Public Eye | Surrender saga shows our laws aren't oppressive

Do it already, for goodness' sake, or don't do it. We're talking about the Occupy Central trio of Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Dr Chan Kin-man and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming. For weeks, they've talked about turning themselves in to police for initiating civil disobedience. And for weeks, they've pushed back the date. Where else but in Hong Kong can people confess to having broken the law in the name of civil disobedience, return to work and take their time in choosing dates to surrender? Makes you wonder if Hong Kong is really as politically oppressive as some say. Mr Justice Kemal Bokhary, a Court of Final Appeal non-permanent judge, put it best in a television interview with Public Eye: Hong Kong doesn't have any oppressive law that justifies civil disobedience. What will the trio confess to anyway? Inciting unlawful assembly? Conspiring to break the law? Pretty serious stuff. Or will they simply confess to breaking the law in the name of democracy? What law? We can almost hear Gandhi moan in his grave that they've given civil disobedience a bad name.

Let us tell you a tale of two expulsions that will leave you scratching your heads. Student leaders try to fly to Beijing to demand democracy. They get no further than Hong Kong airport, where they are told their home return permits have been cancelled. Furious pan-democrats denounce the local and central governments. From the pro-establishment camp comes deafening silence, except for legislator Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee who says governments have a right to deny entry to undesirables. A holidaying Hong Kong journalist is blocked from the Philippines for having heckled President Benigno Aquino at a summit last year. He is told eight others are also on the blacklist. Furious pan-dems demand action from Beijing and the Leung Chun-ying administration, which they don't even recognise as legitimate. Beijing loyalist Ip Kwok-him, silent about the blacklisting of students, criticises the Philippine blacklist. The Leung administration, likewise silent about the mainland ban, expresses concern. Beijing, which banned students, says it will look into why Manila banned journalists. Ah well, when you need someone to kick, there is always the Philippines.