Another Academic Hastily Flees Hong Kong

Chung wrote he was "reluctantly" leaving Hong Kong

It was disheartening to see another academic leave Hong Kong after he had been visited by the national security police. Political scientist Chung Kim-wah wrote a long post on his Facebook page with pictures of the empty departure area of Hong Kong International Airport.

He said he has to "reluctantly" leave Hong Kong for the UK, but didn't go into details. Instead he wrote about feeling bad about having to leave older parents behind and apologised for not being able to properly say goodbye to people.

"After balancing different factors and considerations, I have no choice but to make this decision," he wrote, and added he would live abroad f\or "a period of time".

Chung's picture of an empty departure area

Chung is the deputy CEO of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, and was assistant professor of the Department of Applied Sciences until January 2020.

In his Facebook post, he said he initially did not think of migrating:

"I was born and raised in Hong Kong. A vast majority of my loved ones are in Hong Kong. I view Hong Kong as the place that cultivated me, and since I was young, I made it my ambition to contribute to Hong Kong and improve society," he wrote.

"Now I can only hope that the skies will be broader, the air fresher... and that I don't have to think about whether the red lines that move arbitrarily will one day target me."

In an article published in Ming Pao on Sunday night, Chung said that he had met national security police but did not elaborate. When asked by the newspaper if this was the reason why he left Hong Kong, he referred to his Facebook post describing his departure as "fleeing the chaos of the Qin dynasty" -- an expression alluding to the turmoil of China's first empire.

Harris was another high profile person who left

Chung's announcement comes two days after he publicly appeared at a PORI news conference about a poll on the public awareness of cannabis products in Hong Kong. 

It seems the national security police are still busy visiting people despite the pandemic. In early March the former head of the Hong Kong Bar Association Paul Harris had a chat with the national security police in Wan Chai earlier and given a warning over an alleged breach of the national security law. Harris would only confirm to Reuters that he had left the city to visit his mother in England.

Harris is a prominent human rights lawyer who was representing two former lawmakers charged in organising the primaries in 2020, and he has been the subject of attacks over the past year.

He expressed concern about the city's rule of law and said the national security law, which was implemented on June 30, 2020, was inconsistent with the Basic Law.

"I am not against the principle of having national security laws, which most countries have for legitimate reasons," he wrote in an article on the Bar Association's website at the time.

"But the Hong Kong NSL excludes certain officials from all legal challenge for their actions."

Beijing claimed Harris was "cheering for independence advocates", and said he was unfit to chair the Bar Association.

Health Officials U-Turn on Media Briefings

 

The 4.30pm press briefings on the pandemic are held everyday

Ever since the first cases of the coronavirus were detected in Hong Kong in late January, the Centre for Health Protection in conjunction with the Hospital Authority have held a 4.30pm press conference practically everyday. 

And the CHP's head of communicable diseases branch, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, has briefed reporters almost every time, except for when her husband was in critical condition with a brain tumour last month, and then a few days after he succumbed to his illness.

Dr Chung has been a fixture at these briefings

She has been the steady voice reporting on Hong Kong's latest news on the pandemic, and for many, a reassuring face every afternoon, though she has lost her patience at reporters who ask her the same question five different ways, or has to explain over and over why she cannot give too detailed information about a case due to privacy issues, or there are too many cases to read out.

At some briefings, more senior officials are present, such as Under Secretary for Food and Health Dr Chui Tak-yi or his boss, Sophia Chan Siu-chee, when new measures are introduced.

It is these question and answer periods that can tease out more information from the CHP and HA, and in the case of senior health officials, making the government accountable for its decisions. 

At these press conferences, everyone wears a mask and surely sanitizes their hands before using the microphone to ask questions. Not one confirmed case has been reported transmitted from these media briefings.

However, late last night the Department of Health abruptly announced the 4.30pm press conference would be moved online, claiming it was a bid to minimize the risk of infection at the Department of Health facilities where the briefings are held.

Secretary for Health Dr Sophia Chan

This notice immediately drew condemnation from media outlets and groups who alleged it was intended to help officials evade tough lines of inquiry and undermined the public's right to know.

The new format of online briefings would have meant that media registration would take place an hour before the conference started each day, and reporters would have to send questions in text form. This meant the traditional Q&A session would have been eliminated, even though the daily sessions would be streamed online.

Seven media groups and outlets issued a joint statement late last night, including RTHK, Next Media and Ming Pao, that this online format would filter out sensitive questions, and that physically-attended briefings had taken place all year long, even when the number of cases were over 100. 

It also added since no infections were detected among the journalists from attending the briefings, then moving to online without consultation was unreasonable. 

"The government can screen out sharp questions with the move. Journalists will also face difficulties posing follow-up questions. This will seriously undermine the public's right to know and press freedom," the statement said.

The group was also concerned this would lead to other government briefings to be held online as well.

Director of Health Constance Chan

Meanwhile the Department of Health hit back, claiming there were a few confirmed cases in the centre last month and so it was important to take caution against group gatherings. 

Soon after the government made a U-turn and allowed the in-person briefings to continue as before, the reversal apparently made by the chief executive herself. 

This afternoon the Director of Health Dr Constance Chan Hon-yee was asked a number of questions from reporters regarding the flip-flop. She claimed another reason was that the audio wasn't working well, but once that was sorted the briefings would go virtual, but Chan was unable to explain why or when.

It's interesting the government did an immediate reversal of its decision to go online, though one wonders if virtual briefings may be forcefully implemented later, leaving reporters no choice but to work within the confines of the new format.

But it would give the public more reason not to trust the government, and as in my previous blog post, lead to resentment to fester further, and that could be unleashed one day...

Labour Day Clashes

Police try to control the crowds that gathered at New Town Plaza tonight

The Hong Kong Police did not allow for a Labour Day march to go ahead like in previous years, citing the current coronavirus pandemic and the need for social distancing, ie groups of four.

Word got out that protesters were planning to have flash mobs in places like Causeway Bay, Sai Ying Pun, Mongkok and Tai Po, which resulted in 3,000 officers out patrolling these areas. In fact they were all over the place, including Kennedy Town and Central -- in groups of eight.

Police officers not practicing social distancing in Mongkok

They were suited up in riot gear complete with handguns. It was unnerving to say the least to follow them down Queen's Road Central, and they walk very slowly...

In the end there weren't flash mobs which must have annoyed the police, who then started harassing anyone nearby. A colleague told me her friend was just walking around Causeway Bay when police stopped her for no good reason.

Protesters instead focused on supporting the "yellow economic circle", patronizing restaurants, shops and services that support the protest movement. There is a list of them online and apparently many were inundated with customers, from hair salons to cafes and restaurants.

While it is an economic boost to these mostly small businesses, it is hardly enough to even begin to shore up the city's financial state. Since 2003 after SARS, Hong Kong has become so dependent on spending by mainlanders visiting, from hotels, restaurants and luxury brands that is exponentially more economic power than local spending.

One hair salon supported by the "Yellow Economic Circle"

Nevertheless, it was a gesture these small businesses probably appreciated greatly.

This evening, hundreds of protesters gathered at New Town Plaza in Sha Tin to sing Glory to Hong Kong, the anti-government protest anthem. They also shouted slogans, like "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times!" before dispersing, though those who were not cooperative were pepper sprayed in the face.

And par for the course, the police roughed up reporters on the scene, accusing them of not respecting social distancing rules of four to a group, when government regulations say this is exempted when it is related to work.

One officer told journalists to clear the mall, saying, "You're no longer documenting, you're gathering and taking part."

How is that even a decent excuse?

A former Civic Party member accosted by police and fined

Meanwhile former Civic Party member Philip Tsang got into an altercation with police, accusing him too of breaching the group gathering ordinance when he was... by himself. He was fined HK$2,000.

Despite the heavy riot police presence, people were undeterred and found empty corridors to gather and shout slogans.

People are still very angry and determined to express themselves to the government and Beijing.

It reminds me of the protest march by thousands of journalists after former Ming Pao editor Kevin Lau Chun-to was attacked by men armed with choppers in 2014.

The slogan shouted back then? "They can't kill us all".

It still pertains to today.

Absurdities Continue in Hong Kong

Reporters silently protest police violence against them during the protests

This past weekend's escalated tactics by the police in an attempt to subdue the protesters only further incensed the public who lost their faith in the force ages ago.

Journalists were particularly fed up with the police, as they have shot their colleagues with rubber bullets, fired pepper spray at them to clear the area while people are being arrested, pushed and shoved them so they can't get a good look at what is going on. Photographers have been arrested too and made to wear chains and handcuffs. Do we still want to bring up the fact that they don't have identification badges on? At most they will just have numbers indicating the detachment they are from, but no unique number for individual officers.

"Investigate police brutality, stop police lies" the sign says

When they are questioned at the daily press conferences about these issues by reporters, the police's answers don't even begin to address what was asked, resulting in utter gaslighting at the force's best.

Last week freelance journalist Amy Ip had enough and tried to vent her frustration at police representatives at the regular press briefing but they walked away and suspended the press conference for half an hour. Some reporters, like Apple Daily, walked out in protest of the police.

The numbers are growing.

This afternoon just as today's regular briefing by the police was just underway, six reporters put on hard hats, each with a Chinese character. Together they read: "查警暴 止警謊", "Investigate police brutality, stop police lies". The police representatives felt the reporters were hijacking the event in the police headquarters, that they should use public space to demonstrate, and were asked to leave many times.

The reporters, from Stand News, RTHK, Ming Pao, AM730, Initium and Inmedia, stood their ground and the police representatives left the room and even turned off the lights, while other reporters said the silent protest was not obstructing anyone and that the briefing should continue.

Instead at 5.30pm the police held a Facebook Live press conference without any media attending. As a result there were no challenges to the police's statements nor could any questions be asked.

HKJA ex-co member and @StandNewsHK Ronson Chan revealed outside police HQs that one journo received a call from newsroom senior, demanding him/her not to wear the helmet and join the protest. Chan appealed to editorial seniors to understand dangers faced by frontline journos. pic.twitter.com/2F2owNKInq

— Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 (@XinqiSu) November 4, 2019

 

Outside police headquarters, Hong Kong Journalists' Association ex-co member and Stand News journalist Ronson Chan said one of the reporters who wore the hard hat in the room earlier received a call from a newsroom editor, demanding he/she not wear the helmet. Chan appealed to senior editorial staff to understand the dangers faced by frontline journalists every minute they are on the streets.

It was later reported that this phone call never happened.... but still it was important to draw attention to how difficult it has been to report on these increasingly dangerous protests.

The "press conference" continued without the media there

Today's events show how the relationship between reporters and police has completely disintegrated, and there are no signs the protests are going to end anytime soon.

Speaking of which, a Hong Kong businessman has come up with a brilliant idea of giving millions of dollars to the person who has the best solution to end the five months-long protests. 

Christopher Chuang is the CEO of a fin-tech company called TGM Group, and he's also a CPPCC member which should be a big hint. He said in a press conference that the top proposal would be awarded HK$1 million, while the best solution picked by a panel of judges will be given HK$7 million.

Chuang, who says he grew up in Hong Kong and loves the city, said the proposal should focus on livelihood issues, though he admits political conflicts are to blame for the current impasse, and that only Hong Kong residents can enter the contest.

Only 100 entries will be chosen, and the ideas cannot be political -- they won't even be considered, he says.

He claims to have gone to the protest sites and talked to many young people as well as the police.

Christopher Chuang will pay good money for a good solution

"I can see the love in the police eyes for these young people. But at the same time I can see the dream, the lost dream of teenagers," Chuang says.

Is he talking about a parallel universe? Last I checked, the police called everyone "cockroaches"...

Chuang means well, but the protests are a political problem. People want accountability, they want to protect whatever freedoms and rights they have left. And that means being able to directly vote for their own leader, not a committee of 1,200 people stacked with pro-Beijing elites.

But he is a pro-Beijing elite himself, so he is unaware of what's really at stake.

The government has tried to ease the housing issue, but that hasn't stopped the protests, neither has tycoon Li Ka-shing's donation of HK$1 billion (US$128 million) to help small- and medium-sized businesses helped calm down the protests either.

So obviously it's not about the money.

Escalated police tactics have resulted in lack of public trust

Chuang is barking up the wrong tree.

Whatever happened to former chief executive Leung Chun-ying's website purporting to give people money for reporting people who committed "crimes" like throwing the Chinese flag into Victoria Harbour? Has he paid anyone out for a successful conviction?

And a footnote to yesterday's crazy bloody attack in Taikoo Shing, where a man bit off district councillor Andrew Chiu Ka-yin's ear?

After hours of surgery today, surgeons managed to re-attach the ear back.

As for the assailant, he was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm rather than grievous bodily harm... to put that into perspective, last month the student who used a box cutter to make a 3cm slash into a policeman's neck in Kwun Tong was charged with attempted murder, wounding with intent and grievous bodily harm.

So it turns out the knife-wielding man speaking Mandarin randomly attacked people in the mall, including a couple, not a family. The attacker has undergone a psychiatric test and found to have
"violent tendencies"...

Hong Kong is getting crazier and crazier, with each week becoming the new normal.

Zhao Ziyang in his Final Resting Place

Zhao Ziyang's and Liang Boqi's family by their grave plot outside Beijing

Back in April 2015, I wrote a blog post that Zhao Ziyang, former premier and general secretary of the People's Republic of China, would finally be laid to rest, as the senior leadership agreed he could be buried together with his wife. But it took another four years to decide where.

In a very low-key ceremony outside Beijing today, his children buried the cremated remains of Zhao, who died in 2005 and his wife, Liang Boqi, who passed away in 2013. It has taken this long for them to be buried because the senior leadership didn't make a decision for years until now, a day after what would have been Zhao's 100th birthday.

Zhao tried to tell the students to leave Tiananmen Square

"We feel relieved that our parents can finally rest in peace," said Zhao's daughter Wang Yannan. "But we also feel regret that it took such a long time and back and forth discussion with the authorities. It still feels surreal that this day has finally come.

"We feel guilty about not being able to inform everybody about today's [burial] in advance," she added. "Please understand we did not have much choice."

The family had been negotiating with the senior leadership about Zhao's final resting place since their mother passed away six years ago, and in all this time the children kept their parents' cremated remains at their old Beijing home.

Originally the government wanted to keep Zhao's remains in a cemetery for officials, but the Zhao family wanted more control and access. So it was a victory for Zhao's family to be able to finally choose where to he and their mother would be buried.

This book features Zhao's memoirs

Zhao will be forever remembered as a liberal reformer who felt as China was opening up with economic reforms, of which he was a leading proponent, political reforms were the next logical step.

When the students occupied Tiananmen Square in 1989 demanding democracy, he tried to warn them on May 19 that year, telling them to leave the square. After that he was stripped of his position, expelled from the Communist Party and was under house arrest for the rest of his life.

On the evening of June 4, he recalled in his memoirs, recorded on cassette tapes that were then smuggled out of his home and published in Hong Kong, that he heard pop-pop sounds and realized it was the PLA soldiers opening fire on the students in Tiananmen Square. He was resigned to the fact he could not do more to save them.

"Zhao is a ghost that haunts the Chinese Communist Party," says Julian Gewirtz, a China historian at Harvard University. "He represents a different path for China's rise -- one profoundly different from Xi Jinping today.

"To some he is a martyr who sought to stop the violent crackdown of 1989, and to others -- in the official line -- he's an enemy who sought to bring down socialism in China," he added.

Imagine what would have happened if the senior leadership had agreed with Zhao and talked to the students to negotiate some kind of compromise. China would be vastly different from what it is today, and even Hong Kong would be in a very different situation it is in now.

Zhao lived under house arrest until his death in 2005

Deng Xiaoping's hard line approach, encouraged by the likes of Li Peng, has shaped the CCP to what it is today. Zhao lost that ideological and political battle and that fallout forever changed China.

Which is why there are still many people, former officials, intellectuals and dissidents, who paid tribute to Zhao on the anniversaries of his birth and death at his old Beijing home. Now they can visit the burial plot, 60km from the capital city.

In a letter published in Ming Pao newspaper on Monday in Hong Kong, Zhao's children wrote that their father's time as premier and Communist Party general secretary in the 1980s was an era of bold change and intellectual ferment that is in striking contrast to China today.

"That truly was an exciting time that caused people's hearts to jump. The whole country was prospering, officialdom and the public, in power and out, worked in tandem," they wrote.

Many people would pay respects to Zhao at his old home

"These days we're confronted with ideological regression and doctrinal shortcomings. There is a spiritual malaise the likes of which hasn't been seen for a century."

In a conversation Zhao had with his friend Zong Fengming, that was later published in 2010, the former general secretary said: "China's failure to transform toward democracy runs against the global tide. Sooner or later we must take that path."

Zhao is probably still waiting, patiently.

A Literary Giant Passes Away

Wuxia novelist Louis Cha or Jin Yong has died in Hong Kong at 94 years old

Big apologies for not blogging everyday -- I have been on a cruise where internet service is spotty not to mention expensive!

But before I continue writing about my trip to Italy and Spain, there's sad news in Hong Kong that Chinese martial arts novelist and journalist Louis Cha Leung-yung has passed away at the age of 94 after a long illness.

Tributes have been pouring in from the likes of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to Alibaba chairman Jack Ma Yun.

I only knew Cha as a wuxia novelist who used the pen name Jin Yong and lots of people loved reading his stories about kung fu masters in ancient China that combined Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. His novels -- over 100 million copies sold worldwide -- were transposed onto the big screen and even made into video games and graphic novels.

Only now did I know that he was the founder of the Ming Pao newspaper, after having made money from serializing his novels in the New Evening Post. Ming Pao was apparently started by four people in 1957, including Cha, who was its editor-in-chief and the paper was mainly a vehicle to serialize his stories.

Cha was born in Hangzhou in 1924 and graduated from the Law School of Suzhou in 1948 in international law with the intention of becoming diplomat. To make some money as a student, he began working as a journalist and translator for Ta Kung Pao newspaper in Shanghai and then a year later continued working for the same paper in Hong Kong.

He then left Ta Kung Pao in 1955 and published his first martial novel, The Book and the Sword in the New Evening Post that became an instant success, which spurred him to write 14 other very popular martial arts novels, the last one called The Deer and the Cauldron in 1972.

On appreciating his novels, Cha admitted readers would need "some training in Chinese thinking to understand", describing his books as "traditional Chinese novels in their themes, morals or philosophies".

Cha's 15 novels have been translated into English, French, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese, Malay and Indonesian.

"Martial arts for me are just an instrument, a sugar coating. They can be used as a way of expressing my artistic ideas," Cha said. Those ideas, according to him, were distinctly anti-feudal and liberal.

When it comes to his political stance it seems it was not so straight forward.

His editorials in 1966 were critical of China's Cultural Revolution, writing that it threatened the destruction of Chinese culture and tradition. He was said to be on a list of prominent people targeted for assassination that was published in left-wing newspapers during the 1967 riots in Hong Kong because of his critical stance against Beijing.

However, when China and Britain reached an agreement on Hong Kong's handover in 1997, Cha was appointed by Beijing in 1985 to be a member of the Basic Law Drafting Committee, Hong Kong's mini constitution. But after the Tiananmen Square massacre, he resigned in protest in 1989.

He later was part of the Preparatory Committee set up by the Chinese government in 1996 to monitor the transfer of sovereignty. Perhaps it was because then leader Deng Xiaoping was a fan of Cha's novels; Cha was the first non-Communist member from Hong Kong to meet Deng.

But others felt the best-selling author was a sell-out for agreeing to Beijing's proposal of that the first three Hong Kong chief executives should be elected by a "broadly representative" committee, a move that hindered the timetable for universal suffrage.

Nevertheless, Cha will be remembered more for his novels that transported readers into a chivalrous fantasy past and his massive contribution to Hong Kong and China's contemporary literary culture. 

Questions Over Missing Billionaire

A file photo of Xiao Jianhua, who has disappeared from Hong Kong

There are reports that a mainland Chinese billionaire was taken away from his apartment in the Four Seasons Hong Kong and taken across the border on Friday.

The latest is that Xiao Jianhua, 46, was last seen leaving the hotel in Central with a group of people. And then it was reported he crossed the border to Shenzhen at 3pm that day.

It's all very mysterious, but It is eerily reminiscent of the five booksellers who went missing over a year ago.

He was last seen at the Four Seasons Hong Kong (left)

This time it's not sure what has happened to Xiao, as he is considered to be highly connected to Beijing circles.

He's been known to be a banker to Beijing elites and their relatives, and made many business deals in areas from banking to coal, cement, insurance and property that have made him and his company Tomorrow Group worth about US$5.8 billion.

However suspicions arose this week when two statements were issued in Xiao's name apparently on his WeChat account claiming he was on the mainland.

The first one, issued on Monday said: "I, Xiao Jianhua, am recuperating overseas now and all is good! Business is normal at Tomorrow Group!"

The second statement released yesterday said the tycoon had not been "captured" and taken back to the mainland, and would appear "very soon after the treatment".

Xiao is highly connected to Beijing

It added Xiao was a Canadian citizen, and that he enjoyed consular protection from Canada, and as a Hong Kong permanent resident, he was covered by the city's laws. He was even quoted as saying he held a "diplomatic passport", that was issued from Antigua.

"I have diplomatic protection as I hold a diplomatic passport. Please don't worry about me," it said.

These two statements were later deleted from the account.

Then today there was an ad taken out in Ming Pao newspaper that basically reiterated the second statement, and said Wang loved his country and had never been involved in any situation that might damage the country's interests or the government's image, or supported an opposition organization.

It's all very strange, as Xiao is considered to be very well connected, but the two messages and in particular the advertisement seem very contrived and hard to believe. Why would anyone take out an ad like that?

If these messages were meant to be reassurances, they had the opposite reaction. Just because a mainlander has a Canadian passport means nothing to Beijing -- especially if he did not cross the border using his passport (with a visa in it).

This case may not garner as much sympathy in Hong Kong because Xiao is a mainlander, but the principle is the same -- a Hong Kong resident cannot be taken across the border against his will which is in Article 28 of the Basic Law.

Here we have the chills again, that anyone can be spirited away across the border without any signs. The fact that he was taken away in such a public place is quite daring.

We will have to see what happens, but it may be weeks or months before we hear something...

Blank Protest Full with Meaning

Ming Pao ran a picture of ginger, alluding to Keung Kwok-yuen

We appreciate that three Ming Pao columnists protested against the sacking of executive editor Keung Kwok-yuen earlier this week by submitting blank column spaces that ran.

In today's Life section, the paper ran empty spots by Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, founding leader of the Civic Party, and Eva Chan Sik-chee, a former Ming Pao journalist, with just headlines criticizing the decision to fire Keung on Wednesday.

Ng Chi-sum, a veteran media personality, also left his column blank, save for a line to explain his headline. It was quoted from a poem written by demonstrators of the 1976 Tiananmen Incident in protesting the removal of displays of mourning following Premier Zhou Enlai's death.

Today's blank spaces where columns should have ran

The line reads: "In my grief I hear demons shriek; I weep while wolves and jackals laugh."

The Ming Pao Staff Association reports that chief editor Chong Tien Siong had tried to stop running the blank columns.

In the association's Facebook post, it said Chong, who had been on leave, suddenly returned to work Saturday night and did not want to feature the blank columns, but this was already an hour after the pages had been typeset.

After discussions, the blank columns were kept, but an editor's note was included, reiterating the paper's decision to sack Keung was for cost-cutting purposes, and that the paper's editorial stance had not changed.

Because of this additional note, the pages had to be reprinted.

Blank pages in 2014 protested against Kevin Lau's dismissal

The association says it was very "angry" and "disappointed" with Chong's alleged attempt to obstruct freedom of expression, adding his decision to stop the printing process resulted in economic losses for Ming Pao.

The front page of the paper also featured a large piece of ginger, alluding to Keung, as his name in Cantonese is similar to the word ginger.

This is not the first time Ming Pao has run columns blank in protest.

When Chong replaced former chief editor Kevin Lau Chun-to in 2014, several writers, including Chan and Ng protested with empty spaces where their columns should have been.

It sounds like troubling times at Ming Pao have just escalated several notches -- a war between the chief editor and its staff are not a good thing. In the end, who will prevail?

HK Press Freedom Under Threat?

Chong (holding microphone) talked to staff this morning about the layoffs

Today is yet another bad day for press freedom in Hong Kong.

Ming Pao abruptly fired one of its top editors as well as some other editorial staff apparently because of budget cuts, but many don't see the financial excuse as the real reason.

Executive editor Keung Kwok-yuen and others were let go, and some staffers wondered if the move was meant to punish "dissidents of editorial decisions" like Keung.

Keung Kwok-yuen was a highly respected editor at Ming Pao

A Ming Pao Staff Association spokesperson said Keung was fired by his boss, chief editor Chong Tien Siong at midnight this morning with immediate effect.

"We are extremely angry and upset about it," the spokesperson said.

Keung could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile a Ming Pao Group spokesperson explained the company had little choice but to lay off staff, including senior personnel in business and editorial departments.

The cut in staff is a recurring refrain in Hong Kong media these days, particularly print. Earlier this month Sing Tao News Corporation announced a pay cut of up to 20 percent of its senior news executives.

During a meeting with Ming Pao staff, Chong described Keung as his "most competent aide", and that he and Keung were the best paid employees in the newsroom, and that he was prepared to go if management decided so.

Editor Kevin Lau Chun-to was also let go, back in 2014

Keung is known for covering politically sensitive issues, such as the July 1 protest march in 2003 against Article 23 where some half a million people came out to the streets, and the campaign against national education in 2012.

"We express our utmost regret that a veteran and objective journalist like Keung... was no longer [welcome] at Ming Pao," said a joint statement from the Hong Kong Journalists Association and six industry unions.

His dismissal comes after more news about Hong Kong tycoons named in the Panama Papers was reported on the front page of Ming Pao today.

Chong took over Ming Pao in 2014 and is said to be a close ally to owner, fellow Malaysian Tiong Hiew King, a pro-Beijing businessman. The staff were surprised by Chong's appointment because of his lack of local knowledge.

He replaced Kevin Lau Chun-to who was chief editor at the time; you may recall Lau was later attacked by men with choppers.

Newspaper staff held a "pens down" protest earlier this year

On Chong's first day, staff surrounded his office and asked him to sign a charter of press freedom. Reporters asked him if Ming Pao would turn into a pro-government newspaper, but he replied he didn't know because he wasn't the chief editor at the time.

Then in February last year, Chong changed the front page of the paper after midnight, from a report on confidential documents about Tiananmen in 1989 that was already approved by top-level editors -- to a story about Alibaba chief Jack Ma Yun.

He later explained the decision was made according to "the logic of news", that the report on the Tiananmen documents was unchanged and published on other pages. Chong never explained what he meant by "the logic of news"...

The union didn't accept this explanation and held a one-hour "pens down" protest.

It doesn't sound like Chong has made many friends at Ming Pao since he was brought in about two years ago. And firing yet another respected editor is not the way to win brownie points.

Is this the tipping point to lead to a mass exodus of staff? Or are economic conditions such that people don't have much choice, but to stay because they at least have a job?

Tough times.

US Report says Hong Kong's Freedoms Declining

The US State Department has observed a decline in freedoms in Hong Kong

The US State Department has issued its latest report on human rights practices around the world and notes a fall in freedoms in Hong Kong.

Compiled by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the annual document called Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, and Hong Kong is reported as a section under China.

The report cites the missing booksellers case as a concern

In it, the report mentions the five missing booksellers, saying that "credible reports" point to the involvement of "mainland security officials" in the disappearance of five booksellers who disappeared between October and December in Hong Kong and Thailand.

The report claims "credible reports gave rise to widespread suspicions" that mainland security officials were involved in their disappearance and that the incident "has raised concerns about the activities of mainland security forces in Hong Kong".

In addition, it cited "international and local media reports in late 2014", suggesting that mainland's Ministry of State Security "deployed operatives in Hong Kong to surveil critics of the central government's policies".

Another is rejecting Johannes Chan's appointment at HKU

This is not new, but interesting the report points this out now, and says targets included pro-democracy figures, activists, lawyers, academics, businessmen and religious leaders. "In one reported case, police arrested men alleged to have been part of a ministry surveillance team that was following a pro-democracy legislator, but released them shortly thereafter," the report says.

In response, the Hong Kong government said law enforcement officers outside the special administrative region did not have authority to enforce laws locally unless properly authorized.

We're not talking about enforcing local laws -- we're talking about mainland agents coming to the city and doing outright surveillance for information gathering. Is there something in the Basic Law about that?

The report also cites concerns for academic freedom when the University of Hong Kong rejected the appointment of law professor Johannes Chan Man-mun to a senior managerial post because of his close ties with Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a co-founder of the Occupy Central Movement.

Chan was rejected due to his ties with Benny Tai (above)

In addition, there are observations in the report that the city has declined in its position in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index and verbal and physical attacks on journalists, including the firebombing last year of former Apple Daily boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and the 2014 stabbing of former Ming Pao editor Kevin Lau Chun-to.

At least someone is closely observing what's going on in Hong Kong and reporting it... but will something be done about it?

HK Police Sweetens Image with Milk Tea

Hong Kong Police try to soften their image -- with milk tea, not tear gas

The Hong Kong police is trying hard to present a positive public image after the bad impression it left from handling protesters during last year's Occupy Movement.

Chief superintendent Steve Hui Chun-tak, nicknamed "Four O'Clock Hui Sir" for his 4pm briefings everyday during the 79-day protest, is moving on to become district commander of Sham Shui Po next month.

Steve Hui (left) with his successor Joseph Au with milk tea

His replacement is chief superintendent Joseph Au Chin-chau, who admits preferring to be more low key. His previous position was head of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau, dealing with such cases as the chopper attack on former Ming Pao editor Kevin Lau Chun-to, and an alleged bomb plot hatched at an abandoned ATV studio complex in Sai Kung.

So if Au doesn't want to be in the limelight, speaking out on behalf of the Hong Kong Police will be a cartoon character called Kong, who will prepare and serve the city's famous beverage, milk tea at the force's headquarters, and report gossip or stories from other officers.

Kong will also be featured in a comic book story each week on the force's Facebook page, where he will convey anti-crime messages.

"Milk tea is a classic drink that we cannot live without in daily life," said a police source who requested anonymity. "We want to use it as a link to bond with the community and attract young supporters as they love reading comics."

Hui was nicknamed Four O'Clock Hui for his news briefings

Some frontline officers speaking on condition of anonymity, were not impressed by this new PR strategy. They didn't understand how milk tea had anything to do with their work and were concerned the cartoon character would invite further ridicule.

We too have to wonder about this milk tea strategy. Does the Hong Kong Police think it can win more supporters one cup at a time? Or drowning locals in milk tea laced with caffeine will bring about a softer opinion about police officers? And are Hong Kong people really that infantile in that they only way to get through to them is by writing comic books?

Either way it seems rather silly.

Sounds like it's time to go back to the drawing board...

A 12-year-old's Sorry Saga

Siu Yau-wai (right) with his grandmother with an uncertain future ahead

The story about 12-year-old Siu Yau-wai has ended just as strangely as it began.

After his grandmother read about a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide in Repulse Bay and was found not to have Hong Kong identification papers, Siu's grandmother Chow Siu-chuen went public.

According to Chow, Siu was born across the border, but his father was in an industrial accident, and his mother had breast cancer; they felt the boy was a "bad omen" and abandoned him.

Chow somehow picked him up when he was three and smuggled him across the border. Since then he has been growing up in her home with her elderly husband in Hong Kong and home schooled, but terrified they would be found out.

With the help of Federation of Trade Unions legislator Chan Yuen-han, Siu and Chow managed to get the boy temporary papers from the Immigration Department.

However the issue of Siu's status created a massive uproar in Hong Kong. Some felt the city should be compassionate to the boy and let him stay regardless, since he has spent most of his life here already, while others say he is technically a mainlander and should go back to where he came from.

Then Ming Pao newspaper reported the Public Security Bureau had found the boy's parents and that the father was never in an industrial accident, and that the family actually had an older son.

The grandmother and boy were harassed so much by people who call themselves localists, that they had to move to another location, but even then they were found out.

Yesterday the pair gave up and went to the Immigration Department to surrender and were driven to the border, where Siu's parents were supposed to be there to receive him.

But no one was there and the grandmother and grandson were left on their own, confused and not sure what to do. The boy is now stuck back on the mainland, but has no Chinese identity papers, rendering him stateless yet again.

To describe this entire incident as a mess is an understatement.

It seems each person involved was trying to do what they thought was in the best interests for the boy, but it ended up being even worse.

If it is true Siu's family has an older son, then maybe Siu was undocumented in the first place and may not have a hukou or household registration, allowing him access to education and basic social services.

That may be why his grandmother took him to Hong Kong in the hopes that he would at least have a roof over his head and be looked after, but not having any status in the city made it difficult for him to get any kind of schooling, medical and social services.

Not having clearly thought out what they wanted to do, and the added pressure of localists harassing them exacerbated the situation.

Siu really fell through the loopholes in both the Chinese and Hong Kong systems, and if any or both of these governments cared, they would resolve to fix the problem as soon as possible.

As child advocates point out, children don't choose to be in these situations and its the adults and governments that need to have the best interests of these young people in mind.

The 12-year-old's story has probably left those who are still in hiding to continue to hide, for fear of the backlash that may erupt, and also further dividing Hong Kong over its treatment of stateless children.

Sliding Press Freedoms

On this map, green is "free", yellow is "partly free", purple is "not free"

Yet another ranking of world press freedom has been released and Hong Kong has slid further down the list which is a sad sign of the city's reputation.

Freedom House, a concern group, has ranked Hong Kong 83rd in press freedom, down from last year's 74th place, and 71st in 2013.

The city's new position puts it in the company of such countries as Egypt, Turkey and Central Africa. The survey ranked 199 countries and territories with the categories of "free", "partly free", and "not free".

Hong Kong has maintained its status as "partly free", but the mainland was ranked as "not free" in 186th place. Taiwan was in 48th spot as "free".

The report's title this year is "Discarding Democracy: Return to the Iron Fist" which seems to aptly apply to China, Russia and North Korea.

The watchdog said in its report on Hong Kong that Beijing's enormous economic power and influence had allowed it to exert "considerable indirect pressure" on the city's media that has led to growing self-censorship.

It said the environment for press freedom had deteriorated further in 2014 as "physical attacks against journalists increased, massive cyberattacks crippled widely read news sites at politically significant moments, and businesses withdrew advertising from outlets that were critical of Beijing  and supporters of pro-democracy protesters".

Freedom House was referring to the attack on former Ming Pao chief editor Kevin Lau Chun-to last February, attacks on journalists during the Occupy protests, and the website of Apple Daily that was hit by major cyberattacks and financial institutions withdrawing advertising from the paper founded by Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.

Sham Yee-lan, chairwoman of the Journalists Association, wasn't surprised by the results, saying polls of journalists and the public here showed similar sentiments.

Norway and Sweden shared top spot in the ranking, while the United States and Britain were ranked 31st and 38th respectively, and at the bottom were North Korea (199), Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (both 197).

For Hong Kong to drop further down the ranking reflects the situation of the city government anxious to follow Beijing's lead, and ignore the needs of residents. There is also the further politicization of issues, that leads to polarization of opinions, making it harder to come to some kind of middle ground.

While the public cares about Hong Kong's press freedom, does its leaders? That is the most telling sign.

Hiding from Reality

Where is Leung Chai-yan? Does she want to be in show business or not?

The saga of the Hong Kong Chief Executive's daughter continues. Leung Chai-yan rebels against her traditional-sounding parents, apparently harms herself and broadcasts it on Facebook. Then she does a television interview, giving the audience a hint about life growing up in the Leung household.

But then Leung makes a 180-degree turn, saying how wonderful her father is, then goes back to her wayward ways.

She decides she doesn't want to pursue the boring profession of law and would rather be in show business instead and signs up to be one of the leads in a romantic comedy directed by Wynn Lau Chun-fai.

However, she doesn't show up for the press conference and disappears yet again.

The latest is that she hasn't shown up for work and the crew have lost contact with her for almost two weeks. Filming was supposed to start this past Sunday.

The "schedule has been made messy because of Chai-yan," Lau said. "We are fed up with her. If she fails to show up or give a concrete reply soon, we may have to consider legal action."

There had been rumours Leung wanted to quit the film so her parents forked out a lot of money to compensate the production company. But Lau said he never heard anything about her not wanting to do the romantic comedy anymore.

While Lau does not regret signing up Leung for the film tentatively titled Male Extreme Search Light, he admitted perhaps production would be smoother without her.

In a recent Ming Pao interview, Leung said her parents had no problem with her acting, but they had mixed opinions about Lau, who had produced or directed adult films. He worked on the erotic film Temptation Summary and its sequel, and several thrillers.

"Does making Category III movies make me a cheap director?" Lau asked. "Ang Lee has also directed Category III films. Is Ang Lee cheap?" Lau added, referring to Lee's award-winning Lust, Caution.

Ah the drama! Leung is obviously lacking a serious dose of professionalism -- does she want to be in show business or not? Why is she throwing away a decent opportunity to show off her acting chops?

That's what we're all dying to know.

Either someone behind the scenes is trying to do damage control, or Leung has some major personal issues to work out...

Where's HK's Press Freedom?

Press freedom in colours from yellow: satisfactory to black: difficult situation

As if Hong Kong needed further indication that its media landscape is deteriorating, Reporters Without Borders has released its annual report with the city dropping to its lowest ever position since the rankings came out in 2002.

Hong Kong is now at 70th place in terms of press freedom, compared to 61st last year, and 58th in 2013.

In 2002 the city was ranked 18th, and then plunge to 56th the following year.

The international media watchdog cited some events in the past year that were cause for concern, including the knife attack on former Ming Pao editor Kevin Lau Chun-to, suspicions that Beijing had a hand in the sudden closure of pro-democracy website House News, and accusations that there was self-censorship in the media on covering the Umbrella Movement protests.

For some perspective, China was ranked 176th of 180 countries, also its lowest ranking since it began, while Taiwan was at 51st place, and Japan 61st.

Hong Kong Journalists Association chairman Sham Yee-lan blamed the Leung Chun-ying administration. "The government has shown no respect to the press. Our officials now like to write blogs, instead of hosting proper press conferences, to discuss public policy issues," she said.

Press freedom is measured by the degree of freedom reporters, media and netizens enjoy and the efforts made by governments to ensure respect for this freedom.

Hong Kong is the tiny orange dot next to China...

The index is compiled using information compiled from questionnaires sent to partner organizations around the world as well as local journalists, researchers and human rights activists.

In an overall statement, the group said: "Beset by wars, the growing threat from non-state operatives, violence during demonstrations and the economic crisis, media freedom is in retreat on all five continents.

"Two-thirds of the 180 countries surveyed for the 2015 index performed less well than in the previous year," it said.

Finland topped the list for the fifth year in the row, followed by Norway and Denmark. In last place was the African nation of Eritrea, then North Korea and Turkmenistan in Central Asia. The United States was ranked 49th, down three places.

Hong Kong's ranking is utterly disappointing, but not surprising. The biggest concern is what will be done about the situation, and sadly probably not much, given the current climate of Beijing taking a keener interest in Hong Kong affairs following the Occupy protests.

It's a sad state of affairs when reporters have to find out the latest government news on websites, eerily replicating what's done in China (particularly on Friday afternoons), and there is little opportunity for reporters to engage with officials and hold them accountable for their statements or actions.

When journalists cannot do their jobs, then how can the public find out what's really going on? They too are distrustful of the government. This lack of information only exacerbates tensions between the authorities and the people, resulting in further disillusionment.

Does this mean another Umbrella Movement brewing as we speak?