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Letters | The cost of forcing new extradition law on Hong Kong may be simply too high
- For over 20 years, Hongkongers believed the government when it said the Basic Law held true and law and order were in top shape. Now, it says Hong Kong is a fugitive haven urgently needing a fix. What is one to believe any more?
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I don’t quite remember the last time I cried. But on Sunday, the tears welled up when I saw on TV hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers take to the streets once again. I could not make sense of my emotions until my wife joined me. I was not alone in my grief and what got me, as I later realised, was the feeling of pity for the people of Hong Kong.
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I wonder if the scene got to our Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and other government officials.
Hong Kong people have suffered enough. We have the highest property prices in the world and some of the smallest living spaces. Waiting times for public housing and medical treatment stretch into years. The wait for old-age homes outlives the waiting elderly. The list goes on and the only thing we ask for is to be left alone. To deal with life.
Can the government up there and down here simply leave us alone? Is that asking for too much?
Since 1997, we have been told that the Basic Law has been superbly implemented, law and order are in their right places and Hong Kong is among the safest cities in the world. But, all of a sudden, we are being told that the city has been a paradise for fugitives and if we do not plug the legal loopholes now, it is the end of the world.
So, despite the massive protests, the government insists on going ahead with the extradition bill, because it is the right thing to do and it is urgent, and those who oppose it misread, misunderstand or are misled. Such resolve and audacity and determination! Why didn’t we see them in play in other genuinely pressing problems such as housing?
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