There was a piece of shocking news last week. 12 protesters and activists were arrested by the Coastal Guard of the Chinese government owing to the illegal border crossing. At the time of writing this article, they are still being detained in mainland China. I published a Facebook post after the news was released: “When I am thinking about the 12 imprisoned protesters, I feel a moment of tightness in my chest.” This feeling is shared by many of the Hong Kongers. We are worried the protesters would not be treated with justice, or to put it more accurately and bluntly, they might be tortured during the detention.

This worry and fear are not irrational, for they are deeply rooted in our memories. Let’s go into two specific examples. Li Wangyang, a Chinese dissident labor rights activist, was imprisoned for 21 years during his life. He was once put in a prison which was as small as a coffin, not to mention the poor hygiene condition. He lost his teeth, sight and hearing in jail, and finally died of unexplained reasons. Wang Quanzhang, a Chinese human rights lawyer, though has been released now, was described by his wife, Li Wenzu, after one visit to him in prison that “he (Wang) resembled nothing more than a well-programmed but rather dull wooden man who barely interacted with them.”

There is no doubt that the Chinese government is good at torturing dissidents. Dictators throughout Chinese history had developed a great variety of savage tortures, a tradition inherited by the Chinese Communist Party. The tragic case of Zhang Zhixin in the Cultural Revolution best demonstrated this cruel heritage. Torturing dissidents have many benefits: silence all other potential dissidents, for entertainment purposes, and collect intel regarding other dissidents, etc.

Two days ago, there was a piece of news which did not arouse much attention. Over 20 protesters were arrested, mostly owing to their participation in safeguarding and occupying Polytechnic University last year. I can’t help but associate this incident with the detention of the 12 activists. Are the Chinese and Hong Kong governments getting more intel now?

In the handling of social turmoil, the Hong Kong government has spent most of its resources in suppressing the citizens from expressing discontent, but not allocated time and effort in dealing with the real problem. A Chinese idiom best describes this government: it is derelict in duty and does not do honest work. This government can never regain the legitimacy to govern Hong Kong if it doesn’t initiate a drastic change.

In the time of helplessness, people are still proactively making changes. Someone has initiated a petition to urge the Hong Kong government to request the Chinese government to return the twelve prisoners. The link is as follows: https://forms.gle/rf26HpWMGz96Zs1o8

In order to save those activists, our voices should be louder so as to amplify them.

At least, ironically, there’s one thing in which the Hong Kong government is being consistent: they are equally cruel to the people from all over the world who seek political asylum in Hong Kong. It’s almost impossible for refugees to gain the right for asylum; at the same time, it’s hard for refugees to be transferred to other countries. They can neither work nor be educated here. Every month they receive a small stipend from the government. Hong Kong is hell for refugees. Two months ago, 22 foreign asylum seekers who are under unlimited detention went for a hunger strike for two weeks. The Hong Kong government gave no response. It’s a government that has no stake in human society.

(Pat To Yan, active in Hong Kong and German Theatre. Playwright, Director, Lecturer. Elected Council Member and the Chairman of the committee of Literary Art of Hong Kong Arts Development Council.)

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