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Just Words: Core values are at the heart of Hong Kong (Davyd Wong)

蘋果日報 2020/06/27 08:40



On that fine sunny day in January 2008, as the plane touched down at Chek Lap Kok International Airport, I still remember the cover of The Economist. It was emblazoned with ‘Ny-Lon-Kong’, extolling the supremacy of the world’s three premier financial centres: New York, London and Hong Kong. This was exactly the kind of headline that appealed to an antipodean lawyer looking for their ‘international experience’. It only confirmed what originally drew me to Hong Kong and now, I was doubly sure that I had landed in a very special place.

At the time I thought I’d be enjoying life here only for a year or two, as it was meant to be one stopover on a long itinerary of a supposedly international legal career. But things never go to plan. Not for me, nor for a surprising number of other expatriates who come to Hong Kong to work ‘for a while’, yet end up staying and building their lives here. It’s because we love this place. Now, we may each find it special for different reasons, as I am sure you do too. Some find joy in its unique cosmopolitan mix of people, or the endless choice of fine culinary delights. Others enjoy its east-meets-west vibrancy. Yet others appreciate such simple things as the liberal supply of taxis.

Whatever it is, the outward attractions of Hong Kong life depends on a system of core beliefs and values that everyone in Hong Kong buys into. What especially attracted me were the freewheeling entrepreneurial spirit, the rule of law, and the protection of human rights. Also up there would be freedom of the press, social stability and safety, and strong institutions such as an independent judiciary and clean governance. To me, these intertwined common values are at the heart of our system and it is that system which the “one country, two systems” constitutional arrangement is meant to preserve and protect.



But twelve years after I arrived, some of these core values are being seriously challenged. In particular, they are the ones that form the bedrock of our legal system – fundamental human rights, the independent judiciary and the rule of law. Even a few years ago, these were taken for granted by ordinary residents, and not something they would need to delve into deeply, as Hong Kong ranked very highly among its global peers in respect of all three.

But today, there is a real air of collective uncertainty, fear even, over how the impending National Security Law (and its related enforcement arrangements) will erode Hong Kong’s fundamental values. Not even the Government of Hong Kong knows exactly what is going to happen, though it seems to be expressing great enthusiasm for it.

There is no doubt that governments have a legitimate interest in protecting national security, and preventing terrorism, acts of treason, succession, or foreign interference. But there are many ways to address those potential problems and, as a lawyer, I know that how you go about doing something is as important as why you are doing it. And that is the challenge we now face. We are a society accustomed to certainty, transparency, and clarity when it comes to changes to our laws and institutions, as this is a key element of the rule of law.

But our usual processes are being overridden for the national security legislation, and this law will instead be imposed directly onto Hong Kong’s legal system in a way that could potentially undermine it, fatally. It is not just the deviation from what we are normally accustomed to that is causing uncertainty, but also the potential impact on our fundamental human rights, our independent judiciary and our rule of law. All of which leads me to ask, will Hong Kong have its core values destroyed in the name of protecting national security? I hope not, because it is these very core values that make Hong Kong worth protecting in the first place.

(Davyd Wong is a practising solicitor, the founder of Pro Bono HK, and was recently elected to the Council of the Hong Kong Law Society. The opinions expressed here are his alone, and do not constitute professional advice of any kind.)

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