Our new monthly feature at Ketagalan Media, the Pan-Asian Civics roundup, summarizes key developments and other stories of interest related to democratic participation in the Asia-Pacific region. Our May 2018 Edition includes dispatches from correspondents in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.
By Kevin Hsu, Judith Huang, and Lydia Siu; edited by Kevin Hsu.
Singapore
How to stop adolescents coming of age: The acclaimed teenage rom-com Love, Simon, in which a gay youth comes out of the closet, was smacked with an R21 rating by Singapore’s film authorities. R21 is the country’s most restrictive classification (other than an outright ban), preventing anyone under the age of 21 from seeing the movie in theatres.
In response, Thasha Monique Dharmendra, a young Singaporean, started an online petition asking the IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority) to revise the rating to NC16. The petition suggests the restrictive R21 classification is unreasonable—the film was rated PG or G across Canada, P13 in Malaysia and PG-13 in the United States—and argues that Singaporean teenagers should be allowed to watch the movie, as it could have a “huge impact on young teenagers struggling to find acceptance from family and friends.” The petition has garnered more than 21,000 signatures. (More on Singapore’s film classification guidelines can be found here.)
Protest Art: Seelan Palay, a local artist, was charged with orchestrating an illegal one-man procession from Hong Lim Park to the National Gallery on October 1, 2017. In his performance art piece, entitled “32 Years: The Interrogation of a Mirror,” Palay commemorated Dr. Chia Thye Poh, Singapore’s longest-detained prisoner of conscience. Under the Internal Security Act, the government jailed Chia for 23 years and placed him under house arrest for a further nine years. Palay, the artist, is out on bail and may be fined up to SGD$3000 for his act of protest.
Inequality: National University of Singapore sociologist Teo You Yenn’s book, “This Is What Inequality Looks Like,” has become an unexpected bestseller. Her series of essays chronicles three years of research among low-income Singaporeans living in subsidized rental flats. Now entering its second print run with Ethos Books, the study—which has reached #2 on the non-fiction best-sellers list—has sparked a national debate in both mainstream and online media about social mobility, inequality, and social stratification. Currently topping the fiction list? “Crazy Rich Asians,” which depicts the lives of fabulously wealthy Singaporean families.
Succession: Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong announced his reshuffled cabinet, with younger “fourth generation” leaders heading up 10 out of 16 ministries and sparking talk of potential successors. The country’s next elections will take place in 2021.
Hong Kong
Another democrat may be out the door: Legislative Council member Ted (Chi-fung) Hui, a young member of the Democratic Party, has been arrested and charged with multiple offenses, relating to an incident on April 24 when he grabbed a cell phone out of the hands of a civil servant whom he suspected was spying on Legco members. Hui publicly apologized and was suspended from his party, but was still jailed on May 3, before being released on bail. Pro-Beijing lawmaker Regina Ip is spearheading efforts to censure Hui, which could result in the ejection of yet another pan-democrat from the Legco.
Hitting “redo” on justice: Two years ago,15 activists held a demonstration in a Hong Kong MTR station to protest the government’s controversial proposal to allow PRC border control officers in West Kowloon, inside the boundaries of the HKSAR. The activists, including League of Social Democrats vice-chairman Chow Nok-hang, condemned the plan as inappropriate under the city’s Basic Law and a threat to Hong Kong’s autonomy from Beijing. They reportedly gathered petition signatures while using a loudspeaker to amplify their voices.
The group rejected demands by the MTR’s station staff to disperse, and Chow was subsequently arrested. The case was dismissed by the local magistrate in Fanling Law Court, who ruled, that “the station, including the paid area, was a public place” and the protest leader “was only exercising his freedom of speech” in a peaceful manner, according to the HKFP. However, based on an MTR appeal, the Court of First Instance overturned this ruling and on May 15 ordered Chow to be returned for sentencing.
The party continues: In other news for the same party, Avery Ng, chairman of the League of Social Democrats, was also sentenced to four months in jail for revealing that “Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee—who was the permanent secretary for home affairs between July 2014 and March this year—was under scrutiny by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC),” according to the South China Morning Post.
Speaking of Cantonese: Supplementary material from the Hong Kong Education Bureau has sparked intense debate on whether Cantonese is indeed a “mother tongue” for people in Hong Kong, or merely a “dialect,” as claimed by the article on Mandarin education. Many commentators have weighed in to support the continued use of Cantonese (which is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin), including the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
Language rectification: In other lexical issues, the HKSAR government has been accused of “rewriting history” as it attempts to revise the terminology on its website describing Hong Kong’s status after the territory was transferred from British to Chinese control in 1997. Instead of using the phrase “handover of sovereignty” (主權移交) to describe the change—something former Chinese leaders such as Hu Jintao had used in public speeches—new favored phrases appears to be “return to China/the motherland” (回歸祖國) or “resume sovereignty over Hong Kong” (對香港恢復行使主權). The public fears the new political correctness may make its way into textbooks in the near future, despite the fact that “Hong Kong officials have been using ‘handover’ to describe the city’s return to China since 1997, and the ceremony held on July 1 that year was called the ‘handover ceremony’” contends Alvin Lum in the SCMP.
It is not clear that discussants understand the political science definition of sovereignty when they make claims such as “China has never handed Hong Kong’s sovereignty to others” (Chief Executive Carrie Lam) or China has “always had sovereignty over Hong Kong” (Secretary for Education Kevin (Yun-hung) Yeung. These quotes appear to contravene even the less-controversial and academic phrasing that China “resumed the exercise of sovereignty in Hong Kong” in 1997.
Even more Orwellian: As an aside, while the language revision in Hong Kong is problematic, it is not quite as egregious as China’s aggressive attempt to force foreign airlines based in other countries to re-label Taipei, TW flights as “Taipei, CN” flights. Companies like Air Canada have already complied, sparking backlash and criticism that they are kowtowing to Beijing in erasing Taiwan and overwriting long-standing realities. The White House has dubbed this forced renaming “Orwellian”
Tiananmen Anniversary: Publicity for the upcoming Tiananmen (6-4) remembrance in Hong Kong began on May 13, 2018. The kick-off date marks the anniversary of the day in 1989 when university students in Beijing peacefully demonstrating for greater freedoms declared a hunger strike. Activists use the lead time to generate momentum for an annual memorial on June 4 in Victoria Park—the only place on Chinese soil where the tragic events of 1989 are openly commemorated.
Malaysia
A historic day for democracy: On May 9, the opposition won a historic victory in Malaysia’s general election, gaining 122 out of 222 seats in parliament. This marks the first time that the ruling party UMNO and its Barisan Nasional electoral coalition did not secure victory, now relegated to only 79 seats. Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad came out of retirement to join the opposition Pakatan Harapan (“Alliance of Hope”) in the contest, worried perhaps that his legacy was being tarnished by endemic corruption under Najib Razak, Malaysian prime minister since 2009.
Pakatan Harapan consists of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party), Democratic Action Party, Parti Amanah Negara (National Trust Party), and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Malaysian United Indigenous Party). The opposition also won the popular contest, receiving 5.6 million ballots (45.56%) compared to Barisan Nasional, which received only 4 million votes (33.8%).
Taking office and a pardon: Mahathir was sworn in by the Agong (monarch) on May 10, becoming the world’s oldest head of government. (He is not the “oldest head of state”, as that power resides in the Agong). A day later, the new prime minister announced that he had secured a pardon for Anwar Ibrahim, the jailed longtime opposition leader. Ironically, Anwar was initially prosecuted during the end of Mahathir’s rule, after a falling out between political mentor and protege.
Forming governments and investigating corruption: Pakatan Harapan is in the process of forming a government, and Mahathir expects to be in office for about two years before ceding the prime minister’s office to Anwar. Investigations into Najib’s corruption, highlighted most luridly in the 1MDB scandal where billions went missing from a national investment fund, have commenced.
The PH coalition, along with ally Parti Warisan Sabah, also came out ahead in eight state assembly contests, out of 13 total. It will form the government in the states of Johor, Kedah, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Perak, Sabah and Selangor.
(Feature Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash)
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