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Hong Kong national security law
Hong KongSociety

Founder disbands Cantonese-language advocacy group in Hong Kong after national security police visit father, warn about essay posted online

  • Andrew Chan, chairman of Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis, says five officers from National Security Department raided his father’s flat last week
  • Chan says he took down essay immediately after raid and began procedures to fold group he founded 10 years ago

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Andrew Chan, who is currently not in Hong Kong, says police should have contacted him, not his father. Photo: SCMP
Natalie Wong

The founder of a group set up to promote Cantonese in Hong Kong has said he disbanded it after national security police raided his father’s home and threatened to issue an arrest warrant for him if a competition-winning essay from 2020 was not removed from the internet.

Andrew Chan Lok-hang, chairman of Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis, told the Post on Monday that five officers from the police force’s National Security Department raided his father’s flat without a search warrant last week.

Chan, who is not at present in Hong Kong, said one of the officers told his father last Tuesday: “You son will become the ninth wanted person if he does not take down the article,” a reference to eight activists overseas who have HK$1 million bounties on their heads for alleged violations of the national security law.
Andrew Chan said he started the process of disbanding the group immediately after the raid. Photo: Instagram@gongjyuhok
Andrew Chan said he started the process of disbanding the group immediately after the raid. Photo: Instagram@gongjyuhok

Chan, 28, said he took down the essay immediately after the raid and began procedures to fold the advocacy group he founded 10 years ago and which had already been inactive for two years.

“I had to do it to avoid further harassment to my family,” Chan said. “They should have notified me via phone or social media in asking for the removal of the article they deemed problematic – but not to question my dad who knew nothing.”

The Post obtained a copy of the essay, called “Our Times” written by Siu Ga, which internet users have archived.

It is about a conversation set in 2050 in Central district, with a man saying his mother fled Hong Kong for Britain and later died after “inhaling too much tear gas made in China”.

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