Riot police use pepper spray to disperse pro-democracy activists inside a mall after an anti-extradition march in Sha Tin, on July 14. The extradition bill controversy is not only affecting the lives of Hongkongers, it has also drawn intense international media attention. Photo: Reuters
Holidaying in Canada earlier this month, I watched patriots there on Canada Day, July 1, waving their national flags in exuberant pride and celebrating their homeland’s success in the past year. Meanwhile, their local news depicted Hong Kong’s establishment-day festivities as a stark contrast to their own; mass protests and the vandalising of the Legislative Council complex.
The extradition bill controversy is not only affecting the lives of Hongkongers, it has also drawn intense international media attention. What started as a peaceful protest in early June gradually morphed into mass demonstrations, scuffles between our youth and police and the frequent occupation of major landmarks and roads. Eventually, Hong Kong risks being perceived as a lawless society governed by an ineffectual government and police force.
The consequences for Hong Kong’s international relationships are not insignificant. The tourism and retail industries have suffered a decline in recent weeks, possibly due to a hesitancy to visit a city perceived to be rife with chaos. In the long term, Hong Kong could lose its reputation as a free society and its share of expatriates, who fuel the city’s economic growth and improve our population’s cultural vibrancy.
With healthy international relations being a crucial catalyst to economic and social success, Hong Kong should mend its wounds by taking a first step to resolve the conflict between protesters and the police, and ultimately work towards long-term social stability.
Christopher Yeu, Mid-Levels
Bias against mainland Chinese a sad fact for city
I’m trying to analyse objectively the underlying cause for millions protesting against the extradition bill. I believe a considerable number of Hong Kong citizens nurse a subconscious bias against mainland Chinese.
Before the second world war, Hong Kong and the mainland maintained a friendly relationship. In the 1950-1960s, many sent parcels to the mainland for relatives suffering severe shortages in goods and food, and living in extreme poverty. Then the Cultural Revolution dampened relationships: Hong Kong citizens needed to decide whether they were pro-colonial government or pro-China! Many chose the former and became successful in their careers as officials or businessmen.
That bias grew quickly in the 1970-1980s. As Hong Kong’s economy prospered, many now well-to-do Hongkongers began to be big spenders in the mainland, showing off as upstarts often do to their poor relatives, whom they also looked down on as ignorant and uneducated as a result of the Cultural Revolution. The derogatorynickname“Ah Charn” was coined to ridicule mainlanders.
“Ah Charn” was the name of a country bumpkin character played by actor Liu Wai-hung, seen here in a 1990 file photo, in the 1979 hit TV series The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Photo: SCMP
But as China grew richer (Shenzhen’s GDP has surpassed Hong Kong’s), the tables were turned. Hong Kong wasted two decades after 1997 on internal strife between political factions and the economy suffered. The once arrogant Hongkongers now nurse an inferiority complex and subconsciously resent upstart mainlanders calling us “Kong Charn”!
Thus, even mainlanders coming to spend money in Hong Kong were unwelcome to many. This has led to clashes. Now the clashes are worse, thanks to constant anti-China propaganda in many news and social media outlets, not least by teachers with political affiliations! Our younger generations are being brainwashed to feel ashamed to be Chinese! Even the colonial government never did that. How sad!
Rupert Chan, Mid-Levels
British moves are a stab in the back for Hong Kong police
The suspension of the sale of anti-riot equipment to the Hong Kong Police Force by the British government after June 12 was a severe stab in the back, not only for the Hong Kong police, but to all mature societies and peoples who honour the rule of law.
The British government continues to condemn everything and everyone, particularly China, except the true culprits, which is bewildering. And the ridiculous, one-sided, endless accounts in the “mature” British press, of so-called pleas from the oppressed youth of Hong Kong, is becoming quite unnerving.
Hong Kong remains a free, open and vibrant society, governed by the rule of law. Anyone living, visiting or doing business here surely knows this. I have no idea where the British government is coming from, but it seems obsessed with pandering to the shouts of colonial-flag-waving students and non-establishment politicians.
