Opinion | when pan-democrat pranksters strike, the joke is on hong kong

Another week, another round of stink bombs in the Legislative Council. There seems to be nothing but repeats at Tamar, but in case you were wondering, here is a quick recap of the debate on

the national anthem bill: in a bid to stall the second reading of the bill on May 28, lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung hurled what he said was a container of rotten plants towards the podium of the

Legco president, and stank out the chamber. Advertisement At the final debate one week later, not only did Hui pull the same stupefying stunt again, he also apparently inspired two other

pan-democrats, Eddie Chu Hoi-dick and Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, to disrupt the proceedings with a foul-smelling concoction of their own. But the bill outlawing disrespect of the national

anthem was put to vote anyway. Our legislators are not to be mistaken for Shakespearean fools. Their clowning provided no comic relief, nor did they speak truth to power. They simply elected

to be unadulterated fools and then tried to pass that nonsense off as protest. Let the stench of their monkey-see-monkey-do behaviour hang over them. They are indulging in stupid pranks

even though they are way past the age for such childishness. Hui had already set himself apart in 2018 when he snatched a female civil servant’s phone, accessed its contents in the men’s

room and forwarded files to his own email account. He was subsequently convicted of three charges of common assault, obtaining access to a computer with dishonest intent and obstructing a

public officer. 01:33 Hong Kong lawmaker throws container of rotten plants in protest of controversial national anthem law Hong Kong lawmaker throws container of rotten plants in protest of

controversial national anthem law And since then, there has been a race to the bottom. While we shouldn’t expect much from Hui, who has proven himself politically eccentric and seems unable

to outgrow his playground-bully persona, Chu and Chan are more than capable of putting together convincing arguments and contributing to debates in the legislature – and seeing them go down

that same route gives reason for pause. Advertisement We have surely arrived at that point where we need to seriously consider how sick and tired we are of these pranks, and to come to the

realisation that these pranksters are very much part of the political problem in Hong Kong. They are taking us, the people, for fools.