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Legislator Alvin Yeung

2019-07-28
Dear Chloe,

Welcome back to Hong Kong as you are spending your summer here before commencing your next phase of your life at a university in England. You told me you were amazed by the Hong Kong people’s courage, tenacity, and selflessness over the past two months. I was at the protests too and it was indeed an extraordinary experience listening to the roars of the people on the streets.

Last Sunday, at the same time when police were shooting tear gas cans at protestors near the Liaison Office, mobsters in the Yuen Long train station were assaulting random passengers. The mobsters targeted people wearing black, beating them with sticks, thick rulers and metal bars. Drivers nearby who offered terrified passengers safe rides home were also hurt by the mobsters and their cars were wrecked. Amongst the injured were ordinary passengers, peaceful protestors returning home from the march, families with children, journalists, a legislator and a pregnant woman. The bloody scenes of the mobsters’ random assaults quickly went viral on the internet. One of the scenes that shocked Hong Kong and the world was when a fearful mother stood protecting her child in the train, while her husband knelt on the floor begging for mercy. That father could not be spared from violence.

Of course, some people called the police for help, but for half an hour no one picked up the phone. Even those who were able to reach the call centre were blamed for going onto the streets. Police stations miraculously closed during the attacks. Vulnerable passengers were left to fight the armed thugs on their own. The officers came only after the mobs have tired themselves out from assaulting people and retreated.

A couple hours later, the police did make an excursion into a village where the mobs were based, but they said there was no evidence of organised assault, despite some of the mobsters they walked past were obviously holding sticks and metal bars. No one was arrested. It is therefore hard not to believe that the police and the mobs somehow were covering for each other. The police had always had a grudge for the protestors. They were quick to shoot protestors with tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets, but they did not use them on the mobs. The differential treatment is conspicuous. In a press statement issued the same night condemning violent acts, the government placed the protestors’ barricading of roads equivalent to the mobs’ assault on train passengers in Yuen Long. The government certainly cared more about roads than the lives and safety of living Hong Kong people.

From then on, no one in the Yuen Long dared wearing black, or walk alone in their own neighbourhood after dark. People shared online the numbers of other emergency services, not the police because their inaction that Sunday night indicated their non-commitment to the safety of the Hong Kong people. Ireland also issued a travel warning with regards to Hong Kong, expressing concerns for safety in the prolonged civil unrest. The city turned into a ghost town. The government need not declare martial law or impose curfews. As they connived the mobsters’ assault on citizens, the city’s long praised reputation for stability, safety and order evaporates into thin air.

Most people would agree violence should not be encouraged. In fact, usually it is the very last resort. When people resort to the least preferable solution, that should say something about the gravity of a societal problem. The people of Hong Kong made five demands. Any accountable and sensible government would have met and fulfilled them. It is most unfortunate that our current government led by Mrs. Carrie Lam has been so arrogant, stubborn and disrespectful towards its people. She refused to properly ‘withdraw’ the bill, something that only requires a statement of words and will help to restore trust and confidence of the public. All that was dished out to the public was a “temporary suspension” and more recently, “the bill is dead”. It is inexplicable why the word ‘withdrawal’ is so difficult for utter.

An important demand is the setting up of an Independent Commission of Enquiry to look into police misconduct and beyond. This will lay foundation for future Hong Kong government to correct themselves from mistakes and oversights. Again, the government has not responded to this. All Mrs Lam did was to defer investigation to the Independent Police Complaints Council, which really is not independent from the police who was the subject of the investigation. Sadly, this will not get to the root of the issues, nor help to ascertain the truth.

Above all, anyone with common sense will understand that the crux of the matter lies in the system itself, that is the inability of the government to answer to the people. If we were in a truly democratic society, Carrie Lam would have already stepped down on her own initiative and we would have in place a new leader of choice of the public. What we really need is a constitutional reform to implement universal suffrage, so that the people’s wishes can be duly represented. Hong Kong is in need of an efficient and responsible government which listens to and acts upon the voices of its people and does its utmost to meet with the demands of the people. We need a constructive government which is able to formulate plans that are acceptable to and benefit the society. After all, the government is servant to its people. We do not need a government which thinks it is above its people.

Hong Kong’s own system, distinct from China, is what makes international countries look upon Hong Kong with trust. We cannot allow Beijing to erode what we are proud of and what defines us as Hong Kong. Without “One Country, Two Systems”, we might as well drop our Hong Kong brand which was the fruit of more than a hundred years of labour, and change our city's name to “Xianggang”, like cities in Mainland China.

Here, I would like to ask all of you who have been listening to my long letter to stand in solidarity and do what you can to help the courageous youth out there. Some of them have sacrificed their personal safety and fortune for the cause. Some have even given up their lives, to our deep regrets. I ask you not to give up hope, please stay optimistic as we might be nearing the beginning of the end. We shall be strong in our unity and fluidity, as Bruce Lee’s famous saying goes, “You must be shapeless, formless, like water.”

Letter To Hong Kong

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