Loading ...Legislator Kenneth Leung, representing the Accountancy Functional constituency
2019-09-29
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Legislator Kenneth Leung, representing the Accountancy Functional constituency
2019-09-29
Letter to Hong Kong
(29 September 2019)
Dear Hong Kong citizens
The anti-extradition movement has been taking place in this city for nearly four months with no sign of ebbing away. The strong opposition against the proposed bill on extradition has transformed itself into a socio-political movement of various dimension and perspective. One of the current themes of protest is against the excessive use of force and abuse of power by the police.
Amnesty International issued a scathing report on 19 September after the conduct of a detailed field investigation.
The report mentioned that there has been excessive use of force during arrest on many instances. There are cases of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in detention. Unnecessary strip searches have been conducted during detention which affected the right to privacy and the inherent dignity of the person. There has been delayed access to medical care and counsel for some of the detainees. In addition, the police have been criticized for conducting many arbitrary arrests.
The public was generally satisfied with the performance of the police in the past and they obtained scores of between 61 to 67 marks for surveys conducted between June 2012 to June 2019. A similar survey done in August 2019 saw a sharp decline of the score to 39 marks reflecting on the public's general bitterness and dissatisfaction of the police due to the mishandling of the movement.
Recently, Carrie Lam has attempted to rebuild public confidence in the police by adding two more members to the Independent Police Complaint Council (the "Council" or the "IPCC") and by inviting expatriate experts to advise on the special investigation reports to be conducted. On 26 September, she announced, during the first community dialogue, that the police would no longer be using the Sun Uk Ling Detention Centre for holding any arrested protestors. Sun Uk Ling has become a gulag where many of the alleged torture and abuse of the detainees took place in the past few months.
These moves produce insignificant impact, and for some, they backfire. The IPCC needs a complete overhaul of its membership and vice-chairmanship. The majority of the Council should be comprised of independent professionals with no real or apparent political bias. The members need to be and seen to be proactive and dedicated. The recent appointment of two additional individuals with heavy political taint will not help to address the current problem.
What is more alarming is that the Amnesty International report stated that the evidence given by the interviewee "leaves little room for doubt – in an apparent thirst for retaliation, Hong Kong's security forces have engaged in a disturbing pattern of reckless and unlawful tactics against people during the protests."
Although there is no evidence that this attitude is prevalent amongst the force, the finding is worrying. For one thing, we do not lack proper rules for the force to adhere to. The Police General Orders, the Force Procedures and the Police Manual give sufficient guidelines to the force a to deal with most situations properly. To encourage compliance and to increase accountability and transparency, the Police should adopt the recommendations contained in the Fifth Periodic Report on Hong Kong published by the United Nations Committee Against Torture that the Hong Kong Government should publicize the police general orders and related guidelines on the use of force and make sure that they are in compliance with international standards.
I also see no reason or excuse for the members of the special tactical squad (and indeed other police officer) not to display the police authorization number while on duty. Strictly compliance with the orders and the rules is fundamental for a professional force to operate.
The retaliation psychology is an illness which need to be addressed immediately. More clinical psychologists will need to be recruited to facilitate the force to exercise more self-restraint and discipline in order to be able to cope with the current situation.
Lastly, we need an independent enquiry commission to be set up to assist with the long-term reform of the force, to diffuse the current situation and to enable all sides to move forward. This is undoubtedly the experience from many jurisdictions which have gone through similar political and social turmoil.
A police force with over 150 years of history needs only a few reckless moves, bad management decisions and irresponsible comments from the top brass to completely destroy it. The government needs to address the concerns of the public without any procrastination.
Wish you all a good Sunday.
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth Leung
.
(29 September 2019)
Dear Hong Kong citizens
The anti-extradition movement has been taking place in this city for nearly four months with no sign of ebbing away. The strong opposition against the proposed bill on extradition has transformed itself into a socio-political movement of various dimension and perspective. One of the current themes of protest is against the excessive use of force and abuse of power by the police.
Amnesty International issued a scathing report on 19 September after the conduct of a detailed field investigation.
The report mentioned that there has been excessive use of force during arrest on many instances. There are cases of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in detention. Unnecessary strip searches have been conducted during detention which affected the right to privacy and the inherent dignity of the person. There has been delayed access to medical care and counsel for some of the detainees. In addition, the police have been criticized for conducting many arbitrary arrests.
The public was generally satisfied with the performance of the police in the past and they obtained scores of between 61 to 67 marks for surveys conducted between June 2012 to June 2019. A similar survey done in August 2019 saw a sharp decline of the score to 39 marks reflecting on the public's general bitterness and dissatisfaction of the police due to the mishandling of the movement.
Recently, Carrie Lam has attempted to rebuild public confidence in the police by adding two more members to the Independent Police Complaint Council (the "Council" or the "IPCC") and by inviting expatriate experts to advise on the special investigation reports to be conducted. On 26 September, she announced, during the first community dialogue, that the police would no longer be using the Sun Uk Ling Detention Centre for holding any arrested protestors. Sun Uk Ling has become a gulag where many of the alleged torture and abuse of the detainees took place in the past few months.
These moves produce insignificant impact, and for some, they backfire. The IPCC needs a complete overhaul of its membership and vice-chairmanship. The majority of the Council should be comprised of independent professionals with no real or apparent political bias. The members need to be and seen to be proactive and dedicated. The recent appointment of two additional individuals with heavy political taint will not help to address the current problem.
What is more alarming is that the Amnesty International report stated that the evidence given by the interviewee "leaves little room for doubt – in an apparent thirst for retaliation, Hong Kong's security forces have engaged in a disturbing pattern of reckless and unlawful tactics against people during the protests."
Although there is no evidence that this attitude is prevalent amongst the force, the finding is worrying. For one thing, we do not lack proper rules for the force to adhere to. The Police General Orders, the Force Procedures and the Police Manual give sufficient guidelines to the force a to deal with most situations properly. To encourage compliance and to increase accountability and transparency, the Police should adopt the recommendations contained in the Fifth Periodic Report on Hong Kong published by the United Nations Committee Against Torture that the Hong Kong Government should publicize the police general orders and related guidelines on the use of force and make sure that they are in compliance with international standards.
I also see no reason or excuse for the members of the special tactical squad (and indeed other police officer) not to display the police authorization number while on duty. Strictly compliance with the orders and the rules is fundamental for a professional force to operate.
The retaliation psychology is an illness which need to be addressed immediately. More clinical psychologists will need to be recruited to facilitate the force to exercise more self-restraint and discipline in order to be able to cope with the current situation.
Lastly, we need an independent enquiry commission to be set up to assist with the long-term reform of the force, to diffuse the current situation and to enable all sides to move forward. This is undoubtedly the experience from many jurisdictions which have gone through similar political and social turmoil.
A police force with over 150 years of history needs only a few reckless moves, bad management decisions and irresponsible comments from the top brass to completely destroy it. The government needs to address the concerns of the public without any procrastination.
Wish you all a good Sunday.
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth Leung
.
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