Letters | Hong Kong police must regain public trust for city to start healing

If officers are not held to account for their violent arrests of protesters, Hongkongers will find it difficult to regain their trust in the force. To move forward, the city needs a renewed social contract between the government and citizens

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Pro-democracy protesters take part in a lunchtime rally in Hong Kong on January 6, a day after police arrested nearly 50 people at a march against mainland Chinese shoppers and parallel traders. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 7:30am, 10 Jan 2020Updated: 7:30am, 10 Jan 2020

The protests and the violence that have rocked Hong Kong over the past months have led to a significant loss of trust in the government and its machinery. One of the challenges for the administration in looking for a “recovery path” is not just what policies to implement but also deciding how to execute these (“DAB floats suggestions ahead of budget to help Hong Kong ‘get back on track’”, January 6).

One crucial factor in the implementation and mobilisation of support is trust, or the backing necessary for successful implementation of policies at the grass-root level will be very difficult to gain.

Trust in the government represents the confidence of citizens in the actions of a government to do what is right and what is perceived as fair. At the core of the existing mistrust are the members of the Hong Kong police force who, encouraged by their cloak of anonymity and backed by a seeming lack of accountability, are being increasingly viewed as an authoritarian source of hostility in the city.

The police have – through their frequently unwarranted and heavy-handed actions – alienated, and lost trust and goodwill among, large sections of the public.

The chief executive needs to set up an independent commission of inquiry into police actions over the past few months. Some would argue that the police force does not make rules, they just execute them. Society, however, has long held that when people cross lines, they cannot eschew responsibility for their actions by citing the Nuremberg defence.

Mob violence leading to destruction cannot be condoned and, as such, it is understandable that the government is against granting amnesty to arrested protesters.