Police power challenged

Hong Kong is on course to face an unbearably-high cost should the rising, blatant challenges to police power be left unabated.

In yet another alarming revelation, a young assistant of radical legislator "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung on Wednesday undisguisedly told the media he had ignored several phone calls from the police asking him to report to the police station to assist with the investigation into his alleged involvement in illegally preventing lawmakers from returning to Legislative Council to vote last month. He showed not the slightest sign of shame and regret.

On Sunday, without first applying to police for permission, student-activist group Scholarism marched to the central government's liaison office, in defiance of the Public Order Ordinance. About half of Scholarism's 400 members and volunteers are below the age of 18.

Two weeks ago, members of the Hong Kong Federation of Students first stormed into a closed-door function Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was attending, and then confined him on the road for 20 minutes by lying flat in front of his car before they were forcibly carried away by police officers. The group "righteously" lashed out at the police for "obstructing their freedom of expression".

Instead of condemning such unlawful activities, many politically- biased media, politicians and public figures tried their best at steering public opinions in favor of these challenges to police power for the sake of their own political endeavors.

Banking on such support, these defiant challenges to authority have been escalating and gradually eroding the city's police power, the inherent government authority to impose restrictions on private rights for the sake of public welfare, social order and security.

Most dreadful of all is that these smart youngsters, supposedly our elites and social pillars in the future, are being incited to challenge police power, a key component of the rule of law.

Allowing police power to decay will inevitably lead to a disruption or even a collapse of the rule of law, which has made Hong Kong one of the safest cities with the lowest crime rate in the world.

It's time now for our law enforcers to firm up their stance in enforcing laws and for our society to check the evil practice of pursuing political gain at the expense of the rule of law lest the cost will be too high for us all.

The author is a current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 05/30/2013 page1)