Phil C. W. Chan

Opinion | What choice do Hong Kong protesters have when the options are the PLA or dictator-in-the-making Carrie Lam?

Hong Kong’s morally bankrupt government has crossed the line by invoking emergency powers to bring in an anti-mask law. We have indeed entered a ‘very dangerous situation’ – Carrie Lam, with her unchecked authority, is that danger

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam at a news conference to discuss emergency laws on October 4. Faced with a Hobson’s choice between the army and a locally born and bred dictator, aided by an unaccountable local police force, will Hongkongers choose to fight to the end? Photo: Reuters

Phil C. W. Chan

Published: 6:00am, 9 Oct 2019Updated: 11:37am, 9 Oct 2019

Born, raised and educated to university level in Hong Kong, I returned to the city on September 27, just before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, so that I can support my home in person, witness the crisis engulfing the city for five months, listen to views from across the socio-economic spectrum, and gather documentary evidence for my academic and policy research. I also did not want to be a fraud or a coward, commenting on my home in the comfort of a foreign land.

I exercised my Hong Kong Basic Law rights to freedom of association, assembly, procession and demonstration on September 28 and 29, and October 1, 5 and 6. The Basic Law is the superior law in Hong Kong’s constitutional order, and its authority derives from Article 31 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. My exercise of my Basic Law rights and freedoms is not dependent on the indulgence of the Hong Kong police in the form of a letter of no objection.

I have witnessed and experienced bravery, kindness and fear in Hongkongers. On September 29, as I walked from Central to Admiralty for dinner, I was trapped at the Admiralty government offices as the police fired tear gas on Queensway. Pacific Place chained its doors from inside and security personnel refused to open them. The fear in similarly ensnared passers-by (Hongkongers and tourists) – and in me – was sudden and palpable, and I immediately thought of the movie Train to Busan .

Ultimately, we were directed to run up to the High Court and I collapsed as soon as I arrived, having breathed air contaminated by tear gas as I was not wearing a mask. Four young people rushed to pour their precious bottled water and saline on me.

I subsequently had my own moment with a police officer from the bridge to the police headquarters who admonished me for taking photographs on the deserted Hennessy Road. When I asked if photography was no longer legal, he threatened me with a camera. I managed to photograph his unmasked face in turn.

John F. Kennedy once said: “In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience – the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men – each man must decide for himself the course he will follow.”