Right before Christmas Eve, the founder of Next Digital, Jimmy Lai, was granted bail by the Hong Kong court. However, in addition to the high bail of 10 million Hong Kong dollars, Lai would not be able to leave his residence on bail. The court even restricted Lai from publishing articles or receiving interviews in any form. Even the use of social media is not allowed. In other words, Lai, who was imprisoned without a trial, left the cell of the Stanley Prison in Hong Kong but was put into another cell without iron bars but still blocked from the outside world.

This is a measure of “rule of law” typical to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They thought they could censor dissenting opinions and deter people’s desire for democracy and freedom by simply shutting your mouth and confiscating your pen.

The Hong Kong Government and the big brother behind it have previously prosecuted and detained Lai on various unreasonable charges. The method was too absurd and caused international concern. Every time when people around the world see the footage of Lai appearing in court with hands cuffed and waist chained, it has become the strongest and most embarrassing accusation of the Beijing regime and the Hong Kong Government. It reminds people that in the 21st century, in a country claiming to be a state with a great civilization and in a city that was once the freest, citizens pursuing the most fundamental rights of democracy and freedom would be treated like this.

Lai’s pursuits are all basic human rights

As a result, Lai has turned into a hot potato from a prisoner. Some people do not want to get burned, but they are unwilling to release him. They are forced to let him return home, but they would continue to deprive him of his freedom of movement and further deprive him of his freedom of speech by forbidding him to speak out. For a ruler, this might be a decision of relief, but it also makes us wonder even more what exactly Lai said that would make some people so restless and fearful.

Anyone who has read more articles by or interviews with Lai could easily find out that most of Lai’s words appeal to or fight for a basic living space with freedom and democracy in Hong Kong. Hardly could one find any shocking content or advocation for violence. Similar remarks are common sense and normality in democratic societies, but even China under the CCP in some relatively liberal and tolerant eras, many political moderates, intellectuals, human rights activists, and ordinary citizens all look forward to China’s steps toward democracy.

Even when Lai showed a little bit of protesting tone in his wording or articles, it was like the struggling wave of a person on the verge of suffocation due to lack of freedom, which is a huge difference from the measures of military revolution taken by the CCP at its foundation.

When a person’s demands and propositions are so simple, ordinary, and even humble, they should be universal values that exist like air. No ruler can use the excuse of the different ideologies and political systems derived from capitalism and socialism to take away by force one’s basic human rights of democracy and the rule of law. The simpler the appeal, the more irreversible and powerful it is, which would grip the ruler with more fear and greater desire to silence it. But history has repeatedly proven that all actions that violate human nature and civilization will ultimately be futile.

A big reason why Lai has become the fighter for democracy recognized by the international community as he is today could be “attributed” to the Beijing authorities. The image of a person is usually chiseled by his adversary. The stronger the force, the more monumental the image. Over the past years, the Beijing authorities and Hong Kong Government have spent a lot of attention and efforts on Lai, and at the same time they have sculpted an image of Lai that receives widespread sympathy and support from all over the world today.

Dictators can stop one’s mouth and pen by force, but they cannot stop one’s heart and mind, nor the people’s desire and pursuit of freedom and democracy. Those who force others into silence are full of fear, and those silenced exude incomparable power. History is always thuswritten, over the past, at present, and in the future.

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