TL;DR – Once there’s violence involved, it is no longer a protest. It is a riot.
So apparently, someone posted a (now deleted) question on Quora asking,
“Why do most Singaporean Chinese support the Hong Kong protests?”
The first thought that crossed my mind was, “Where on earth did that come from?”
Because I don’t.
Is it just me? I wondered.
Then, I came across this one particular reply by user Leonard Tan, which has been viewed more than 12,000 times and ‘upvoted’ 460 times, and then I felt assured and heartened to know that “Heng ah, not just me!”
In his reply, Tan pointed out a few things:
1) First and foremost, no, we do not support the Hong Kong protests
Not sure about you, but a glance at the comments under Tan’s reply, I know that I’m not the only one who share the same sentiment as him.
2) The full extradition bill is reasonable, and people should not be protesting against it if they had bothered to read the full extradition bill and understand how it works
He explained,
“In order for one to be extradited, a crime committed outside of Hong Kong should also be considered as a crime in HK and that crime is punishable by imprisonment. These crimes include murder, crimes against children, sexual assault, drug trafficking, money laundering, etc.”
“No clause in the bill says that China can just easily capture critics. There are mechanisms to prevent such incidents from happening. Without a proper extradition bill, criminals could just flee to Hong Kong and pretend nothing happened.”
“What about the victims then? Do the victims not deserve any justice? What about Hong Kong’s society at large? Is HK going to be a fugitive hotbed?
Chief Executive (CE) Carrie Lam’s implementation of this law is indeed hasty and seems rushed but on the whole, this law benefits the people.”
3) The protest is no longer a protest once there’s violence involved because it has degenerated into a riot
While it is understandable, and it is the Hong Kong citizens’ right to hold rallies and protests to make themselves heard for the social issues that they have been facing, however, Tan opined that once there’s violence involved where people start attacking police, thrashing the Legislative Council Building and other public properties and disrupting other citizens’ daily routines, it is no longer a protest but a riot.
4) Tan’s impression of Hong Kong is a vibrant city with law-abiding citizens, public cooperation and support for police to uphold law and order, and he hopes that peace will return to Hong Kong soon
He shared his wish that the governments of Hong Kong and Mainland China will be able to resolve issues peacefully and work out a deal that will benefit both the mainland and the city, without the use of violence.
Tan then concluded his post, echoing what the Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam’s said in a recent interview where the minister gave his take on the ongoing protests,
“A peaceful and stable Hong Kong will bring about peace, stability and prosperity to not just Hong Kong itself, but also Mainland China and the entire Asia-Pacific region.”
Here is the 23yo Leonard Tan’s Quora answer in full,
No, we do not.
I am a Singaporean Chinese. Let me share what I think of the protests/riots that have been rattling Hong Kong.
First, if people could be bothered to read the full extradition bill and understand how it works, they should not be protesting. I read through the bill several times and find it reasonable. In order for one to be extradited, a crime committed outside of Hong Kong should also be considered as a crime in HK and that crime is punishable by imprisonment. These crimes include murder, crimes against children, sexual assault, drug trafficking, money laundering, etc. No clause in the bill says that China can just easily capture critics. There are mechanisms to prevent such incidents from happening. Without a proper extradition bill, criminals could just flee to Hong Kong and pretend nothing happened. What about the victims then? Do the victims not deserve any justice? What about Hong Kong’s society at large? Is HK going to be a fugitive hotbed? Chief Executive (CE) Carrie Lam’s implementation of this law is indeed hasty and seems rushed but on the whole, this law benefits the people.
Secondly, the initial protests were indeed peaceful. People marching down the streets and holding rallies to make themselves heard, they brought up other social issues like housing and employment. Ok, fair enough. We understand that. That is their right to hold rallies and protests. However, once there’s violence involved and people start attacking police, thrashing the Legco building and other public properties, disrupt other citizens’ daily routines (blocking MTR train doors and leading to service delays, blocking passage around the airport, blocking roads, etc), it is no longer a protest, it is a riot. In the US or any other Western nations, the police will come down hard on rioters and the rioters would have already been arrested and jailed for riot and causing public disruption. The Hong Kong police, imo, are already quite restrained and only used force when their lives are under serious threat. In Singapore, we had riots in the period before 1965 and in 2013, the 2013 riot was the first one since 1965. We knew what it will be like when riots happen, so for most of us, we do not support the riots that are ongoing now in Hong Kong.
Our impression of Hong Kong is a vibrant city with law abiding citizens and the police and public cooperate to uphold law and order. CE Carrie Lam should stand firm and order those who inflict violence, both the black and white shirt teams, to be arrested and punished, to send a strong signal to both camps that violence resolve nothing at all. We hope that peace will return to Hong Kong soon and wish that the governments of Hong Kong and Mainland China will be able to resolve issues peacefully, with no need for violence and work out a deal that will benefit both the mainland and the city.
Singapore’s foreign affairs minister Mr K. Shanmugam said that a peaceful and stable Hong Kong will bring about peace, stability and prosperity to not just Hong Kong itself, but also Mainland China and the entire Asia-Pacific region.
Instability in Hong Kong a problem for everyone, including Singapore: Shanmugam
Comments are closed.