Not that many visitors in the vicinity of the Peak Galleria
the last time I visited the Peak -- and sorry, but I don't
necessarily think that this is all that bad a thing!
Two pieces of welcome news greeted Hong Kongers at the beginning of this new week. The first involved the release from prison of Figo Chan, the convenor of the now-disbanded Civil Human Rights Front which used to organize the annual July 1st protest marches and so much more. Sadly, the human rights activist's father passed away while he was behind bars; on a positive note, the now 26 year old did appear to be in good spirits after he left prison yesterday.
The second involved the release from prison too of the five speech therapists who were found guilty of sedition just a little more than a month ago. On the one hand, we should indeed be happy that they -- whose "crime" was to produce illustrated children's books about sheeps and wolves -- are out of jail. But on the other hand, it should be realized that Lai Man-ling, Melody Yeung Yat-yee, Sidney Ng Hau-yi, Samuel Chan Yuen-sum and Marco Fong Tsz-ho were indeed given prison terms of 19 months and the reason why they are out so "soon" is because their remand time was so long!
Something else that should never be forgotten: there still are a good many political prisoners in Hong Kong, many of whom haven't even been found guilty and sentenced yet! The following are just three of Hong Kong's political prisoners: Carol Ng, former chair of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, in pre-trial detention for 585 days and counting; Lee Cheuk-yan, another former chair of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, in pre-trial detention for 542 days and counting; and Winnie Yu, former Chairperson of the Hospital Authority Employee Alliance, in pre-trial detention for 216 days (and counting) now.
Moving on: we are seeing evidence of the Hong Kong government's latest international charm offensive having gotten underway -- with such as (deceptive) tourism ads figuring Australian pop personality "Honey Badger" Cummings and Lonely Planet producing puff pieces that are meant to attract visitors to the Big Lychee. Here's my question: how many people would come to Hong Kong if they knew that it's now got so many political prisoners and, also, many Covid restrictions and regulations still in place?
I don't know about you but I've long made it a point to not only visit war torn countries but also ones whose political oppression and repression is well known. I've also sought to avoid holidaying in places where the majority of the populace are poor and don't stand to benefit from a tourist presence.
I realize some people might think that I'm overthinking things. But the fact of the matter is that I really would much rather spend my leisure time in places whose local populace might resent my presence and are (understandably) not feeling super happy. Consequently, if I were a tourist with no ties to this fair city, I would think twice re spending a vacation in national security law-era Hong Kong!
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