Today is Tuen Ng, a public holiday in Hong Kong. Tuen Ng is associated with dragon boat racing, but actually has a political association -- seeing as it's a day that commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a legendary patriotic poet, symbol of the people and folk hero banished for opposing decisions made by the rulers of his state and even accused of treason. (The sticky rice dumplings traditionally eaten on this day stem from the rice people scattered into the water to feed the fish, to prevent them from eating Qu Yuan's body after he committed suicide by drowning himself in a river!)
Which makes it rather weird that pro-Beijing mouthpiece Ta Kung Pao chose today to run a full A1 report citing legal-political figures urging the police to arrest national security law suspects in exile such as former pro-democracy legislative councillors Nathan Law, Dennis Kwok and Ted Hui. Though, I guess, it just shows that the continued political repression continues apace even on what should be a day where people try to look for pleasant diversions.
Meanwhile, one of the Hong Kong Free Press's main pieces for today is on one of Hong Kong's heroines, Bao Choy -- who, against the odds, won a rare victory for press freedom earlier this month after her conviction for making false statements to access vehicle records was overturned by the Court of Final Appeal earlier this month. But as today's piece pointed out, her victory was bitter sweet; and that, upon leaving the court that June morning, "Bao Choy was overwhelmed by a mixture of jubilation and sadness."
In what Hong Kong Free Press chief editor Tom Grundy has described as the first English language interview piece on her, we learn that: "Choy Yuk-ling, now 39, is better known as “Bao”, a nickname once
given to her to describe her round face. But following her ordeal over
the past three years, she has lost weight and her features have become
more angular. After her arrest in late 2020
she joined the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, then returned
to her home city and established a new media outlet called The
Collective – handling all the procedures associated with her court case
along the way."
Irene Chan's piece is one that gives insights into Bao Choy, her view on the state of her home city and what she feels she still can and must do. "“When I returned to Hong Kong, I didn’t want to get a job in
mainstream media any more, ” Bao said. She soon came up with the idea of
establishing a small-scale media outlet to cover local news, focusing
on feature stories. “We have to admit that Hong Kong is gradually getting worse. And it
will continue to deteriorate, ” Bao said. “But it is still important to
meticulously document every small change of the city.”" And the following line really hit home for me: "“For those who are still living here, every small change affects us, right?”"
At the same time, when viewed over three years, one realises that so much has changed in Hong Kong since China imposed a national security law on the city on June 30th, 2020. You don't have to take my word for it. Instead, read Johannes Chan's piece which came out yesterday in USALI Perspectives. The following excerpts should give a good measure of the case made for the national security law having had a devastating impact on Hong Kong:
As of May 25 of this year, nearly the three-year mark, 251 people had been arrested for national security offenses under this and other laws. That is, someone was arrested on average every 4.2 days. Those arrested include legislators, journalists, students, academics, and political activists. Recently a Hong Kong student who allegedly posted pro-independence messages on social media while studying in Japan was arrested on a brief visit to Hong Kong, becoming the first person arrested for actions taken outside Hong Kong. Nearly four in five of those charged with national security offenses have been denied bail, and some have spent more than two years in detention awaiting trial. The conviction rate so far is 100%.Yet the impact of the NSL has gone far beyond the number of arrests or convictions. Major media organizations have been forced to close. Over 60 civil society organizations, including political parties, trade unions, humanitarian funds, professional groups, students unions, and human rights groups, have disbanded or moved out of Hong Kong. Books have been removed from the shelves of public libraries. A core secondary school class called Liberal Studies, alleged to have led young people to the streets in the 2019 civil unrest, has been abolished. The Legislative Council has been reconstituted so that it is comprised almost entirely of pro-establishment members, and the government has proposed reducing the elected membership of District Councils from 100% to 20%. The National Security Office tips hotline received over 400,000 reports from its launch on November 5, 2020 through April 2023, or more than 442 reports every day.
But, in fact, it's just the beginning of the piece that sees Johannes Chan laying out in quite a bit of detail how the national security law "has significantly impacted the due process of law"! "The presumption of bail is replaced by a presumption against bail in
cases involving national security — and not just prosecution under the
NSL. (See HKSAR v Ng Hau Yi Sydney [2021] HKCFA 42.) The
secretary for justice is empowered to waive the right to jury trial for
national security offenses, and so far has done so in all national
security trials before the High Court." And on and on it goes!
A reminder: in 2015, Johannes Chan was unanimously recommended by a selection committee headed by the university president to be appointed as the University of Hong Kong's vice-chancellor (academic staffing & resources), only to be rejected by the university's governing council. That fact should give some food for thought to those who (mistakenly) think that Hong Kong's troubles only began in -- or be traced to the political unrest of -- 2019. Rather, as many people have pointed out, 2019 was a reaction, not the cause. In the words of historian Jeppe Mulich: "The protests didn't cause the crackdown. The crackdown is a manifestation of the authoritarian backsliding the protests were pushing back against in the first place."
2 comments:
sticky rice dumpling sound good.
Coffee is on, and stay safe.
Hi peppylady --
I actually don't care for it! :D
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