The SAR must get tough to prevent further riots
Updated: 2016-02-22 08:39
By Tony Kwok(HK Edition)
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A blunt fact about countries all over the world is that it is impossible to totally eradicate corruption because greed is human nature. There are always people who succumb to temptation and abuse their power for personal gain. One of the best ways to deter organized threats against society is to ensure that such people cannot form syndicates with evidently evil intentions.
In drawing a lesson from the Mong Kok riot, the same principle should apply. We cannot avoid a small number of our youth becoming radicalized because of their own failures and turning their hatred toward our government and citizens. Most of those charged over the riot are young people who are either unemployed or holding low-level jobs. They certainly are not a true reflection of our hardworking young generation. Before the social media phenomenon engulfed us, these radically minded malcontents would probably have been figuratively banging their heads against the wall. But the immediacy of social media enables these troublemakers to attract other hotheads and form groups that become a real threat to society.
For our own safety, we are left with no choice but to monitor these groups on the Internet and for law enforcement agencies to take preventative measures as and when necessary to avert harm to our society.
Unfortunately, various bloody-minded groups with many followers already exist. For example, media reports credited a group called "Restart HK" with posting on the Internet US Marine Corps tactics and bomb-making methods. Its proclaimed goal is to destroy Hong Kong as an international financial center! Obviously, we cannot allow this to happen. Intelligence gathering on social media should be strengthened and one way is to impose a requirement for all messages on social media to include a click to complain which would alert the webmasters as well as the relevant authorities if necessary.
Additionally, the Societies Ordinance that governs the registration of societies should be expanded to cover groups formed on social media, requiring them to be registered as societies and subject to legal control.
The Western media was quick to dub the Mong Kok riot the "fish ball revolution", presumably hoping for a repeat of the Arab Spring or "Revolution de Jasmin". Needless to say, this was just wishful thinking. Any revolution in Hong Kong is absolutely impossible since the vast majority of our people do not even faintly entertain such an idea. Nevertheless the way the rioters triggered and executed the attack against the police clearly indicated it was pre-planned. This led to the injury of nearly 100 policemen, arson and the discovery of weapons and bomb-making chemicals in a storehouse. One cannot help but wonder what other nefarious plots they have in store for us.
It therefore makes sense that we should push for the enactment of Article 23 to deter this increasingly violent "localism"-separatist movement. At present there is no adequate legislation to address such separatist movements, particularly those promoting violence. Every Western jurisdiction has relevant national security laws and so long as our Article 23 is compatible with international standards of similar legislation elsewhere there is no reason why it should not be introduced in Hong Kong.
The "pan-democrats" have been pushing the government to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the cause of the riot, hoping that it would place the blame on the government. I personally would welcome a full-scale investigation by such an independent commission headed by an apolitical High Court judge because I am confident that a fair-minded commission would exonerate the administration from any blame as being the cause. Further, I would recommend that this commission be given additional terms of reference to:
1) Find out who the agent provocateurs are and the nature of their agenda; 2) Review the police response to the riot and make recommendations for them to be better prepared and equipped for future disturbances; 3) Examine the need for additional legislation - such as the Canadian law that forbids demonstrators from wearing masks. In addition, create new laws to govern the misuse of social media and the Internet; 4) Review the existing Official Secrets Act and related legislation to determine their adequacy to deal with matters of national security, and update such laws as and when necessary.
As such, the commission would lay the groundwork for the government and police to be better prepared to tackle any future disturbances. The commission could be a "milestone" body similar to the Blair-Kerr Commission of 1973 that proposed the creation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
(HK Edition 02/22/2016 page9)