Church Statements
Now Is the Time to Talk: September 3, 2019
Our faith community has been saddened and concerned by the months of tension, division and violence in Hong Kong since the extradition bill protests on June 9. It has been painful to watch people being injured, especially the young women who was severely injured in her right eye on August 11 in Tsim Sha Tsui, and the arrest of hundreds of people, notably our city’s youth, since June. Moreover, the lives of ordinary people in Hong Kong have been repeatedly disrupted by the weekly battles on the streets between the police and protesters.
When and how will our community’s crisis end?
No one inside or outside of the government seems to have an answer. One thing though is clearly evident: violence will not resolve the issues plaguing our city through the debates violently being contested on the streets of Hong Kong. They will have to be determined through dialogue between the government and the protesters.
It is in this light that we welcome the initiative of Chief Executive Carrie Lam to create a platform for dialogue on August 20. Although the details of this platform need to be formulated, it is a step forward to address the extradition bill crisis. However much we want this plan to succeed, we harbor low expectations for the success of this initiative though as the Hong Kong government has been deaf to the voices of the people’s footsteps on the city’s streets since June. Whether expressed through violent or non-violent protests, whether by several thousand or up to two million protesters, the government has stubbornly refused to positively respond to the five demands of the people: (1) formally withdraw the extradition bill, (2) create an independent commission of inquiry into the police’s excessive use of force, (3) retract the characterization of the protests as riots, (4) release all of those who have been arrested in the demonstrations and (5) reintroduce democratic political reforms. Without a willingness to discuss these five demands, it is doubtful that the platform for dialogue will achieve much. Now is not the time for the government to appear to respond to the people of Hong Kong but is a time for meaningful discussions that sincerely seek to bring about genuine change.
In addition to engaging in dialogue with the protesters, we also call upon the government to cherish and protect the lives of our community’s young people. They are not the enemy of the government but rather the city’s future. They love Hong Kong so much they are willing to sacrifice themselves indefinitely for a democratic Hong Kong in which the voices of the people are heard and respected.
The unwillingness of Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the Hong Kong government to meet any of the five demands above has placed the police on the frontlines of this crisis. The police have been forced to address a political problem through maintaining public order and to face the anger of the protesters and the community, causing deep divisions in society. The police have been given the task to defend the government, but it is not the role of the police to settle this political problem that was created by the government.
The violence has been escalating week by week. The more the police use more muscular crowd control measures, from pepper spray to tear gas to rubber bullets to water cannons, the greater becomes the risk of serious injury and the more anger that is generated, making it increasingly difficult to heal the rifts in our community. Cases of sexual harassment of female protesters in police custody add to this inflammatory environment. The government must ensure that the human rights and human dignity of the protesters is respected.
Political problems need to be reconciled through a political process. Now is the time to listen and talk; now is the time to remain calm; now is the time to act to bring about healing and reconciliation.
Kowloon Union Church
CHURCH STATEMENTS
RESPONSES TO SOCIAL ISSUES:
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8”