Another week begins -- badly -- in Hong Kong

Singer-activist Anthony Wong Yiu-ming (in the center 

of the picture) with Ray Chan and Claudia Mo in happier times

at Chater Garden back on December 10th, 2016

 

I sincerely hope this will not be yet another terrible week for Hong Kong.  What I do know is that it's begun pretty badly -- with the shock arrest this morning of singer-activist Anthony Wong Yiu-ming and democratic politician Au Nok-hin by the International Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), an organization that looks to not only have belated stirred back to life but also been transformed from being one mainly focused on rooting out systemic corruption in government institutions to yet another government body that targets democratic politicians and their supporters.  

The pair's purported crime?  “[Engaging] in corrupt conduct at the 2018 [Legislative Council (LegCo)] By-election for Hong Kong Island Geographical Constituency by providing entertainment, namely a singing performance, for another person for the purpose of inducing the other person to vote for Au at the election."  Yes, the Canto-pop singing icon sang two songs at an election rally for then electoral candidate Au attended by a few hundred people back on March 3rd, 2018 (as opposed to, say, gave out gift bags and free meals to sway voters like certain others have been known to do).  

 

As journalist Matthew Brooker was moved to Tweet: "You’d laugh, if it wasn’t so tragic. Asia’s world city - where performing a song can get you arrested by anti-corruption police".  Truly, upon hearing this news, one is moved to ask if this is is such a serious offence and, also, if it's an offence at all?  Furthermore, if it's serious enough to result in the actual arrests of two high profile individuals, why did it take so long for the ICAC to finally act?  I mean: the alleged offence did take place more than three years ago, after all.  

All this makes one wonder: three years or more from now, will we learn that the ICAC has investigated and arrested those three senior government officials who went hobnobbing with millionaires over hot pot earlier this year?  To be sure, until now, the trio have only been slapped with HK$5,000 fines for violating social distancing rules as a result of having more than four to a table at a restaurant that evening.  But it's not inconceivable that it might be belatedly decided that those government officials had been indulging in corrupt activities on that occasion; this not least since one of their fellow diners' moral character has come into question as a result of his having been charged with raping a woman (who also had been at that now infamous dinner!).     

Or might it take five years for the ICAC to take action -- as they did with its charging of former University of Hong Kong law professor Benny Tai and two others for violating the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance (ECICO) back in September 2016 only last week?  Put another way: why has the ICAC been so slow to bring about the charges if the alleged violators' crimes were serious enough to see them arrested -- this even with at least two of them (Au Nok-hin and Benny Tai) currently being behind bars already and all five of the accused not exactly being known for their criminal activity?  

 

In the "thank goodness for small mercies" department: at least Anthony Wong Yiu-ming has been released on bail -- something that no longer can be taken for granted, even for charges that can seem quite trivial, if not outright laughable.  And it really can feel like a relief that the long-time activist and vocal extradition bill opponent has not been charged under the draconian and often seemingly all-encompassing national security law as with the likes of Ray Chan and Claudia Mo (who currently are behind bars while awaiting trial after arrested in late February and denied bail since March). 

 

It's hard though to see the silver lining in the cloud that has enveloped the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union (HKPTU) in recent days though.  I'm speaking of course of the Education Bureau having seen fit, just hours after articles came out in the Chinese state-run People’s Daily newspaper and on news wire Xinhua slamming the union as a “poisonous tumour” that must be “eradicated”, to sever ties with what's not only the largest teachers' union in Hong Kong but the largest union in the city period (with some 95,000 members).  

 

The Education Bureau's action prompted Chris Yeung, the head of another professional union (in his case, that of journalists), to declare that: "Beijing’s promise of “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong” has already become the subject of ridicule, if not an item of collective memory, in recent years.  The era of “Western ruling Hong Kong,” referring to the central government’s Liaison Office based in Western district, has already begun in earnest."   

 

The chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association also was moved to recall that, in his final policy address in 1996, the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, voiced his worry that "My anxiety is this: not that this community’s autonomy would be usurped by Peking, but that it could be given away bit by bit by some people in Hong Kong."   After which, Yeung was moved to deliver the following verdict on Patten's statement:

He was diplomatic in his prediction, or indeed kind to the Chinese Communist Party giving them the benefit of doubt, only to be trashed by the party leadership since the handover.

In that sense, he was proved wrong: Beijing did usurp the autonomy they promised to Hong Kong in managing the city’s internal affairs.

Lord Patten was proved right, however, in his prediction that autonomy was being given away by some people in Hong Kong.

He might have thought the suspects were the pro-Beijing circle and loyalists.

The last governor might feel surprised and disappointed that people like Carrie Lam and Kevin Yeung, who were among the elites groomed under the British Hong Kong government, have joined hands with Beijing to take away the vital part of the city’s autonomy in running the city’s internal affairs.