Affairs Dept, HK Government
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