SCMP marks the 30th anniversary of the Asia Society Hong Kong, otherwise known as Ronnie Chan’s club house. The piece emphasizes the generosity of plutocrat-socialite backers and the bright side of never hosting anything ‘political’. But it hints at the awkwardness of the arrangement – 1950s-era American elite-philanthropist-globalist NGO-cum-HK tycoon-United Front-shoeshiner-vanity project. So 1990s.
Not so 1990s: the CCP-run HK Police arrest an (already convicted) activist for money laundering – or at least crowdfunding family and other expenses. They also freeze the account. Not the first time they have used money-laundering laws for political vindictiveness. Meanwhile, a teacher deregistered for conveying ‘baseless ideas’ to students speaks out.
In both cases, the NatSec regime aims to spread fear. The tactic may be effective in the Mainland, with its long history of feudal and Communist despotism. But in Hong Kong, it must be at least as effective in spreading ever-greater contempt and loathing for the CCP among much of the local population, on top of all the other horrors going on (Lowy Interpreter looks at the pan-dem evacuation of LegCo).
As Covid fades in the coming year, things will go back to normal. And ‘normal’ in Hong Kong means protests and an underlying mood of rebellion. Will we see some big 2019-style marches in 2021?
On the subject of Covid, David Webb blasts the government’s high-handed approach in trying to make testing compulsory when a positive result could mean a loss of earnings for many low-paid workers. He proposes a simple way – compensation – to induce people to take the test. It would be interesting to know why bureaucrats haven’t gone for such an approach. Are they so cut off from reality that they think everyone qualifies for sick pay? Or have they adopted a NatSec-era assumption that the population are the emperor’s property and must obey?
“Are they so cut off from reality that they think everyone qualifies for sick pay? Or have they adopted a NatSec-era assumption that the population are the emperor’s property and must obey?”
Yes and Yes.
In the link to the RTHK piece about the sacked teacher, the Education Bureau are quoted as saying that the teacher had to be de-registered because, amongst other heinous crimes, he/she had “invented historical facts”. In a CCP-led government, I would have thought such exemplary and patriotic behaviour would have been rewarded with a promotion. So, clearly “two systems” is still functioning …
Vagina really is a special kind of c*nt, no?
Due to the “Not Invented Here” syndrome endemic in the HK bureaucracy, the chances of Mr. Webb’s sensible suggestion being adopted are precisely zero.
@Are they so cut off from reality that they think everyone qualifies for sick pay?
They’re so cut off from reality that they didn’t realize everyone does not have an office to eat lunch in. The cashier at Park N Shop (oh sorry, Taste), the contract cleaner vacuuming their office, the guy digging up the road on their way to work, they take up physical space in the world when they’re not on duty and need to eat actual food? I never thought about that before. I thought they just ran off of $37.50 an hour and platitudes about hard work.
Apropos of the New Toolkit On Investigating Human Rights Violators, it seems an awful lot of trouble to go to just to pass the information to some disinterested foreign bureaucrat who will probably drop the matter after a few quick mentions in the press. In the Vatican we don’t fool about playing by other people’s rulebook – if there’s someone who offends mine eye, off go the albino hunchback ninjas to sort them out sharpish. Those fine followers of the faith in Northern Ireland, too, knew how to deal with informers and that special types of sociopath who dresses up in uniform (a.k.a. “police”) in order to oppress their fellow men and women. Perhaps one day the oppressed youth of Hong Kong, too, will find enlightenment and set up a few cells of their own with which to put the fear of our lord into Carrie and her henchmen (and masters).
@Pope Innocent – have they been putting meth into the incense and communion in your parish?
The West Kowloon Disaster Area saga continues with the appointment of Betty Fung as yet another bureaucrat as CEO. In a sane world, it might have become apparent that what is needed is someone with major project management experience rather than a fist-full of fancy and irrelevant job titles. The Poisoned Chalice Mrs Fung will come to regret having accepted.