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HK Magazine

I was a regular, obedient kid who would never rebel. I was very scared of my mother. 
She was a little bit overbearing—but she was good for me. She really drove us to excel in everything. She would not accept second best. 
My mom is suffering from dementia. It’s a big contrast to the time when she was always complaining. In a way, I miss her nagging. 
People told my parents that HKU’s law course was an ambitious scheme. They warned that I would never get married. Nobody wanted to associate with a woman lawyer.
When I said I was going to try to become a barrister, there was even more discouragement from aunties, uncles, neighbors and friends.
I wasn’t a very ambitious person. I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself.
I just didn’t want to go through life and look at a barrister thinking, “Well, could I have made it?”
If you think that I am confident and that I know I am going to succeed, that’s the very opposite of who I am. 
I kick myself all the time for agreeing to do things I shouldn’t have. Becoming chairwoman of the Bar. Agreeing to run in elections. Trying to found a political party. 
I take them up because I think it’s my duty. You cannot go through life running away from things.
I worry all the time. I am very anxious. 
You wouldn’t believe it—I’ve been practicing law for 30-odd years, but every time I start a case, I say, “Oh my god! Why did I agree to do this?”
I feel like a juggler. You think it’s all going to fall and break, because there are so many things you’re throwing and need to catch! 
I pat myself on the back at night that I have managed to do all these things. 
“You’ve got to stop wearing large earrings,” people said to me when I was running for Legco elections.
When I was chairman of the Bar, people would say, “I heard you on television last night.” I asked, “How did I do?” “Actually, I can’t remember very well, but I remember your earrings.” 
People said I need to change my earrings. I did [buy new ones], but I seldom wear them.
I always wear things that have something odd about them. That’s me. 
Some people will probably refer to the one-on-one debate I had with then-CE Donald Tsang as my proudest achievement. Looking back, it was quite fun. But there was nothing lasting about it. 
When we founded the Civic Party, part of our mission was for the people to defend “One Country, Two Systems.” You can’t rely on the British government, and you can’t rely on the SAR government! 
The Civic Party is approaching its 10th anniversary. In our original mission statement, we spoke about “One Country, Two Systems,” but maybe now we have to recast it. 
Especially following the white paper in June last year, we’re beginning to see that “One Country, Two Systems” is being whittled down. It’s being rewritten. 
On the Hong Kong side, you see people beginning to have an identity issue. They wonder whether this is really some form of recolonization.
Talking about “One Country, Two Systems” will not resonate with the Hong Kong people, because they now talk about local issues and a local identity.
You have to have a new theory about how to take care of Hong Kong interests.
You need to consider: “What actually is localization?” It’s high time we defend Hong Kong interests, but once you go into the finer details, you come across problems. As a political party, we need to think about this. Where do we draw the line?
CY Leung said there’s proof of foreign influence in the Umbrella Movement because of donations being paid by a Kwun Tong HSBC branch. That’s such a piece of gibberish but people aren’t rebelling—as if what he is saying is normal. But that’s not normal!
People are so used to hearing false things. You think of dishonesty as the norm. It warps your sense of ethics and morality. That is what I’m really worried about. 
Sooner or later, everybody is going to be like this.
I kept crying during the video where [local climbing group] Hong Kong Spidey put the Umbrella banner on the Lion Rock Mountain.
That’s the new Lion Rock spirit. When I was growing up, the Lion Rock spirit was about livelihood and neighbors eking out a living.
The new Lion Rock spirit is about values. That’s a paradigm shift to me.


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Audrey Eu Yuet-mee

Magazines

Civic Party founder and chairman Audrey Eu Yuet-mee is a Senior Counsel, ex-Legco member and former chair of the Bar Association. A longstanding champion of the rule of law, she tells Yannie Chan about the Civic Party’s values, Hong Kong’s identity crisis and how she deals with anxiety.
