Bail Hearings for 47 "a Farce of Procedural Fairness"

Leung Kwok-hung flashes a V-sign before bail hearing

 

After a marathon four days of hearing bail applications from the 47 people charged with subversion under the national security law, 15 were granted bail -- but the Department of Justice immediately lodged an appeal, which means those people still remain in custody.

These last few days have given Hongkongers an idea of what could happen to them if they are arrested for violating the national security law. Chief Magistrate Victor So Wai-tak thought he would get through all 47 applications in one day -- it ended just before 3am the first day after defendant and district councillor Clarisse Yeung Suet-ying fainted in the dock and had to be sent to hospital. Three other defendants also felt unwell and sought medical attention too.

Chief Magistrate Victor So

The others were all taken back to their cells and only a few hours later returned the court, hardly having eaten, barely slept or even taken a shower. One defendant, barrister Lawrence Lau Wai-chung apologized to Chief Magistrate So for his shabby appearance because he had no time to shower or change his clothes for three days.

Only then did So decide that the hearings would end at 10pm to allow the defendants time to eat and clean themselves.

All this and not all family members and friends could see their loved ones in the dock, nor give them the clothes and other supplies they needed in prison; members of the media did not have full access to witness the proceedings in the court either and could only watch via a video link. 

The prosecutors have also asked for a three month extension to complete their investigations, which means these 47 could be remanded in custody for a year before they are brought to trial. One legal expert, the esteemed Jerome Cohen, is calling this "a farce of procedural fairness". 

Some of the defendants dismissed their lawyers in a bid to plead their case in their own words.

Tam told the court of his humble upbringing

One was ex-lawmaker Jeremy Tam Man-ho who was a former Cathay Pacific pilot and his story made several reporters cry as they took notes. 

He told the court his family was poor and lived in a wooden hut, but it burnt down and they moved to a squatter area. Tam grew up without any toys and he and his parents shared one packet of instant noodles. His father worked as a taxi driver to provide for his family and was finally able to save up enough to send Tam to Australia to study to become a commercial pilot.

However, his father was diagnosed with colon cancer and the treatment cost HK$30,000 a month. Luckily Tam's pilot salary could pay for it, but what about other people in the same predicament? It was then that Tam decided to help other people in Hong Kong by becoming a politician.

"Judge, if you grant me bail, I am willing to do it at all costs. I will agree to all the terms you say. As you wish, I can even take the stars for you. I only want to hug my kids, my wife, and apologize to them 10,000 times," he said.

Supporters waited outside the court in the rain

Tam's story is an amazing Lion Rock story, literally from rags-to-riches to trying to better the society, only to be arrested under the national security law for trying to gain more representation in the Legislative Council which was legal under the Basic Law.

Now Hongkongers are being shown that this is completely wrong and illegal, and this is what will happen to you if you even attempt to change the system.

Speaking of which, the National People's Congress right now is looking to amend Hong Kong's electoral system to ensure "patriots" rule the city.

It will be next to impossible to have any kind of meaningful opposition, elected representatives who represent the views of the people.

And at the same time the Heritage Foundation has taken Hong Kong off the top of the list for having the freest economy in the world -- a standing it held for 25 years until last year -- and put it and Macau together under China down at 107th place, above Uganda, among economies that are deemed "mostly unfree". Hong Kong's index score was described as "not available".

Chan blasted HK's ratings drop by US think tank

The right-wing think tank said "developments in recent years have demonstrated unambiguously that those policies are ultimately controlled by Beijing".

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po struck back, saying: "When they arrived at that decision, they must have been clouded by their ideological inclination and political bias."

He still insisted the city still enjoyed economic competitiveness with the free flow of capital under "one country, two systems", and that rule of law was still respected.

How can Hong Kong's economy still remain free when its political and judicial institutions are being dismantled daily?

Hong Kong's Rising Number of University Dropouts

The numbers of students graduating are decreasing

 

If one needs another sign that Hong Kong's young people are leaving the city, look no further than the university statistics. They show more than 2,100 students dropped out of eight local universities in the 2019-20 year, up 15 percent from 2018-19.

It's the highest number of dropouts since 2004 when this data was first recorded. 

Chinese University was damaged from clashes

The figures were released by the University Grants Committee, the main funding body for the city's public institutions of higher learning, showed that some schools had more dropouts than others, with one as much as a 40 percent increase in 2019-20 compared to the previous academic year.

While most universities cited personal and family issues as the reasons for withdrawals, student leaders said their peers left to study abroad following the anti-government protests in 2019.

There are other surveys showing students in primary and secondary schools dropping out over the past year, including from elite institutions, which indicates they most probably left Hong Kong.

In the 2019-20 academic year, 2,120 undergraduate and postgraduate students withdrew from the city's eight publicly-funded universities, up 15 percent from 1,848 in 2018-19, according to statistics from the grants committee.

While City University and Education University did not see an uptick in dropouts, Polytechnic University saw the biggest drop at 505 students leaving, 40 percent more than the 359 who quit the previous year.

HKU saw a low number of students drop out

Meanwhile the University of Hong Kong saw 357 students leave, the University of Science and Technology had 207 students withdraw, up 36 and 35 percent respectively, and Chinese University had 311 students leave, a 13 percent rise.

The numbers include local and non-local students.

Poly U and Chinese University sustained the most damage during the 2019 protests when protesters occupied the campuses and had clashes with police. 

Edy Jeh Tsz-lam, a student representative of HKU's governing council and former president of the student union, said she believed some dropouts could be non-local students who returned to their home countries because of the coronavirus pandemic, while local students left Hong Kong to study elsewhere.

She heard of students transferring to universities in Taiwan and the UK, while others had quit university to reapply to study other subjects because their personal goals had changed.

"For instance, a friend of mine who was studying law told me [during the 2019 protests] that she was considering quitting university and reapplying for dentistry, as she believed studying law and [entering the legal sector] in Hong Kong was no longer meaningful," Jeh said, citing critics who had declining confidence in the local judicial system.

CUHK saw 13 percent increase in withdrawals

PolyU student union president Alan Wu Wai-kuen said he had peers who had chosen to study elsewhere after dropping out, going to countries like Australia and Canada. 

However officially, Baptist, Polytechnic, Education and Lingnan universities cited personal reasons for why students withdrew, while a Chinese University spokeswoman said students transferring to another local institution or overseas universities was also a major factor.

The dropout figures for 2019-20 were the highest since the 2003-04 academic year, the earliest for which the grants committee data was immediately available. That year about 1,704 students withdrew, while in the 2010-11 year saw the lowest number of students dropout at 1,057. It has hovered around the 1,800 a year since 2015.

But the most recent figures are troubling, and professor Lau Chi-pang of Lingnan University's associate vice-president of academic affairs and external relations says more studies should be conducted to find out the real reasons why students have quit.

Poly U saw biggest drop in students leaving

"The government should maybe also look into the phenomenon. It is not just universities being affected," he said, pointing to the concurrent rise in dropouts at primary and secondary schools. "It is, after all, not an isolated topic."

Lau is right and the government should be worried that a stream of students are leaving or have changed their majors. Are we going to see fewer studying law as Jeh suggested, or even history now that national education will change how the subject is taught in schools? 

Hong Kong's political and social environment continues to deterioriate daily, and the numbers of students leaving are a big red flag.

No more Instagram Pier

One of my favourite photos from the cargo pier from Dec 2019

 

Instagram Pier, the unofficial name for the Western Cargo Working Area has closed off to the public since Sunday -- possibly for good.

It's a favourite spot for many photographers who like to go to the end of the pier to capture sunsets, others like to walk their dogs there, or practice skateboarding, aunties dance there in the evenings, and runners go there as one of their points on their route.

The spot was also a favourite of mine too, and I was hooked about three years ago when I discovered it and went there more often from late 2019. It has an edgy feel to it, one section had tons of bamboo poles piled up, another had old unused cargo containers that people liked to pose with, and newlyweds took pictures there too.

The sunset drew many people to the pier

But alas, the public found the gates closed on February 28. The Hong Kong Tourism Board said the pier would be closed "citing Covid concerns".

However, many visitors did not understand this place is a working pier -- during the day there are cranes transporting items from one place to another, or even moving shipping containers. There are boats from Lamma that come to pick up supplies that are manually moved or hoisted onto them.

A few times security staff handed out leaflets to people warning them to leave the area or risk a hefty fine, and towards the end they tried to get people to wear masks in the area, sometimes without success. Some people seemed to think the pier was a public area without realizing it isn't at all. Or they climb up onto container or the cranes to take pictures without regard for safety.

One time during the day a man who was walking his dog got into a shouting match with one of the dock workers. In front of me was a group of policeman who saw the incident and went over to investigate; I didn't stay to see what happened. Some dog owners don't clean up after their pets, leaving a mess.

With the eruption of the coronavirus pandemic last year and gyms closed most of the time along with cinemas and other entertainment venues, many went to Instagram Pier to hang out, have some beers (and not clean up after), and have their dogs socialize with others. 

But in the end it was too much for the staff to enforce the rules and stopped everyone from going in at all.

Many brought their dogs to the pier to play

So I understand why the cargo pier had to be closed to the public, but it's disappointing that such a lovely spot is now completely off limits. 

My last visit there was February 24 and had no inkling anything would happen, though for a few weeks before, the gates were completely closed and there were only two side entrances to get in. The pier was also completely shut to the public on February 12, the first day of Chinese New Year.

District Councillor Paul Zimmerman criticized the closure of the pier, saying it "breaks the waterfront connectivity".

"The presence of the public has been tolerated and condoned for many years. Instagram pier was voted the most favourite public space in 2016. It is very regrettable that the Marine Department has decided to suddenly close the gates without prior consultation of the District Council, nor The Harbourfront Commission," he says.

"If any closure is to proceed, government should first widen the pavements around the Western Cargo Working Area before the closure is implemented," Zimmerman adds.

However the deed is done.

The pier was a lovely spot to admire and reflect

Many were quick to vent their anger on Twitter, saying the government would rather encourage people to go into indoor spaces like shopping malls than outdoor areas like the pier, and that it was the one place that wasn't programmed to show people how to use the space. 

This evening was the first time I had to alter my walking route and go around the cargo pier to get to the harbourfront promenade. Zimmerman is right that the closure of the pier breaks up the connectivity of the harbourfront. It's weird not being able to go to the pier to finish my walks, but like everything else, this is the new normal where things change without consultation...

Mini Protest Outside of Court

A sea of people clad in black wait outside West Kowloon Court

Hundreds of Hongkongers dressed in black came out in support of the 47 charged with subversion under the national security law. Some of the even lined up at 9pm the night before to be able to go into the court room. Even if they couldn't get in they stayed outside the West Kowloon Court as a sign that the pro-democratic movement has not wavered.

They shouted slogans, like "Five demands not one less!", "Hongkongers add oil!", and "Hongkongers revenge!" that haven't been heard for about a year. 

Some diplomats tried to get into the court today

"Hong Kong people are so angry. No other protests can happen, so we come here. The new law forbids everything else," said Wong Tin-yan, a district councillor, who was standing outside the court.

Consular officials from Canada, United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Australia tried to get into the courtroom, but were not able to.

Even at 10.30pm only six of the 47 had their lawyers complete their bail applications.  It's going to be a long night for everyone. 

Already the prosecutors have asked for an extra three months to complete their investigation, which means three more months of sitting in jail for the defendants. Paul Harris, one of the defense lawyers said if prosecutors move fast to charge someone, then they should also ensure a speedy trial.

But it seems Beijing has already decided the verdict even before the trials have begun.

Where is the rule of law here? Innocent before proven guilty?

Benny Tai being brought to court

Head of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office Xia Baolong said in a speech that media publisher Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, and Benny Tai Yiu-ting should be "severely punished" for "instigating riots with extremely notorious acts".

"The small minority of people who called for foreign forces to interfere with Hong Kong affairs... are destroyers of 'one country, two systems''; we must not allow them to gain any of Hong Kong's public power," Xia was quoted as saying in pro-Beijing Bauhinia Magazine.

"[They] should not be merely banned from infiltrating any public office in Hong Kong, but also strictly punished in accordance with the law for their illegal acts... The minority of people who oppose China and mess up Hong Kong will only cause disasters, including destruction, instability and terror."

Xia paints a very dire picture, but since the national security law was implemented, there has been hardly any protests or gatherings due to the fear of arrests. 

And this charge of subversion? These 47 defendants participated in a primary to choose the best candidate to run for the Legislative Council elections that didn't happen because of the pandemic.

Many shouted slogans from the 2019 protests

So how is that be a crime?

Prosecutors are framing this as a plot to subvert Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor -- a violation of the national security law -- and so those involved must be prosecuted.

While the outlook is bleak, the fact that hundreds came out in support of the almost four dozen defendants is impressive and shows people are still willing to fight -- albeit cautiously in an increasingly repressive environment.