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https://www.straitstimes.com/opinio...-lies-in-ruins-and-neighbour-fights-neighbour
A social media commentator in Hong Kong likened the current troubles there to an apocalypse. Using the trailer of the hit South Korean zombie movie Train To Busan, she replaced its scenes with videos of the street battles in Hong Kong.
One scene stood out from the rest.
It showed a large group of black-clad protesters chasing a cab that broke through their road barrier in an almost zombie-like frenzy. Ordinarily, this parody would be hilarious but the reality now is downright scary.
The madness hit a new peak on China's national day holiday, which saw riots erupting in 13 districts that led to the closure of most major shopping malls and more than half of the city's 91 MTR stations. Other parts that were not affected looked eerily like "ghost towns" as police cautioned residents to remain at home. How can Hong Kong, which always touted itself to be the safest city in Asia, descend so quickly to become a broken city held hostage by unruly mobs?
Like a virulent virus that has mutated over time, what started as a civilian protest against an extradition law has now turned into something far more sinister. In Hong Kong, it is no more just people versus the government and the police, but people versus people and families versus families.
Fresh videos of people quarrelling in the streets are appearing almost daily on social media, with some of these episodes ending in injuries. Sadly, the Hong Kong community has painfully split into two factions - those who support China and the government, and those who are staunchly against them.
This "civil war" is likely to drag on.
Can Hong Kong residents ever stand as one again when the two factions hate each other so much over their core belief? Instead of looking for ways to douse this flame of hatred, student groups are now conducting gladiator-like training camps to teach people how to fight and defend themselves with home-made shields, the South China Morning Post reported.
The raw videos from ground zero will send chills down the spines of any peace-loving people when they see how total strangers now go for one another's throats. In one ugly incident, a woman and her teenage son started filming a man who was tearing away anti-government notices pasted on the public wall. Upset by the harassment, the man picked fights with them and other passers-by, who then ganged up on this "unruly" man. When the police arrived later, the man exclaimed loudly in Cantonese: "Hong Kong has become lawless and people can do whatever they want. I have nothing to lose because I am all alone. I am ready to die and take all these people with me!"
In another video, a middle-aged man who picked a fight with a protester ended up being the victim when a mob of more than 10 set upon him. They rained blows and hit him with metal rods and umbrellas. They didn't stop even when the man was clearly hurt and defeated, with blood flowing down his face. A young girl wearing a face mask crept behind him and delivered the final blow by whacking his head with a piece of metal railing. Volunteer medics came to help him but he turned them away. "I don't need help. Let me bleed and die," he said. In response, a young man who was filming him shouted: "Why don't you just commit suicide?"
The bitterness is not confined to the streets. Online, anti-government vigilantes are waging a terror campaign to defame any business - big or small - that supports the government, by flooding their Facebook pages and websites with vicious comments, such as complaints that their products were poor in quality and unhygienic. In some cases, the mobs even barged into neighbourhood grocery shops to trash the whole place.
Whatever noble intention might have sparked the initial peaceful protests, the scale of the unrest now is a clear sign that the "one country, two systems" policy is lost on many people in Hong Kong. While everyone is happy to support the "two systems", many choose to ignore "one country", judging by their blatant disrespect of all things Chinese, including the state flag.
This highlights the paramount importance of national education in nation-building. Veteran Hong Kong actor Natalis Chan, who is a vocal pro-government supporter, best summed it up when he was interviewed during a charity football match in China recently. When asked how youth in China differed from Hong Kong youth, he said: "They are luckier because they have learnt how to love their country."
The concept of "country" is sacrosanct and that's why since ancient times, the call that there will be no families without a country has been used to rally people in wars. Even the great American General Douglas MacArthur's most famous quote was "duty, honour, country".
In the last three decades, China has done more in improving the lives of its 1.4 billion people than most countries in the world. This probably explains why its young people are fiercely patriotic. While the current protest has shades of the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, the Hong Kong protesters have ironically only succeeded in gaining not the support, but the strong condemnation from their Chinese compatriots for desecrating their state flag and emblem.
Singaporeans will probably feel the same way if our flag and national emblem are similarly treated. We have another national value that has been shaped into our lives and that is racial harmony. This is why many foreigners continue to be amazed how various communities can coexist peacefully in Singapore.
In Hong Kong, expert commentators have said that housing is one of the key factors that sparked the current uproar. While a home is a critical need, it will take more than that to move people forward. Governments need to show that their systems not only can work, their people must also be given hope that lives will be better if they work hard and, yes, stick around.
South China Morning Post's chief news editor Yonden Lhatoo, who has lived in Hong Kong for two decades, was in Singapore recently to attend a conference that was moved here due to the protest.
He later wrote in his column: "I couldn't help feeling downright envious and borderline resentful about Singapore and its shiny, happy people. All those law-abiding folks skipping along spick and span streets, business booming in every shopping centre and street corner, uninterrupted commerce in gleaming office towers. I found it warm and welcoming there, and, above all, so peaceful."
Critics often describe Singaporeans as people who are oppressed but the reality is that this peaceful, calm city is how we want home and life to be.
Yes, things can always be better but most people here know that if there is a problem, somehow, it will be fixed. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently unveiled plans to not only build a Greater Southern Waterfront; his Government has also launched a long-term battle plan to protect Singapore from the effects of climate change. While some of these plans will take effect only decades from now, it is still a great assurance for the current generation of Singaporeans. Those who are blessed with longevity do not have to worry that they will wake up one day to find themselves in wet marshlands due to rising sea levels.
Finally, freedom is what the protesters are fighting for and they wave American flags, because they want Hong Kong to be the "land of the free and a home of the brave". If they study history, they should learn that America became great because of what the people had fought for. But the fight was not against their country, but for their country.
Inspired by the words of one of its greatest presidents, Americans did not ask their country for help. They just went ahead to create great things for their country, people and even the world. People have the tendency to interpret freedom as the right to say and do things against the government. Indeed, freedom must also mean the right to initiate good things to help the country and the people.
Freedom is not an unbridled right to break laws; just like freedom of speech is not a right to spread lies and inflammatory words to instigate trouble. Ultimately those who fight for freedom should first ask what is it that they want to achieve.
Is it still freedom when home is in ruins and families and neighbours are up in arms with each other?
Tan Ooi Boon, a former Straits Times journalist, is the general manager of Straits Times Press.
