National Security for Six-Year-Olds and Up

Back in 2012 students protested against national education

 

After the massive protests against national education in 2012, it is back on the curriculum as early as this coming September. Students as young as six years old will learn about the national security law and know which offenses constitute a breach of the law.

Six years old.

When I was at that age I learned how to cross the street street safely, and basic manners, not how collusion with foreign forces, secession, subversion and terrorism could get you life in prison.

A deceptively friendly cover on national security

But this is what teachers are expected to teach students starting from this September. Pupils will also have to learn the Chinese national anthem, know the flag-raising etiquette, and the importance of central government agencies in Hong Kong.

This comes after the 2019 anti-government protests, where a large number of those arrested were students, and the authorities believe more needs to be done to encourage patriotism and a better understanding of China.

There are seven documents that cover all the grades, and specifically instruct schools to ban any display of words or materials around campus that may endanger national security, prevent teachers from approaching national security as a debatable manner, and bar outsiders from conducting activities on campus involving political propaganda.

While public and government schools must strictly follow these guidelines, international and private schools must ensure that all students have a good understanding of the national security law.

Students actively protested in 2019-20

An education bureau spokesman said the purpose of the law, imposed by Beijing last June, was to prevent, stop and punish acts that endangered national security, and schools had an important role to play in achieving the first goal.

"[Schools should] ensure all staff uphold professional ethics, abide by the law and the behavioural norms acceptable to society, as well as enhancing the prevention and stopping any unlawful teaching activities, while taking precautionary measures and handling any unlawful activities occurring on campus."

Many students took part during the protests last year, from forming human chains outside school gates, and chanting slogans and displaying them on campus. Pro-Beijing critics blame educators for encouraging such disobedience.

As a result, the guidelines specify that national security is of great importance and that "there is no room for debate or compromise". 

There are expectations that teachers will not treat it as a controversial issue for discussion and instead give students facts and rationales about national security, "such as historical background, moral standards and legal principles, and clearly point out that safeguarding national security is the responsibility of all nationals".

Tin says guidelines are heavy-handed

If students are found to be chanting slogans, singing political songs, or displaying slogans on campus, they must be immediately reported to the police community relations officer, and if there is a "grave or emergency situation", then the police should be called immediately.

Tin Fong-chak is vice-president of the 100,000-strong Professional Teachers Union and a secondary school teacher. He said the guidelines were stricter than expected and would affect teacher-student relations.

"The guidelines have gone into so much micro detail that the government is actually taking total control of the schools on how they should handle national security-related issues on campus," Tin said. He questioned whether the government trusted educators' ability to handle the subject.

Tin also said it was not unusual for schools to invite politicians of all stripes to come speak to students, as well as activists and non-governmental agencies. With the guidelines saying that "outsiders" were banned, did this mean schools would be crossing the red line? "Students would feel fear when talking about national security," he said.

Hins Tsang is a form six student and spokesman for the student group Hong Kong Ideologist and went as far as saying the new guidelines went against constitutional rights.

Students participating in 2019 human chain protest

"Exerting political pressure on schools will not make students more patriotic," he said. "The Basic Law guarantees that we have freedom of speech, but now the guidelines say there is something we cannot debate in schools. How absurd it is!"

As for banned books or posters, Hins added: "We would question if teachers or school headmasters have the ability to judge whether a book or a phrase in a book is anti-national security or not. Do we expect the schools to call the police to judge for them?"

There are many concerns about these guidelines, but they will be implemented regardless of the uproar from teachers and students, and probably many parents too, many of whom participated in the 2019 protests.

Perhaps the government is secretly hoping students will become so patriotic that they will reveal their parents' political leanings much like the Cultural Revolution, or it will be the taboo subject in school that no one dares to talk about on campus grounds, but widely discussed elsewhere.

Who knew over eight years after it was shelved, national education would be firmly back on the curriculum and no opposition allowed?

National Anthem Urges Hongkongers to Rise Up

March of the Volunteers urges people to rise up

The Chinese national anthem, March of the Volunteers was written by Tian Han. He was a drama activist, playwright and leader of revolutionary music and films, translator and poet.

He joined the Communist Party in 1932 and wrote numerous one-act plays and screenplays. During the Sino-Japanese War, he composed a dozen librettos for Chinese opera encouraging resistance against the Japanese.

Tian Han wrote the lyrics

After 1949 Tian was president of the Beijing Experimental School of Traditional Opera, chairman of the Chinese Dramatists' Association, and vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. He wrote and adapted plays and librettos like The White Snake in 1958, and a play called Xie Yaohuan, about a great dramatist from the Yuan dynasty.

However, by 1964 the play was attacked for being a veiled criticism of chairman Mao Zedong. As a result Tian was persecuted by the Gang of Four during the Cultural Revolution and died in jail. In 1979 he was posthumously rehabilitated by Beijing.

Which makes it ironic that the lyrics Tian wrote for March of the Volunteers in 1934 were adopted as the country's national anthem, that by the way is only one minute and 27 seconds long.

It is this anthem that the Chinese authorities insist everyone in Hong Kong must pay respects by standing up for it -- even if you are in wheelchair bound and singing the song. If the anthem is altered in any way, the accused if convicted could face up to three years in prison or a HK$50,000 fine.

This afternoon several pan-democrats made a valiant effort to explain to the Legislative Council why Hong Kong does not need to implement the national anthem bill. They explained that other countries asked that people respect the anthem, in the case of the United States to stand up and put their right hand across their heart, but there are no particular punishments or fines for not doing so.

Over 360 people were arrested today

Others said that forcing this bill down people's throats just made the regime less palatable to the public and even worse, could the pro-establishment lawmakers face themselves in the mirror for passing this bill when hundreds of people outside around Hong Kong were being arrested for trying to protest against it?

Indeed over 360 people were arrested today, many of them young people for just expressing their opinion about the national anthem bill. All they did was shout slogans and sing Glory to Hong Kong, or just wear a T-shirt that said: "Stand with Hong Kong".

Thousands of police officers swarmed the city and pounced on anyone to them had the potential for dissent. One officer even said on a loud speaker: "Originally, if you didn't come out, nothing would happen. Stop shouting slogans, you know there is no use. I urge you to leave before you are arrested and taken to court.

Police were heavy handed with protesters

Go back to your office. Go back to your normal life".

But people in Hong Kong don't have a normal life now -- they are literally pondering their existence in the city.

One local journalist, Mary Hui summed up today succinctly in one of her tweets today: "What we're seeing in Hong Kong today is a vivid portrayal of a hugely paranoid state that is acutely aware of its absolute lack of legitimacy among the populace. Why else detain dozens of pedestrians at a time, & have heavily armed riot police on seemingly every other street corner?"

Perhaps the greatest irony is that March of the Volunteers' lyrics are a call to action, urging people to rise up against oppression:

Lots of pepper balls and pepper spray were used

Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!

With our fresh and blood, let us build a new Great Wall!

As China faces its greatest peril

From each one the urgent call to action comes forth.

Arise! Arise! Arise!

Millions of but one heart

Braving the enemies' fire! March on!

Braving the enemies' fire! March on!

March on! March on, On!

Another Dark Day in Hong Kong

Lam Cheuk-ting rips up the rules of procedure as lawmakers are ejected

When it comes to the procedures and rules in the Legislative Council, they don't mean anything anymore. It's not about electing people into office, it's about who exerts more brute force.

Presiding member of the House Committee Chan Kin-por was ensconced at the podium before the meeting to elect the chair of the committee began at 11am, and he was surrounded by several Legco security staff who were obviously doing Beijing's bidding to not only prevent pan-democrat lawmakers from getting at him, but also physically restraining them and forcefully ejecting them from the chambers.

Chan Kin-por sits securely behind a security cordon

One of them, Ted Hui Chi-fung tried to break through the cordon of guards surrounding Chan, but he was lifted up by four guards who then dragged him on the ground. Chan even said: "Do not struggle. You are hurting the security guards."

Later sitting on the ground in a corridor with a security guard watching over him, Hui says he felt someone kick him in the chest, which led him to have trouble breathing. He was later checked over in the hospital and diagnosed chest injuries.

Hui said he had never been treated so forcefully in Legco before and pan-democrats believe many of these security guards are former policemen, and that they have lost impartiality.

At one point Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting stood on a bench as he ripped out pages of the rules of procedure in protest. But really what he was doing literally illustrated what was going on.

It was after 15 of the 20 pan-democrat lawmakers were physically removed from Legco (and not allowed back in) did the voting begin of who would chair the House Committee, and lo and behold, Starry Lee Wai-king "won" the "election" at 40 votes to zero! How about that! A unanimous decision!

Ted Hui being forcefully dragged out of Legco

Civic Party leader Dennis Kwok Wing-hang had presided over the previous meetings as incumbent Lee had to  step aside as she is up for re-election in September. But apparently that rule doesn't mean anything anymore.

So the pro-establishment literally fought for control of the election of who chairs the House Committee, and in this case won handily, if not illegally.

Tanya Chan Suk-chong, convenor of the pro-democracy bloc and the first to be removed from the chamber, said they would not endorse the election results.

"Hong Kong people will never forget what happened today and they will not allow these people to return to Legco," Kwok said, referring to the upcoming elections in September.

Starry Lee got 40 votes and unanimously "won"

The next expected raucous event will be on May 27, with the second reading of the National Anthem bill.

One of Hong Kong's legal institutions is being literally ripped apart before our eyes and we can only hope to right these wrongs in September... if there is still an election...

Clash for Power in the Legislative Council

Eddie Chu Hoi-dick tries to climb the wall to take over Starry Lee's seat

Beijing's belief that it rules over Hong Kong continued today in a shameless attempt by pro-Beijing lawmakers in the Legislative Council to chair a committee by throwing out pan-democrats.

There hasn't been a chair elected, and Civic Party's Dennis Kwok Wing-hang had been presiding over the previous 17 meetings as vice chairman. The DAB's Starry Lee Wai-king is the incumbent House Committee Chairwoman, but will be up for re-election. So who should be in charge?

However, Beijing was displeased with Kwok's filibustering strategy (which is legal), that has delayed the passing of many bills, including the controversial national anthem bill, outlining how Hongkongers should behave when the March of the Volunteers is played.

Starry Lee (in yellow) is protected by Legco security

Even with a majority in Legco, Beijing couldn't understand why the pro-Beijing bloc could not control this committee until it gave its blessing for lawmakers to physically take control, not legally.

With the collusion of Legco security staff, Lee rushed to occupy the podium seat, beating opposition lawmakers to it; the security staff surrounded her and prevented pan-democrats from getting close to her at all.

Underneath her mask one could see she had a smirk on her face.

Then the rest of the afternoon was watching pan-democrats trying to physically unseat her. At one point Eddie Chu Hoi-dick tried to climb the wall to get at Lee, and then Raymond Chan Chi-chuen was dragged to the ground by Kwok Wai-keung for several metres until one of his colleagues stopped him.

Andrew Wan Siu-kin was expelled and injured his back so paramedics had to put him on a stretcher and wheel him out.

Barefooted Raymond Chan is physically removed from Legco

One by one the pan-democrats were removed, some carried out and shouting, "Starry Lee acting beyond her authority!"

Watching these scenes was surreal and sad to watch. What is happening to law and order in Hong Kong? The Legislative Council is one of the institutions where the Basic Law is supposed to be practiced and here all decorum was dumped in favour of power.

The shenanigans today make the pro-Beijing camp look like blind sheep doing Beijing's bidding. Is this how they want to be remembered especially in the upcoming Legislative Council election in September?

Even former Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing says Beijing's tightening grip on Hong Kong will only make its people even more resistant of the central government.

Jasper Tsang says decorum must be followed in Legco

He was being interviewed by Emily Lau Wai-hing just as these scuffles were happening in Legco.

"If everybody still believes that we should try our best to put 'One Country, Two Systems' back on the right track, that we should resolve our differences by working out a way forward which can be acceptable to all stakeholders, then we have to find a way to try to break the vicious cycle," Tsang said. 

"It's so easy when we have arrived at this point for everybody to stick to their position. I can't see any good coming from that."

He also said it was crucial for democracy to be practiced in Legco.

"For the institution to function properly you need a consensus among all the different parties. You need a common purpose to allow the council to work. This is important," he said.

"So the majority always has to understand and respect the wishes of the minority. Of course, the minority should also abide by the rule that the decisions should be taken by the majority," he added.

Does Tsang want to mediate between the two sides?

He sounds like the only level-headed adult in the room at the moment...

Curious Music Choice

The national anthem was being played as I walked towards the turnstiles...

Wednesday morning I arrived at the Kennedy Town MTR station to begin my commute to the office when I heard some music playing.

Usually the MTR plays classical music to calm people down, but not this one.

The MTR station was playing March of the Volunteers, otherwise known as the Chinese national anthem -- the instrumental version.

Just as I realised this, a man behind me said, "Diu!" and looked angry but didn't know who to direct his anger at.



What is going on? Is the MTR literally now a vehicle for soft power?

Not even the Beijing subway stations play the anthem... Does the MTR want to have another reason for protesters to hate the public transit system?

Red Versus Black

Mainland Chinese waved flags and sang the national anthem at IFC mall

Tensions are heating up between Hongkongers and mainlanders.

After seeing Hongkongers singing Glory to Hong Kong every night in shopping malls, mainlanders felt it was time to stand their ground.

Before 1pm today at IFC mall in Central, a group of mainlanders gathered in the atrium and displayed a few Chinese flags and sang the national anthem and other patriotic songs. They also chanted slogans like "Hong Kong is China's", "China-Hong Kong add oil", and "support Hong Kong police".

#NOW - Pro-Beijing protesters flies Chinese flags in IFC, Central. This followed an online to sing the national anthem at 1pm, to counter the "Glory to Hong Kong" singings.#antielab pic.twitter.com/I18fXMG2rK

— Lok. (@sumlokkei) September 12, 2019

 

This Chinese flash mob was soon after countered by smaller group of anti-government protesters who started singing Glory to Hong Kong. They also chanted "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times", that has been a rallying call that is now going into four months of protests.

Anti-government protesters saying five demands must be met

After that a shouting match erupted between the two sides, which ended at around 1.30pm with pro-China supporters leaving the area.

What mainlanders don't understand is that most Hongkongers don't expect independence -- but that they want what was promised to them in the Basic Law, which is universal suffrage.

The Hong Kong political system is broken and it can only be fixed with direct elections for people to vote for the leader of their choosing, not a committee of 1,200 pro-Beijing people.

In any event, the protesters returned at 7pm this evening round at the same place with many more people, singing the unofficial anthem and chanting slogans for about an hour.

Round 2 at IFC, this time w/ hundreds gathered to sing the new anthem of #HK 願榮光歸香港. The acoustics are pretty stunning #antielab pic.twitter.com/in22WSzT4F

— Linda Lew 刘凌达 (@Lindadalew) September 12, 2019

 

This sense of unity is heartening, seeing clips of people all over the city singing and joining hands making human chains. This anti-government protest is not going to end anytime soon.

The ball is back in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's court.

What's your next move, Carrie?

Review: Putin's Witnesses

Vladimir Putin receives a warm welcome from his school teacher to her home

On New Year's Eve, 1999, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin made a surprise announcement on a television address. He said was resigning and that then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would become acting president, and in three months there would be an election.

For filmmaker Vitaly Mansky, he was only too eager to document this moment, asking his wife and daughters what they thought of this change in power.

 

His wife dreaded the news, and his oldest daughter equated Putin with Mao Zedong. Then he accosted his youngest daughter in the bath, who held her breath under water, refusing to comment. Did he know a year later their opinions were spot on?

Filmmaker Vitaly Mansky who now lives in Latvia

Instead of running a typical campaign with television ads and rallies, Putin hired Mansky to make a television documentary, following him as he went about his business in office. He was shown on International Women's Day visiting a textile factory mostly manned by women but he didn't speak to a single female worker. He also visits his school teacher in her home and gives her a big bouquet of roses, and kissing her like he would his own mother.


Mansky narrates the 107-minute film, explaining he did make the documentary that was shown on state television. But now looking at the footage again almost 20 years later, it seems to reveal more things that Mansky didn't see at first, which is why the film is called Putin's Witnesses.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is a haunting piano tune we hear over and over, a sense of foreboding that is very eerie.

Probably the most telling moment in Putin's Witnesses is on election day in 2000, when Mansky is at Putin's election headquarters. With narration, he introduces each person in the room and what role they played in Putin's campaign.

Many people in Putin's election team didn't stay long after

But then he adds this person or that person months later joined the opposition, or this person was later shot dead, or that person died at a young age... he includes Putin's wife and adds that years later he divorced her... it's all very shocking. No one stuck to him except for Dmitri Medvedev, who would later switch places with Putin so that he could become president again.

One of the first things Putin does in power as president is reinstate the melody of the Soviet national anthem that Yeltsin had scrapped, but now it had new lyrics, and a performance of the anthem is televised in an Easter television broadcast.

He also vetoed a motion in the lower house of parliament of removing the hammer and sickle on the "Victory Banner", the flag that Soviet troops raised over Berlin's Reichstag building on May 1, 1945 that came to symbolize the victory over Nazi Germany.

These small details show Putin's admiration or enthusiasm to return to Russia's Soviet past.

Another scene is a long conversation Mansky has with Putin in the back of a car. Putin tries to convince the filmmaker that after he finishes his term in office he will go back to living a normal life, away from the public eye and have the freedom to do whatever he wants.

The only time Putin wants Mansky to stop shooting video is after he does a length of the pool in the butterfly stroke, he gets out of the swimming pool and puts his hand over the camera lens.

Vitaly films Yeltsin at home watching election results

Mansky also follows Yeltsin at home on election night. His daughter is thrilled by the results because she has had a hand in getting Putin elected and calls for champagne to be opened. Yeltsin is pleased, but the smile turns into a frown when they wait for hours for Putin to call to thank him for giving him the opportunity to become the leader of Russia. Yeltsin would realize he was left in the dust.

After the screening of Putin's Witnesses, Mansky himself was at the screening at City Hall to big applause from the audience. He fielded questions from the audience, explaining that he and his family now lived in Latvia and that he was still able to go to Russia.

He says in 1999 no one really knew who Putin was (within a year his popularity rating went from zero to almost 50 percent), and Mansky used the opportunity to make the documentary about him to learn more about the incoming president. But in the film he admits he was not just a witness, but complicit in helping Putin become who he is.

Putin's Witnesses
Directed by Vitaly Mansky
107 minutes

Disrespecting Anthem Means No Graduation

The Hong Kong College of Technology has a political slant on its education

It is disappointing to see a Hong Kong school has punished its graduates for not standing up during the national anthem by forcing them to leave their own graduation ceremony and not receive their certificates.

Two social work students from Hong Kong College of Technology sat silently while March of the Volunteers was played during the ceremony at a Ma On Shan campus, defying a new school rule which defines disrespecting the national anthem as misconduct.

The staff cut short the anthem not long after it began when they saw not everyone was standing. The two graduates were told to leave along with more than 10 other students who were supported the pair.

Chan told the students the school loves the country and HK

The incident lasted 20 minutes and the two graduates didn't receive their certificates.

Afterwards president and principal of Hong Kong College of Technology, Chan Cheuk-hay, spoke to the pair after the ceremony.

One student said to him: "That we sat down [during the anthem] did not mean we don't respect the national anthem. And if we sang the song, it would not mean we loved the country.

"We don't understand why the school rejected the social work students it trained up during the graduation ceremony just because of a national song."

He or she has a point there -- they are only telling Chan how they really feel and are metaphorically standing up for what they believe in, something educational institutions try to instill in students. However, these days what kinds of values to believe in is another issue...

The students held the view the Chinese government was not serving the people, and that they, as social work students, should speak out.

But Chan said the institution, established as Mongkok Workers' Night School in 1957 and led by a board of pro-Beijing members, had always loved the country and the city.

The students felt they stood up for what they believed in

"The [college] is an institution which loves the country and Hong Kong," Chan explained to the students. "It has been upholding the patriotic flag and is uncompromising.

"And we never retreated even under colonial rule, during which we were suppressed... if you didn't know about this during your admission, you have picked the wrong school."

Pretty tough words on what should have been a day of celebration.

This is not the first time students have protested when the national anthem is played, though it is the first time students were kicked out. Chan has had to deal with rebellious students before.

At the graduation ceremony at the same place in November last year, Chan scolded students for "insulting the anthem" after some social work graduates raised signs during the song, protesting China's 2016 interpretation of the Basic Law.

We understand there are rules of decorum, but kicking students out for not standing for the national anthem?

They are not disrespecting the anthem, they are not holding up signs nor shouting protests, but just not standing.

They are honest in saying the words of the national anthem don't mean anything to them. Is that wrong, so wrong that they are not entitled to their graduation certificates?

It seems very heavy handed for a college that isn't particularly well known either -- unless Chan wants to become notorious for imposing serious punishments on what he considers unruly students.

The government isn't doing a good job in allaying people's fears about the mainlandization of China, and some educational institutions are blindly obedient without considering the possible consequences of imposing such rules around the anthem.

While a law was passed in September where people who mocked the March of the Volunteers would be punished with up to 15 days in jail, enforcement of that law has not been passed in Hong Kong or Macau yet.

Until it is legally enforced, why punish students for not standing up for the anthem?

Forcing Respect for Chinese Anthem

Can one impose the national anthem on people who don't care much for it?

Sorry I have to interrupt my Silk Road tour coverage with the breaking news that China has imposed a national anthem law on Hong Kong. It just smacks of the further mainlandization of the city.

It is also partly Chinese President Xi Jinping flexing his muscles in the name of nationalism...

So now Chinese law states that if someone abuses the national anthem or the flag on the mainland, they can be jailed for up to three years.

Hong Kong football fans turn their backs while the Chinese anthem is played

While the same punishment does not apply in Hong Kong, the local government has issued a statement that it will implement the measure in an appropriate way consistent with Hong Kong's constitution or the Basic Law.

The city's lawmakers have called for public consultation and to have clear guidelines on how the law should be enforced without infringing on freedom of expression.

This latest development comes after football fans last month booed the playing of March of the Volunteers during international games in Hong Kong. It is the second time in two years. Twenty years after the handover and this was not the reaction Chinese officials were expecting from local footie fans.

"In recent years, incidents of disrespect against the national anthem have occurred in Hong Kong, challenging the bottom line of the principle of one country, two systems and social morality, and triggering rage among Chinese, including most Hong Kong residents," said Zhang Rongshun, deputy director for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee.

"It is urgent and important to apply the national anthem law in Hong Kong in a bid to prevent and handle such offenses."

Really? The majority of Hong Kong residents? Did he survey all 7 million people? It's just like using the "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" argument.

Anti-Chinese sentiment continues to simmer whether Beijing realizes it or not and these football fans are voicing their frustration through booing, turning their backs or even raising the middle finger when March of the Volunteers is played.

But now pro-Beijing forces are making a strong push back -- there are expectations now in Hong Kong that when the national anthem is played, people need to stand up -- and stand wherever they are, even if they are crossing the street.

"When the law takes effect, people will have to stand up and show respect when the anthem is played. That's for sure," said Ip Kwok-him, a Hong Kong deputy to the NPC and member of the Executive Council that advises the Chief Executive.

"Someone asked me whether people who are walking with have to stop. Yes, just stop."

We'll have to see how detailed the measures will be, but in the meantime, how can anyone blame Hong Kong people for not having respect for the national anthem? First they had God Save the King/Queen and now March of the Volunteers. These songs are hardly anthems that mean much to them and now they are being forced into respecting them instead of out of genuinely accepting the anthem.

Just in case you wanted to hear March of the Volunteers, here it is:

National Anthem Raises Red Flags

Flag-raising ceremony at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

The Chinese government is putting forward a proposal to stop people from using the national anthem improperly, and this could be applied in Hong Kong.

The draft law would ban people from playing March of the Volunteers at events such as funerals or using it as background music in public places.

I can't find it now, but on the TV here there are ads for the baijiu brand Wuliangye that uses the anthem in its commercials. If the law is passed, that commercial would be considered illegal, which is maybe why I can't find it online!

And those who rewrite the lyrics or make parodies of the anthem could be punished for up to 15 days in detention.

It also means that the Hong Kong football fans who booed during the national anthem ahead of the World Cup qualifiers between local and national teams in 2015 would have been breaking the law if it was in effect at the time.

Lam says residents are too sensitive about the proposed law

Following the incident, which was admittedly childish that escalated into hostility, Hong Kong's football governing body was fined by Fifa after the incident, which came during the height of anti-mainland sentiment in the city.

As a result it's a touchy issue especially in Hong Kong, though Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor says local residents shouldn't be so sensitive about it, and that it is a law that should be passed in the city.

"Protecting the dignity of the national anthem is the obligation and responsibility of the Hong Kong SAR government and indeed of all Chinese nationals," Lam said. "But the exact scope and content of the local legislation would have to be considered in light of the legislation to be enacted by the National People's Congress Standing Committee."

She likened the draft law to be similar to legislation on the national flag and emblem, both of which passed in Hong Kong.

"We are living in a more politicized environment," Lam said. "We need not adopt a very politicized stance... This particular matter of national anthem legislation does not carry any particular scope for politicization."

In a 2015 football match, anti-China sentiment was high

The Chief Executive added the law was national in scope, and not directed at Hong Kong.

However, if implemented, children in primary and secondary schools here would have to sing it, and residents would be encouraged to sing it to "express patriotism".

Already pan-democrats are wary about the proposed legislation. Civic Party lawmaker Dennis Kwok said Hong Kong must adapt to the draft to produce a local law as many of the requirements would not be acceptable in the city.

"The 15-day detention does not apply in Hong Kong, while the city also has a very different education system from the mainland," he said.

Seems that people are are concerned about it to a degree. My question is -- does the national anthem need a law to protect it?

Isn't it expected that people would respect their national anthem, and other countries too? Or does this need to be spelled out?

For example Canada has the National Anthem Act, which states the lyrics and melody of O Canada, but allows users to freely use it for musical arrangements and it is up to citizens to exercise their best judgment.

There is etiquette when the national anthem is played, but there are no strict guidelines.

Perhaps in China's case there are some insecurities, or as pro-establishment lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin believes, Beijing may have been upset by the rise in pro-independence sentiment and the insults hurled during the football matches that let to this latest development...

Yet another step in the mainlandization of Hong Kong...