Carrie Lam is shocked to find that the NatSec Law has harmed Hong Kong’s image. External forces and media, she says, refuse to believe our version of the story and insist that the Law reduces human rights and freedoms. The government must explain its work better.
Meanwhile, almost as if he is taking instructions from someone other than the official head of the executive branch, the Security Secretary is threatening to arrest and prosecute disciplined services officers who allegedly mocked the death of a police officer in the line of duty. There is plainly no law against bad taste, but PK Tang says: ‘…there are other laws in place that can deal with “inappropriate information” and sedition’.
Small wonder that ‘external forces’ are watching and commenting. The latest example is Georgetown Law’s comparative analysis of the Tong Ying-kit NatSec flag-waving/’terrorism’ trial. Go to page 28 for the relatively pithy conclusion.
The NatSec regime invites ridicule. Look at the expert testimony given by a pro-Beijing professor at the trial of ‘Fast Beat’ Tam Tak-chi for allegedly uttering seditious words (reports here and here)…
Lingnan University Professor Lau Chi-pang on Monday told the District Court that “Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times” or “Hongkongers, add oil” were capable of inciting others to break the law depending on the circumstances of their use. The latter phrase is a Cantonese expression of encouragement.
…The professor maintained that expressions such as “Hongkongers, add oil” and “no rioters but tyranny” – a reference to the government’s classification of certain 2019 protests as riots – could have breached the law if they were used during the chaos outside the liaison office.
The NatSec Law does not apply to everyone. Huang Xiang-mo colluded with Australian politicians, and now turns up on Hong Kong’s ‘Election Committee’ as a representative of ‘grassroots’ – which is quite an achievement for a billionaire property developer. As it says here…
Jeremy Tam was denied bail because the US consulate in Hong Kong emailed him about a coffee. He didn’t respond. Claudia Mo was denied bail because she texted reporters. Huang delivered bags of cash to foreign politicians but is a good patriot.
From the same author, Atlantic on the hypocrisy of Hong Kong’s shoe-shiner/quisling milieu…
These officials, politicians, and commentators employ a combination of historical revisionism, double standards, gaslighting, and whataboutisms … The messages they push, delivered straight-faced, beggar belief: A less representative election is actually more democratic; Hong Kong has never been as safe and stable, but the threat of terrorism has never been more dire; even as organization after organization is forced to close, civil society is as vibrant as ever.
There are the cheerleaders for patriotic state education who send their own children to international private schools and sit on the boards of universities overseas, and the elites whose family members reside in the same countries that they allege meddle in Hong Kong’s affairs. And there are the law-enforcement leaders who claim that the U.S. is trying to destroy Hong Kong but know the enemy well, many having studied there or even trained with the FBI.
My one quibble would be describing these shoe-shiners as a ‘ruling class’. Most have no more political power than the rest of the population, though they often hold symbolic titles and positions.
The article touches on the reasons why formerly decent liberal-minded people have become apologists for an authoritarian regime. As it says, for many (including businessmen, obviously), becoming an instant-noodle patriot loyalist is the only choice if you want your company or job to be safe. It’s also the default option for bores who simply crave the social status of ceremonial positions like Executive Council (‘government advisor’ to the gullible). But there must also be some who are essentially being blackmailed.
Speaking of the NatSec regime being easy to ridicule – and for fans of goose-step marching – HKFP’s op-ed on the Prussian-Nazi-Soviet-PLA foot drill (from 2018, when the idea of Mainland officials telling the Hong Kong police how to march seemed disturbingly intrusive).
“ Lam also said Hong Kong must remain a cosmopolitan city so it can play its role as a connector between mainland China and the rest of the world.” like by keeping its boarders shut and imposing a nonsensical and unscientific 21 day quarantine? The woman is barking mad.
From the Georgetown analysis: “The Party leadership should ask itself whether further damage to the court system, and to the broader One Country, Two Systems framework, is truly worth it, especially in the absence of any apparent ongoing threat to national security.”
Absolutely worth it if the “disciplined” services honchos get their way. Thus far they’ve been given hero like status by the propaganda machine (Raptors!) compared to just walking beats, giving directions to tourists and maybe occasionally solving some crimes (though never ticketing AlphTards). Their budgets have ballooned and their purchase of new fangled toys to squash The People have multiplied. Soon the Popo will be fantasizing about being akin to the mainland Wujing (PAP) and the leaders (like Hermes) will be fancying themselves as little Napoleons or Heydrichs. Jack boots and all.
Looking for the day the Boy Scouts will be totally replaced by a Hitler Jugend like outfit to funnel easily molded boys without much educational prospects into the Popo. The more paranoid you are, the more you think you need overwhelming forces to crush any anticipated dissent.
“the goose step is only found in countries where the people are too frightened to laugh at their military.”
Definitely my favourite quote of the week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHFuTpVvRCI
If Herr Hemlock would indulge me and allow for my posting of this again. Possibly the roots of why the CCP kept the “Goose Step” (too good to pass up).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-German_cooperation_(1926%E2%80%931941)
Well, well, well! Hermes is out (on retirement leave) and Louise Ho (Hermes’ deputy) is in.
So Hermes’ self-trumpet blowing and his pledge to proceed along the smart customs blueprint to facilitate the development strategies of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the 14th Five-Year Plan TWO days ago was a bit premature. I am surprised he didn’t know he’d be retiring today.
Never say HK administration is a closed-circle business – Ho’s husband is the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, a former director of immigration.
Her younger sister Doris Ho Pui-ling heads up the Policy Innovation and Coordination Office.
@CN
Looking for the day the Boy Scouts will be totally replaced by a Hitler Jugend like outfit to funnel easily molded boys without much educational prospects into the Popo.
Wasn’t there an outfit with that aim in mind, (Boy Scouts with Guns) set up in CY’s time to much acclaim? What happened to it? Probably not long before it is exhumed.
‘…must explain its work better…’
Variations on this nauseating, asinine platitude have become familiar and all too common since 2014.
Two obvious points – firstly, if you can’t explain yourself adequately on the huge salary you are on Ms Lickspittle then resign or at least give your salary to charity & ask someone competent to try to explain this ongoing shambles ‘better’.
Secondly, it’s clear to everyone apart from the HKG Olympic Shoe Shiners anyway that no amount of explaining things ‘better’ is going to polish the turd.
“Prussia was not a country with an army, but an army with a country”
Perhaps this is the excellent nation building strategy our betters in Tamar are now pursuing? Mass conscription of the peasants! Clearly inspired by the bravery of our young folks, soon Hong Kong’s invincible armies will be rampaging across south-east Asia, led from the rear by the indomitable CY von Leungmarck. First onto the beach at Sizihwan etc.
@where’s my jet plane: Yes, I recall under Der Fuhrer CY there was a budding Jugend movement and his tai tai was appointed Obersturmbannfuhrer. Not sure if her uniform was made of wool or vinyl but regardless, she seemed to revel in authoritarian wear (so much easier to coordinate than actual fashion).
CN: it’s a shame we can’t put up a photo of chump faeces face’s wife at the HK Army Cadets parade as the look is only out done by her pink number with Shit Jumping and wife. However even those are outdone by mental daughter images. Not a picture search I will do again in a Ling time. Shudder.
Re CY Leung’s cadet force, here’s an article from the SCMP in 2015 the like of which you would never find in that crummy little rag today.
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1681760/mystery-surrounds-new-hong-kong-army-cadet-force-which-was
And there’s this:
https://www.thecaravelgu.com/blog/hong-kong-creates-cadet-force
Don’t forget to click on the pic at the top. You’ll see Regina Higgins, Bunny Chan, and two other nonentities looking idiotic in their preposterous uniforms.
@loaded toad: Not sure if there is a HK charity that can handle that many suitcases of cash without flagging the AML rules.
“…explain its work better…” no doubt harkens back to the Maoist neighbourhood council approach of explaining transgressions to criminals repeatedly for months on end until they cracked from boredom and vowed to never do it again.
Oh dear of fucking dear; Louise Ho
she is making safeguarding national security her top priority, including tackling the threat posed by the smuggling of Australian lobsters to the mainland.
Crustacean Invasion Force
Speaking of lobsters, I thought Regina Leung had turned into one.
Commenters on fire today. Spit coffee on the screen more than once.