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Scoffing in Singapore, praise in Philippines: how Asia sees Hong Kong’s extradition bill protests
- The mammoth marches that involved an estimated 2 million people have inspired a range of views from the region’s citizens and direct action veterans
- Some are in favour, and see hope in Hongkongers’ audacity – while others run the gamut from shrill condemnation to ambivalence
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Even for the likes of Malaysia’s Hishamuddin Rais, a veteran leader of the country’s pro-democracy Bersih marches that repeatedly brought Kuala Lumpur to a standstill in recent years, Hong Kong’s mammoth anti-extradition protests over the past fortnight have been a sight to behold.
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“I mean, I was just so happy to see the young people. So many of them, so capable, and so clear in what they want. Us ‘grandaddies’ and ‘grandmummies’ of street politics can only observe and learn from the Hong Kong youth,” Hishamuddin, a firebrand civil activist for the last five decades, told This Week in Asia.
Like the self-styled Malaysian rabble-rouser, admiration – even envy – was the prevailing feeling among the citizens, civil activists and political observers of Hong Kong’s closest neighbours as they witnessed the city take to the streets in unprecedented fashion to oppose the politically charged extradition bill mooted by the government of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.
The likes of the Philippines – the Southeast Asian nation nearest to Hong Kong – and South Korea have a long tradition of street protests. But even there, the Hong Kong protesters’ audacity, in particular their open defiance of the city’s ultimate political masters in Beijing, has gained them widespread praise.
Social media users from across the region also commended the protesters’ civil behaviour after they cleaned up after the marches, and on several instances let ambulances pass through streets flooded with people.
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However, the adulation was not uniform across the region.
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