The End of Decency in Hong Kong

The CCP Must Kill What No Totalitarian Regime Can Tolerate, Decency

All of February and into March, the Hong Kong government has presented former Apple Daily editors and Apple’s former CEO as witnesses against my boss, Jimmy Lai, in his trial on National Security charges.  So far, the impact of these witnesses on the trial has been a bust. There have been no surprises, no revelations of foreign interference, nor covert undertakings to damage China. 

We have learned that Jimmy Lai is pro-democracy. Shocker.

In fact it's so bad for the Hong Kong government that friends of Jimmy who are outside Hong Kong, and some inside China, are openly sharing the trial summaries with their mainland contacts to illustrate that following 2019, the overkill by the Hong Kong government and it's now failing narrative that Jimmy Lai was the mastermind of all things evil in Hong Kong, is not serving the best interests of China.

Journalists covering the trial, as well as former Apple Daily employees, and some civic activists, are starting to see a prosecution narrative that has less to do with convicting Jimmy Lai, as he was guilty the day Beijing decided to arrest him, and more aimed at undermining Hong Kong society by stripping away the common value that separates Hong Kong from the rest of China…..decency.

I lived in Hong Kong for nearly 26 years and there's one thing about the city, the people, that I always treasured; a deep and wide sense of the decency in how people might best conduct themselves and how society should operate.

This is not about a society being fair or every decision being just. Yet decency in Hong Kong is about the constant and consistent instinct of the people to seek out and implement actions that didn't harm others, didn't allow unfair advantage, placed a premium on peace, rule of law, and most of all, allowed healthy debate on all issues with civility.

It was that common decency that gave us everything from wonderful education and hospital systems built on the generosity of civil society to low corruption and crime rates which allowed wealth to be accumulated without fear.  Rule of law in Hong Kong was not built on fear of the judicial system but rather an acceptance that its proper implementation offered everyone in the city predictable and fair outcomes which allowed them to build their lives.

Decency is key to Hong Kong’s uniqueness, and as such it is decency that has to be destroyed by the Chinese Communist Party, CCP.

We never give totalitarians enough credit for understanding what stands in their way to total power.  We often think the fight starts when the honorable man or woman stands up to tyranny. We are wrong here. It is they, the tyrants, who seek out the honorable because that's the first people they must destroy to control others.

This is what we are seeing with the current testimony by former Apple Daily employees.  Their job on that stand is not to convict Jimmy Lai.  The goal of turning people against Jimmy has nothing to do with the outcome of the trial and everything to do with the crushing of Hong Kong as a society. The message for those in Hong Kong, and for many in the mainland, from the CCP with this Judas parade of former employee’s, and soon to be heard former democracy activists is, ---save yourself, abandon others, look only to the State for the security you need to live your life.

This message of reliance on the state, spread through bribery and fear by the CCP, is a powerful one.  Yet, it only works when no one is left to stand up against it. Evil exceling in the absence of honor and truth is a common theme in history.  It is also the precursor to what undemocratic regimes require to control society, a loss of common decency among the people.

The CCP knows this well, which is why we now see Jimmy Lai and other activists on trial or awaiting sentencing.  For to crush a decent and just society, first, you come for the decent in it.