Fridae

Although the case seems to be closed for the mysterious death of the Hong Kong gay bookshop proprietor and pro-democracy activist Leung Wah, the local gay community is not putting a lid on it - yet.

According to Reggie Ho, a support group counselling and public relations voluntary worker for the Hong Kong lesbigay group Horizons, "a tribute should be paid for his contribution to the local human rights movement and to the gay community. I think the least we could do is to place an obituary to express our gratitude on behalf of the Tongzhi Conference Joint Meeting (TCJM)."

More than half of the Hong Kong gay organisations in the TCJM have chipped in for the obituary placement. There are donations from overseas gay organizations / individuals as well. The obituary is going to be placed in Ming Pao, one of the local newspapers. However, another Tongzhi organization Chi Heng Foundation's founder Chung To is still trying to contact his family - to no avail. "The obituary, therefore, has to be put on hold until we acquire the consent from his family, " explained Ho.

To has been contacting one of Park Bookshop's ex-employees as his only means to contact Leung's family. Despite the effort from both sides, Leung's family members could not be reached as of date.

"It's a matter of respect for his family. We'll have to wait for their consent before we could proceed with the posting of the obituary. There's nothing we can do now. His body is still in China, and no funeral has been arranged in Hong Kong for him so far, " said Reggie Ho.

A badly disfigured and charred body was found in Shenzhen by the Chinese police on Nov 23, 2000, which triggered the call for an immediate investigation into the mysterious death of pro-democracy activist Leung Wah. His death is said to be politically motivated as it is rumoured that the Chinese government had listed him a spy for Taiwan.

Corrections:
Reggie Ho of Horizons has said that the posting was put on hold not because of the failure to reach Leung's family but because the Tongzhi Conference Joint Meeting's (TCJM) wish for the mourning statement to co-incide with the funeral date.

Attempts to contact Leung Wah's family have been made to consult whether they'd mind Leung's name to be associated with the gay community. However, if the funeral date is set before any of Leung's family members can be reached, the mourning statement is still going to be placed as planned. "It'd be a nice gesture to consult his family, but then again, Leung was the owner of a gay bookstore and the association has been made in the news anyway, " explained Ho.