Still more political ructions on Jimmy Lai's 73rd birthday

There are times when it can seem like the authorities

are targetting the youth of Hong Kong

 

It ought to be realized that those who want democracy and freedom

for Hong Kong are not limited to the young

Today is media mogul Jimmy Lai's 73rd birthday.  Like Agnes Chow did on her 24th birthday, he is spending it behind bars.  Unlike her, he hasn't pleaded or been found guilty of any crime as yet.  But the powers that be declared him a flight risk and denied him bail on a forgery charge.  And in jail the septuagenarian will have to remain until at least April of next year.    

 

For a time today, it looked like a good number of other pro-democracy figures would be joining Lai (and others, including Agnes Chow, Joshua Wong, Ivan Lam and Tam Tak-chi) behind bars here in Hong Kong.  For early this morning, the police went and arrested eight more opposition figures, including "King of Votes" Eddie Chu Hoi-dick (whose fifth arrest this year this was!), "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung and Wu Chi-wai.

Those who woke up this morning wondering what fresh hell awaited Hong Kong didn't have to wait long to find out.  Other developments that made this morning's news included the government deciding that the territory's Wuhan coronavirus situation is serious enough again (100 new cases reported today) -- thanks in no small part to selfish members of Hong Kong's social elite -- to ban night-time dining once again and close still more venues (including gyms and beauty salons which, frankly, I thought should have been closed before a lot of others) for at least two weeks starting on midnight this Thursday.  

And while that is undoubtedly worrying, especially as the government followed up those social movement controls this afternoon by coming up with a legal framework that gives officials the power to seal off areas hit by coronaivurs outbreaks for up to seven days (until tests are done on affected people), even more upsetting in the minds of many was a church known for its political activism announcing that HSBC had frozen its bank account together with those of its pastor and his wife.  

 

On its own, this really puts HSBC in a seriously damning light.  The Good Neighbourhood North District Church is known for its "Protect the Children"/"Safeguard the Generation" volunteers -- a good number of them on the elderly side, including now 86-year-old "Grandpa Wong" and 74-year-old "Grandpa Chan" -- and its charity work includes housing the homeless during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic in a shelter maintained by youths affected by the extradition bill protests.  But this comes after the same bank (together with others) froze, unfroze, then refroze the accounts of Ted Hui, his wife and his parents in recent days.     

 

Like Ted Hui, Pastor Chan and his wife are currently in Britain.  The pastor disclosed today that he and four relatives originally travelled to Britain for a holiday and to explore the possibility of opening a branch of the church there but he now fears it would impossible for them to return to Hong Kong due to safety concerns.  And in view of the police having gone and and raided the church today, and the homeless shelters it operates, and having gone ahead and arrested two women associated with the church for money laundering and fraud (charges so often levelled against their political adversaries by the authorities that it's hard to take them seriously anymore), it would seem that he has very good reason indeed to fear for what would happen to him and those close to him were he to return here.

 

It's a measure of how bad things have become here for political opponents of the government -- which, to judge from the polls (notably those looking at Carrie Lam's approval ratings), is the vast majority of the populace -- that there's some relief that the likes of Pastor Chan and Ted Hui, and their families, will "only" be in exile rather than behind bars.  Also that the eight activists arrested earlier today over their alleged involvement in unauthorised protests on July 1st were released on bail ahead of their first court appearance (on this charge) on December 17th.   

More and more, Hong Kong is feeling like a gilded cage.  And it's no longer just how different Hong Kong was a year ago but how much worse things can feel by the day.  And yet there really are people still fighting out there.  

 

For example, today also saw the pro-democracy camp and pro-reform allies wrest control of the leadership of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA): yes, accountants are revolting, imagine that!  Also, after calls for help went out online to go support a struggling "yellow shop", I passed by it this evening to see a long queue of people waiting to place their orders outside it.  

 

At the very least, we are not alone -- and it seems many people's circles of empathy actually has widened over the past year or two.  To wit: a survey from the Education University of Hong Kong suggests there's greater empathy for asylum-seekers and refugees in Hong Kong now – a development researchers have linked to last year's social unrest.  Even if this comes in large part because many Hong Kongers can now more easily put themselves in the shoes of asylum seekers and refugees, this is not a bad development at all in and of itself since it is a sign that many Hong Kongers are indeed recognizing our being a part of a greater humanity.