Alan Mak, a former corporate lawyer whose parents emigrated to Britain from southern China, became the first ethnic Chinese to be elected to Britain’s House of Commons yesterday.
Cambridge-educated Mak, 31, comfortably won the constituency of Havant in southern England for the Conservatives, taking more than 51 percent of the votes cast, according to results from Thursday’s general election.
HARD WORK
“I’m honored and delighted to be elected the new member of parliament for Havant,” Mak said in comments published by the Portsmouth News Web site. “We had a really strong campaign with lots of support from residents on the doorstep. I’m looking forward to working hard to support everyone in this constituency.”
Mak’s father emigrated to the UK in the 1960s and his mother moved soon afterwards. Both were from Guangdong Province in southern China, he said in an interview with a magazine covering British-Chinese issues.
The couple ran a small takeaway restaurant in the northern city of York, where the newly elected lawmaker was born.
Mak has played down the political impact of his ethnic roots in recent interviews.
“I certainly have no interest in what people in Hong Kong or China think of me, because I am not representing them,” Mak told Hong Kong’s the South China Morning Post this month. “I am representing the people of Havant.”
The Post said Mak was one of 11 ethnic Chinese candidates vying for seats in parliament and was the only one elected so far.
Just under 1 percent of Britain’s population is ethnic Chinese, according to a 2011 census.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery could be hampered by threatened trade union strikes over reduced benefits for government employees in this year’s budget, the IMF said yesterday. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s maiden budget raised public sector salaries, but also made deep cuts to longstanding perks in a continuing effort to repair the island nation’s tattered finances. Sri Lanka’s main doctors’ union is considering a strike from today to protest against cuts to their allowances, while teachers are also considering stoppages. IMF senior mission chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said the budget was the “last big push” for the country’s austerity
RSS