Pandemic fever, and brewing political and court battles

 

One of three ambush lockdowns taking place in Hong Kong tonight

 

There's no doubt about it: Hong Kong is gripped with pandemic fever once more.  It's not just that the new case numbers are clearly on an upward trend again -- with 37 new Wuhan coronavirus cases reported today (compared to 33 yesterday and 33 also the day before (Thursday)) -- but also that Hong Kong reported its first locally transmited coronavirus case in over three months today.  But, mostly, it's because much of Hong Kong has been keeping tabs on the dramatic saga involving what has been variously labelled the birthday party cluster, birthday present cluster, patriots cum officials cluster and -- most hilariously of all to me -- party cum cluster!

 

So far did the story move that we went from one government official (home affairs secretary Caspar Tsui) being sent to quarantine camp in Penny's Bay on Thursday evening to all of the attendees of Chinese official Witman Hung's birthday party (including 13 senior Hong Kong government officials, and 19 legislative councillors and election committee members) being ordered into quarantine yesterday to 80 of the 180 or so of those individuals having been rescinded today after one of two coronavirus cases detected at a party they attended was declared a false positive.  

 

Suffice to say that many Hong Kongers greeted the latest news with anger and incredulity along with a modicum of cynicism.  And this all the more so upon the discovery that some 70 of those people who had their quarantine orders rescinded had not actually reported to, and been installed at, Penny's Bay days after news broke about this whole affair! 

It remains to be seen which government officials, legislative councillors and election committee members at the birthday party -- which went on for six hours, during which close to 200 people mingled unmasked and sang karaoke as well as ate and drank in an indoor setting -- will be among those who end up not having to quarantine at Penny's Bay.  One individual in the clear though is Junius Ho -- but, funnily enough, he appears to be still stuck at Penny's Bay late tonight; prompting him to go on liveon social media to issue criticisms of health secretary Sophia Chan and chief executive Carrie Lam for the government's rigid pandemic strategies, and even call on Carrie Lam to resign!

 

Has Junius Ho actually seen the light after getting a taste of the Penny's Bay medicine -- or is he launching his own attacks in what is looking to be a political war between Carrie Lam and her enemies within the pro-Beijing camp?  There are jokes going around that Carrie Lam is angry at those people for, if nothing else, going to a party to which she appears to not have been invited!

 

On a more serious note: while all this has been going on, it's not like the rest of Hong Kong has ground to a stop.  Life goes on and, sadly, so do the convictions of pro-democracy protestors.  More precisely, today saw the jailing for up to 42 months of 21 people found guilty of "rioting" in Sheung Wan on July 28th, 2019 (i.e., one week after the July 21st, 2019, attacks at Yuen Long for which way fewer than 21 people have been sentenced to prison).

For those keeping an eye on what's going on in the Hong Kong courts: news has come in that the Court of Final Appeal will hear a challenge filed by a real estate agent who was convicted and jailed for carrying zip ties near a rally held by District Council election candidates in 2019.  I know many people have given up on justice in Hong Kong.  But there still are people trying to challenge the government in court, and they include lawyer-activist Margaret Ng who, earlier this week, applied for a court order from the High Court to demand the police return some materials obtained from the search of her home on the day of her arrest last week. 

 

More than by the way, I had to check the calendar to confirm that Margaret Ng and the other Stand News people were arrested just last week.  Because so much happens daily in Hong Kong, it can feel like many events took place much longer ago than they in fact did.  And yes, I have to remind myself: we've only just ending the eighth day of the new year which sadly is feeling like it's delivering more of the same as the past couple of years or so: i.e., still more pandemic times, and yet more persecution and repression in national security law-era Hong Kong. :(