My first death threat since the arrival of Hong Kong’s much-feared national security law

Yonden Lhatoo gets personal while reflecting upon the intolerance and intimidation that goes on unchecked in this city in the name of democracy and the fight for freedom

Yonden Lhatoo

Published: 3:40pm, 11 Jul 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

I received a death threat this week – not really something new, but my first since the arrival of Hong Kong’s much-feared national security law.

It came in the form of an email message that assumed I must be feeling “at ease, smug maybe” and warned that I should not be “lulled into a false sense of security” under the new legal regimen.

“That would be a terrible error on your part. We watch you at home, we watch you commute from your private residence to work, and we watch you at work. We watch you meeting with your friends. We are always watching,” the purportedly passionate supporter of the protest movement wrote.

Beijing’s national security law for Hong Kong took effect on June 30. It was not long before the Post’s chief news editor received a death threat warning him not to be ‘lulled into a false sense of security’. Photo: AP

“We haven’t yet decided precisely how to ‘fix’ you. But rest assured (or don’t) that we are in the final stages of a permanent solution to your problem … We have plans for you. We’ll be taking you far, far away from your beloved HK [sic].”

It could well be some harmless, neck-bearded nutjob having a laugh from somewhere overseas, but his tone is rabidly anti-China, apparently provoked by my temerity to criticise the fascist and violent elements of what is supposedly a noble fight against repression and a heroic struggle for greater freedom and democracy in this city.

Will Hong Kong’s national security law really end street violence and beatings?

I forwarded the message to police to add to a list of other such threats I’ve received over the past year.

I get my fair share of abuse and hate from people who become unhinged over what I write or say, and heartfelt messages wishing me and my entire family extremely painful Covid-19 deaths come with the territory in this brave new world of bipolar opinions in stark yellow and blue, woe betide anyone who dares to paint the moderate shades in between.

05:50

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But as I was binning the first messages that were threatening violence, dismissing them as cowardly bluffs, I was advised to take them more seriously and to at least report them to police, just in case.

I’m not the only target in our newsroom by the way – a younger colleague has faced harassment and bullying for holding on to her integrity as a reporter who is unafraid to tell the truth, no matter how much some people may resent it.

I’ve kept quiet about it all these months because I believe, as a matter of principle, that journalists should always tell the story, never be the story itself. But I reckon it’s time now to put this on the record.

In one of the most shocking episodes of last year’s anti-government protests, a construction worker was set on fire on November 11 after he challenged radicals who were vandalising a train station. Photo: Handout

When it comes to bravery, I have no illusions about being anywhere in the league of citizens such as the construction worker who was doused with flammable liquid and set on fire when he dared to confront radical protesters fighting for our freedom by vandalising a train station, or the lawyer who was savagely beaten by a black-clad mob for having the gall to object to a roadblock.

I don’t possess their courage, but I have something they don’t – a platform to reach millions through this newspaper, to give a voice to voiceless people like them, to tell the other side of any story that you won’t hear from the popular narrative, addled and blinkered by groupthink.

03:45

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What kind of dystopia is this, where champions of democracy tolerate no dissenting views? Far from being intimidated, I will continue to speak up, even louder. I make no apology for demanding peace and prosperity, law and order, and a just society.

And I don’t see why we can’t have any or all of it in Hong Kong. People write to me nearly every day, come up to me almost everywhere I go in this city, to express their appreciation and support for what I say. It gives me immense hope that all is not lost.

Hardcore elements of the anti-government movement see themselves as champions of democracy, while aggressively targeting those with dissenting views. Photo: Initium Media

Despite everything that has happened over the past year, all the scars that we bear, all the “Hong Kong is finished” headlines that we are constantly bombarded with, I still believe this city is a fine place and worth fighting for, and I would hate very much to leave it, whatever plans some people may have in terms of a “permanent solution” to take me “far, far away from your beloved HK”.

Yonden Lhatoo is the chief news editor at the Post

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: My first death threat since the national security law