Amidst it all, trust Carrie Lam to get one's blood boiling and hackles rising

 

 How bright things looked in this photo taken one year ago today...

 

Even when the outlook is largely dark, there's still

some light in Hong Kong...
 

Hong Kong Chief Executive (in name only, really, these days) Carrie Lam gave her Policy Address at the pan-democrat-less Legislative Council this past Wednesday and I knew it'd be best not to watch or listen to her doing so.  But even reading live updates of it (including her praising of the "highly trusted" police force and new national security law and the announcement of her intentions to go ahead with the Lantau Tomorrow mega project and wreak further havoc on the education system) got my blood boiling -- so much so that I actually felt the top of my head heat up and feel like it was going to explode a la Inside Out's angry Anger. 

At a certain point though, anger turned to depression and despair, and then hysteria which found me seeking some release in laughter.  Honestly, way before the end of the more than two hour long speech, I was far from alone in turning to humor to try to stop the pain but also just because everything was just feeling too ridiculous and insane for serious words.

 

Even some of her faithful (or should it be faithless?) acolytes were not responding to the Policy Address the way that their fearless leader found ideal: being driven to slumber, figuring out what others were doing via social media and using their smart phones to communicate with hairy crab sellers. In other words: even they appeared unable to seriously deal with listening to her killing Hong Kong -- or, at least, outlining her plans to do so in her distinctively deadening way!

 

Even as many of us laughed "the laughter of people who value love and friendship and plenty, who have lived with terror and death and hate" (cf Elenore Smith Bowen's Return to Laughter) though, we were crying inside and mourning for Hong Kong.  For the Policy Address promised worse to come for Hong Kong in a year that's already seen what Antony Dapiran's succinctly described as "all of Beijing’s wish list for HK... fulfilled in one hit".  Which is why I needed to take some time out before commenting on it all.  Because, frankly, that's one hella big hit that we're talking about there. 

And the bad news kept on coming through the week.  For example, the day after saw the Education Bureau announce that it'd be liberally revamping the Liberal Studies subject aimed at teaching Hong Kong secondary students to think critically while Friday saw the Hospital Authority announce that it will deduct the pay of the 7,000 or so doctors, nurses and other medical workers who had gone on strike for five days in early February to pressure the government to seal the border to prevent the Wuhan coronavirus from being brought in from Mainland China.

 

Speaking of the Wuhan coronavirus: this week has seen daily new case numbers that are in the 80s and even 90s; with the dancing/singing cluster having recorded 415 cases alone as of today.  At a time when Hong Kong is looking to have a fourth coronavirus wave whose infection numbers may eventually exceed that of the troubling third wave, you'd think that the authorities would be wanting to be supportive of medical personnel and do what it takes to help keep their morale up.  But, as we sadly know, this is a far more punitive government than Hong Kong deserves and needs.

 

Looking for a silver lining in the dark political clouds currently hovering over the Big Lychee: at least Joshua Wong is now out of the solitary confinement that he was put in for 72 hours -- for questionable reasons -- and reportedly in good spirits.  Unexpectedly, even while he was in solitary confinement, he was able to complete a written interview with German publication Die Welt (which has been translated into English here).  So at least he's not been held incommunicado (though it is worth remembering that he actually hasn't been sentenced yet -- with that expected to take place early next week).

 

With a Hong Kong judge having handed a 21 month prison sentence to a protestor for throwing eggs at police officers and the exterior of the police headquarters though, one can't help but worry at the sentence that Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam will be slapped with.  (Yes, the Hong Kong judiciary retains some indepence -- witness yesterday's ruling in favor of "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung in a case that went all the way up to the Court of Final Appeal -- but we all know the direction that the wind is often blowing these days.) 

Amidst it all, we can pretty much always rely on Carrie Lam to get the hackles rising.  As if her marathon performance on Wednesday was not enough, she had to go on TV and talk, in an interview which aired last night, about how she has so much cash lying around in her home because she has no bank account after the American government imposed sanctions on her!  Presumably this means that even the Bank of China is not willing to let her bank with them for fear of the American government's actions and ire.  And lest we forget: we're talking about a woman paid a HK$5.21 million annual salary.  So the knowledge that there's so much cash lying about her place might tempt some criminals thinking it might be more fruitful to rob her residence than, say, a local jewellery store or bank!