Muted Protests on National Day

Carrie Lam leads the toast to the 71st Chinese national day

 

Although Civil Human Rights Front was banned from holding a march today to protest the 12 people detained by the mainland, some brave people came out anyway in Causeway Bay to voice their dissent against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments.

The police were prepared -- sending out 6,000 officers as a deterrent and were armed with the usual tools of tear gas, pepper spray and such, and even a water cannon was parked nearby. They chose their usual method of trying to shut things down before they escalated, though the protests happened over several hours and by 10pm this evening at least 86 people were arrested, 74 of which were for illegal assembly, the rest for not social distancing.

At least 86 people were arrested today

 Then how can they explain not arresting about two dozen people gathered together waving Chinese flags and fervently singing the national anthem earlier this morning? How come they are exempted?

The double standards are too obvious to ignore.

Meanwhile protesters in Causeway Bay shouted slogans like "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time", and would dissipate when the police approached them. One young man took out his recorder and played Glory to Hong Kong, though he was taken by police later for questioning.

One senior walked around with a wooden giraffe on a platform with wheels. He called it a "handsome horse" in front of riot police. There is a Chinese idiom of calling a deer a horse, which means criticizing those who fabricate the facts.

Causeway Bay was crawling with police officers

Even a Kim Jong-un impersonator, known as Howard X made an appearance with an inflatable missile. On it he taped a picture of President Xi Jinping with his head shaped like the coronavirus and a sign that read: "F*** the Communist Party".

All those people who were arrested will have to go through the justice system and by the time they are in front of the judge, there will not be enough evidence to prosecute them and the judge will probably dismiss the case. 

Why waste everyone's time and effort?

Rupert Dover (in white) was on honours list

Earlier in the day as part of the national day celebrations, the city's honour list since 1997 was revealed at a record-breaking 687 people; usually it's around 200, though in 2009, there was a record 444. 

Of those honoured, 94 were police officers, including former police chief Stephen Lo Wai-chung. Assistant commissioners Rupert Dover and David Jordan were recognized. Dover was one of six senior officers leading the police ground response on June 12 last year, and ordered the firing of tear gas as crowds of protesters against the extradition bill, pushed towards the Legislative Council complex.

Another commended officer was Chief Superintendent John Tse Chun-chung, who was grilled by reporters regularly for the force's handling of protesters. 

Pansy Ho last year speaking at the UN

Other notables include Bernard Chan Charnwut who is a member of the Executive Council; Pansy Ho Chiu-king, the late Stanley Ho's daughter and last year she spoke to the UN Human Rights Council about the government's handling of the protests; Charles Li Xiaojia who recently announced his resignation as head of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited; and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Maestro Jaap Van Zweden.

It is interesting to note there are 143 healthcare workers honoured for their work in battling the coronavirus pandemic, but none of them were the main faces in the media advising the government. I checked the list, and people like Dr David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University, University of Hong Kong's Dr Gabriel Leung and Dr Yuen Kwok-yung (previously awarded a Silver Bauhinia Star), or even Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection.

Those gaudy wristbands to wear during quarantine

However, Simon Wong Kwong-yeung was recognized for developing the clunky (and heavy) e-wristband for people to be monitored while doing home quarantine.

Go figure.

 

Beijing's Alternate Universe for Hong Kong

With the new national security law coming in, the sun is setting on Hong Kong

Today was another day where many things happened and we're still trying to absorb it all.

First, Macanese casino magnate Stanley Ho Hung-sun passed away in Hong Kong. He was 98 years old. His daughter Pansy Ho Chiu-king confirmed the news in a press statement to reporters flanked by numerous members of the family.

Stanley Ho's family gathers to announce the patriarch's death

He has had a colourful life to say the least, having been born rich, only for the family to lose it all, and Ho started all over again in Macau and built the then Portuguese colony into the Monte Carlo of the east, and in the new millennium it eclipsed Las Vegas in casino earnings.

Not only did Ho make himself wealthy, but his family too (17 children with four "wives"), some of them becoming billionaires themselves. But now that he's gone, the family members may be fighting over the spoils...

And this is happening as Beijing continues to dismantle Hong Kong's political and legal institutions.

The proposed security law -- of which there are no details -- has apparently been amended today to not only prevent, stop and punish "acts" but "activities" as well that are deemed to be a threat to national security.

Ho built a gambling empire in Macau starting in 1962

It will be voted on on Thursday then forwarded to the National People's Congress Standing Committee, China's top legislative body, to craft the bill. So it is voted on before it is hammered out... sounds like the cart before the horse, and expanding the definition to be as encompassing as possible.

Michael Tien Puk-sun, a Hong Kong deputy to the NPC opposed the amendment, one of the few who did. He questioned what this would mean for people who participated in protests that suddenly became violent.

Another deputy wondered if people gathering for the annual June 4 candlelight vigil would run afoul of the law, adding this law would provoke fear in the city.

Meanwhile Philip Dykes, head of the Hong Kong Bar Association questioned why Article 23 was written into the Basic Law if national security legislation could be imposed by Beijing under Article 18 instead.

Philip Dykes wonders why Article 23 was written in Basic Law

Article 23 stipulates Hong Kong must enact its own laws to outlaw treason, secession, sedition, subversion, theft of state secrets, and foreign political interference.

"If you are seeking to enact laws under Article 18 relating to subversion and secession... etc etc, and Article 23 covers exactly the same territory, what's the purpose of Article 23? Why was it put there in the first place? It will be a complete overlap and that can't have been the intention of the drafters," Dykes said.

"It's a matter of Chinese constitutional law. I want it explained to me how this bypass can be made. Because Article 23 was completely redundant."

Will Dykes ever get his answer?

Not only is this questionable, but also foreign judges will not be able to rule on cases regarding national security. Hong Kong has had foreign judges since the handover in July 1997 to help maintain its credibility as an international financial hub.

The Court of Final Appeal has 23 judges, 15 of whom are foreign, from Canada, Australia and the UK.

The Court of Final Appeal has 23 judges, 15 are foreign

Macau has already had this arrangement of no foreign judges hearing national security-related cases since 2018; only judges who are of Chinese nationality can hear these cases.

Earlier today Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-gnor held a press conference in which she tried to establish an alternate universe by saying the new national security law would not affect daily life in Hong Kong.

She pointed out other western countries had enacted similar laws without scaring investors away, and that only a small group of people would be affected by this law.

"Law enforcement agencies... must not affect the basic rights and freedoms that residents enjoy under [local] law," Lam said.

She said it was "untrue" the NPC Standing Committee had no legal authority to craft such a law for Hong Kong, that it was undermining the principle of "one country, two systems", and that the law would destroy the city's status as a global financial hub.

Lam says the NPC is not doing going against the Basic Law

Can we just say that stocks didn't plunge as low as they did yesterday, but they were still struggling to get back to where they were five days ago.

She added: "We are a very free society. For the time being, people to have this freedom to say whatever they want to say. But ultimately, what is to be provided in this piece of legislation is for all of us to see in order to be assured that Hong Kong's freedoms will be preserved."

Note the phrase: "for the time being"... very ominous.

Even Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah added to the propaganda chorus, writing on her blog the new national security law did not trample on "one country, two systems" or the Basic Law.

Their explanations are hardly reassuring to the skeptical public except for those who just want protesters thrown in jail.

Security is tight around the Legislative Council today

There were calls by protesters tonight to gather at the Legislative Council before lawmakers vote on the contentious National Anthem bill. Anyone who misuses or insults March of the Volunteers faces up to three years in prison and fines as high as HK$50,000 (US$6,450).

Riot police were stationed around the legislature complete with giant water barricades, but nothing happened so far.

Students are calling for a general strike tomorrow instead of returning to class after a four-month break due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Things are all happening so fast there is hardly enough time to voice opinions let alone absorb what is going on.

Lam and her administration have lost so much credibility in the last year it's impossible to trust them at all. They have completely sold out Hong Kong and dragged us along into the mainlandization of the city whether we like it or not...

Chaos Continues on Sunday

Protesters carrying American flags as they march to the US Consulate

 

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's announcement on Wednesday didn't quite temper protesters' frustrations today. Tens of thousands marched from Chater Garden in Central to the United States Consulate on Garden Road.

Thousands of people descended on Central this afternoon

They completely blocked traffic and the surrounding areas. It is quite obvious people are not satisfied with just a formal withdrawal of the bill, as expected.

Many waved American flags as they asked Washington to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in support of the protesters.

However, the rally later became violent again, with protesters trashing Central MTR station exits, setting a fire along Pedder Street, in front of The Landmark shopping mall, and digging up bricks along the sidewalk.

Is that really necessary? We understand the frustration of the MTR having to kowtow to Beijing, but trashing MTR stations doesn't achieve much, except create more damage that us taxpayers will have to shell out.

Several exits in the Central MTR station were destroyed

This is totally playing into China's narrative that protesters are rioters... this is not a smart thing to do.

Another propaganda initiative is having two daughters of tycoons speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday. Macau casino heiress Pansy Ho Chiu-king and daughter of Maxim's founder Annie Wu Suk-ching are giving a speech on behalf of the Hong Kong Federation of Women, a pro-government organization that will present its political views on the protests that have impacted the city.

In their speech which was already released on the UN Human Rights Council website says: "The views of a small group of radical protesters do not represent the views of all 7.5 million Hongkongers. The systematic and calculated violent acts of this group have never been condoned by all Hongkongers."

Pansy Ho will speak at the UN Human Rights Council

Ho is chairwoman and executive director of MGM China Holdings in Macau, and a standing committee member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference. Wu is the founder of the first mainland-Hong Kong joint venture, Beijing Air Catering, and is also a standing committee member at the national level.

Since when do these two women, who are the top 1 percent of the 1 percent, represent the views of 7.5 million Hongkongers? They have no idea what it's like for a fresh graduate to earn HK$12,000 a month and have no prospects of ever being able to own a 300 square foot flat that's now at HK$5 million.

They only see the protests as impacting their businesses and not seeing how the political system needs a complete overall so that everyone can have one vote for the leader of Hong Kong.

An amusing respite tonight was when Cantopop star Aaron Kwok Fu-shing was caught up in the protests in Causeway Bay in his customized black matte Ferrari.



"I'm on my way to buy diapers for my daughter!" he reportedly told reporters and then inched his way out of the street.

The Political Gulf Widens

Secondary and university students descended on the campus of CUHK today

Some 13,000 secondary and university students cut classes today to protest Beijing's decision to restrict electoral reforms for 2017. They gathered at Chinese University of Hong Kong wearing white T-shirts and yellow ribbons symbolizing their push for democracy.

They plan to strike for a week in the lead up to Occupy Central on October 1, by gathering at government offices at Tamar these few days.

"The student strike will mark the turning point of the democratic movement," said Alex Chow, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, to the crowd at the university campus. "We will not have illusions in the government anymore, but we'll have faith in ourselves. We are willing to pay the price for democracy."

The strikers are angry the Central government has decided candidates running for chief executive in 2017 onwards must have at least 50 percent of the votes from the nominating committee which is pro-Beijing.

Lee Shau-kee doesn't want Occupy Central to ruin Hong Kong

Despite negotiations, the Chinese government has refused to budge, and in fact become even more stringent than the requirements for the 2012 election.

"Preselected candidates by a controlled nominating committee can only represent vested interests, but not the general public," Chow said, urging the Hong Kong government to push for public nominations and reform the legislature.

"If we hear nothing from them, the students, the people, will definitely upgrade the movement to another level," he said.

The students are not alone -- about 380 academics and teaching support staff have signed a petition supporting their pupils, saying "Don't let the striking students stand alone".

"As teachers and as citizens, we are pained and outraged to see the advancement of democracy in Hong Kong stifled and suppressed," said their statement. "Our hope in Hong Kong's future lies in the passion and spirit shown by our young people and their willingness to take up the mantle in the fight for democracy and social justice.

"Yet while the students are pure of heart, they have recently become subject to unreasonable smears and attacks. We appeal to all sectors of society... do not let them stand alone to face the white terror," meaning political suppression.

The strike today coincides with 70 Hong Kong tycoons -- do we really have that many? -- to Beijing for an audience with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The contingent includes Li Ka-shing, Lee Shau-kee, Henry Cheng Kar-shun, Peter Woo Kwong-ching, Pansy Ho Chiu-king and Michael Kadoorie.

As usual they were predictable in their words of warning, saying Occupy Central would have a "negative impact" on the city.

"Hong Kong is a financial centre, and if the main financial district is messed up, then Hong Kong will be ruined," property developer Lee said.

As one can see from his statement, these billionaires aren't interested in universal suffrage, or Hong Kong people becoming more political active. All they seem to care about is making more and more money, and any rocking of the boat would ruin their quiet time counting all their riches...

It seems the tycoons try to act like spokespeople, or interpreters for the Chinese government, but it's not working anymore. It's obvious they are living in a parallel universe that has no connection with the lives of the average citizens in Hong Kong.

Which is why there will not be much bridging the gap between China and Hong Kong when the tycoons are siding with Beijing and hardly sympathetic with what the students (and some members of the general public) are striving for.

And so Occupy Central will probably go ahead as planned...

Currying Favour

Zhang Xiaoming giving a speech when he first took office in Hong Kong

Earlier this week the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong held a fundraising dinner and the city's largest Beijing loyalist political party raked the money in.

About 800 people attended the event at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre who raised HK$63.8 million, with the hosts of each of the 70 tables shelling out at least HK$88,000.

Zhang Xiaoming, director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong wrote a piece of calligraphy that translates as "a long success in the future".

Apparently there was fierce bidding for this piece de resistance and in the end property tycoon Hui Wing-mau won with his final bid of HK$13.8 million.

Hui Wing-mau (left) holds calligraphy by Zhang (far right)

According to Forbes, he has a personal net worth of $5.3 billion, and is founder and chairman of Shimao Property Holdings, one of China's largest real estate developers.

Possibly buoyed by how much his talents are worth, Zhang also sang a song, raising an additional HK$11 million from other bidders.

Hong Kong's richest woman, Pansy Ho Chiu-king, Stanley Ho's daughter and a director of Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau bid HK$5 million for a painting by former deputy director of the Hong Kong office, Li Gang.

Perhaps Hui and Ho will receive further preferential treatment in the next few years if they haven't already...

Democratic Party founding chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming slammed Zhang assisting the DAB in its fundraising activity.

"Under the principle of 'Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong' and a 'high degree of autonomy', the liaison office should not interfere by favouring a particular political party," Lee said on Commercial Radio.

Just for comparison, the Civic Party raised HK$2.8 million at a fundraising auction last Friday, while the Democratic Party gained HK$2.35 million at a similar event last year.

With the DAB rolling in the dough, it's no contest who will win the propaganda race in Hong Kong...