Then & Now | Shills, sycophants and blackmail: the making of Hong Kong’s political chorus

Every powerful, unpredictable regime has its chorus line of sycophants; contemporary Hong Kong, in its relationship with mainland China, is no exception. And when those in ultimate power are increasingly capricious with the world around them, and formerly understood ways of doing things become obscure, even those who have made a life’s work from attempting to read other people’s tea leaves become baffled.

Sycophants are one thing; shills are quite another. This unattractive term refers to those members of a team of confidence tricksters – historically operating from fairgrounds – who would present them­selves as unconnected, casual observers to help the main huckster sell their parti­cular brand of snake oil to unsuspecting, gullible customers.

Over the past decade, Hong Kong has seen numerous former political figures, media commentators, ex-government administrators, senior legal figures and others undergo abrupt 180-degree turns away from previously firmly held positions and become obvious shills to unseen power brokers. The convoluted ethical callisthenics required to maintain their new postures have flummoxed even the most charitable observers.

After a while, the obvious – if mean-spirited – question becomes inevitable, even if seldom asked publicly. Just what exactly do “they” have on these people, to cause them to make such rapid, otherwise inexplicable about-faces, and then maintain them so shamelessly?

As any astute observer of the global communist playbook knows, a potential stooge’s personal failings are usually identified early on, and then filed away – perhaps for many years – for later use. Wherever possible, the shortcoming identified by the communist talent-spotter is discreetly encouraged, to create more future leverage opportunities when the time is ripe.