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.

ICAC Investigates Election Poll

The 2019 District Council elections had record turnout

A few days ago the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute conducted a survey asking Hongkongers what their voting plans were for the upcoming Legislative Council elections on December 19.

But pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao accused PORI's pollsters of breaking the law by merely asking how people would vote.

Peh says ICAC looking into allegations

So now the Independent Commission Against Corruption has to look into the allegations, with its commissioner Simon Peh Yun-lu warning the institute may have breached the law when its survey offered the option of casting a blank vote or not vote at all.

Ask to clarify his comments on Saturday, Peh said things would depend on the circumstances.

"I'm not saying that offering such an option in the survey [is] definitely against the law, but I don't know how they would ask the question, how they would collate the data or how they would release the result," Peh said.

"If there is any element which amounts to inciting other people not to vote or to cast an invalid vote openly, publicly, that would be liable under the ordinance."

However, Peh noted it isn't illegal for people to cast blank or invalid ballots.

The survey had found that more than half of registered voters did not know who was running for the upcoming election in their constituency, and that only about 52 percent would go vote.

The survey only polled 838 people

So perhaps the pro-Beijing side is upset at the prospect of an embarrassing low turnout compared to the 2019 election when a record 71 percent of registered voters cast their ballots for the District Council elections.

It is worth mentioning only 838 people were polled when there are over 4.1 million registered voters.

Why be so concerned about what 838 people have to say?

In the meantime the ICAC will duly investigate, but it seems like a storm in a teacup...