Private home is sacred

The ongoing port workers' strike, controlled by opposition lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), took radicalism to another level by extending its encirclement of Cheung Kong Center in Central to business tycoon Li Ka-shing's private residence on Sunday.

This is a gross violation of Li's private property and peace of private life. This kind of radical behavior must be stopped immediately. The HK society should condemn the HKCTU for organizing such violation of private residence and law enforcement authorities should ensure HK residents' private properties are properly protected against such illegal acts.

The Basic Law of the HKSAR stipulates in Article 29 that the private homes and other properties of Hong Kong residents shall not be violated; while "home is a person's own castle" under the Common Law. The protest outside Li Ka-shing's private residence on Sunday is a flagrant snub at the rule of law and anybody in Hong Kong can be the next victim if the perpetrators of this incident are not disciplined appropriately.

Invasion of privacy is high on HK residents' list of things they hate most. Opposition politician Leung Kwok-hung, aka "Long Hair" and five others were charged with illegal assembly in 2007 for trying to break into then Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung's private residence during a protest and found guilty in court.

Lee Cheuk-yan is targeting Li Ka-shing with "cultural revolution" style political persecution. More than 30 years after the disastrous chaos was thoroughly condemned on the mainland, the "cultural revolution" is making a comeback here in Hong Kong. The truth behind this dangerous development is that the opposition camp and the foreign powers supporting it are preparing to seize Hong Kong's governing power by fanning populism and anarchism, with an eye on winning the Chief Executive Election in 2017 by universal suffrage.

Members of the public should be on high alert against and condemn such attempts. The SAR government on its part should take effective measures to stop any violation of private homes, properties and other individual rights, particularly those disguised as protests reminiscent of the "cultural revolution".

This is an excerpted translation of a Wen Wei Po editorial published on April 22.

(HK Edition 04/23/2013 page1)