Hong Kong has Covid-19 under control, but not the real pandemic of hate and suspicion
- Yonden Lhatoo looks at the public response to the government’s universal coronavirus testing programme to lament that there is no vaccine for the real disease plaguing the city
Readers who buy this newspaper in its physical form, rather than access it online, may have noticed a little, illustrated booklet tucked into Friday’s edition.
It looks and reads like a children’s picture book, telling the story of the “Sand People” and the “Sea People”, who “have been sceptical about one another, feeding myths and negative beliefs” until one day, two youngsters from the opposing tribes fall in love, Romeo and Juliet-style, and run away from home. That “brings both tribes together in unity to search for them” and they eventually end up living happily ever after in harmony.
The wishful analogy is obvious between the story’s little, yellow and blue cartoon characters and the city’s similarly colour-coded anti-government and pro-establishment factions in real life.
Sceptics may well dismiss the efficacy of such messages of peace in a city so riven by hate and suspicion, so deeply distressed and divided by the political and communal turmoil that exploded last year and continues to tear the social fabric asunder.
What could be the problem? This is actually a free lunch, an opportunity to get tested without having to pay a cent. It’s a well-organised, efficiently handled, painless process that takes only about 15 minutes of a person’s precious time.
Why does Taiwan treat fleeing Hong Kong activists as illegal immigrants after inciting them?
The government has mobilised thousands of health workers to conduct the tests, assigned nearly as many civil servants to handle the logistics, and even brought in experienced professionals from mainland China to process the samples in the city’s laboratories. What could be wrong with that, right?
Wrong. To listen to hysterical opponents of the scheme, it’s a plot to harvest Hongkongers’ DNA specimens and transfer them to nefarious Chinese state agencies for the express purpose of repression.
Hapless officials have adopted a bar code system to ensure anonymity and promised that no private information will be sent across the border. But it’s not enough to pacify the naysayers, never mind that US spy agencies probably have far more personal data on them – thanks to their social media profiles, online searches, and internet habits – than any Chinese government organisation.
Is the US encouraging murderers and rapists to hide in Hong Kong?
Another concern for critics is the potential risk of catching Covid-19 by gathering at testing centres. No qualms about being packed like sardines into far more crowded buses and trains every day, though.
Amid all this negativity, the total sign-up rate is expected to be around 1.5 million when the testing programme ends next week. Is that good enough for a population of 7.5 million? The government insists it is, and claims that every single infection among the handful identified so far is important in terms of locating the invisible carriers of the disease.
03:13
Hong Kong launches universal Covid-19 tests for residents
At this rate, the focus may well shift to vaccine procurement to boost immunity as the city slowly returns to business as usual. Of course, carelessness and complacency could roll back all the progress, but for now, the health crisis is under control.
The same can’t be said for the acrimony and animosity behind the low public participation in the programme and all the controversy surrounding it. The issues that spawned the protest movement were never resolved, and the resentment and hate stemming from it are still alive and just as virulent.
That is the real disease plaguing this city, and there is no vaccine for it. But do read that booklet if you can – perhaps love is the cure, as it suggests.
Yonden Lhatoo is the chief news editor at the Post
