It is now almost a foregone conclusion that the two key contributing factors for the eight-month-long social unrest are the biased media reporting and the rogue teachers’ corruption of our young people. This can be further demonstrated by two recent scandals, each causing a huge public outcry.
The first one involved the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) program Headliner poking fun at police and accusing police of possessing excessive surgical masks to the detriment of ensuring an adequate supply for medical workers. The objective was clearly to instill in local residents unwarranted hatred of the police. This is hardly the first time RTHK has used its airtime to badmouth the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the Hong Kong Police Force. But this one was particularly mean-spirited because the allegations were pure fabrications. The reality is that our police officers do not have an oversupply of face masks. They, in fact, were allocated significantly fewer than others in the front line of public service. At last count, each police officer has a reserve of only 19 masks, compared to 208 for each medical worker and 33 per RTHK staffer. The limited reserve leaves police officers vulnerable as they are constantly required to carry out dangerous anti-coronavirus preventive and enforcement duties.
It is now almost a foregone conclusion that the two key contributing factors for the eight-month-long social unrest are the biased media reporting and the rogue teachers’ corruption of our young people. This can be further demonstrated by two recent scandals, each causing a huge public outcry
This gross fabrication has prompted
the commissioner of police to lodge an official complaint with the director of
broadcasting, who simply ignored the seriousness of the complaint and delegated
his junior directorate officer to respond. In her reply, the latter claimed
that the Headliner program is just a satirical show and not a news and
public-affairs program. Therefore, it does not have to comply with the RTHK
charter to provide fair and accurate reports! A similar reply was given to the
chairman of the RTHK Advisory Board, which had expressed similar
dissatisfaction with the program.
However, the reply cannot stand under scrutiny as it is stated in the RTHK home page that Headliner is a political news program produced by the Public Affairs Division of RTHK. It’s clearly a public affairs program that cannot hide behind a claim to be an entertainment show! Secondly, irrespective of the nature of the program, the content of this particular episode is clearly libelous to the reputation of the Hong Kong Police Force. There is nothing more inexcusable than for a government-paid public institution to launch such a malicious attack on another government department. What’s even more disquieting is that this gratuitous slander is obviously condoned by the highest broadcasting authority!
The second scandal concerns the then-acting vice-principal of Confucius Hall Secondary School, Billy Ho Pak-yan, who posted an anti-police satirical poem on his Facebook page the day after a riot police officer was found to be infected with the novel coronavirus. The post was actually a Chinese poem that on its face is positive in advising people not to condemn the police as they were just doing their job. But on closer examination, the first character in each sentence of the poem actually reads: “All black police and their families should die and not a single one should be spared.” To make sure that readers do not miss its true meaning, there was a rider underneath the poem stating “Everyone stay calm and read carefully, and you will understand!” As expected, it generated an angry backlash, castigating this vice-principal of a school preaching Confucian teachings for being associated with such vicious thoughts of hatred. The school was inundated with complaints from parents and the public, so much so that the school authority had to agree to investigate the matter. However, within two days, the school claimed it had concluded the investigation, which clearly was a whitewash as it fully accepted Ho’s explanation that the post did not originate from him, but was a message forwarded from other websites. He also claimed that he did not notice the hidden meaning of the post! The school then decided to just terminate his acting appointment as vice-principal but allow him to stay in his teaching position. Such a conclusion was an insult to the intelligence of society as a whole!
As a seasoned investigator with over 36 years of experience, I have reason to doubt the professionalism and determination of the investigation panel to seek the truth. They are clearly treating this libelous offender with kid gloves and hoping that this brouhaha will soon blow over. But he should not be let off so easily, as serious matters of ethical and professional principles are at stake here. They should cross-examine Ho. Some key questions remain to be asked: How could a vice-principal and seasoned teacher possibly miss the rider suggesting the hidden meaning? Did the panel check the supposed original website and examine its nature and see whether their previous entries are pro-police? Did they check Ho’s previous Facebook postings and the websites he visited to see whether he indeed is sympathetic to the police? Did they interview some of the students and parents to find out what Ho said in class about the police, etc.? Again, this is another classic example of top management condoning the misconduct of its staff and shirking its responsibility to maintain professional and ethical standards.
As President Xi Jinping commented quite accurately on responsible management: “For the public official to avoid taking up responsibility should be a complete shame for life!” This is exactly what the director of broadcasting and the secretary for commerce and economic development ought to be ashamed of, for allowing RTHK to degenerate into an anti-China and anti-government mouthpiece, serving the vile objectives of the opposition parties, violent activists and foreign powers instead of the SAR government, which finances it with taxpayers’ money! With its anti-establishment track record, it’s baffling to note that in the new financial year, the RTHK budget will be increased by a further HK$25 million (US$3.2 million)! Legislative Council members should seriously consider blocking the budget for RTHK and taking the opportunity at the budget debate to grill the director of broadcasting over RTHK’s obvious breaches of the RTHK Charter. The opportunity should also be taken to replace the totally toothless advisory board with a governors board, which should carry with it the authority to dismiss any employee and terminate any biased program. The people behind the Headliner program should not be let off the hook for their blatant transgressions. The commissioner of police can consider suing them and RTHK for libel. There is a precedent during the British colonial era, when the then-government supported a senior expatriate officer of the Independent Commission Against Corruption to sue a popular local newspaper for libel and succeeded. Ho is clearly unfit to mentor our young people. The Education Bureau should reopen the investigation, and the panel should include a criminal lawyer who is experienced at cross-examination. I am sure the unvarnished truth will come out with regard to his political stance and suitability as a teacher. The Education Bureau had let off lightly two previous cases of wayward educators with just warning letters. They concern a school vice-principal and a teacher for publishing hate messages on websites. Clearly, the bureau must adopt more resolute measures in dealing with such rogue teachers. Failing that, we can expect to see more such shameful recurrences of teachers acting like political demagogues without accountability!
The author is a council member of the Chinese Society of Hong Kong and Macao Studies. He is also a former head of operations and deputy commissioner of the ICAC, and currently an international anti-corruption consultant.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
