tim's experiment

I don’t know which is more worrying: the signs that the Hong Kong government has no idea what to do next or the signs that our Mainland masters are devoting much thought to the topic. Our local leaders marked the end of their ordeal in two ways: Mr C.Y. Leung made a rare public appearance to “announce the end of the occupation” as one newspaper put it, though why he should pronounce the end of something he did not start and did not finish was beyond me. The other sign of normal service being resumed was an appearance by the Commissioner of Police, who was considered too inflammable for public consumption while the excitement was in progress. Apart from those two we had some suggestion from the Secretary for Enriching the Real Estate Industry that his constituents should be unleashed on the country parks, and a lot of touchy-feely stuff about the need to heal wounds, cultivate consensus and pursue the art of compromise. But the underlying theme seems to be that the whole thing was a bad dream and the Establishment will now continue as before.

Meanwhile over the border there is a more determined approach. There was a meeting in Macau last week of a thing called the Chinese Association of Macau and Hong Kong Studies, founded last year and described by our local Pravda as a semi-official think tank. This is a thoroughly misleading label. Nothing in the PRC is semi-official and independent “think” of any kind is strongly discouraged. The association is a conduit through which the wisdom of the leadership is conveyed to academics who may be tempted to write about Hong Kong or Macau.

The wisdom on this occasion was supplied by one Zhang Rongshun, who is (I quote) “vice chairman of the legislative affairs commission under the National People’s Congress Standing Committee”. A man with a big business card, then. Mr Zhang thinks that Hong Kong needs “re-enlightenment” to improve citizens understanding of “one country two systems”. He also thought the latter principle might “evolve” with time. Goodness knows it has evolved already. Some Hong Kong writers found “re-enlightenment” rather an ominous prospect. It sounds a bit like “re-education”, the Mainland euphemism for imprisonment without trial.  The prospect was further darkened by another official observation that “work” was needed on some particular sectors, including the Legislative Council, the media, the universities, and perhaps secondary schools.

I suppose this portends at least a barrage of “soft power” – a stream of visits from performers, sportsmen, astronauts and … if we’re really unlucky … people like Mr Zhang. There will be renewed efforts to boost “patriotic education”. More public money will be poured into dubious enterprises like the local organisation devoted to teaching youngsters how to raise and lower the national flag. Raising and lowering the flag is on the syllabus of every Cub Scout pack and it can be taught in one hour flat. I used to do this. Most of that time is spent on some tricky folding and rope work which is not used in Chinese style flag-raising anyway. The organisation devoted to promulgating this art in local schools is just a way of putting the government money-teat in the mouths of ardent leftists.

But I fear we will also see more use of the black arts. Some of the “sensitive sectors” identified will be treated to some kind of purge. There will be behind-the-scenes efforts to discredit or demote people who are not seen as having an enlightened view of one country two systems. Many people have complained in the last ten weeks about the shortage of identifiable leaders for the Umbrella movement. It is not surprising that the movement is short of leaders when you consider what is likely to happen to them. Their computers will be hacked, their phones tapped, their businesses blacklisted and their home visit permits revoked. Their backgrounds will be scoured for discreditable information and the occasional one will be attacked in the street to discourage the others. We will all pretend that these occurrences are a complete mystery, perhaps to be put down to amorous indiscretions or unpaid debts. This is willful blindness. The mainland government is accustomed to spending more on internal security than it does on defence. Bearing in mind the absence in the internal security bill of expensive toys like battle tanks or aircraft carriers, this translates into a lot of bodies and there is no reason to doubt that many of them are now enjoying the delights of living and working in Hong Kong.

So just in case my name comes up somewhere let me save you guys some shopping time. There is nothing interesting in my computer; the movies are mostly paid for and all legal in their countries of origin. There are some unpublished columns but as they were rejected by the China Daily you will already have copies of them. I have been married to the same woman for more than 30 years and have no mistress. I have a lengthy criminal record comprising speeding, parking, failing to stop for a red light, driving down a bus-only lane and crossing a double white line. Not all at the same time. My house is 30 years old and I expect some of the changes made during that period were unauthorised. They are, however, less numerous than Mr Leung’s so you won’t be able to do much with that. I have never worked for any government though I did once apply, without success, for a job teaching history at the Royal Naval College. I have nothing to do with the  British Consulate; they do not even send me a Christmas card. I am not on the payroll of the CIA. I don’t know why they are discriminating against me. I may have said something rude about George Bush.