Hong Kong needs real economic and social reform right now, not an independent inquiry into the turmoil
- A look into previous successful commissions of inquiry show that they took place when the matter was no longer ongoing
- Because Hong Kong’s protests are still raging, an ‘independent’ inquiry would be difficult; we need a radical reform agenda instead
Of the five demands (including the bill’s formal withdrawal, overturning the police commissioner’s definition of the June 12 protests as “riots” and withdrawing all charges against protesters), as well as others added in the past two months, the demand to set up a statutory commission of inquiry to investigate alleged excessive use of force by police has received the greatest public support.
Advocates for such a commission can be forgiven for pushing this as a way out of the present impasse. It is obviously in everyone’s interest to bring the present turmoil to a close as soon as possible, and negotiations with the organisers, and acceding to their demand for an inquiry, seems a feasible way out.
Many point to the South African example of setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to heal the rift. The question is: can a commission of inquiry at this stage – when violence is ongoing – establish truth, stop violence and bring peace?
Some research on how similar controversies have been handled provides useful lessons. Since 1997, five statutory commissions of inquiry have been set up in Hong Kong to investigate various controversies – the chaotic opening of the new airport in 1998; alleged interference with academic freedom at the Hong Kong Institute of Education in 2007; the Lamma Island shipwreck in October 2012; the “lead in water” allegations in 2015; and alleged fraudulent engineering works at the Hung Hom station of the Sha Tin-Central Link in 2018.
All of these involved controversies qualitatively different from the current, unprecedented prolonged turbulence. They involved professional investigations into single or relatively short-lived episodes or an ongoing health hazard. None is as politically fraught as the current stand-off.