On Jan 11th, a student returned to school at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and was intercepted by security guards, who wanted to check the student’s ID card first. Conflict arose between the two parties and the university called the police, destroying the future of another teenager.

Back in 1972, when I first enrolled in CUHK, I attended a freshman orientation session and the speaker said, “CUHK has no doors and is open to anyone, which is a symbol of academic openness.” That was a time when Hong Kong society was in its prime. Everything has been gradually changing since 1997, and has changed radically in the last year. Today, the university entrances are all heavily guarded, where students and faculty members are only allowed to enter with proof of identification, and outsiders can only look from afar. This is a strange sight not seen in any open society in the world. Universities have always valued their so-called international rankings. In terms of a “closed society,” Hong Kong should be ranked third, losing only to North Korea and mainland China.

And this closure is not limited to the universities. The pedestrian bridges along the streets may be lined with wire fences to prevent further civil unrest, where civilians have thrown miscellaneous items down to obstruct the roads and confront public security. In shopping malls, waist-high glass balustrades may have been replaced with iron bars like prison doors and windows. Giant water-filled barriers have been set up around police stations and the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong SAR to safeguard against attacks by civilians. Flower troughs and fences have been built around the Legislative Council Building to make it difficult for ordinary people to approach. Carrie Lam’s government clearly believes that it is better to block out public anger than to defuse it.

On Aug 2nd, 2017, shortly after she took office, Carrie Lam announced with confidence that “from the perspective of the government’s dignity, the forecourt outside the east wing of government headquarters should be reopened.” She thought that reopening the Civic Square, as Hong Kong people call it, would mean that the government and the people would be in harmony. Now, the entire government headquarters, not to mention Civic Square, looks like a high-security prison. This is probably the real “dignity of the government.”

(Koo Tak-ming, veteran journalist)

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