Your weekend horrors in review

RTHK journalist Bao Choy is found guilty of checking the (public) vehicle registration database, getting a fine. As numerous people have pointed out, this makes her the only person convicted in relation to the Yuen Long attack. 

The key point here is whether her viewing of the database was connected to ‘transport matters’. I would have thought that by definition, any checking of a vehicle registry must be – you won’t find any information about cakes or wombats there. She was checking the transporting of thugs who attacked people. Obviously, in the NatSec era, what matters is whether the information might embarrass the regime.

(More on RTHK under pressure from VoA.)

A court denies bail to former lawmaker Jeremy Tam, partly because he received an email from the US Consulate, and is thus ‘of interest’ to a foreign power and might ‘continue’ to endanger national security if out of jail. The diplomats respond with appropriate indignation. (The unanswered emails had been submitted by the defence as evidence that he had not recently been meeting the Americans.) Again, the key issue is your stance: if Regina Ip had an email conversation with US officials insisting there is no forced labour in Xinjiang, that would be OK.

Good luck to anyone on the CCP’s enemies list who is due to appear before these judges in future.

Good luck also to Hongkongers moving overseas (though their chances can only be better). From HKFP, a profile of a single-parent family moving to an uncertain future in the UK, and the official and voluntary help available to them. A world-famous expert on keeping your kids happy under Communist dictatorships warns that they might regret leaving and advises that we stay and nurture our minds instead. This migration is in its early stages – so plenty of sour and peeved commentary from pro-Beijing quarters to come as people vote with their feet. It will be interesting to see at what stage the phenomenon shows up in actual skills shortages, relocation of corporate HQs, even housing prices. The ‘3’ telecoms group perhaps eyes an opportunity.

Other things going on…

The FCC writes to the police commissioner about his ‘fake news’ rant. (The Club also issued a statement on Bao Choy’s case, earning a rebuke from Global Times apparently handled by a copy editor who googled ‘FCC’ and got it wrong.)

Beijing’s officials decide to hold a struggle-session with Bar Association head Paul Harris. Not sure how they would handle the technicalities of rectifying/replacing the HKBA in order to install a ‘patriotic’ leadership and silent/compliant profession – but count on it happening.

From HKFP, a look at Ted Hui’s attempts to get the Independent [sic] Police Complaints Council to do its job. And how the NatSec Regime is driving films underground… 

…if you want to make money in Hong Kong, you have to make a film that makes China look good on the international stage and can pass government censorship.

Former SCMP editor Robert Keatly on the end of Hong Kong as we knew it.

In case you haven’t seen it, SCMP local-history columnist Jason Wordie – who usually recounts colonial-era oddities – unleashes a stream of vitriol about Hong Kong’s modern-day putrid governance driving the population away. 

And proof that Hong Kong’s infamous anti-pedestrian barriers piss off everyone trying to cross the road with their kids.