My take on the Hong Kong crisis
A READER, obviously trailing me for quite some time without my knowing it, has suggested that I stop behaving like a frog under a coconut shell (seperti katak bawah tempurong) – referring to my columns for their dearth of write-ups on wider political issues and intrigues.
Thanks for the feedback, mate. Like many people,
I’m interested in all issues everywhere, but I must admit that sometimes I behave like that frog. For a good reason.
You see, where the sky is low like the shell of a coconut, one can hear and see at close range most of the nearby happenings. You hear audible whispering about the giving and taking of money for favours given by those walking in the corridors of power; you can see evidence of ostensible wealth allegedly from dirty money that has been washed snow white. You overhear conversations about the rampant buying of votes at election time. You notice how people are at each other’s throats and fall over each other’s bodies in a scramble for power. All under one coconut shell.
The Malaysian courts are up to their necks with cases of alleged corruption, money laundering, and criminal breach of trust. All these cases have been extensively reported by both the electronic and print media, as well as by word of mouth. My weekly column is just one small cog in the wheel of this great machine (which, by the way, seems to be turning and turning without ever turning out any great results!).
This Sunday, the frog hops out from under that shell. Restrain me if I stick my neck out too much.
Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong
I’m not sure how our national government looks at the political crisis in Hong Kong. From my own little window, however, I have got my own vantage.
It started as a protest against the passing of the law allowing criminal suspects caught in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China for trial. Obviously, the protesters, among them members of the legal fraternity and university students, do not have full confidence in the independence and the impartiality of the judiciary in the mainland. For many intellectuals in SAR, this kind of judiciary practising ‘British justice’, is a useful legacy of the 100-year old colonial rule for the period beyond 1997.
These youth-driven protests starting in June have developed into an open platform for other demands: preservation of the status quo as well as other reforms in terms of job opportunities for Hongkongers (H-4-H of sorts).
Where does Malaysia stand on this, I wonder? Are we taking a leaf out of Trump’s book (love and hate), or are we in line with the State Department’s stance (pro-democracy. Period)?
The New York Times International Edition (SaturdaySunday, Aug 17-18, 2019), explains the various Trump’s tweets and statements as being ‘ambivalent about the Hong Kong unrest’. In his conduct of the trade war with China, negotiating a trade deal at the same time, President Trump commends President Xi as a great leader “who very much has the respect of his people” and “who can bring the Hong Kong crisis to a happy and enlightened end”.
Or do we have our own stance? As Malaysia has just revised a law governing peaceful assemblies, how are we to subtly hint to China – our important trading partner and an investor in several of our projects worth billions of ringgit – our take on the Hong Kong turmoil?
China must understand that whatever our policy, it must be our own minted stance, not influenced by anybody else.
Not another Tiananmen, please
We are duty – bound, I feel, to convey our inner feelings to China as one good friend to another that those troops and tanks massing at the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen remain where they are; they must not be used to repeat the infamous massacre at the Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The other day someone asked me if China would soon send troops to Hong Kong to squelch the demonstrators in order to stop further protests. My own personal feeling is that China will not be that rash because the whole world will be watching how it behaves. The Asean countries are worried about the inevitable exodus of refugees heading their way should a massacre were to take place in Hong Kong.
It is also in China’s national interest to be in the good books of many countries as it assumes the role of a world power.
The whole of China is preparing for a big do on Oct 1, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. One does not misbehave on one’s birthday, does one?
Malaysia, as a democratic country, must show where we stand vis-a-vis Hong Kong’s status as a Special Administrative Region of China within the framework of ‘One Country Two Systems’. The SAR has been faithfully observing the provisions of the Basic Law since 1997 particularly those relating to the freedom of the press and assembly and to the enjoyment of laissez-faire economy. They ask, “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?”
These two freedoms form the foundation of Hong Kong as a vibrant financial hub in Asia. For China, Hong Kong is a goose that lays the golden eggs.
It would be a great mistake indeed to harm that goose. Anyway, the Chinese know better than anybody else of the importance of Hong Kong to China’s own economy.
I think those tanks and vehicles inside the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre are on a stand-by mode only. At present they’re mostly press-fodder, but they could be used to quash the prodemocracy protesters if Beijing considered it absolutely necessary. But for the moment, as I see it, there’s no absolute necessity for the big boy to resort to arms to solve the internal problem of SAR, unless there is a direct challenge to China’s sovereignty.
Why do we worry then? Let’s think of those Malaysians who have personal or family or commercial connections with those in Hong Kong and in the mainland. Will their investments be safe there?
The turmoil there is an internal affair. Sooner or later, the protests will fizzle out as they did in 2014. It is vital that countries, Malaysia included, doing business with China know how to draw the line, ideological differences or political affiliations notwithstanding.
Shouldn’t all Malaysians be concerned for the safety of our fellow citizens travelling to China through the Hong Kong Airport?
To me, using the airport as a venue for a massive protest was unwise. The protesters were shooting their own foot, unnecessarily. Whatever sympathy they had expected from the tourists; it was practically erased by a counterproductive choice of a venue for any angry demonstration.
Still, we pray that the arrangement called One Country, Two Systems will last as long as possible, regarding it as an excellent example of how two opposing ideologies can co-exist for mutual benefit.
Hopefully, the relative calm in Hong Kong midweek will be the beginning of the return to peace for the beleaguered city. Fingers crossed.