HKFP op-ed from Steve Vines on the hypocrisy of Hong Kong officials whose spouses and kids hold foreign passports. It is possible to have a more sympathetic view of the predicament that at least some civil servants and others are in – given that their co-option by the CCP might have involved pressure, and their families are not necessarily to blame. But to hell with that. Far more satisfying to enjoy the sight of Beijing making its own toadies squirm for their status-symbol Legislative Council and Election Committee seats.
From now on, sycophants will have to pay for the privilege of being shoe-shiners. The more zombie-like ones will adapt, but those with lives (like lawmakers with companies to run) will find the council attendance rules and impertinent questions about passports far more onerous. And this is before the weekly Xi Jinping Thought study sessions become compulsory.
Issued in the early hours of Saturday morning – the Hong Kong government’s extensive whine, intoning ‘facts speak louder than words’ at the beginning of three consecutive lengthy paragraphs, complete with passages in mellifluous Mainlandese, about something it could just as easily shrug off…
“The US Administration’s latest attempt to issue a so-called ‘advisory’ to US businesses and individuals operating in Hong Kong based on totally ridiculous and unfounded fear-mongering about the situation in Hong Kong only serves to prove yet again its hypocrisy and double standards, driven by ideological hegemony,” the spokesman said.
Kevin Carrico on the cop-stabbing/suicide Leung Kin-fai…
When the punishment for peaceful opposition and violent acts are essentially the same, some people will tragically choose violence.
The police chief suggests that certain views of this case could amount to inciting terrorism or sedition. (‘Could’ depending on what? Funny how the senior law-enforcement officials sound just as clueless as anyone else about what the NatSec Law actually means).
From Mary Hui at Quartz: a NatSec court spends days debating the meaning of ‘Liberate Hong Kong…’ and whether Malcolm X was a secessionist.
On which subject, the official trailer of Revolution of Our Times – likely to trigger some upsetting memories.
EJ Ensight op-ed by Neville Sarony on the HK Justice Dept’s embarrassing obsession with letting its lawyers style themselves ‘Senior Counsel’…
One may stick a label on a duck and call it a swan but it remains a duck.
Within the DoJ there are legal officers who are entitled Senior Government Counsel, why would any patriotic legal officer want to dissociate himself from government? Surely, they cannot be ashamed or embarrassed of being so described?
A compliant Legislative Council will be eager to accommodate the SJ’s desire, ably assisted by little green-eyed monsters gazing covetously at a title to which they cannot aspire.
And scenes at the British Airways check-in at Hong Kong airport in the last few days of the LOTR (apply-for-BNO-in-the-UK) system.
What are you going to do when a government no longer listens to its own people and only cares about a small-circle coterie of ass-kissers and parasites?
I’m getting bored of the prefix to anything they don’t like being ‘so-called’. They should think of something else – I offer ‘Embarrassingly true enough’
@ Joe Blow
Isn’t that exactly where we are at? (And have been at for about 5 years)
“Hegemony” is one of those curious words where you only have a vague idea of what it means, but you never bother to look up the exact definition because it’s only used by people who are more interested in showing off their vocabulary than actually communicating meaningfully with ordinary people.
I love the government press releases that have been written by Dr Evil in the Liaison Office, such as the recent one titled “Malicious US attempts to damage Hong Kong’s reputation as a global business hub doomed to fail” simply because they use same words that Scooby-doo villains use, such as “malicious”, “doomed”, “so-called”, “smeared” or “meddling”, rather than actual grown-up words. In fact, my hope is that they will soon include more emotive words such as “diabolical” and “fiendish” and, just to make things clear, also add “… so there!” at the end, or even a “… Mwahhh ahhh ahh”.
@Low Profile: or it was implemented by some low level government officials back when everyone was still wearing Mao suits, few people spoke English and the only handy reference book in the MOFA was a dusty 1910 copy of the Oxford English Dictionary, thus making it one of the Top 5 words to throw in when berating a western nation (usually the U.S.).
@ Load Toad
Only 5 years?
Hotpot Chen, possible Executive Director of mainland developer Evergrand, having been charged with attempted rape is released on bail by Eastern Mags.
Grandma Wong convicted of common assault by pushing a security guard in January 2019(!) gets one months in prison.
Claudia Mo, former foreign correspondent, is remanded in custodyb for 5(?) months for talking to a foreign correspondent.
@dimuendo: HK justice seems consistent to me.
Low Profile – Good observation. I would add that nobody bothers to look up the precise meaning of hegemony because only the CCP and its stooges use the word.
@ Penny
I’ve only been living in HK for 21 years but I think around SARS time the HKG population were still listened to and officials were accountable. It’s gotten significantly worse firstly under 689 and has become a calamitous farce and corrupt under 777.