There is nothing wrong with trying to change a government or leader; indeed in most countries, people are encouraged to do this every four or five years.

These are called elections.

But here in Hong Kong people cannot vote for a leader, instead this is done by a 1,200-member committee which is heavily stacked with pro-Beijing and pro-establishment goons. Our secretaries – the equivalent of cabinet ministers – are not elected politicians but usually career bureaucrats, hand-picked by the chief executive.

So getting rid of a deeply unpopular leader is not easy; they cannot be voted out of power.

This is what led to a group of pro-democracy politicians and activists coming up with a radical idea to get rid of our Dear Leader Carrie Lam. Last July they organized primary polls for Legislative Council elections scheduled for two months later (but later postponed until this September), intending to find out who the best candidates were.

More than 610,000 people voted in the primaries. The result was dramatic, with activists from the anti-government protests outperforming traditional pan-democrats.

Organizers hoped that if enough pro-democracy candidates won seats in Legco they would be able to veto the Budget and force Lam out of office. While this may seem a radical tactic, it is a legitimate ploy within the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

As a result, police arrested over 50 people involved in organizing the primaries, and on Sunday 47 of them were charged with “subverting the state” under the new, wide-ranging and powerful National Security Law.

Since the start of the anti-government unrest, the courts appear to have remained remarkably independent – unlike the police, who have become a political weapon for the government to carry out its increasingly repressive policies.

How the judges handle the cases of the 47 will be a significant test of this judicial independence. I’m not at all sure that the veto tactic to oust Carrie Lam is a good idea – apart from anything else, we will just end up with another pro-Beijing stooge for our leader. Although it’s hard to imagine anyone doing a worse job than Lam. My dead cat, Billy, would have handled the recent unrest better.

As many people – including barristers and legal scholars – have pointed out, the National Security Law is, as a legal document, extremely vague. What exactly constitutes the crimes of “inciting hatred towards the HK or central governments”, “subversion” or “secession” is unclear. How will the courts interpret it?

The law was deliberately framed in a nebulous way so it can be applied as and when the SAR government or Beijing feels necessary. And it has the added effect of intimidating people because they don’t know where the line is … is shouting “add oil” a crime?

The government and police have used the National Security Law to accuse the 47 of plotting to overthrow the administration. This language is prejudicial – note the use of “plotting” rather than “planning” and “overthrow” rather than “change”.

Of course, it is up to the courts to decide, but thus far, at least as I can tell, no crime has been committed. The accused were – for better or worse – looking to exploit a loophole in the Basic Law. They do not appear to have been calling for Hong Kong independence. Nor do they appear to have called for hatred of China.

They do appear to be the victims of a kowtowing administration that has forgotten about “two systems” and is instead focused solely on “one country”.

(Alex Price is a journalist who has lived and worked in Hong Kong for over 30 years.)

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