Off Centre

As Hong Kong's press freedom comes under attack, it appears we're not Charlie

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A masked man hurls a firebomb at Jimmy Lai''s home. Photo: Handout

Formerly a staff journalist at SCMP, Kenny Hodgart has lived in Hong Kong since 2011.

Published: 11:25am, 21 Jan 2015Updated: 12:15pm, 4 May 2015

Pope Francis may not have been terribly far from these shores when he said that thing he said – about people who insult religion having to expect a punch – last week. He was flying from Sri Lanka to Manila. Not for the first time, though, Hong Kong has felt somewhat removed and remote this month from matters exercising minds in other parts of what might still just about usefully be termed “the free world”.

It's not that the Charlie Hebdo slayings haven't been a topic of conversation, nor even that we've lacked candidates proclaiming their compassion or solidarity with a “je suis Charlie” jpeg on social media. No, it's just that any sustained talk of free speech, and that which threatens it, has a way of making Hongkongers fidget for their smartphones. When liberal democracies start talking about an implacable ideology threatening “our values”, well, parts of that conversation aren't for everywhere, are they?

You may well have your own take on how things have played out in Europe since the murders in Paris two weeks ago. You may find it all utterly depressing. Personally, I take some heart from the simple fact that there is finally a debate taking place – a debate which for too long has been dodged for fear of inflaming sensitivities.

Sure, we’ve seen media organisations marshal evasive and insidious arguments to disavow or caveat free expression. And yes, in short order the public was being enjoined to consider the latter at best a problem, at worst a provocation, with the familiar warnings of a possible backlash on Muslim communities reeled out as an admonition against focusing any inquiry on their faith. Oh, and where the leader of the Catholic Church at least refused to step on the merry-go-round of hypocrisy, others well-versed in taking offence to things they themselves do not like have been less daunted.