While waiting for the train on the MTR platform, I looked at the station-platform advertisement displayed behind the glass barrier, where stand-up comedian Dayo Wong says wittily, “It’s not just about making a living.” Apart from that more people are shopping online and ordering takeaways, it seems to be business as usual in Hong Kong.

Suddenly, I saw a line of words moving across the bottom of the advertisement - the government announcing that it has expanded the city’s film censorship ordinance, banning the exhibition of films that could endanger national security. I shuddered and could not fathom whether I was living in 1984 or 2021. Why were the faces of the people crowding on the platform still indifferent and expressionless upon reading this news, while I felt as though the next train would take us to some kind of concentration camp?

Am I out of my mind or is this regime gravely ill? When Eastern Europe was under communist rule, the height of the dictatorship was when Nicolae Ceaușescu was in charge of România. At that time, freedom of speech was silenced and freedom of culture and art was suppressed. In 1983, the communist regime required all typewriters to be registered with the government under real names, intimidating intellectuals who thought they could write in secrecy. Furthermore, photocopying machines could only be used with special permission to stop the spread of deviant ideas. The government even controlled the weather reports, with the Observatory forecasting a clear, windless day every May 1st, in order to mobilize people to go out and watch the Labor Day parade!

In the past, when I read up on these materials, I marveled at the absurdity of the dictatorship and understood better why the Ceaușescus had been humiliated by the rebels before they were taken out for execution when they fell from power. Nevertheless, history keeps repeating itself, as Hong Kong, once one of the most liberal cities in the world, is cracking down on the media at a rapid pace; Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group has singled out and attacked the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) for funding arts groups that promote “black violence”; requiring mobile phone users to register their real names and personal details for SIM Cards; demolishing Liberal Studies; encouraging students to snitch on teachers; arbitrarily de-licensing teachers; requiring that history be taught in line with the Communist Party’s view of the past... The tightening of the film censorship ordinance is just a tiny part of the clampdown on ideology.

On June 4, the government banned the candlelight vigil in Victoria Park, and a large number of police officers were stationed outside churches where memorial masses were held to intimidate those who attended. The city was in an uproar when the TV station weather forecast reported that the relative humidity on that day was between 89% and 64%, which was subsequently confirmed by the Observatory as accurate. I wondered to myself if in future the staff of the National Security Service would follow the example of Romania and station at the Hong Kong Observatory on sensitive dates, or simply enact the “Weather Forecast Inspection Ordinance.”

I am being serious. National security is a business, and many people will be promoted and get rich from it, and even benefit the surrounding industries. A friend of mine who witnessed the demolition of a Christian cross somewhere in the mainland learned how the expenditure to maintain stability in society can be so large. For one tiny little church, hundreds of armed police were mobilized to surround it for several days to prevent worshippers and women from singing hymns and wailing. Armed police are the armed forces that maintain the political security and social stability of the country and are sent by the provincial government. During those days, these police officers from out of town were hosted in a luxurious hotel around the church. It was a state mission to eat, drink and be merry.

Another friend told me that the government of a certain place requires churches to install closed-circuit televisions to monitor the activities of their members. Due to dissatisfaction with the infringement of religious freedom, the cameras are vandalized from time to time. The local government is not bothered by this, not to mention that the criminal offenders are not held accountable. The cameras are, in fact, supplied by a designated local enterprise which has a personal relationship with the officials. Hence, breaking one camera just means additional business in the name of stability maintenance and a chance to reap a fortune!

China spent 720 billion yuan (US$112.4 billion) on stability maintenance in 2013, which was even more than the military expenditure, but it was no longer disclosed in 2014. The Hong Kong government allocated HK$8 billion (US$1 billion) on national security, but has “no further information to provide” regarding the details. China and other communist countries have demonstrated that the national security sector must justify its existence in order to get more funding to expand and to increase the number of well-paying jobs to fatten itself. The way to do this is to prove that national security is at stake and that enemies are everywhere in collusion with foreign powers. If these enemies cannot be found, enemies must be created; if subversive actions cannot be found, subversive ideas must be eliminated. When stability maintenance is not transparent, corruption is the inevitable outcome.

Our own Director of National Security cannot build prestige and credibility by merely sitting idly in a massage parlour. Rather, he must follow the logic of stability maintenance and extend the hand of national security and not rest until he reaches the Observatory!

(Chan Kin-man is one of the founders of Occupy Central with Love and Peace Campaign.)

This article is translated from Chinese by Apple Daily.

Click here for Chinese version

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