Ignoring separatist activity won’t force it to disappear
HK people must stand against secessionists, or society will pay the price, Chow Pak-chin says
We can no longer bury our heads in the sand amid increasingly blatant calls and advocacy for Hong Kong’s independence, because ignoring these initiatives will only allow it to fester. In the end, it will be more costly to the city.
Those who choose to ignore the independence movement and those who recklessly or willfully encourage others to do the same naively believe that tackling these independence radicals head-on will only give them unnecessary publicity. Sadly though, this is not the case. The problem will not go away by itself if we choose to ignore it. Instead, we must continue to restrain them and everything they are doing to push for independence; this is especially important for activities that threaten to unravel the civil fabric of our society.
These independence advocates have been plotting their treacherous campaign for years, and their efforts have become increasingly more open, desperate and daring.
First, it started with seemingly harmless newspaper articles and books encouraging secession from the country in 2011, which were also distributed among Hong Kong universities, as the campaigners understand how to cash in on youth discontent. Their common themes call for the removal of the powers of the central authorities which have been enshrined in the Basic Law since its promulgation in 1990, ranging from constitutional reform to appointment of the chief executive to interpretation of the Basic Law. Their campaign then took a giant leap that led to the “Occupy Central” illegal movement in 2014, followed by the notorious Mong Kok Riot. A couple of weeks ago, Andy Chan Ho-tin, founder of the Hong Kong National Party, accepted the invitation of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club to promote outright independence of Hong Kong at a luncheon talk.
These secessionists openly call for Hong Kong’s independence right under our nose, mainly because we haven’t taken decisive measures to put a stop to their illegal and damaging activities. This may sound heavy-handed, but it is a fact that the Hong Kong society as a whole didn’t act early enough to nip it in the bud, so now we can only play catch-up.
Our government leaders, the people of Hong Kong, and society at large would do well to be reminded that as in medicine, “prevention is better than cure’’ and diseases are best treated in their early rather than advanced stages. In other words, this disease in particular is raging out of control and we need to treat it with all our might once and for all.
Sadly, the silent majority are too silent on this issue. They either don’t appreciate the gravity of such threats or do not feel that it is their responsibility to speak out. Then there are those who feign political ignorance because they don’t really want to get involved. And finally, there are those who have an axe to grind and hope to take advantage of the political mayhem currently ensuing.
The fact is we must come down heavily on the perpetrators and make it clear to them that justice comes to all who deserve it, much like Edward Leung Tin-kei, a Hong Kong independence activist. Leung was jailed for six years in June because of his prominent role in the Mong Kok Riot, one of the city’s worst outbreaks of civil unrest in decades.
In the same month, we also saw two ousted pro-independence lawmakers, Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Waiching, and their former assistants being sentenced to four weeks’ imprisonment for storming a Legislative Council meeting room two years ago.
The hotbed of the independence and other secessionist movements is the university campuses. The first spark of this pro-independence wildfire was set off by a local academic, Chin Wan-kan, also known as Chin Wan, who was at the time an assistant professor at the Department of Chinese of Lingnan University. Chin first promoted the idea of localism with his publications On the Hong Kong City-State series in 2011. Along with his inflammatory books on the “city-state” concept, he also organized summits to spread his localism ideas on social media. Chin’s contract was not renewed by Lingnan University in 2016, and rightly so.
Another pro-independence perpetrator is Cheng Chung-tai, who was a teaching fellow at the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He supported and organized violent protests in the name of promoting Hong Kong separatism. Cheng lost his university job in June this year as his teaching contract was not renewed by the university.
It is clear that university managements must take up the responsibility of making sure that their teaching staff do not poison our young people with their “independence” follies.
These secessionist radicals are trying to thrive on political chaos and tap into people’s political naivety. However, the reality is that most Hong Kong residents don’t care about lofty political speeches; they just want politicians to get things done. There are more urgent matters at hand that need to be dealt with, such as housing, poverty, and healthcare problems in our city. Our people need politicians who can live up to their promises, be able to “walk the walk”, and help the city and its citizens.
That said, as members of society, it is our civic responsibility to protect and defend the community we share. We can’t just shut our eyes and wish the problem away. We can’t ignore the fact that these pro-independence activists are tearing up our society. We must speak out and stand up to defend the common good of our society. If we look on and do nothing, we will all end up paying the ultimate price.
We can’t ignore the fact that these pro-independence activists are tearing up our society. We must speak out and stand up to defend the common good of our society.