Still more arrests of unlikely folks and the kind of developments that sadly are no longer unexpected in the Absurdistan that Hong Kong has become

When it rains in Hong Kong, it can really pour...

 

...and even when it's not actually raining, 

it still can look pretty gray and dark, and even bleak :S

 

It's a new week and Apple Daily's been shut down, but the arrests and assault on press freedom continues here in Hong Kong.  In the wee hours of the morning came the news of the arrest at Hong Kong International Airport of senior editorial writer for Apple Daily and executive editor of the English edition Fung Wai-kong (馮偉光, who used the pen-name Lo Fung 盧峯).  Accused of “conspiring to collude with foreign countries or foreign forces to endanger national security” -- presumably by way of writing editorials asking for such as sanctions to be imposed on Hong Kong officials -- the seventh senior figure associated with the now defunct pro-democracy newspaper to be arrested in recent weeks was believed to be attempting to board a flight to London.   

 

The past 36 hours or so also has seen pro-democracy digital news outlet Stand News announce that it will remove opinion articles and columns it published before May of this year and stop accepting donations in order to reduce risks under the national security law.  In addition, six of the online media outlet's company directors including, lawyer-activist Margaret Ng and entertainer-activist Denise Ho, have stepped down on company advice, leaving editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen -- who happens to be the husband of Apple Daily's now former associate publisher, Chan Pui-man-- and co-founder Choi Tung-ho at the helm.  (Stand News is no stranger to being attacked by the authorities and is widely seen as the next media outlet targeted for closure by the authorities after Apple Daily's demise.)  

 

New Chief Secretary and acting Chief Executive John Lee, currently filling the place of Carrie Lam while she leads a Hong Kong delegation to Beijing for the Chinese Communist Party's 100th birthday on Thursday (yes, the CCP gave itself a big birthday present back on July 1st, 1997), must be thinking things can't go much better at the start of his temporary watch.  And it surely is entirely coincidental -- and for health reasons -- that the Hong Kong government announced today that it will ban flights arriving from the United Kingdom from this July 1st, right?  (Or maybe not...)

 

At the time of writing: flights leaving Hong Kong for London and other cities in the United Kingdom have not been banned.  But who can say that such an announcement will not be forthcoming in the near future?  Which, of course, is a major reason to worry -- especially for those who are planning to leave Hong Kong for the United Kingdom, and permanently, in the next few days, weeks and months.  (Also lurking in the back of a number of people's minds: the already passed Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2020 that will empower the government to bar a passenger or a member of a crew from boarding a transportation carrier to enter or leave the territory from August 1st of this year). 

 

Another development that has really put a damper on today -- and no, I do not mean Hong Kong's first black rainstorm of 2021: the Hong Kong police issuing a letter of objection to -- and thereby effectively banning -- a planned pro-democracy rally for this July 1st, like they did last year.  And while this decision on their part did not come as a surprise at all, I still give credit to the League of Social Democrats, the Tin Shui Wai Connection and the Save Lantau Alliance for trying to revive what had hitherto been a positive tradition of sorts for those who value free speech and democracy here in Hong Kong and an annual event that made many who took part in it to love Hong Kong all the more over the course of doing so.    

 

Also, here's one more piece of news to get one thinking that Hong Kong has become Absurdistan: a 37-year-old man was arrested for allegedly committing seditious acts by way of having stickers bearing the phrase attributed to Edward Leung on the gate (door?)  of his flat. For those who are uncertain what that now banned phrase is, check out this link where Carrie Lam can be heard uttering it!  

 

On a more serious note: There's a piece in the New York Times (which can be accessed for free at other websites such as the Deccan Herald's) which outlines how "Hong Kong's march towards an authoritarian future" actually began back in June 2014 -- yes, before the commencement of the Umbrella Movement of 2014, never mind the anti-extradition bill protests of 2019.   And it's not like a good number of people had not seen the warning signs.  Rather, the major mistake they made was assuming, as the social worker extraordinaire Jackie Chen was quoted in the piece as stating, that "it would be a slow strangling" rather than what Chan Kin-man has characterized as moves akin to "crushing a crab to death with a boulder".  Because, well, that seemed way too extreme and absurd not so long ago.