Chief Executive Carrie Lam meets the press at the government offices in Tamar on May 12. Was her exclusive interview with Ta Kung Pao meant to brown-nose her Beijing bosses or warn Hongkongers that a new political road map is being drawn for the city? Photo: Sam Tsang
Opinion
Opinion
by Michael Chugani
Opinion
by Michael Chugani
Carrie Lam’s talk of ‘infiltration’ in Hong Kong education raises more questions about the city’s future
The chief executive’s call for safeguards to protect impressionable young minds comes on the heels of the government’s flip-flopping about the role of Beijing’s liaison office in the city
With the continuing mass arrests of mostly young protesters, have the government and Beijing written off a whole generation of Hong Kong youth?
If all the pieces of a puzzle are correctly put together, the puzzle picture becomes clear. Pieces of a puzzle are strewn across Hong Kong's political landscape. Good luck trying to fit them. Even if you succeed, the picture will look like a directionless mess, rather than a road map for our politically shattered city’s future.
Events in past weeks and months have proved more than ever before that we are a rudderless ship in a raging sea. What political implications lie ahead when Beijing’s liaison office suddenly redefines the Basic Law to assert that it and other entities are exempt from a clause that forbids meddling in local affairs?
Does the government’s flip-flopping over the clause’s meaning before bowing to Beijing’s position imply that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has ceded real power over local affairs to the liaison office?
Should we interpret it as an ominous sign for the future when Lam suggested to Beijing mouthpiece Ta Kung Pao that liberal studies are poisoning young minds and must be overhauled? She even said subjects other than liberal studies could be “infiltrated”. What does she mean by that?
A student sits for the Diploma of Secondary Education exam on April 24. In a recent interview, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said schools must ensure misconceptions and “fallacious arguments” are not being taught to impressionable young minds. Photo: AFP
Will an overhauled liberal studies double as national education to promote patriotism? Was her exclusive interview with a state-owned newspaper meant to brown-nose her Beijing bosses or to warn Hongkongers that a new political road map is being drawn for the city?
Recent events point to a polarising road map where Beijing – fearful the city has become a pawn of foreign forces – tightens its grip, but the grip is resisted as a noose around our freedoms. A city cannot survive when a large chunk of the population is at odds with rulers who impose policies that clash with the values of the people.
Where does the mass arrest of young protesters fit into the puzzle of our future? Many people tell me they believe Beijing has essentially written off this generation of young people. If that’s even possible, does Beijing believe future generations can somehow be forced to be more patriotic in a society that embraces free thinking?
I cannot see how Beijing’s current attitude can break the chain of animosity being passed from generation to generation.
Today’s young people prefer to be identified as Hongkongers instead of Chinese because they consider the values of the Chinese Communist Party repugnant. Breaking the chain of hostility is a two-way street. For Beijing to change the mindset of future generations, it must change its own attitude towards Hong Kong too.
Some 8,000 mostly young protesters have been arrested fighting for what they believe in. More are now being arrested at even small and peaceful protests. The police attitude is to arrest first and ask questions later. When jailed protesters are released, they will be seen as heroes with greater sway over future generations than whatever game plan Beijing can come up with.
Pepper spraying journalists and humiliating them by forcing them to squat, as the police did last weekend, was an act of idiocy. The media – traditional, online and social – have great influence in shaping future generations. Treating the media as an enemy will only result in the media influencing the people to treat the government as the enemy.
Lam told Ta Kung Pao that opposition district councillors, who won in a landslide last November, were not doing their jobs. It is up to the voters to decide if they are doing their jobs. In fact, they won their seats by far more votes than Lam, who was selected by just 777 votes in a 1,200-member election committee.
On Tuesday, Lam told the media she doesn’t care much about criticism levelled at her. How does that fit into the puzzle of our political future when an undemocratically elected leader with the worst ever public approval rating says she doesn’t care about public criticism?
Beijing, as the sovereign, has the right to do what it wants. But instead of littering our political landscape with puzzle pieces that leaves us guessing, clarity of its intentions would be nice.
Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong journalist and TV show host
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