Picture of the Day: Yellow Distraction

Two giant ducks that duck a significant anniversary

Today is the fourth anniversary of the first massive anti-extradition march, where some 1 million people came out to protest. They dressed in white, mourning the end of Hong Kong if the extradition bill was passed, while walking in the humid heat from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to Central.

But today there are no protests in the city, where the rules changed overnight with the national security law in place in 2020 and as a result no dissent is allowed.

When 1M people wore white to protest in 2019

To distract people from the anniversary, there are not one, but two cute giant ducks bobbing in Victoria Harbour.

The pair of ducks at 18 metres tall are bigger than the one that came 10 years ago at 16.5 metres.

Whooweeeee.

As if to rub it in further, in a press release, Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman gushed, "Double duck is double luck", in a nod to the Hong Kong government's bid to invite people to the city with its "Happy Hong Kong" campaign.

However are people really happy?

If they were, they wouldn't be leaving in droves, as evidenced by the increasing numbers of Hongkongers migrating elsewhere and the birthrate has dropped.

It's gotten so bad that five schools are facing closure because they don't have enough students or teachers. 

In any event, as Hong Kong celebrates the arrival of the ducks, may we point out their bright yellow colour has significance for some people?

Macau Expands NSL Legislation

Macau has kowtowed to China since its handover in 1999

When comparing Hong Kong with nearby Macau, the latter was always seen as the more obedient child to Beijing.

While Hong Kong loudly protested against passing Article 23, the security law back in 2003, which led the government shelving it for later, Macau happily legislated it without a fuss in 2009.

Fast forward 11 years and Beijing implemented the national security law in Hong Kong following the 2019 protests. Despite the NSL covering sedition, subversion, terrorism and secession, the city will revisit Article 23 in a bid to pass it next year.

Increased national security legislation in Macau

With the Legislative Council overwhelmingly stacked with pro-establishment politicians, it should be no problem to finally pass this controversial piece of legislation, which stoked fears of extradition to China to face trial.

However, Macau has found that it needs to catch up with Hong Kong's NSL and further expanded its own national security law legislation.

The updated law, which has come into effect, puts greater emphasis on foreign interference in the special administrative region.

The original NSL in Macau listed seven major crimes, such as treason, subversion, theft of state secrets and foreign collusion, where maximum punishments are 25 years in jail.

Meanwhile opposition to any central government department and the ideology in Beijing can be charged with subversion.

In addition Macau police now have the power to target suspects outside the city.

Now Macau's NSL similar to Hong Kong's 

Not surprisingly, critics of the new security law say it restricts people's liberties and rights in the former Portuguese colony.

Jason Chao was formerly president of the pro-democratic political party called the New Macau Association, and says the new law is "deeply concerning".

"Local journalists described the current situation as the ice age, and unfortunately the ice age is going to get colder," Chao said.

"The most worrying point is that people would not know whether or not they were committing a crime if they tried to criticise the government. We have observed how the national security law in Hong Kong has been vaguely interpreted," he said.

It seems the NSL was going to be passed anyway in both cities, even if Hong Kong didn't have the protests. But they gave Beijing the best justification for implementing it... 

Rewriting Hong Kong's History

Two million people came out to protest on June 16, 2019

The Hong Kong government has moved quickly to rewrite the city's history in textbooks.

The newly revamped liberal studies textbook now says that Hong Kong was never a British colony because the Chinese government didn't recognise unequal treaties that ceded the city to Britain.

It also says the United Nations removed Hong Kong from a list of colonies in 1972 after China made the demand.

Textbooks claim HK was not a British colony

In addition the textbooks have adopted the government's version of the 2019 protests, saying they were a threat to national security and that external forces were behind the unrest.

Veteran Chinese history teacher Chan Chi-wa explained most local textbooks in the 1990s and before mentioned Hong Kong as a "British colony", and later on it was described as Britain exercised colonial rule over Hong Kong in 1997. 

Sounds like the same thing, but more wordy, no?

Chan said last year at a briefing by education officials stated clearly that Hong Kong was not a colony, and this concept needed to be taught to students. He also noted only the Chinese perspective was presented in the revamped textbooks.

When it came to describing the 2019 protests, one textbook claimed protesters had openly challenged the central government by asking foreign forces to interfere in Hong Kong affairs, and impose sanctions on the city.

Another textbook liberally mentions national security more than 400 times, saying legislation was imposed out of "urgency" due to violent activities in Hong Kong in 2019. The textbook said the central authorities believed foreign forces were involved in the unrest and that the city's government could not handle them on its own.

People like Maria Tam are mentioned in textbook

As if that wasn't enough, the textbook highlights key pro-Beijing politicians, including Basic Law Committee vice-chairwoman Maria Tam Wai-chu, Lau Siu-kai of the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, and Professor Priscilla Lau Pui-king, a former Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress.

Yet another textbook claimed the 2019 protests disrupted social order, disrupted law-abiding awareness of some people and serious endangered national security. 

A teacher of liberal studies for 10 years who spoke on condition of anonymity said they already expected the textbooks to entirely quote official information on how the national security law came to be imposed.

"Discussing the issue with different perspectives and critical thinking only happens in liberal studies, but not this subject," the veteran educator said, adding the guidelines did not require them to teach details like police performance during the protests.

Meanwhile Scientia Secondary School principal Wong Ching-yung said textbooks should not go into details of the unrest as people would have different views...

Liberal Studies aims to instil nationalism 

Isn't that part of the point of education? To be able to freely and openly discuss different points of view to promote a pluralistic society and teach students tolerance and diversity?

But when it comes to history, it seems the government already has the upper hand in trying to whitewash history. But as it is only the third anniversary of the June 16 protests, where 2 million people came out on the streets against the extradition bill, memories and emotions are still raw -- young and old participated.

It will take several generations to try to completely change the narrative.

ICAC insists on Getting Wanted Man

Peh says ICAC is "working hard" to extradite Ted Hui

Former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung is wanted by the ICAC, the Independent Commission Against Corruption. His alleged crime? Calling for people to cast blank votes before the 2021 Legislative Council election.

Hui is currently in exile in Australia

He had already left Hong Kong in November 2020 and eventually settled in Australia, and the government has even frozen his bank accounts as well as those of his wife and parents.

But the ICAC have named Hui a wanted man and most recently commissioner Simon Peh Yun-lu reiterated the organisation was "working hard" to extradite the former pro-democratic lawmaker who is now in exile.

The snag is that Australia suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong after the implementation of the national security law in June 2020. And besides extradition usually requires dual criminality and Hui calling for blank votes on social media is not considered a crime in Australia.

Tsui was forced to resign after "partygate" scandal

So Peh is insisting in flogging a dead horse to show he means business, but in the end it's a dead end really. Why bother?

Or is he trying to demonstrate he is diligently doing his job after he attended Witman Hung Wai-man's birthday party a few months back that resulted in a spate of infections and snagged a few officials including then Home Affairs Secretary Caspar Tsui Ying-wai?

Nevertheless, with the upcoming Chief Executive election fast approaching on May 8, Peh said there was yet any signs of anyone promoting the eligible voters to cast blank ballots.

There are only 1,454 people on this election committee who have been vetted by Beijing. Surely they are not going to waste their vote when there is one candidate running?

Hung belting out a tune during his birthday party

It seems like a sure slam dunk for that person, former Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu. How many votes will he get compared to Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor (777), and Leung Chung-ying (689)?