This is the 892nd issue of Hong Kong One Day
A "fresh air" came from the Barristers Guild?
On the evening of 20 January, the Hong Kong Bar Association held an annual general meeting to re-elect the Executive Committee, and elected senior barrister Du Gankun to succeed Xia Boyi as chairman, and the vice chairmen were replaced by senior barristers Mao Leli and Chen Zhenglong respectively.
It is worth noting that, according to the articles of association, only two nominees are needed for the re-election of the chairman and vice chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, while the newly elected chairman of the association, Tok Kunkun, and the vice chairmen Mao Leli and Chen Zhenglong have been nominated by former chairman Chan King Sheng, Xia Weizhi, who undertook the relevant prosecution work of the Independent Commission Against Corruption of the SAR Government and other institutions, and Yuan Guoqiang, former secretary for justice of the SAR Government, which is considered to be supported by people in the legal circles of different political positions.
Second from left: Chen Zhenglong; third from left: Du Gankun; fourth from left: Mao Leli
Looking back at the bar association in the past period, Xia Weizhi, one of the nominees, said, "Lawyers can become good politicians, but politicians can become bad lawyers, and even the president of the bar association is terrifying." Xia Weizhi praised the newly appointed Du Gankun as "gentle and polite" and "listening carefully to different opinions before expressing thoughtful views", which will bring a "fresh air" to the Grand Duke.
When du Gankun met with the media later that night, he said that he would have good communication with the SAR government and the central government. Turning to the legislative issue of Article 23 of the Basic Law, he pointed out that the Bar Association hopes to provide opinions on the relevant legislative work so that it is in the public interest.
In addition, Du Gankun also stressed to shenzhen satellite TV's direct news reporter in Hong Kong that he hopes to strengthen communication with the mainland, and the opportunities for the development of the Greater Bay Area must not be abandoned or missed.
According to public information, Du Gankun has been a judge of the Hong Kong High Court since 2017, specializes in handling commercial and civil litigation, and represents the POLICE Force of the SAR Government in handling police-related cases during the 2019 legislative amendment storm. Mao Leli specializes in commercial disputes and corporate cases, while Chan Zhenglong specializes in criminal cases.
The last president of the Hong Kong Bar Association, Xia Boyi, not only has a British political party background, but also served as the first chairman of the "Hong Kong Human Rights Watch", and some Hong Kong media reports said that the organization has received more than 15 million Hong Kong dollars from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The NED, known as the "Second CIA," is the money behind the chaos in Hong Kong.
In fact, Xia Boyi not only openly called for the SAR government to amend or restrict the operation of Hong Kong's national security law, but also said that the "818" and "831" illegal assembly cases were sentenced to excessive sentences. The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and the Liaison Office of the Central Committee have criticized him by name, and some civic groups have denounced him as an excuse for black riots.
Whether the new chairman can change the color of the barrister's association when he takes office has attracted much attention from the outside world.
The Fall of the Hong Kong Democratic Party: From "The Largest Party" to "Radical Descendants"
According to Hong Kong media reports, Li Huaming, a former member of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, was announced by the Democratic Party to "freeze party membership for half a year" because he opposed his Democratic Party's boycott of the 2021 Legislative Council election and personally supported the candidacy of New Thinking Chairman Di Zhiyuan.
On January 20, Lee told the media that the current Hong Kong Democratic Party is disappointing, like a "radical offspring (young man)". Li Huaming said that he had considered quitting the party several times, but until the 2021 Annual Democratic Party Congress, he still found that some people were like-minded with him, so he decided to wait and see for the time being to decide to stay. How unexpectedly, the Democratic Party banned him from supporting Di Zhiyuan's candidacy and the party punishment storm afterwards, Li Huaming said, "I really can't stand it."
Looking back at Hong Kong's modern history, the Democratic Party was the first all-Hong Kong political party founded by Hong Kong people, and was also the main political party in the Hong Kong Legislative Council after the return of hong Kong in 1997.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Party then showed an extremely pan-political trend, the non-party did not respect the central government's sovereignty and governance of Hong Kong, the party scandals and disputes continued, there were constant factional divisions and core members leaving for more than a decade, until the general resignation of opposition legislators in 2020, and the Democratic Party, which has been established for more than 27 years, has no place in the governance system of the Hong Kong SAR government.
Left: Li Huaming; Right: Di Zhiyuan
Lee, on the other hand, is a veteran of the Hong Kong Democratic Party and has been a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council for 12 years since 2000. In terms of political stance, Lee Hua Ming strongly opposes the concepts of "Hong Kong independence" and the so-called "self-determination faction", and in 2017, there was a "booing the national anthem" incident in Hong Kong, which Li Huaming criticized for putting all Hong Kong people to shame.
On the same day, Di Zhiyuan said that he did not want to see Lee Huaming quit the party because he was "very important" to Hong Kong society, and Li Huaming's views on political issues were important to the Democratic Party. But for Di Zhiyuan's statement, Li Huaming sneered that even if the Democratic Party is important, the top level of the party is so at odds with himself, "I can't play a role, what is the benefit of me staying here."
Chief Executive's Office: Never tolerate words and actions that intimidate experts
According to Hong Kong media reports, in recent days, due to the issue of Hong Kong's epidemic prevention policy, expert advisers to the SAR Government, Yuen Kwok-yong and Hui Shu-chang, have been intimidated by unknown sources. Yuan Guoyong said he received an email "telling himself to die," and Xu Shuchang also said he received an email cursing him for "turning around early and waiting for retribution."
In this regard, a spokesman for the Chief Executive's Office said on January 20 that the relevant epidemic prevention decisions and actions of the SAR Government are based on scientific principles and the actual situation in Hong Kong, with the premise of ensuring public safety. In the face of the acute current pandemic in Hong Kong and the imminent threat of the simultaneous spread of Delta and Omilon variants in communities, it is vital that a decisive response be taken to stop the further spread of the virus in the community.
"The SAR government strongly condemns a small number of people who have adopted an irrational attitude towards the anti-epidemic work and even made remarks that intimidate experts, and call on all sectors of society to continue to unite and join hands in the fight against the epidemic."
The spokesman pointed out that Hong Kong is a society ruled by law and will never tolerate violence and intimidation and other illegal acts, and the members of the expert advisory panel have been providing professional advice to the government in the fields of public health, infectious diseases and clinical experience in the past two years, and responding to the epidemic based on science and theory.
"If anyone attempts to influence the words and deeds of relevant experts by illegal means, the SAR Government will certainly follow up seriously and will never tolerate them."
There are still people who attack "Blue Camp" merchants and launch a boycott of television advertising
In fact, in addition to a small number of people inciting hatred, there are still "speculators" who advocate the so-called "yellow economic circle" ("speculation" economic circle). According to the new issue of "East Weekly", some people under the banner of "yellow economic circle" to attract gold, at the end of 2019, a number of "yellow shop" alliances, databases and online maps emerged, one of the "yellow shop" alliance platform "and you check", actively allied with these organizations, and even exchanged information, coordinated the "yellow shop" big data, listed more than 7500 stores, organizations or people, so that "fellow travelers" patronized or sponsored.
The platform sets up a page for each member of the list, listing contact methods and ur addresses. At the same time, a number of advertising packages are set up to absorb funds, and any merchant who wants to list on the designated page for two months and get the best ranking will have to pay 1,000 yuan. If all the stores or people on the list buy ads, the platform can earn more than $3.5 million per month.
Some pages also cover some "thug" organizations that attack them as "Blue Camp" merchants. For example, "sayno4tvb" specifically launched a boycott of television programs and their advertisers. The website focuses on integrating the list of relevant advertisers, and calls on netizens to go to their designated advertisers' social pages, make negative comments, and force the other party to withdraw the advertisement, with the intention of making the merchants flow advertising fees to Huangying Media.
According to reports, "Enough Ginger", which was established in August 2019, has recently had a "yellow shop" market almost every month. Another "Yellow Shop" platform ,"Punishment Mee", was established around October 2020, calling on "Yellow Shop" from time to time to cooperate with the actions launched by the "Stir Fry" camp. The platform also used different social events to claim that "yellow shops" or "fellow travelers" were suppressed and incited hatred, and then called on supporters to patronize "yellow shops".
The Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung, had earlier said that law enforcement actions must be evidence-based, and that if there were criminal acts, the law enforcement authorities would take action, stressing that the community should be vigilant against the "color economy" and packaging "political movements" with "economic vocabulary", which divided the public and undermined Hong Kong's free economy. Any offence is regulated, including criminal intimidation, incitement to writing, possession of incitement to publications, and other ordinances such as the Hong Kong National Security Law.