Wins today that feel golden -- both in the legal arena and at the Tokyo Olympics

 

Olympic fever in Hong Kong! (Note, though,

that this photo actually is from 2008 :D )

 

Let's start with the more serious stuff: I got back from dinner with a friend last night to find Hong Kong Twitter abuzz about the latest move to neuter public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK).  Some context (provided in a Hong Kong Free Press report): "The broadcaster has faced a barrage of criticism from pro-Beijing figures and groups for “biased reporting” against the government and police, and was ordered by the authorities in February to tackle “deficiencies” in editorial management. In March, it sought to withdraw its entries from journalism awards. In May, RTHK deleted most of its video archive from the internet."  And yesterday evening, it deleted all of its English-language Twitter archive and sought to prevent readers from “replying” to its tweets citing resource constraints. 

 

But thanks to Twitter users being able to still screenshot RTHK's old Tweets or use the “quote” function to comment on them, the Tweets produced by the RTHK staffer(s) who won many fans are still there for people to see.  Consequently, infamous RTHK Tweets such as "The SAR government announces its later rubbish plans" (this about the government's plans to rely less on landfills) and "#ALERT: As Carrie Lam explains why #HongKong can't closer the border because it would stigmatize mainlanders, Singapore bans all arrivals from China" (this relating to anti-pandemic measures) have been saved for posterity. 

 

Speaking of saved for posterity -- or, at least for now: Hong Kong's June 4th Museum which closed a couple of months ago has reopened, this time in online form!  Created with the help of donations of over HK$1.6 million (~US$205,700), the website is presently only in Traditional Chinese, there are plans afoot to have information be translated into other languages.  And while, of course, the ideal is for it to exist in physical as well as digital form, it's most definitely better than it not existing at all, right?

 

Similarly, while the ideal would have been for pro-democracy personalities Anthony Wong Yiu-ming and Au Nok-hin to not be accused of election corruption by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in the first place, it was a good to see government "prosecutors change their tune over Anthony Wong's songs" -- hmmm, are the folks who ran RTHK's English Twitter account now writing the headlines for their English language articles?! -- this afternoon and drop their case against the pair in favor of a "bind over" order.  (Also, how nice was it that he was in court three days after being charged -- unlike so many others who have to wait for months (like the Democracy 47) or close to a year (like the first person convicted under China's security law for Hong Kong, Tong Ying-kit) being going on trial, and while stuck behind bars during that time?)   

 

Standing outside the court afterwards, Wong sent out a defiant message: "“Hong Kongers will continue to sing. Hong Kongers will continue to resist.”  He also broke into song while making clear that "I'm not entertaining you, it's to express a feeling."  What the feeling is can be discerned from a perusal of Ask Me, Wong's choice of Canto-pop song's lyrics (translated into English as follows): "No matter if I am by all means correct, or if I am by all means wrong, I whole heartedly accept the consequences. To face everything in the world, no matter how it will be, I will preserve the real me.”      

 

Another court decision today that is being taken as a victory of sorts involves Tiananmen Square vigil organizer Chow Hang-tung being granted bail ahead of her trial scheduled to finally begin on November 1st.  And for the record: she was arrested and charged back on June 30th for allegedly publicising and calling on people to join a banned rally on July 1st; so has spent a month or so behind bars.  Still, we'll take what breaks we get and call them victories, eh?

 

Speaking of which: Hong Kong won two more medals at the Tokyo Olympics today -- by way of the women's table tennis team and karateka Grace Lau Mo-sheung.  And yes, they're both bronze medals but, for many Hong Kongers, they might as well be gold -- that's how happy the Olympians' achievements have made people feel!  

 

What makes it all feel really special is that, until the Tokyo Olympics, Hong Kong had never won more than a single medal at a single Summer Olympic Games  before, let alone in a single day of Olympic competition.  And now, when one adds today's two bronze medals to swimmer Siobhan Haughey's two silver medals and fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-lung's gold medal, it means that Hong Kong has garnered five Olympic medals, not one less, in Tokyo alone!  How great is that? :)