Extradition is a critical issue – all Hongkongers, including housewives, are entitled to speak out about it
A lawmaker’s attack on a homemaker’s petition against the extradition bill, suggesting that housewives are politically irrelevant and worthy of ridicule, is profoundly misogynistic
The Hong Kong government has certainly got more than it bargained for with its proposed extradition bill. Yet, it is going to keep on insisting that the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019 aims to deal with the Taiwan murder case and seeks to plug loopholes in the current regime for legal cooperation in criminal matters.
Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu will continue to trip himself up, and shoot himself in the foot. His latest and most outrageous comment has to be his accusation that the legal sector does not really understand the bill. We have to congratulate him for being able to outdo a former security chief, who once caused an uproar by saying that taxi drivers and restaurant waiters would not be interested in the details of the national security bill to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law.
Lee’s boss, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, has him to thank for inciting people to take to the streets in protest against the bill.
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We can hardly be surprised when outrageous politics is met with widespread public outrage. And even the sideshows are now revealing some of Hong Kong’s uglier politics. Petitions, both offline and online, have been popping up and – in addition to the ones we have come to expect, like those from schools and professional bodies – one in particular attracted a very nasty and undeserved response.
Wong Choi-fung, a housewife, started a petition for people like herself – those who have to be available round the clock for their family, and therefore may not be available to join in protests – to express their opposition to the extradition proposal. Wong’s petition drew signatures from many homemakers and caught the attention of at least one lawmaker, who could not help but publicly ridicule it.
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Supporters of the government’s extradition amendment demonstrate outside the Legislative Council during a meeting on the issue on April 17. Photo: Dickson Lee
At a Legislative Council security panel meeting last week, that lawmaker singled out the housewives’ petition and said, “Maybe they fear their husbands will be extradited for having mistresses in the mainland, right?”
