“Tell that to the judge!” A favorite phrase of the police. Once in court, the judge will try the case according to the law, then you’ll realize that the so-called law, from the moment it was penned, has been a well-designed trap.

The first case of the gathering ban was the Labor Day protest by the Labor Party and League of Social Democrats (LSD). The eight people were divided into two groups. Four in a group, with a banner, they received a ticket for chanting slogans outside the Central Government Complex. The prosecution claimed that the law does not care about the distance between the group. The judge said that the definition of “group gathering” in the gathering ban looks at whether there is a “common purpose” and prior organization. They were convicted and sentenced to 14 days of prison with 18 months of probation.

The legal text of the gathering ban has been in question by the public for a whole year: the key to epidemic prevention is, of course, the distance at which people gather. People who are a street or a district apart cannot be “gathering”, and cause no harm to public health. Yet the law was written that as long as there is a common purpose, there is a gathering, regardless of distance; the same 599G provision has allowed for even more crowded groups on buses and in the trains, or floods of people in malls or waiting in line. The gathering ban restriction, from the get-go, was the two birds of banning protests and rallies with the one stone.

You must give it to those well-read artisans of the law. They know the law well, but disregard the basic law principle of human rights, freedom, and open society. They craft the law with such care, and use the provisions as a chain. They serve power, and place the people in entanglement. They are proud. The team of artisans of the law also has the new mission of stifling the system. It needs to amend 20 electoral laws in a short period of time to turn the arrogant blabbering of the evil authorities into legal weapons, and make sure that all grounds are covered. The artisans are the guides that lead Hong Kong into the abyss.

Baptized by the new era, besides the artisans of the law, within the yamen emerges a group of ruthless executors. They speak no reason and disregard procedural justice. They are defiant of governance ethics, and act with impunity that is worse than that of a colony. There is no need to spell out the pride and complacency of the police force. The Department of Justice uses every trick of authority up its sleeve, and where there isn’t, it creates authority. This is the new normal. These ruthless executors are yearning for performance. For example, the head of RTHK can ban and review programs without valid reasons. As soon as the order is in, it is banned. The so-called acting in accordance with the Code, but no specific reasons are given, and the employees under him are supposed to make their educated guesses. With one “privacy” reason, the department that is in charge of citizens’ information is refusing journalists’ requests to look up information and data, and even thrown in the mix an accusation of violation of the law, but disregarded the essence of the privacy law which is respect for news interviews and hence exemptions.

Why with such impunity? Because they know very well that the checks and balances of the past have disappeared one after another. The master will light the path for them. The ruthless executors will not face questions in the Legislative Council, for they know they are all pawns in the same pod; they do not need to heed the media’s scrutiny, for they know the majority of the media has been tainted red and become mouthpieces. They even take the lead in the trend of struggle session and criticize bureaucrats for not being cruel and vicious enough; the ruthless executors run the administrative show now, and are not afraid of citizens’ complaints or judicial reviews, for political correctness comes before everything else, and protective umbrellas are all around to ensure that bureaucrats do as they please; voices of opposition from the people? No need to worry, they are all behind bars.

The loss of checks and balances of power is indeed this atrocious. Executive, legislative, judicial, media, and now executive is the boss. Dear artisans of the law and ruthless executors, when the night is dark and quiet, please look for your lost property. There is a thing that was called something like “original intention”.

(Allan Au Ka-lun, veteran journalist)

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