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Letters | Hong Kong protests: three reasons why district councils must unite to create expert panel of investigation
- A district council probe is likely to be criticised for bias and will have no prosecutorial powers. Far better for the councils to band together to fund an expert-led investigation that can press Legco into setting up an independent commission of inquiry
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Why you can trust SCMP
Led by pan-democratic councillors, the Yuen Long District Council recently proposed an independent investigation into the indiscriminate attack on passengers and passers-by on July 21 by men in white shirts inside the West Rail MTR’s Yuen Long station. The other 16 district councils controlled by the pro-democracy camp are likely to follow in addressing transgressions in their jurisdictions.
Unfortunately, a district council investigation is insufficient for three reasons. First, it is meaningful only if it strictly adheres to the principle that “no one is above the law”, whether it is policemen, “black shirts”, “blue shirts”, “white shirts”, district councillors or legislative councillors.
Second, a district council’s investigation team will inevitably face criticisms of bias attributable to its presumption of police brutality and complicity, and inadequacy due to limitations in resources, information access and expertise.
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Third, the investigation’s findings need to enter a court of law for prosecution, presently handled by the Department of Justice overseen by Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, the embattled secretary despised by many Hongkongers.
While a district council can submit a narrowly defined investigation’s findings as part of a complaint to the Hong Kong Police Force, it faces three challenging questions: (1) Will the Hong Kong Police transmit the findings to the Department of Justice sans self-serving preclusion?
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