Tough on radicals, soft on thugs
What would happen if radical legislator 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung led a mob of hooligans who burned effigies and shouted death threats against a senior government official?
Police would tear-gas their way into the mob with batons and handcuffs. Our top leaders would angrily denounce the violent protest as intolerable.
Such a protest took place on Monday, but it did not involve Leung. Hundreds of crazed New Territories villagers shouting 'you deserve to die' beheaded an effigy of Development Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, placed it in a coffin and torched it. They were protesting against a government crackdown on illegal structures.
And what did our government do? Nothing, except for a mild rebuke from Lam. Talk about double standards.
New Territories kingpin Lau Wong-fat, who sits in the chief executive's cabinet, sided with the hooligans' plan to manipulate the law against illegal structures. He heads the rural organisation Heung Yee Kuk, which the government fears. That's why the government cowers when dealing with the rural thugs, but uses a heavy hand against radicals such as Leung.
The hypocrisy is disgusting.
