How Will This End For Hong Kong?

The developments at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and its surrounding train stations looked like a full-blown siege. The situation at Polytechnic University looked even worse. We only lacked the real guns. It doesn't sound like there's any space for negotiations. Both the police and the pro-democracy protestors are adopting a 'stand down or else' approach. I canceled a short vacation to Hong Kong this week. The going-ons of the anti-government protests are too unpredictable if I can't get around by car and train and the streets erupt in escalating violence every other hour, it isn't going to be much fun. Luckily for me, it's a flexible air ticket and I haven't bothered with booking accommodation simply because I knew there would be rooms at wherever. It isn't exactly a popular destination now.

There's plenty of political commentary and written opinions about hows and whys, China's next move, and comparisons with the situation in Hong Kong, and Singaporeans' thoughts. It's clear what the people of Hong Kong want, and it's even clearer what the incumbent government is able to give. Having this entire Cabinet step down isn't a solution; future governments won't be able to meet such demands or want to meet it. Above all, China will never permit said changes. Only a truly independent Hong Kong can quell the demonstrations and calm the protestors. It will never happen in our lifetime.

This article written by Andrew Jacobs left an impression- 'Behind Hong Kong’s Protesters, an Army of Volunteer Pastors, Doctors and Artists' published in The New York Times on 12 November 2019. I read this in NYT, but TODAYonline re-printed it too with no paywall. Last I understood, the police also arrested doctors, nurses and journalists, preventing them from rendering much needed first aid assistance to the injured, presumably the protestors. That is pure cruelty. PLA's 'out-of-uniform' soldiers to 'help' clean the roadblocks and clear obstacles so that residents could get through and resume some form of daily normalcy. That is a brilliant move from China, which is actually helpful, and stopped short of contravening HK's Basic Law. May Hong Kong sort out the chaos before China needs to send in uniformed and armed PLA soldiers.

Behind the scenes, this largely leaderless movement has been sustained by a vast network of ordinary people who hand out bottled water and red bean soup at marches, drive home stranded protesters late at night and donate the gas masks that fortify demonstrators during their pitched battles with police. Hong Kong professionals have been especially vital. 

Graphic artists create the eye-catching protest posters across the city. Psychologists provide free counseling to the emotionally distressed. And emergency room doctors, working in clandestine clinics, set shattered bones. 

One measure of community spirit can be heard many nights at 10 p.m., when residents in densely packed neighborhoods open their windows and shout protest slogans to the heavens. Another is expressed through the crowdfunding campaigns that have raised millions of dollars for medical treatment, legal defense funds and other expenses. 

“Without this public support, the movement would have lost steam a lot sooner,” said Victoria Hui, a political scientist at the University of Notre Dame and the author of a book about the Umbrella Movement, the 2014 pro-democracy protests that fizzled after 10 weeks. “It encourages young people to keep going, giving them the sense they are not alone and that what they are doing is righteous.”

I'm not even sure I like the liberal usage of the term 'protestors' in this context. It refers to anyone who's anti-incumbent government and all who disagree with the instructions of the Hong Kong Police and authorities. The connotation is, protestor = troublemaker = no good = bad person. REALLY?

Much has been discussed and debated about the protests in Hong Kong. I watched the news channels, read the official discourse, and checked in with the many friends who live in Hong Kong. If the anti-government protests and sit-ins are intended to be peaceful, somehow, violent elements and groups will disrupt that, and everything goes downhill. The core group of protestors are surprisingly (or not) young people and students, who put their lives in danger in clashes with the police for "greater democracy and an investigation into police conduct."

I don't quite care about the anti-government protests. It isn't my country, and we run a little differently here. If China interferes in Singapore, then I will care a lot more. But for now, I don't see Singaporeans and concerned long-term residents do what Hong Kongers do. Half of us won't even understand what fuels the protests and how it has only gained traction and not lose momentum. Our society is honestly, not at the level of political awareness Hong Kongers have. They are by no means naive. They know what they're in for, except no one can tell how it will end. It's almost as though Hong Kong society wants a revolution like.... I'm afraid to say it, so I won't. Thinking it is horrifying enough. Haven't we learnt something from all the revolutions that happened in the China, especially a certain protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989? There is much anger in the city to drive people to do this, and quietly help behind the scenes. Nobody seems to want to cave. It might be the last major protest Hong Kong will ever see.

“These young people are trying to right the wrongs that we have long been avoiding,” he said, referring to Beijing’s two-decade effort to chip away at the vaunted liberties that differentiate this former British colony from mainland China. “They are paying with their futures, risking the possibility of being locked up for years. We owe them.” 

The sense of public service has also mobilized dozens of doctors, nurses and medics. Much of their work takes place in secret. That is because all but the most grievously injured protesters avoid Hong Kong’s hospitals following the arrest in June of several people who had sought care for broken bones and blunt trauma. These days, the injured are sometimes treated at clandestine clinics that provide X-rays and rudimentary surgery. 

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Many of the group’s volunteers are retirees like Ah Lin He. A fiery, reed-thin woman, Ms. He, 68, was born in the Chinese city of Guangzhou and swam to Hong Kong in 1972 to escape the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. She doggy-paddled for 10 hours with five other people. Only three of them made it to shore. 

“I’ve seen the repression and madness that can be unleashed by the Communists in China,” she said as the group trudged to a protest that had turned violent.
Walking beside her was Joe Pao, a 29-year-old pastor, who joined the group after a brief stint as a protester. “I realized I could do something more useful than throwing bricks,” Pastor Pao said. 

He acknowledged that his role as a putative peacemaker was rarely gratifying. Most of his work involves urging the police to exercise restraint. “When they catch people, we tell them to please respect the powers they have and not abuse them,” he said. “The impact is definitely small.”