Behind the Curtain: Biased epidemic prevention efforts; Carrie Lam drags Hong Kong down

蘋果日報 2020/12/07 10:10


As we enter the last month of 2020, the Hong Kong government has continuously escalated its suppression of the anti-ELAB people with new tactics emerging one after another. At the same time, the Wuhan Virus epidemic in Hong Kong has continuously escalated as well. On top of fanning the fire of forcing LeaveHomeSafe onto the people, as well as mandatory testing, the government has not proposed any effective anti-epidemic efforts. Some in politics called the government’s so-called anti-epidemic measures tough on the public and “yellow ribbons”, but lenient on the rich and “blue ribbons”. Continuing down this path, Hong Kong will be dragged down. “By 2021, it is possible that not only are the ‘yellow ribbons’ anti-government, but also the ‘blue ribbons’.”
This person pointed out that the government has consistently tightened restrictions on gatherings. “Whether citizens or ‘yellow shops’ have broken the law, the government frightens them first. Whatever happens, the government arrests and locks up people. But when the pro-establishment camp set up booths on the streets with dozens and hundreds of people, nothing happens to them.” He also cited government expert consultant, microbiology professor Yuen Kwok-yung at the University of Hong Kong, who said on a radio show yesterday that the rich or celebrities that were tested positive were unwilling to disclose their whereabouts to the government, thus increasing the difficulty of fighting the epidemic. “If these were normal citizens who were unwilling to disclose whom they have been in contact with when asked by the government, or their whereabouts, they would have been arrested and locked up a long time ago. They just don’t do that to the rich, the famous, and the pro-establishment!”
Another person in the political circle said that if the government is only using the restrictive measures as a tool to suppress those who are against the establishment, “to their own people, they turn a blind eye, and to citizens and ‘yellow shops’, they enforce the law strictly. The citizens are never going to be convinced or want to cooperate.” Even if the government really pushes citizens to use LeaveHomeSafe, forces mandatory testing, or even close small communities, “there is no guarantee for zero cases. On the contrary, it would cause huge damages to the economy, and even drag Hong Kong down.” Earlier, some pro-establishment businesspeople who are considered more open-minded told this person that Chief Executive Carrie Lam basically as no effective way of fighting the virus nor to stabilize the economy. “He predicts that if it continues, there might be huge lay-offs and closures before Chinese New Year next year. By 2021, not only will the ‘yellow ribbons’ be anti-government, even the ‘blue ribbons’ are going to join in. Let’s see how Carrie Lam is going to resolve this then.”
Click here for Chinese version
We invite you to join the conversation by submitting columns to our opinion section: [email protected]
Apple Daily reserves the right to refuse, abridge, alter or edit guest opinion columns for accuracy, length, clarity, and style, and the right to withdraw and withhold columns based on the discretion of our editorial page editors.
The opinions of the writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial board.
---------------------------------
Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE
To download the latest version,
Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play