Advertisement
Reflections | In Hong Kong, mistrust of police is so pervasive bomb threats are dismissed
- During imperial China’s Tang dynasty, the introduction of a penal code ensured that criminal acts would not go unpunished
- Public reactions to recent discoveries of home-made explosive devices have been curiously blasé, heightened by suspicion of law enforcement
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
This month, 10kg of chemicals, 4kg of finished explosive substances, and paraphernalia used in the making of improvised explosive devices, such as modified mobile phones, circuit boards and a pressure cooker, were found in an abandoned school in eastern Kowloon.
A senior Hong Kong police officer said that some of the chemicals seemed to be the same hazardous substances as had gone missing from laboratories at Hong Kong Polytechnic University during its occupation by anti-government protesters, in November.
This was the 11th case involving home-made bombs the police force had handled since anti-government demonstrations broke out in Hong Kong last summer. Public reactions to each discovery, even on occasions when the devices exploded as intended by their makers, have been curiously blasé. While it is true that no injuries or deaths have so far resulted from these makeshift devices, Hongkongers’ collective shrug in the face of their threat seems inexplicable.
Advertisement
One of the greatest achievements in traditional Chinese law, the Tang Code, which was created and used during the Tang dynasty (618–907), contained provisions against criminal acts that would cause mayhem and heavy casualties in the general population.
These acts included injuring or killing pedestrians while riding one’s carriage or horse, shooting arrows into crowded areas such as cities and towns, causing a disturbance or worse by spreading rumours, damaging dams or levees, arson, and many others.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Select Voice
Select Speed
1.00x