by Li Ping

Yesterday, Jimmy Lai, the founder of Next Digital which publishes Apple Daily, was charged with fraud and denied bail. From four months ago when about 200 police officers raided the Apple Daily building and searched the office for nearly nine hours, to the national security law appointed judge’s decision to detain Lai until a court hearing in April next year, this so-called fraud case demonstrates the judicial violence of the authoritarian regime to silence dissenting voices. From the arrest and prosecution of RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) producer Bao Choy, radio host Giggs, and student journalist Tang Chak-man to the mass dismissals of the entire “News Lancet” team by i-Cable, and to the four-mouth jail sentence imposed on Lai even before his conviction. The authoritarian regime’s threat to the media is clear: either self-castrate or be killed!

French political philosopher Montesquieu defined three types of governments: the republic, based on virtue; the monarchy, based on honor; and despotism, based on fear. That is, an authoritarian regime uses fear as the principle and tool of its rule. It is made up of layer upon layer of fear. Citizens are afraid of the police and officials, local officials are afraid of central government officials, central government officials are afraid of top leaders, and top leaders are afraid of losing power. From the bottom-top, there is no one who does not live in fear.

With the handover of sovereignty in 1997, Hong Kong’s political system transitioned from a colonial monarchy to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) dictatorship, and the ruling principle also transitioned from honor to fear. The more nostalgic the Hong Kong people are of the past glory, the more the rulers are afraid of losing their power, and the more repressive they are. The draconian extradition law amendment bill triggered the struggle of Hong Kong people to defend their freedom from fear, to which the CCP unexpectedly enacted the Hong Kong national security law, pushing the authoritarian regime’s fear-based rule of Hong Kong to the top.

When an authoritarian regime wants to deprive the people of their freedom from fear, it cannot do so without judicial violence or stifling the freedom of speech. The police brutality and arbitrary arrests, and the government’s indiscriminate prosecution and imprisonment since June last year could not have sustained if we lived in an environment of free press and free speech. The fluid and leaderless resistance dismantled wave after wave of suppression by the CCP and the Hong Kong communist party. The establishment of an investigation committee also became a consensus in the city widely supported by senior figures in the legal, academic, and political sectors.

Lao Tzu said, “The people fear no death, why threaten them with it.” In the protest movement, deaths often did not spark fear, rather ignited the hatred of the people towards the same enemy. However, there are worse tortures in this world than instant death. The 12 Hongkongers who have been detained in Shenzhen for over a hundred days cannot even see their families or legal representatives. The resulting fear is exactly what the CCP and the Hong Kong communist party want to achieve. It is also the terror of the Hong Kong national security law. Protests on the street, on the international front, and in the legislature have all concurrently been weakened or even eliminated, not because of the justice and fairness of the law, but because of the fear of ruling Hong Kong by law and governing people outside the law.

To maintain the effectiveness of the rule of fear, an authoritarian regime must silent the roars or wailing of those who resist. If the people have a place to speak out, the fear of white terror such as judicial violence will diminish, and their fighting spirit will strengthen. For this reason, all those people, media, organizations that dare to speak are among the suppression by the CCP and Hong Kong communist party.

Under the control of pro-communist legislators, the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) has self-castrated by amending its rules of procedure. However, since the self-mutilation was not thorough enough to eliminate the voices of dissidents, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress enacted the legislation for Carrie Lam’s government to execute and disqualify the democratic members. LegCo has become a rubber stamp with no opposition against autocracy. The district councils dominated by democrats who have become an eyesore for the CCP and the Hong Kong communist party will certainly become the next targeted killing.

The basis of the CCP’s authoritarian rule of fear is nothing more than the use of guns and knives, that is, the army and public security (public security, procuratorate, court), which translate to the police and the judiciary in Hong Kong. Judicial violence, like police violence, has become a tool for creating fear. There will no longer be the darkest day for justice in Hong Kong, only a darker day. The day after the sentencing of the Demosisto members to prison, another three executives of Next Media were prosecuted for fraud, and Jimmy Lai was denied bail.

Hong Kong media’s sinicization and self-censorship have long gone hand in hand, but there will always be some people who cannot ignore their conscience and insist on speaking out for the people in newspapers, news websites, radio, television, and social media. These people are, therefore, not tolerated under an authoritarian regime. The media and KOLs will be killed if they do not castrate themselves. It has become the new normal for the authorities to arrest people and take programs off the air. It may not be long before the closure of newspapers and the Internet. When freedom of speech is banned, that is when people are completely deprived of freedom from fear.

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