Office and bank buildings in Hong Kong in July 2019. The bank accounts of some people linked to protests have been frozen. Photo: Bloomberg
Opinion
Opinion
by Michael Chugani
Opinion
by Michael Chugani
Why Carrie Lam has no hope of restoring trust or Hong Kong’s international image
The world now sees Hong Kong as a city that limits free speech, restricts protests, reins in the media, crushes the opposition with waves of arrests, and freezes bank accounts, all in the name of national security
Rebuild Hong Kong’s international image. Relaunch the city. Win back people’s trust. That’s not my campaign pledge for political office. I would likely be disqualified even if I chose to run. Those are words from Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s policy speech.
She must be delusional if she thinks she can restore Hong Kong’s image. The city’s once enviable image is dead and buried. Lam – however highly she thinks of herself – does not have the ability to raise the dead.
Democratic countries in particular now see us as a city that limits free speech, restricts protests, reins in the media, crushes the opposition with waves of arrests, and freezes bank accounts, all in the guise of national security.
Lam’s policy address was two weeks ago. In that short space of time, three leading young activists have been jailed. A pro-democracy media boss was refused bail after the prosecution said that he has “no local connections”, even though he owns property and business here.
A former opposition lawmaker who jumped bail on other charges had his bank accounts frozen on suspicion of money laundering. Eight youngsters who protested peacefully at a university campus were arrested, three on national security grounds.
01:24
Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong and Ivan Lam jailed, Agnes Chow to spend 24th birthday in prison
Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong and Ivan Lam jailed, Agnes Chow to spend 24th birthday in prison
Police arrested another eight pro-democracy figures for illegal assembly. And they froze the bank accounts of a Christian church for an investigation into money laundering.
Lam may argue that justice must be served since those involved are either convicted criminals, bail jumpers or suspects who must go through the legal process. That’s her argument, too, for the 12 Hongkongers grabbed at sea by the mainland authorities while fleeing to Taiwan and held incommunicado for over three months now.
But that’s not how the world sees it. Democracies, particularly the United States, Britain, Canada and the European Union – all vital for Hong Kong’s relaunching – see a city slipping into authoritarianism. They have openly condemned the tightening of freedoms under the security law.
To them, jailed activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung is not a criminal but a visionary fighting to preserve Hong Kong’s way of life. Media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying is not a lackey of foreign forces who threatens national security but a democracy fighter. Ted Hui Chi-fung jumped bail because he no longer trusts our legal system. All others arrested were just exercising protest rights.
Lam – who has said being sanctioned by the US is an honour – curtly dismisses Western criticism as interference in our internal affairs. Is mocking Western concerns over eroding freedoms her way of repairing our global image?
04:18
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam still believes she did right thing in trying to pass extradition bill
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam still believes she did right thing in trying to pass extradition bill
Outgoing British Consul General Andrew Heyn has described the national security law as a stifling of dissent. To me, what’s happening is more than that. As I have said before, a systematic effort is under way to change the DNA of our city and make it like the mainland.
The city where I was born is becoming unrecognisable with each passing day. I never thought that peacefully shouting protest slogans such as “five demands, not one less”, or singing the protest song Glory to Hong Kong could be deemed security threats.
Police say they are investigating the money flow of the church suspected of money laundering. The church says it used crowdfunding to house homeless people. Elderly church supporters volunteered to de-escalate tensions between police and protesters during last year’s social unrest.
The church, whose pastor is now in Britain with his family, says police froze its accounts as retaliation. I don’t know if that’s true, nor do I know if the money-laundering allegation is true. What I do know is such freezing of bank accounts won’t help in restoring Hong Kong’s image.
As for winning back people’s trust, Lam is more delusional than I thought. She insisted she did nothing wrong with her now-dead extradition bill that triggered a mass uprising. If she was guiltless, why did she kill it last year just because of violent protests?
An estimated two million marched peacefully to say she was wrong. She ignored them. But now she wants to win back public trust. Dream on.
Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong journalist and TV show host
