Veteran Journalist Arrested, then Released

Au used to write for Stand News and was charged with sedition

Soon after online media outlet Stand News shut down in December 2021, one of its former columnists, longtime journalist Allan Au Ka-lun would write "good morning" on his Facebook page as a way to confirm his safety.

But at 6am this morning national security police descended on his flat and arrested him on the charge of "conspiracy to publish seditious materials" and a police source added further arrests could be made.

Around midnight Au was released after 17 hours

Two other senior employees of Stand News have also been charged with sedition, though Au is the journalist and not a media executive, like Apple Daily to have this charge against him.

I am writing this just after midnight and it has now been reported that Au was released from Kwai Chung police station. "Thanks for your care and concern," he said as he put his hands in prayer.

Au, 54, is considered one of Hong Kong's most experienced local columnists, and was a Knight fellow at Stanford University in 2005, and earned a doctorate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In 2017 he published a book about censorship in Hong Kong titled, "Freedom Under 20 Shades of Shadow".

In addition, Au had spent more than a decade working for Radio Television Hong Kong on a current affairs show. But it was axed last year after RTHK's management conducted a major shake up of the publicly-funded broadcaster from being independent to now towing the government line.

Au's radio show on RTHK was axed last year

The charge of sedition dates back to 1938 colonial Hong Kong, and now it is used against journalists, unionists, activists, a former pop star and ordinary citizens.

However, the courts treat it as a national security offence, where bail is often denied for those charged. 

Au is very lucky to be back home tonight... but for how much longer?

 

Covid Infections Projected Several Times Actual Reporting

A man selling rapid antigen tests on the street

In an online virtual gathering with colleagues this afternoon because we are all working from home, many said they knew people who had had Covid-19 and had not reported it to the government because the website was not up and running yet, or they had room in their homes where they could isolate.

One colleague has recovered after 10 days of isolation in her bedroom that she shares with her family. She is triple jabbed, though she had a sore throat and dry cough. Her nine-year-old daughter had a fever that lasted two days or so and tested negative on a rapid antigen test two days before my colleague did.

Newly-built isolation units for Covid-19 patients

Interestingly her husband who has not had his booster, tested negative as did the rest of the family.

Nevertheless, just anecdotally it shows that people know of friends and family who have been infected and so even though the number of cases is in the 20,000 mark (today it is 27,761, 228 deaths), the number could actually be several times that. 

Those reporting they are positive from RAT to the government are those who have no space at home to isolate at all, or need the official documentation to get sick leave from work.

Some colleagues think the number is actually five times more than what is reported, and researchers at the University of Hong Kong's faculty of medicine estimate there could be 3.6 million residents infected at some point and 4.5 million will catch it during the fifth wave; they predict the death toll could be 5,102, and current it is at 4,355.

The researchers project a significant drop in the number of daily cases towards the end of March, and the daily caseload to fall below 1,000 by the end of April, and below 100 by mid-May.

However, they have noticed an uptick in the number of people using public transport to get around from monitoring Octopus usage during this past weekend and believe this could affect their projections.

Medical personnel at AsiaWorld-Expo

"This could well portend a fundamental change in transmission dynamics that would render our assumptions inaccurate, thus underestimating the forward burden of the fifth wave," they said.

Meanwhile a day earlier, Kwok Kin-on, an associate professor at Chinese University's School of Public Health estimated about 5 million residents would be infected by June, and projected an even higher death toll at 7,000.

He predicted the number of infections would not subside into the four digits until late May, and would return to the 100 mark about a month later.

What is the government's response to the over 20,000 cases a day?

To close down beaches.

Beaches will be closed yet again due to Covid

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor could make the announcement as early as tomorrow (Wednesday) even though she had said earlier that social-distancing measures were already tough enough.

"Too many people have gone to the beach unmasked and pictures have also shown a lot of them had ignored the ban on gatherings of more than two people," a source said.

How many people have actually gone to the beach?

Considering most Hongkongers like to stay away from the sun it couldn't have been that many... but alas now residents are being further punished and not allowed to go to the beach... what little pleasures there are left... 

Is it any wonder people are fleeing the city?

How to Push Unvaccinated to get Jab

Crowded areas may need vaccine passport to get in, like MTR

The Hong Kong government is finally -- FINALLY considering having residents use a vaccine passport to do their daily necessities, from taking public transport to entering shopping malls in a bid to boost the vaccination rate in the city.

There were 115 cases recorded today of which 111 were locally transmitted while four were imported. Of the local cases, six were untraceable. About 80 people have tested preliminary positive which will show up in tomorrow's case numbers.

With a sixth straight day of triple digit case numbers, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has set the vaccination target at 90 percent. Currently 79.1 percent of the population has had at least one dose.

Transport workers worry of chaos using passport

However there will be fears of transportation chaos if people must show their vaccination records before getting on a bus, minibus, taxi or MTR. Can you imagine the long lines and short tempers? It would be an absolute nightmare for public transport workers having to bear the brunt of the frustration.

But this might have to be done in order to push people to get the jab. It is forceful, but vaccination is the only way out of this pandemic. Refusing to get the jab not only puts the unvaccinated person in jeopardy in terms of their health, but also impacts others around them, though they don't think of it that way at all.

Others say their doctors have advised them against getting it, not wanting to be responsible for side effects, especially those with chronic illnesses, or the elderly. That really doesn't help the rest of us. We have to think in terms of the greater good.

Already in several North American cities people have to show their vaccination records in order to eat in a restaurant, work out in the gym or attend a concert. 

Leave Home Safe app used more often now

Today a friend opened his bar and I had time before 6pm (when bars and restaurants close) to take a quick peek. At the door I not only scanned the Leave Home Safe app, but also had to show my vaccination record, which threw me back, but I complied. 

Everyone else was maskless and having a good time with the loud dance music, while I kept my mask on practically the whole time (15 minutes). I wondered if this was the future of Hong Kong post-Covid, that as long as everyone showed their proof of vaccination people could party...

Nevertheless, Chinese University public health professor Kwok Kin-on thinks pushing people to get vaccinated in order to use public transport and enter supermarkets is too extreme, and that the vaccine passport should be introduced gradually to avoid the public rejecting the scheme.

"If we can achieve our goal of boosting the vaccination rate without taking extreme measures, then it will not be necessary [to include all major public places]," Kwok said, adding that the requirement for vaccine passports at restaurants from February 24 could push many people to get their first jab.

In Vancouver must show vaccine record to eat out

One would think, but my relatives still refuse to get it, fearing the side effects it could cause. They claim they don't have to eat in restaurants, but that would mean forever. They don't seem to get that Covid is here for the long term and we have to adapt to it whether we like it or not.

Meanwhile the rest of us who are vaccinated and boosted are tired and want to move onto the next level. Why should people who have been jabbed have to wait for the rest to catch up? There should be advantages to having been inoculated, but so far the government doesn't seem to think they need to be rewarded (which is a serious blunder on its part).

Restaurants and hotels will be struggling for the next few months, waiting for Omicron to settle down, and also for everyone else to get vaccinated. Again the government squandered precious time to get people vaccinated, but hopefully with the current fifth wave nearing its peak that residents will be concerned about their own health to finally -- FINALLY get the jab.

Scary Omicron Predictions

Yuan predicts up to 250,000 infections if no measures taken

Health experts are sounding the alarm that the fifth wave is emerging in Hong Kong and more social-distancing measures need to be adopted to prevent a prediction of up to 250,000 infections within six months. 

A medical professor from Chinese University said the city was facing a "critical" moment in the coming weeks and there was still a chance of preventing transmission chains if schools were closed and employees worked from home, the number of projected infections could go down to 12,500 with 700 severe cases.

People need to work from home, close schools

How Dr Sean Yuan Hsiang-Yu, assistant professor in the department of biomedical sciences at CUHK came up with these numbers through modelling are staggering, but he also demonstrates how contagious the Omicron variant is, and that residents should not let their guards down.

Meanwhile there are discussions of how the Hong Kong government was complacent all this time and did not aggressively push for higher vaccination numbers when the city had zero cases for about 80 days. 

But how do you get people inoculated if they do not see danger lurking? Vaccination rates in other countries are much higher because people there have seen first hand what happens when their friends and loved ones get Covid-19. 

ICAC's Peh left Penny's Bay this evening

And then the government was caught flat-footed when it announced it would offer boosters for residents, but did not anticipate so many people would want to get the jab and had closed many of the community vaccination centres already. Now people have to wait in line for ages which is not ideal while we are in the Omicron wave.

And then there is the Witman Hung Wai-man party saga that continues. The latest is that some 80 people involved with the party do not need to quarantine further when it was found tests of one of the guests was false positive. It helps when your husband is a doctor and botches your Covid test...

So people like Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu, and Independent Commission Against Corruption Commissioner Simon Peh Yun-lu were among those who were allowed to leave Penny's Bay. 

However the other 100 in attendance of the party held in a Spanish restaurant in Wan Chai, including home affairs chief Caspar Tsui Ying-wai and immigration head Au Ka-wang will still need to undergo 21 days' quarantine as they were deemed close contacts.

Ho complaining about quarantine situation

Lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu is still in Penny's Bay. It's quite amusing to see on social media that he even brought brand new clothes for the occasion, as there are pictures of tags still on his clothes. He complained in a video that it took hours for the Centre for Health Protection to contact him and that he only arrived at the quarantine camp at midnight.

Then he complained he didn't get any dinner and that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's strategy in fighting Covid-19 are "castles on the beach" and is holding her and Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee responsible.

If he is not careful, Lam may keep him in Penny's Bay indefinitely, and in which case it was wise of him to bring new clothes with him...

More Tiananmen Memorials Disappear

The Goddess of Democracy is no longer at this spot at CUHK

Following the dismantling of the Pillar of Shame at the University of Hong Kong, two other tertiary institutions also took down memorials of Tiananmen late last night.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong took down a statue which is a replica of the Goddess of Democracy, which has stood on the campus since 2010, while Lingnan University took down a wall relief memorialising the crackdown.

Students held a vigil for the statue this afternoon

Both artworks were done by sculptor Chen Weiming, a Chinese-born New Zealand citizen who now lives in the United States.

In a statement, CUHK noted it had never approved a 2010 student union request to place the statue on campus and that its reasoning for the decision was a matter of public record.

"Following an internal assessment... CUHK has removed the statue," the statement said. "The university never authorised the display of the statue on its campus, and no organisation has claimed responsibility for its maintenance and management."

So if the university never approved the statue to be on campus in 2010, why did it take 11 years to remove it? Weak argument.

It added the two groups responsible for placing the statue on campus -- the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and its own student union -- had been disbanded.

Staff clean the spot where the statue stood

The alliance was forced to shut down, while CUHK cut ties with the student union in February and eight months later it disbanded. As if this reinforces its reasoning to remove the statue.

One fourth year student surnamed Woo was shocked to find the statue was gone.

"It is even more shocking that the government is afraid of a statue ... under these uncertain times, nothing is guaranteed and you never know when the last politically sensitive items will be removed," Woo said. 

CUHK students later held a vigil for the Goddess of Democracy on Friday afternoon, laying white flowers on printed pictures of the statue in the area where it stood. Others held drawings of the statue that said: "Missing. Have you seen her?" The word "mourn" was also spelled out with candles. 

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Lingnan University said its decision followed a recent review of items on campus that could pose legal or safety threats.

A relief about Tiananmen by Chen is now gone

"In the best interests of the university, the items in question have been cleared, or removed and stored appropriately," the spokesman said.

Aside from the relief, the university also painted over a wall painting of the Goddess of Democracy near the student union office with grey paint on Friday morning. The surrounding area was cordoned off between 7am and 9am, according to a students' representative.

Eric Tong Kin-lok, chairman of the ad hoc administrative committee of Lingnan University's student union, said the relief was dismantled with a circular saw into four pieces before being moved into a storage room.

"We strongly condemn the university's attempt to remove history," he said. "The university did not consult us before and did not even notify us."

Some students remarked that the Goddess of Democracy was a landmark for them to meet up. "We would say meet at the Goddess of Democracy, not the MTR station," one said, 

This wall painting was painted over in grey paint

Tong added that university security guards shone flashlights at students who were attempting to film the removal process, and also noted down their student ID details.

In 2010, Chen gave both the statue and the relief to the now-defunct alliance after being barred from entering Hong Kong, just two days before the candlelight vigil.

The Goddess of Democracy was subsequently displayed in Victoria Park that year before it was transported to the CUHK campus. Meanwhile the relief was displayed in several universities before it was finally placed in Lingnan University with permission of the administration. 

What's next? I'm too afraid to ask and find out.

We keep mourning what we have lost, and this year, it was a lot.

Convicted Protester Defiant at Sentencing

In November 2019 students clashed with police at CUHK

Yesterday five former Chinese University students were jailed for up to 59 months each for rioting and flouting a ban on wearing masks at public gatherings during clashes with police on the university campus in November 2019.

When handing down the sentences to the five at West Kowloon Court, Deputy Judge Kathie Cheung Kit-yee said the defendants must have chosen to remain at the scene either to take part in the violence or abet the criminal acts of their comrades.

She said the lack of evidence over the defendants' level of involvement was no reason to reduce their jail sentences, because all participants in a riot shared the same culpability regardless of their roles in it.

5 were arrested at the bridge near CUHK entrance

"Hong Kong is a place which upholds the rule of law, and a peaceful and tranquil community which shows no tolerance aimless acts that seriously disturb the peace, especially those targeting law enforcement officers," Cheung said.

Three men aged 23 and one aged 20 were all sentenced to 57 months in jail, while one female defendant, Foo Hoi-ching, 23, was handed a 59-month sentence.

The five were arrested near the bridge near CUHK's entrance where protesters hurled objects at police. At the time protesters had just thrown 23 Molotov cocktails and other hard objects at police.   

Foo, a nursing student, remained defiant during mitigation, saying she was not sorry for what she had done and found Cheung's ruling unreasonable.

She wrote a letter to the court that was quickly translated on Twitter by Tsui Lok-man, a former assistant professor at CUHK's School of Journalism and Communication:

Foo says authorities free to interpret the law

"First of all, this letter of plea is not intended to gain the mercy of the judge.

"In asking for the background report, I honestly have no regrets for my actions, and I also have nothing to say to the judge in my plea, because I do not agree with the law itself, nor do I feel I have done anything wrong.

"Simply put, I do not think this is a reasonable sentence. In the eyes of some people, 'the law is the law, and if you break the law, you need to bear responsibility'.

"Others may also believe that the court's ruling proves that the protesters' behaviour is wrong, and their actions in vain. But I believe that authority does not equal correctness.

"First of all, the laws of Hong Kong today are not recognized by its people, nor does society have any space to discuss whether the law is reasonable or not. Second, the Public Order Ordinance is vague by design, to enable the authorities to freely interpret and control it.

She says the law controls people, not for justice

"After 2019, riot cases have increased rapidly, and the courts have given a new interpretation to the definition of a riot, such that increasingly more behaviour is now classified as "illegal behaviour", enabling more and more people to get convicted, and allowing the authorities to further repress dissidents.

"Under a totalitarian regime, the law is only a bloodless but violent tool of the authorities to control the people, and the court is not a place of justice.

"In such a place, only attention is being paid to social order on a surface level, but the root cause of what is tearing the society apart is ignored.

"When the penalties for political cases gets heavier, some defendants will please guilty or appeal to the judge, in order to reduce their sentence, but this does not necessarily mean they agree that the current law is moral or just.

Foo no longer believes in the HK judicial system

"The judge may point out that if you are not satisfied with the ruling, you can appeal. However, I no longer believe in Hong Kong's judicial system, and even the highest courts may not listen to the voices of dissidents.

"I just want to take this opportunity to express my dissatisfaction. If the court hears what I have said, and believes that it is justified in giving me a heavy sentence to make me regret and reflect, then it will be just as it is."

 

法官閣下：

首先表明，我無意以這封求情信來博取法官閣下的憐憫。

我索取背景報告時，我坦言對於自己的行為並無後悔，亦沒有說話要向法官閣下求情，因為我並不認同法例本身，亦不覺得自己有做錯的地方。簡單而言，我不認為這是合理的判決。

在某部分人眼中，示威者「犯法就係犯法，就係要負責」，有些人亦可能認為法庭的裁決證明了示威者的行為是錯誤，是徒勞無功的。但我認為，權威並不代表正確。

首先，香港現時的法律，並非由人民共同認可，社會並沒有空間討論現行法律合理與否。其次，暴動條例的定義本來就模糊不清，以便政權靈活解釋和操控。2019年後暴動案件急升，法庭時而重新詮譯暴動定義，令更多行為被列為「法律不認可的行為」，從而令更多人入罪，令政權得以打壓異見者。

極權下的法律只是政權用以規範人民行為的不流血暴力手段，而法庭也不是一個彰顯公義的地方。這裏只會流於表面地關注社會秩序，並不會著眼社會撕裂的根本原因。

當政治案件的刑罰日益加重，有些被告會選擇認罪或向法官求情，以減輕刑期，但或許並不代表他們認同現行法律具有道德正當性。法官閣下可能會指出，若不滿閣下裁決，大可以申請上訴。然而，本人已不再相信香港的司法制度，再高級的法庭亦不見得會聆聽異見者的聲音。

我只是希望藉此機會表達我的不滿。如果法庭聽畢本人以上的言論，認為可以用重判形式令本人從而後悔及反省，那便悉隨尊便。

 

CUHK's Student Union Disbands

CUHK's student union members voted to disband today

 

Another group has disbanded after falling afoul with the Hong Kong authorities. The Chinese University of Hong Kong's student union will dissolve eight months after the school's management cut ties with the group, citing possible breaches of the national security law.

CUHK made it harder for the union to continue

In February the university asked the student union to register through government agencies as an independent society or company to assume its own legal responsibility, suspended its executive members from ex officio positions on all CUHK committees, and also stopped administrative support and collecting student union fees on its behalf.

The moves followed the 12-member union's release of an 80-page manifesto that accused the university of working with police to have students arrested after an attack on campus university guards.

On Thursday on social media, the student union said it sought legal advice that said independent registration was not necessary.

"CUSU sought professional legal opinion and was advised that 'the ordinance does not apply to CUSU' for independent registration. We are now torn between following the legal advice or complying with the university administration's demand," the post said.

The democratic union shuts down after 50 years

The union held a joint meeting on September 10 to seriously consider the matter and a motion was passed to dissolve the body an accept the resignation of its council representatives.

"[CUSU] has been the only organization mandated to represent the student body on campus. Over the years CUSU has upheld the principles of democratic and federal self-government and co-government for students, and dedicated itself to promoting the common good throughout ever-changing times," the statement read.

"For fifty years CUSU existed as an independent student organization whose representatives were elected through a democratic process. It is a matter of profound regret that CUSU is now history." 

Choy worries about other groups

Chinese University political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung, who was president of CUHK's student union in 1987, said he was worried about a "domino effect" among other university groups.

"When the front, the alliance and other social organizations closed down one after the other, and many student unions were asked to register independently, I'm not sure whether the universities were making their own decisions, or whether they faced pressure to make the same decision," he said.

"The union was also a platform through which the students' views could be reflected to the university, so its disbandment will affect those consultative processes too."

HKU May Remove Tiananmen Sculpture

The Pillar of Shame stands at Haking Wong Podium at HKU

The University of Hong Kong is reportedly planning to remove the Pillar of Shame, the sculpture that commemorates those who died on June 4, 1989 in Beijing.

Danish artist Jens Galschiot created the 8-metre-tall sculpture, which reminds people of the horrific event which must never recur. The sculpture features 50 torn and twisted bodies that symbolize the degradation,  devaluation and lack of respect of the individual. 

Artist Galschiot created four of these sculptures

There are four Pillar of Shame sculptures, the others are in Italy, Mexico and Brazil.

In 1997, the Pillar of Shame was gifted to the Alliance in Support for Democratic Patriotic Movements of China, which is now disbanded, and most recently its assets frozen by the national security police department.

The alliance and its core members are also charged with inciting subversion.  

It was the HKU students who fought with university leadership to have the statue on campus, and it was subsequently displayed in other universities including Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

So perhaps it's not surprising university management may be taking advantage of the alliance's disbandment and legal issues to possibly remove the sculpture, though it claims it has reviewed risk management measures and facility usage on campus from time to time, but refused to comment on this possible move.

The sculpture is a reminder of June 4, 1989

"The University... will not respond to speculative reports," its spokesman said.

If the sculpture is removed, it will be another win for Beijing to scrub away another memory of June 4 from Hong Kong.

The Shutdowns Continue Abruptly

Donations for the 612 fund was to stop at end of September

 

The fund that helped financially support those who were arrested or seriously injured during the 2019 anti-government protests abruptly announced it is immediately ending the collection of donations.

Donations to fund stopped today

The 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund made the decision because the Alliance for True Democracy, the group whose bank account it uses, said it will no longer execute payment requests.

This comes after the national security police announced they were investigating the two organizations and ordered them to hand over information, including details of donors and recipients.

"We are deeply conscious of the impact of this turn of events on current applications, and will do our best to look for all possible solutions and relief," the fund said in a statement on Facebook.

The fund is currently seeking legal advice on whether donations made recently can be refunded.

As of Monday the fund said it has about HK$7.2 million in the bank account.

How people are going to continue without this kind of funding is unclear, but it will be particularly hard for those currently in trial or waiting to go to trial and now the money for legal fees has dried up.

City Forum was lively debate show for 40 years

Meanwhile RTHK has cancelled another show which was an outlet for the public to raise their opinions and questions.

Started in 1980, City Forum was a weekly live debate show which invited guests like politicians, academic and opinion leaders to come and discuss topical issues.

The last show was aired on July 18 and talked about the regulation of disposable tableware. It was supposed to start its new season this month.

It had been held every Sunday at Victoria Park or Carpenter Road Park, and in a Wikipedia entry about the show, it says that whenever a pro-democratic politician spoke, pro-Beijing "Victoria Park uncles" would yell outside the forum venue to drown out their voices, or chant, "stray dogs!"

Attendees could directly ask guests questions

But those colourful days were long gone when the pandemic started early last year and the debate was moved indoors. 

On Sunday, RTHK refused to confirm the decision, saying it was an internal management decision, though critics say the decision seeks to silence dissent.

Meanwhile, the RTHK Programme Staff Union warned that cancelling the show would "severely affect" RTHK's fulfillment of its mission to provide "an open platform for the free exchange of views without fear or favour" as stated in its charter.

Chinese University political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung said: "Under the new management, RTHK seems to be trying to avoid critical views being aired in programs so as not to let social harmony be disturbed. The role of the public broadcaster seems to have changed to promoting national identity, patriotism."

He added RTHK owed viewers an explanation of its decision to drop City Forum.

Some claim pro-democracy bias of the show

"It is not just another show," he said. "City Forum has been running for over 40 years. Viewers are expecting it to return. RTHK has a responsibility to explain to the viewers what will happen to City Forum."

But maybe Elizabeth Quat of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong has the real reason behind the show's demise: "I don't think the public will lose much without the program. The public is not presented with balanced views on the program. Pro-government guests are usually unfairly treated because the host is biased towards the opposition camp."

So the truth comes out?

The host, So King-hang, refused to comment.

Almost Half District Councillors Quit over "Patriotism"

Democratic Party head Lo Kin-hei resigned as district councillor

 

Back in November 2019, Hong Kong held its district council elections amid the anti-government protests, and in a landslide, 452 of the 479 directly elected seats were taken by pro-democracy parties. Seventy-one percent of the population cast their votes, an unprecedented turnout in local elections.

However since the national security law was implemented last June and the government has changed the electoral laws, making it a requirement for municipal-level councillors to pledge allegiance and be patriotic before being able to run for office, the situation has changed completely.

The electoral map became almost yellow in 2019

Of the 452 pro-democracy district councillors in all 18 districts, 220 have resigned, including Lo Kin-hei, who is also chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party.

Some are in jail awaiting to face charges for taking part in the primaries that were held last July.

With Lo resigning, it doesn't look like Hong Kong's largest traditional pro-democracy party will take part in the upcoming Legislative Council elections in September.

Lo, the party's youngest ever leader, apologized to his constituency for failing to complete his four-year term and explained his concerns for the new requirements to prove one's "patriotism".

"That kind of uncertainty is a major constraint for me to carry out my community work... I don't want to keep on being threatened for a very long time," he said.

"I don't know when there will be other reasons to deal with district councillors. I think [resigning] is a clearer way to head into the future."

Under a new oath-taking law aimed at removing "unpatriotic"office-holders that took effect in May, authorities have the power to unseat councillors if their pledges were deemed invalid. 

What will this year's election look like?

Sources say the authorities would require those disqualified to return about HK$1 million (US$128,205) in salary and other funds received since taking office.

Ivan Choy Chi-keung, senior lecturer at Chinese University's department of government and public administration, said he was "not optimistic" the Democratic Party would run in September's polls. 

"I think several months ago, there was still such a possibility. But in these few months, the situation has become worse and worse because of the closing of Apple Daily, the arrest of additional members of the democratic camp and also because of the [disqualification] issue," he said.

"The overall political atmosphere is not positive for them to pass a resolution to participate in the future Legislative Council elections."

Choy believes Beijing still wants to have some "so-called democrats" to run to give the appearance of a fair election, and some may take that opportunity to run, which may cause a split in the party. 

Anything can happen between now and September...

HK Censors Movies for National Security

The dystopian film Ten Years would be banned

 

The Hong Kong government has now focused its attention on censoring movies because of the national security law just to make things even worse for the local film industry.

Under the Film Censorship Ordinance, public screening of films will not be allowed if they are found to be "endorsing, supporting, promoting, glorifying or inciting" acts of subversion, secession, terrorism, or collusion with foreign forces.

This documentary was nominated for an Oscar

Films like Ten Years, which was made in 2015 that speculated what would happen to Hong Kong in 10 years (and some of it already came true), would be banned from being screened.

The latest move would ban films like this as well as documentaries like the Oscar-nominated Do Not Split and Inside the Red Brick Wall that covered the 2019 anti-government protests would never be allowed to be shown in Hong Kong.

This kind of censorship was seen earlier with M+, the contemporary art museum due to open at the end of this year was under pressure to now show work deemed anti-China.

Apparently films will be censored by a panel of 40 people appointed by the chief executive. They will review the films and then classify them based on depictions of sex, violence, crime, or any insult to race or religion, among other concerns.

Ai Weiwei's political art puts pressure on M+

The censorship guidelines are developed by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau.

While Tenky Tin Kai-man, chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers says movie professionals will need to seek clarification of the guidelines by the authorities, he said filmmakers would make sure they are not crossing any red lines if they wanted their movies to be shown across the border.

Crucindo Hung Cho-sing, chairman of the Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association, said it would be in the best interests of filmmakers to not touch sensitive topics as their livelihoods are at stake.

"But I believe filmmakers in our association aim to make money. They definitely won't make movies endangering national security," he said.

This protest documentary will also be censored

Grace Leung Kai-kuen, a lecturer at Chinese University's school of journalism and communication, said few movies had been banned in the past, and if they were it was because it was related to pornography.

She worries this latest censorship salvo will further weaken the local film industry.

"Hong Kong movies are already dying. With this, it will worsen their challenges," she said.

Leung noted some local movies carried more critical perspectives than mainland ones.

"Now they will be the same," she said.

Is Hong Kong's Fifth Wave Here?

At least 64 new Covid cases are related to Ursus Fitness

No one has declared it yet, but it feels like Hong Kong is on the cusp of its fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Today the city logged a staggering 60 cases, following an outbreak at a gym in Sai Ying Pun. Ursus Fitness is popular with bankers and lawyers, which resulted in many firms and banks closing their offices because of positive cases, while the trainers there work in different gyms around the city.

Dr Chuang hopes gym outbreak can be controlled

There are 64 cases linked to the gym, while some 360 others are now in quarantine, and 20 preliminary positive cases recorded.

However, health officials are hesitant to call this growing spate of cases Hong Kong's fifth wave.

"I do not wish to see a fifth wave," said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, of the Centre for Health Protection. "I hope it can be controlled, but it has been spreading very fast. One infection has already led to many others."

Indeed. At least 12 other fitness centres were visited by Covid carriers, including in Taikoo Place and Central.

As a result there are now infections recorded in companies like HSBC, China Construction Bank, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, law firm Allen & Overy, while some Citibank employees who went to the affected gyms were told to work from home. 

In addition, at least 14 schools, including international ones have also been affected by cases or taking precautionary measures, such as British Kellet School, French International School, and South Island School.

Hui says the gym could be super spreader cluster

Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert at Chinese University, said the gym outbreak was similar to the dance club cluster in mid-November that ballooned to 732 people -- the largest in Hong Kong since the start of the pandemic.

"I worry the big outbreak at the fitness centre will be the prelude to the fifth wave, but the Centre for Health Protection very quickly quarantined close contacts," Hui told a radio program. "Hopefully that will stop the virus from spreading everywhere in the community. We will need to closely monitor the situation."

He was also concerned the gym could be a "super-spreader cluster" and urged an examination of the ventilation system and check how it is cleaned.

Meanwhile the interest in getting a vaccine has dropped after four people died after getting the Sinovac jab. They also had preexisting health issues, which led to many with high blood pressure and/or diabetes to not get the vaccine. 

Many worried about side effects cancelled jabs

A friend asked if I was going to get the vaccine and said she has an expat neighbour who cannot understand why people are not in a hurry to get the jab. He asked if people wanted the pandemic to end or not.

But for many, the lack of trust in the government has meant people are left fending for themselves and want to make the right choice when it comes to vaccines. They also worry about side effects since the vaccines were developed so quickly without enough long-term data.

Nevertheless, health experts have told the public that getting a jab is better than none at all, but many are waiting to see how others react to it.

Another friend got the jab today. He said there was no line at 9am and it was very efficient. 

At least Hong Kong has that right.

 

Hong Kong's Rising Number of University Dropouts

The numbers of students graduating are decreasing

 

If one needs another sign that Hong Kong's young people are leaving the city, look no further than the university statistics. They show more than 2,100 students dropped out of eight local universities in the 2019-20 year, up 15 percent from 2018-19.

It's the highest number of dropouts since 2004 when this data was first recorded. 

Chinese University was damaged from clashes

The figures were released by the University Grants Committee, the main funding body for the city's public institutions of higher learning, showed that some schools had more dropouts than others, with one as much as a 40 percent increase in 2019-20 compared to the previous academic year.

While most universities cited personal and family issues as the reasons for withdrawals, student leaders said their peers left to study abroad following the anti-government protests in 2019.

There are other surveys showing students in primary and secondary schools dropping out over the past year, including from elite institutions, which indicates they most probably left Hong Kong.

In the 2019-20 academic year, 2,120 undergraduate and postgraduate students withdrew from the city's eight publicly-funded universities, up 15 percent from 1,848 in 2018-19, according to statistics from the grants committee.

While City University and Education University did not see an uptick in dropouts, Polytechnic University saw the biggest drop at 505 students leaving, 40 percent more than the 359 who quit the previous year.

HKU saw a low number of students drop out

Meanwhile the University of Hong Kong saw 357 students leave, the University of Science and Technology had 207 students withdraw, up 36 and 35 percent respectively, and Chinese University had 311 students leave, a 13 percent rise.

The numbers include local and non-local students.

Poly U and Chinese University sustained the most damage during the 2019 protests when protesters occupied the campuses and had clashes with police. 

Edy Jeh Tsz-lam, a student representative of HKU's governing council and former president of the student union, said she believed some dropouts could be non-local students who returned to their home countries because of the coronavirus pandemic, while local students left Hong Kong to study elsewhere.

She heard of students transferring to universities in Taiwan and the UK, while others had quit university to reapply to study other subjects because their personal goals had changed.

"For instance, a friend of mine who was studying law told me [during the 2019 protests] that she was considering quitting university and reapplying for dentistry, as she believed studying law and [entering the legal sector] in Hong Kong was no longer meaningful," Jeh said, citing critics who had declining confidence in the local judicial system.

CUHK saw 13 percent increase in withdrawals

PolyU student union president Alan Wu Wai-kuen said he had peers who had chosen to study elsewhere after dropping out, going to countries like Australia and Canada. 

However officially, Baptist, Polytechnic, Education and Lingnan universities cited personal reasons for why students withdrew, while a Chinese University spokeswoman said students transferring to another local institution or overseas universities was also a major factor.

The dropout figures for 2019-20 were the highest since the 2003-04 academic year, the earliest for which the grants committee data was immediately available. That year about 1,704 students withdrew, while in the 2010-11 year saw the lowest number of students dropout at 1,057. It has hovered around the 1,800 a year since 2015.

But the most recent figures are troubling, and professor Lau Chi-pang of Lingnan University's associate vice-president of academic affairs and external relations says more studies should be conducted to find out the real reasons why students have quit.

Poly U saw biggest drop in students leaving

"The government should maybe also look into the phenomenon. It is not just universities being affected," he said, pointing to the concurrent rise in dropouts at primary and secondary schools. "It is, after all, not an isolated topic."

Lau is right and the government should be worried that a stream of students are leaving or have changed their majors. Are we going to see fewer studying law as Jeh suggested, or even history now that national education will change how the subject is taught in schools? 

Hong Kong's political and social environment continues to deterioriate daily, and the numbers of students leaving are a big red flag.