John Lee Tipped for Top Job

Lee announces his resignation in a bid to run for CE

The election for Hong Kong's next chief executive has one candidate so far, and he may be the only one Beijing endorses. Former Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu has emerged as the front runner and no other are contesting the top job -- yet.

Earlier today he formally resigned from his position citing his ambitions -- if given Beijing's blessing -- to run in the May 8 election.

"If my resignation is approved by the Central People's Government, I shall plan to prepare to stand for the upcoming Chief Executive Election," he said, adding he would inform the public of his next move if Beijing accepted his decision to quit.

Protests erupted over the extradition bill in 2019

His press conference was only five minutes, making his announcement in Cantonese and English and left without taking any questions from reporters.

The choice of Lee signals Beijing's priority of security over social welfare, the economy or development. 

He has always been involved in law enforcement, beginning his career in the Hong Kong Police force, starting as a probationary officer in 1977, and moving up the ranks.

In 2012, then chief executive Leung Chun-ying made Lee deputy commissioner, joining government circles, and then was promoted again five years later to chief of the Security Bureau. 

Last June he replaced Matthew Cheung Kin-chung as Chief Secretary.

Lee and Lam announcing the bill was "dead"

It should be pointed out that in 2019 it was Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Lee who proposed the extradition bill, which led to millions of people protesting in the streets, and later implementing the national security law.

He also instigated the arrests last year of 47 politicians, activists and academics for holding a primary in 2020 to see which candidates would be best suited to run in the Legislative Council election. 

He claimed their plans would paralyse Hong Kong's government and pull the city into a "bottomless abyss".

So while Beijing will be satisfied with the choice of Lee, Hongkongers are beginning to worry about the consequences of having someone who has no expertise in how to kickstart the city's economy out of the doldrums or care about the underprivileged, or even housing issues.

Many people in this photo are behind bars

Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has hinted he won't be running, while no word yet on former chief executive Leung or former secretary for security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee. Ip may always be the bridesmaid and never the bride...

If Lee does become the next chief executive, things may get more stricter and more authoritarian...

Security Bureau Involved in Covid-19 Battle

Seniors in care homes are the most vulnerable to Covid-19

Today is the second day the number of cases dropped to 30,000 -- 31,008 to be exact -- though the number of dead continues to be a shocking refrain. There were 233 deaths reported, 153 of them in the past 24 hours and of them 114 were not vaccinated. 

More seniors are finally getting vaccinated but it's the ones in elderly care homes that are the most vulnerable and need to be jabbed as soon as possible. It is in these old folks homes that the virus has spread so quickly and these patients' immune systems cannot cope.

Au (left) says Security Bureau now involved

Hong Kong now has the highest death rate from Covid-19 in the developed world with 2,007 dead since the start of the pandemic, 1,794 from the fifth wave alone.

Aside from being horrified by the number of dead each day, the Hong Kong government has now made it even more punitive for residents to be infected with Covid-19.

The authorities have setup a hotline for people to call in, Whatsapp or WeChat to report that they have tested positive and need to be moved to isolation facilities because they have mild or no symptoms, or are unable to do so at home.

However, this project is being handled by the Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung, who was the police chief during the 2019 protests.

Tang inspects Tsing Yi isolation units today

Perhaps even more frightening is that the Security Bureau is now involved in the operation and it is this department that will determine who goes into the isolation facilities. Retroactive cases will not be sent, but starting with those reported in the last three days, according to Dr Albert Au Ka-wing of the Centre for Health Protection.

So medical experts won't be deciding who gets to isolate at home and who doesn't?

It's getting more frightening as the days go on and still no word on how universal testing will be conducted and if there is some kind of a lockdown or not.

The last thing we need is more fear and stress, but perhaps that's exactly what the authorities intend to instil in us, that Covid-19 is a dreadful, deadly virus which is why we must reach "dynamic zero-Covid"!

Apple Daily Fights to the Death

A skeletal staff is keeping the paper going to the bitter end

 

Apple Daily is soldiering on to its last days even though some 40 percent of its staff have quit in the last few days.

Many of them resigned when they were told the company would ask the Security Bureau to unfreeze its assets; many believed this request would not be granted. They also quit when they were told they did not need to give one month's notice.

About 40 percent of staff have resigned

Some of the reporters who quit were concerned about legal repercussions, while others were determined to continue on to the end.

Among the teams that have packed up and gone were those managing online financial news, English-language coverage, breaking news and video content called "Apple Action News". Sections still running are local news, courts, features, entertainment, sports and photography.

"People who are doing their best even though we know the paper could shut down at any time, and teams have started to share workloads in order to make the paper publish as usual," said a journalist who has been at the paper for over a decade.

"The finance team is helping to work on local news, while the breaking news team is helping with interviewing colleagues as they do not have enough manpower to work outside."

Lam refused to answer an Apple Daily question

One of the three Apple Daily executives who was released on bail, Cheung Chi-wai, who was director of the tabloid's digital platform, has resigned. 

Meanwhile one Apple Daily reporter tried one last time to get Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to respond to a question during the weekly press conference:

"You said the national security law only affected a small number of people. But more than 800 people from my company were forced to lose our jobs. Can you respond, Mrs Lam?"

She left the auditorium without answering.

So this is a great victory for China and Xi Jinping -- just in time for the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, to see the end of its most outspoken foe.

But it was hardly a fair fight.

Shutting Apple Daily is a hollow win for China

It reminds me of C.S. Lewis' book, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, where the White Witch has the lion Aslan tied up with rope before she kills him.

The imagery of the helpless lion is similar to the newspaper trying to keep going in the last few days, its leader Jimmy Lai Chee-ying in jail, and lots of loyal readers willing to buy the paper even if its pages are blank.

Even when Apple Daily is shuttered, this will not change people's opinions about the paper; in fact they will have fonder memories of it and reinforce their attitude towards the government and Beijing.

Is this the way to win people's hearts and minds?

 

Whopping Police Overtime Bill

Police are being paid almost HK$1 billion in overtime working the protests

Working as a policeman during this year's protests has been hard work. Not only is it physically exhausting chasing those pesky protesters every week for six months, but also tiring from wearing all that fancy gear...

They work long hours, but get to fire tear gas at protesters

Today the Hong Kong government revealed it has spent almost HK$1 billion (US$128.2 million) in overtime pay to 11,000 officers in the past six months. The force overall has 30,000 officers, though it claims it is overstretched and has been recruiting "special constables" from other departments like the Correctional Services Department.

The Security Bureau revealed HK$950 million was given to 11,000 officers as Disciplined Services Overtime Allowance, which amounts to HK$14,394 a month on average in overtime pay since June. The overtime pay is calculated per hour and depends on their salary level.

Pro-establishment lawmakers like Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee believe the police deserve the extra pay for all the hard work they have done, saying, "... it is only reasonable that people are compensated for the work they do. I believe police would rather society was peaceful and they worked less overtime."

Occasionally they get overwhelmed by a lot of protesters

Meanwhile opposition lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting says the pan-democratic camp will "use all means" to stop the government from paying the overtime allowance to police or give them a pay rise.

"Over the past six months, police have been involved in numerous incidents of abuse of violence and power," the Democratic Party lawmaker said. "It is absolutely unacceptable for the public that the government now requests that police are paid an OT fee with public money."

Indeed.

The pan-democrats are trying to hold the police to account in the Legislative Council by asking that they appear before the Legco Finance Committee to address their concerns.

Lam Cheuk-ting says police should answer for overtime pay

However, Secretary for the Civil Service Joshua Law Chi-kong rejected the proposal, saying this matter was not about the police force's work performance.

"Lawmakers have other channels including the civil service panel to follow up on the performance issue," he said. "We are handling a livelihood issue here, the issue of the pay scale for all of the civil service."

Pan-democrat Gary Fan Kwok-wai urged citizens to recognize the faces of pro-establishment lawmakers who rejected the need to have police attend the meeting.

"It is you who are sending bullets to police who shoot Hongkongers and create a humanitarian crisis in the city," he said.

Joshua Law says overtime pay is not about work performance

In the end the pan-democrats were unable to pass a motion to get the new chief of police Chris Tang Ping-keung to appear before the committee.

But in the meantime, let the amount of HK$950 million sink in... that's a lot of money -- our money -- paying the police to shoot 16,000 rounds of tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, live rounds, water cannons at protesters...