Junius Ho went to Shenzhen just days after the party – ignoring his own instructions.
A day in quarantine was all it took for pro-China lawmaker Junius Ho to condemn the harsh, knee-jerk pandemic restrictions his government had imposed on Hong Kong citizens for nearly two years.
“The work of the government is completely out of line!” Ho wrote on his verified Facebook page, after learning he had unnecessarily splintered over a false positive Covid-19 case at a party of nearly 200 people who joined dozens of political elites last week. “I could have asked my driver to pick me up!” He, after less than 24 hours of isolation, headed to a local metro station to condole his sudden release.
Be Junior Now: pic.twitter.com/Y3avZfSRJv
— Alvin Lum (@alvinllum) 8 January 2022
Ho’s response, and the revelation that politicians violated their own guidance to avoid mass gatherings to attend the January 3 birthday celebrations of a Beijing-linked official, sparked schadenfreude among weary Hong Kong residents. The well-to-do elite has been scolded, who are finally experiencing the weight of their own restrictions.
Even fully vaccinated residents live in long-term fear of being ordered into a 21-day quarantine for momentary contact with a positive case apart from their families and homes, and from strict border controls. Disappointed that restrict travel and stop international trade. Meanwhile, members of the ruling class are stopping at the mainland China border without isolation – just days after the Ho party went to Shenzhen – and ignoring their own orders. Immigration Minister Au Ka-Wang, a party minister, was already fined last year for attending a dinner in violation of COVID rules.
The incident has sparked public anger in a city where many residents see the government as a government run by officials concerned only with appeasing China. Beijing last year changed the city’s electoral system to establish a legislature loyal to the Communist Party, and in 2020 enacted a national security law that prompted officials to shut down dozens of opposition candidates and shut down important media outlets. Did.
Chung Kim-wah, deputy chief executive officer of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, said of the scandal-hit party, “It is quite symbolic of the situation in Hong Kong.” “The whole government is becoming less accountable to society.”
top level behavior
Public outcry is growing in Hong Kong as more details emerge about the birthday of Wittman Hung, an IT professional and investor who has political ties to the mainland and serves as the local representative for the Shenzhen Qianhai Authority, which Manages the nearby economic zone. It comes as the city imposes new restrictions, such as closing bars and beaches, following a dogma of a Covid Zero strategy to eliminate all cases, leaving much of the rest of the world living with the virus. Let’s try.
A Hong Kong resident with the surname Wong, who runs a financial consulting firm in the city, said he was disappointed by reports that not all party attendees used the LeaveHomeSafe contact tracing app, which the government has mandated in restaurants.
But Wong said he was not particularly surprised by the presence of a large number of political elites, including Police Chief Raymond Siu and Home Affairs Secretary Casper Tsui, even as Health Secretary Sophia Chan told the public that Called a few days ago to avoid the incidents.
“It is a shadow of how the top tier of society operates,” Wong said.
high society housewives
Twenty MPs were also barred by the party, jeopardizing their ability to attend the first session of the city’s “patriots-only” legislature, which attracted the city’s lowest electoral turnout in the December vote. Four remained in quarantine on Monday.
Some of the city’s biggest Covid outbreaks have been linked to high society. Hong Kong’s biggest super spreader event was caused by wealthy businessmen and housewives frequenting elite dance clubs, while last month the city’s first community Omicron case was imported by crews from Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. Had abused a coveted three-day home quarantine.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who will soon have to announce whether she will run for a second term next year, told a press conference on Tuesday that two investigations are underway: one over a birthday party and the other in Cathay Pacific.
“We have our expectations or requirements as a matter of integrity,” Lam said Tuesday in the presence of 14 government officials, adding that the restaurant was clearly “beyond its capacity” of its legal limits.
The South China Morning Post newspaper reported on Monday that officials in Beijing have asked Lam to either suspend, demote or even sack officials if the breach of discipline is confirmed.
The scandal is particularly peculiar to Lam, who has held corporate leaders accountable for the actions of their employees. Just last week, Lam told Cathay Pacific owners that “although management may not be aware of all the tasks that each employee performs, this is not an excuse for not being at fault.”
On Tuesday, Lam said that if other investigations found Cathay Pacific employees used unfair quarantine exemptions that would be considered serious non-compliance. “We will take legal action after getting all the evidence,” he said.
‘Building sand castles’
For some government critics, the episode has offered a refreshing and rare respite from recent restrictions on free speech in the former British colony.
Joseph Cheng, a veteran activist and retired political science professor, said, “People enjoy talking about this because they can freely criticize the authorities concerned, and it has nothing to do with national security legislation.” No, so it’s safe.” Hong Kong when the Security Act was passed. “Many people also see it as reflecting the new political ecology of the region.”
Others are hoping that Hong Kong’s strict quarantine rules may change now that top officials have experienced policies that strip healthy citizens from their work, home and families and leave them in bare-bones housing for long periods of time. Keeps.
Pedestrians walk near empty streets in Central, Hong Kong on January 7.
According to the SCMP, the government has already allowed some officials to serve home quarantine, but it was unclear whether this would be extended to ordinary residents in the future – or was just another benefit to the political class. Late on Monday, an official announced that the quarantine for close contacts of Covid cases would be reduced from 21 days to 14 days due to increasing pressure on government-run facilities.
“They should stay here one night and feel like us,” Ho told Quarantine in a Facebook Live. As he prepared to leave his room, the MP called the city’s anti-epidemic measures “as useless as building sand castles on a beach”.
—With assistance from Kari Lindbergh and Olivia Tame.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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