Divided loyalties

The Legislative Council (LegCo) held an emergency hearing over the Edward Snowden incident. Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said in reply to questions raised by lawmakers that the government takes media reports about intrusion into local computer networks very seriously and will handle the matter strictly according to law but will not reveal all the details related to Snowden.

The SAR government and LegCo play separate roles over a matter like this: the government is an administrative institution and must handle the incident according to the law; LegCo is a representative body of popular will obligated to reflect public opinions truthfully. The overwhelming popular view right now is that Hong Kong should strongly condemn the US government's infringement on human rights in Hong Kong and demand a full confession. LegCo must reflect public sentiment, condemn the US government and demand an apology as well as confession from Washington.

Hong Kong owes its worldwide popularity very much to remarkable freedoms, respect for human rights and protection for individual privacy and business secrets, among other qualities. That is why local residents are outraged by the revelation that their online privacy has been taken away and their individual rights trampled by the US government, with unfathomable damages to Hong Kong.

As the highest representative body of popular will LegCo should first faithfully reflect Hong Kong residents' anger toward US violation of their rights, not worrying whether Washington has demanded Snowden's extradition back to the US.

The Civic Party did exactly the latter as its leader Leong Kah-kit asked Lai if the US government had already sought Hong Kong assistance in drafting a diplomatic paper requesting Snowden's extradition. By doing so he not only violated the Rules of Procedure, which does not allow LegCo members to seek sensitive information from the government, but also showed he could hardly wait to see Snowden extradited already. Other opposition lawmakers also exposed their preference by discrediting Snowden and defending Washington at the same time. Apparently the opposition parties are protecting US interests as best they can instead of defending their own people's rights and freedom.

This is an excerpted translation of a Wen Wei Po editorial published on June 20.

Chan Chun-ning

Media tone vs popular view

A survey earlier this year found the majority of respondents supported the government's Northeast New Territories Development Zone plan in noticeable contrast to media negativity in their coverage of public responses to the same issue. The government must keep a clear mind about the difference between media tone and popular view when assessing the effect the two factors have on each other.

In an opinion poll conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies in late March through early April, 82.3 percent of the respondents said they approve the plan for a Northeast NT Development Zone, compared with 13.3 percent who objected to it. This might have surprised many people.

Back when the plan was the focus of media attention many local news media gave a lot of coverage to opposition by a few organizations and individuals, with some pretty impressive performances: at a public consultation session in Fanling, some local villagers jumped onto the stage and called government officials names in front of the crowd. The general tone of local news media at that time painted a picture of gloom and doom for the government as being isolated on this issue.

Then came the survey mentioned above, which showed the exact opposite of what the press was telling the public. This brings up the question over the striking difference between media tone and public opinion poll.

It is never easy for society to reach consensus on issues like this and there are always supporting and opposing opinions on everything the government puts up for consultation. The opposition tends to be more vocal and media-savvy because they have time and money to act in front of reporters and TV news crews, whereas the supporters usually remain quiet until they absolutely have to speak up in defense of the government. That is why media attention is on the opposition much more than on the supporters.

However, that is not to say the government should only pay attention to opinion polls and ignore media tone, because the two factors influence each other and make or break a government project if the latter is not receptive to all opinions.

The author is a member of the Asia-Pacific Institute of International Relations. This is an excerpted translation of his commentary published in Hong Kong Commercial Daily on June 20.

(HK Edition 06/21/2013 page9)