Lam Bun

{{Infobox person

| name = Lam Bun

| native_name =

| image = Lam Bun.jpg

| alt = Lam Bun

| caption =

| birth_name = Lam Siu-po

| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|9|24|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

| death_date = {{death date and age|1967|8|25|1929|9|24|df=yes}}

| death_place = Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Park, Kowloon, British Hong Kong

| occupation = Radio commentator

| module = {{Infobox Chinese | child = yes

| c = 林彬

| p = Lín Bīn

| y = Làhm Bān

| j = {{Tone superscript|Lam4 Ban1}}

| altname = Birth name

| c2 = 林少波

| p2 = Lín Shǎobō

| y2 = Làhm Síu-bō

| j2 = {{Tone superscript|Lam4 Siu2-bo1}} }}

}}

Lam Bun ({{lang-zh|t=林彬}}; 24 September 1929 – 25 August 1967) was a radio commentator at Commercial Radio Hong Kong who was fiercely critical of leftists. He was assassinated during the 1967 Hong Kong riots, becoming an icon of freedom of speech in Hong Kong.

Biography

Lam was born Lam Siu-po ({{lang|zh-Hant-HK|林少波}}) in 1929.

In the 1960s he worked as a radio commentator at Commercial Radio Hong Kong, which was fiercely critical of leftists.[https://books.google.com/books?id=GapTNVOUz1wC&dq=%22Lam+Bun%22&pg=PA20 Writing Diaspora: Tactics of Intervention in Contemporary Cultural Studies], Indiana University Press, 1993, p. 20 During the 1967 riots, Lam criticised the leftist rioters on his own radio programmes. He created a programme called "Can't Stop Striking" ({{lang|zh-Hant-HK|欲罷不能}}) to satirise the leftists, leading some leftist newspapers at the time to label him as a "traitor" and an "imperialist running dog".[https://books.google.com/books?id=U_UnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Lam+Bun%22 Far Eastern Economic Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013092007/https://books.google.com/books?id=U_UnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Lam+Bun%22 |date=13 October 2023 }}, Volumes 57-58, 1967, page 407.

=Death=

On 24 August 1967, while Lam was en route to work, men posing as road maintenance workers stopped his vehicle at the end of the street where he lived.[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZpCfvK3QhcC&dq=Lam+Bun&pg=PA114 Underground Front: The Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013092008/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZpCfvK3QhcC&dq=Lam+Bun&pg=PA114 |date=13 October 2023 }}, Christine Loh, Hong Kong University Press, 2010, page 114 They blocked his car doors and doused Lam and his cousin with petrol.[https://books.google.com/books?id=D37ijXG-FykC&q=Lam%20Bun&pg=PA156 A Concise History of Hong Kong] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013092009/https://books.google.com/books?id=D37ijXG-FykC&q=Lam%20Bun&pg=PA156#v=snippet&q=Lam%20Bun&f=false |date=13 October 2023 }}, John M. Carroll, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, p. 156[http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/template/apple/art_main.php?iss_id=20100513&sec_id=4104&subsec_id=11866&art_id=14024469 "死亡真相林彬送院喊：左仔害死我 Facts: Lam Bun shouts on the way to hospital 'Lefties are responsible'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311071109/http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/template/apple/art_main.php?iss_id=20100513&sec_id=4104&subsec_id=11866&art_id=14024469 |date=11 March 2012 }}, Apple Daily, 13 May 2010. {{in lang|zh}} They were both then set on fire and burned alive.John Cooper, [https://books.google.com/books?id=i-gDAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Lam+Bun%22 Colony in Conflict: The Hong Kong Disturbances, May 1967-January 1968] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013092010/https://books.google.com/books?id=i-gDAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Lam+Bun%22 |date=13 October 2023 }}, Swindon Book Company, 1970, page 183 Lam died later that day in a hospital;Karen Shimakawa, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Kt2E0i7WleUC&dq=%22Lam+Bun%22+1967&pg=PA205 Orientations: Mapping Studies in the Asian Diaspora] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230914232305/https://books.google.com/books?id=Kt2E0i7WleUC&dq=%22Lam+Bun%22+1967&pg=PA205 |date=14 September 2023 }}, 2001, Duke University Press, p. 205 his cousin died several days later. A leftist group reportedly claimed responsibility for the assassination.Albert Wong, [http://www.scmp.com/article/714220/radio-commentators-murder-dragged-sponsorship-row Radio commentator's murder dragged up in sponsorship row] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630080833/http://www.scmp.com/article/714220/radio-commentators-murder-dragged-sponsorship-row |date=30 June 2016 }}, South China Morning Post, 13 May 2010.

No one was ever arrested, although it was believed that Yeung Kwong, then chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) and director of the Anti-British Struggle Committee, ordered the murder. However, pro-Beijing politicians said in 2010 that leftists should not be blamed for Lam's death.Fanny Fung, [http://www.scmp.com/article/714310/media-misusing-riot-comments-lawmaker Media misusing riot comments: lawmaker] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630081113/http://www.scmp.com/article/714310/media-misusing-riot-comments-lawmaker |date=30 June 2016 }}, South China Morning Post, 14 May 2010. The founder of Commercial Radio Hong Kong George Ho launched the programme 18/F, Block C in his memory.[https://hk.lifestyle.appledaily.com/lifestyle/culture/daily/article/20130406/18217925 "歲月留聲1：18樓C座　悲喜45年"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107015039/https://hk.lifestyle.appledaily.com/lifestyle/culture/daily/article/20130406/18217925 |date=7 November 2017 }}, Apple Daily, visited on 30 October 2017 {{in lang|zh}}

Immediately after Lam Bun's death, most of the Chinese and English newspapers in Hong Kong condemned the killing as despicable and inhuman. On the other hand, the pro-communist leftist newspaper, Ta Kung Pao, published several articles, condemning Lam Bun but not the murderers. For example, one of the articles titled "{{lang|zh-Hant-HK|地下突擊隊鋤奸, 敗類林彬受重傷}}", which may be translated into English as "An underground special tactic unit had crushed the villain. The antagonist, Lam Bun, was seriously wounded". Another article in the same newspaper published on the same day described the brutal murder as a punishment that Lam Bun had deserved ({{lang|zh-Hant-HK|突擊隊懲戒林彬}}).{{cite news|newspaper=Ta Kung Pao (大公報)|date=25 August 1967|title=Lam Bun death}}

The Lam Bun assassination angered the people of Hong Kong, eventually leading the government of Hong Kong to suppress the riots. Lam became an icon of free speech.Kobi Chan, [http://www.scmp.com/article/714483/activists-held-after-attack-dab-sponsored-show Activists held after attack on DAB-sponsored show] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630081213/http://www.scmp.com/article/714483/activists-held-after-attack-dab-sponsored-show |date=30 June 2016 }}, South China Morning Post, 16 May 2010 The police offered a reward of HK$50,000, on top of which his employers added HK$100,000, making it the highest reward ever posted in the colony.

2001 GBM controversy

In 2001, Yeung Kwong was awarded the highest honour Grand Bauhinia Medal by Tung Chee-hwa.Ming K. Chan, Alvin Y. So, Lynn T. White III & M.E. Sharpe [https://books.google.com/books?id=gqI1ynEZ1BAC&q=Yeung+Kwong Crisis and Transformation in China's Hong Kong] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013092012/https://books.google.com/books?id=gqI1ynEZ1BAC&q=Yeung+Kwong#v=snippet&q=Yeung%20Kwong&f=false |date=13 October 2023 }}, 2002, pages 15-16. Critics in Hong Kong felt that it was inappropriate to award a riot leader who encouraged the violence which led to Lam's murder.So, Peter. 2015. [http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1799475/veteran-unionist-yeung-kwong-ringleader-1967-hong-kong-riots-dies-89 "Veteran unionist Yeung Kwong, ringleader in 1967 Hong Kong riots, dies at 89"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171120111448/http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1799475/veteran-unionist-yeung-kwong-ringleader-1967-hong-kong-riots-dies-89 |date=20 November 2017 }}, South China Morning Post, 16 May 2015,

2010 Commercial Radio controversy

In May 2010, after the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) had sponsored a political radio programme on Commercial Radio, pro-democracy activists protested outside the station with images of Lam, complaining that the station had desecrated the memory of Lam, and all the station had stood for. Activists said they had requested an interview to talk about Lam's death. The station later said it respected freedom of speech; the DAB said the shows were about livelihood issues, and denied they promoted a political stance.

Two DAB lawmakers stepped into the row: Chan Kam-lam said: "During the '67 riots, it was not just Lam Bun who died. There were very many ordinary citizens who, we don't know for what reason, died ..." Wong Ting-kwong also said leftists should not be held responsible. Pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan said the DAB were revisionists who "would rather people not talk about their inglorious past." Wong later clarified his comments, saying he had been misunderstood because the phrase 'leftist camp' had different definitions. He said that there was no evidence that Yeung Kwong or the FTU killed Lam Bun. He blamed the media for sensationalising his comments ahead of the 16 May by-election.