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Michael Chugani

They came in the middle of the night. The police, about 10 of them, swooping on a flat in Kwai Chung. Inside was a sleepy woman. They took her away. A terrorist planning to blow up Government House? No. An American spy fomenting Hong Kong independence? No.
Their target was a 60-year-old opposition district councillor, Cheng Lai-king. Her alleged crime? Doxxing a policeman. OK, doxxing anyone is not right. But why grab the suspect in the dead of night? Maybe they feared she was a flight risk.
The whole world is in lockdown, for goodness sake. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Where would she flee to? The mainland, where opposition politicians are likely to face a worse fate than being struck by the coronavirus?
To me, the night-time knock on the door was to send a chilling message. Why else would they use a 1938 colonial-era sedition law to arrest her for doxxing, haul her to the police station, take a simple statement, not charge her but detain her until the afternoon then release her on bail?

Cheng, a Democratic Party member who chairs the Central and Western District Council, is known for her clashes with the police, including the commissioner, during meetings.
She stands accused of forwarding a Facebook post – which she later deleted – revealing details of a policemen said to have shot and blinded an eye of an Indonesian journalist during an anti-government protest.
In her post, Cheng called for “an eye for an eye”. If I remember correctly, this is part of God’s Law given by Moses to ancient Israel. Jesus quoted it in his Sermon on the Mount. It’s not meant to be taken literally. Don’t ask God how this became seditious in 21st-century Hong Kong. Ask the police.
Doxxing: the ‘weapon’ in Hong Kong’s protests had petty beginnings
Superintendent Swalikh Mohammed, of the cybersecurity and technology crime bureau, didn’t explain. He said only that the case was still under investigation, adding that the force was also looking into whether Cheng breached a court injunction against police doxxing.
Here’s what else Mohammed said: “Doxxing is not just a threat to the officer or family, but also to social order. It silences [people], which could affect public faith in the rule of law.”
Let me remind him of what Beijing mouthpiece Ta Kung Pao did last August. It doxxed Julie Eadeh from the United States consulate by revealing her personal details, including details of her children, after she met democracy activists, including Joshua Wong Chi-fung.
Mohammed must agree such doxxing likewise affects public faith in the rule of law. Will the police charge Ta Kung Pao for doxxing or sedition?

From what I understand, the US will soon be releasing its annual report on the US-Hong Kong Policy Act. This 1992 US law grants Hong Kong special trade and economic status separately from mainland China as long as its autonomy is intact under “one country, two systems”. The law was further toughened by the Hong Kong Human rights and Democracy Act, which the US Congress recently passed.
Last year’s Hong Kong Policy Act Report stated that, although Beijing had increased its meddling in Hong Kong, the city still had a sufficient, although diminished, degree of autonomy to keep the special trade status.
Why the US sees fit to enact a sledgehammer law on Hong Kong
What will this year’s report say? I am afraid to guess. Cheng’s arrest for alleged sedition is likely to weigh heavily on the tone of the report. But the clearest proof of our eroding autonomy is Beijing’s decree that the dozen or so US journalists it expelled from the mainland will not be allowed to work in Hong Kong.
Beijing says it’s a diplomatic issue, but to many, it’s a violation of “one country, two systems”. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, in her usual Beijing-kowtowing way, has refused to say if Beijing’s banning of expelled journalists working here erodes our autonomy.
If she, too, feels it’s a diplomatic issue she should say so. Her silence only solidifies the growing belief that our autonomy is disappearing. I hope the Hong Kong Policy Act report will send a strong warning to Lam and Beijing. Am I badmouthing Hong Kong by saying this? No. I am trying to preserve our freedoms.
Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong journalist and TV show host


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Pro-democracy protesters attend a rally in the Central district of Hong Kong on January 12, calling on foreign governments to sanction the Chinese government if universal suffrage is not implemented in Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Tsang

Protesters participate in an anti-extradition bill rally on Hennessy Road near the office of Ta Kung Pao, in Wan Chai. 11AUG19 11AUG19 SCMP/ Sun Yeung

Cheng Lai-king (orange jacket), chairwoman of Central and Western District Council, at the Kwai Chung Division Police Station, Kwai Chung. Cheng was taken into custody after she forwarded a Facebook post on Wednesday that detailed the name and identification number of an officer said to have shot an Indonesian journalist with a non-lethal projectile during an anti-government protest in Wan Chai in September. 26MAR20 SCMP / Dickson Lee

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Anti-government protesters wave the US flag during a rally to urge US lawmakers to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act last year. Photo: Felix Wong

Lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee attends the press conference by Anti-strike alliance for patients, Fortress Hill. 19FEB20 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Lawmaker Cheung Kwok-kwan attends a Legco hearing on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail link (co-location) bill at Legco Building in Tamar. 07APR18. SCMP / David Wong

Government adviser Ronny Tong defends Hong Kong police’s use of sedition laws, after arrest of opposition politician Cheng Lai-king

Cheng Lai-king (left) at a meeting with Commissioner of Police Chris Tang Ping-keung. Cheng was arrested for sedition earlier this week. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Executive Council member Ronny Tong Ka-wah attends a RTHK radio programme at the RTHK Station in Kowloon Tong. 27JUL18 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

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Opinion

News

Hong Kong


The arrest of a district councillor under a colonial-era sedition law and Beijing’s order stopping a dozen foreign journalists from working in Hong Kong are a blow to the city’s freedoms
This may trigger a warning from the US as it reviews recent developments under the Hong Kong Policy Act



The arrest of a district councillor under colonial-era sedition law and Beijing’s order stopping a dozen foreign journalists from working in Hong Kong are a blow to Hong Kong’s freedoms.


Crime

Hong Kong protests

Hong Kong politics

Hong Kong police

US-China relations

Hong Kong Basic Law

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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