Singapore—On October 10, the Singapore-based Facebook page Perspective of the Lion City posted a scathing commentary against the protestors in Hong Kong, which has since gone viral. The post has been shared over five thousand times and has gotten almost as many comments.
The post, which is written in Traditional Chinese, is addressed to the protestors, and explains why they do not get the writer’s respect.
First, the writer takes aim at the fact that the demonstrators wear masks. For them, this is proof that the demonstrators are afraid that they would be recognized. The writer names other people’s movements, such as China’s June 4th Tiananmen Student Movement, Taiwan’s Sun Flower Movement, the French yellow vest movement, wherein demonstrators showed their faces.
“They are not like you guys, not daring to show your faces. I can only say that you are a selfish brat who does not dare to own up to your deeds,” they wrote.
The next reason the writer criticizes is how the protestors have targeted public transportation, including the MTR and the airport.
The writer then rejects the “democracy” that the demonstrators are fighting for. “You block the public transportation of the subway airport, and also say that it is fighting for democracy in Hong Kong. Do you know how many people you have affected? You don’t even respect the rights of others in the most basic way.
Understand, understand what democracy? I don’t want this kind of “democracy” that you want to fight for…”
Thirdly, the writer castigates the protestors for asking for help from the West to aid their cause. He asks why they have to wave the flag of their former colonizer, the Union Jack, as well as the US flag, as well as hold up signs that say “Trump, Free Hong Kong.”
They go on to call them “slaves” who seek the help of their “Western masters.”
According to the writer, he does not even know what the protestors are fighting for, as it seems to be about everything and nothing all at once.
At one point they simply ask if the protestors are anti-China (anti mainland), and lectures the protestors concerning the “luxury” of democracy. Civil rights do not fall from the sky, they write, but must be developed a step at a time.
At the end of the lengthy post, the writer says that they simply cannot understand the ideals that the protestors are fighting for, and says that they’re not surprised that more and more people who think that you are just a bunch of disgusting, mindless roaches.”
Ouch.
The post has gotten mixed comments from netizens.
Some completely disagree with the poster, and tell them to simply “Stay in China forever.”
But equally passionate netizens taking the poster’s side answer back, “We be with China forever!”
which later digressed into the following comments such as “Singapore is China!”
which was answered by another netizen who said “Malaysia is also Chinese.”
Others defended the Hong Kong protestors for wearing masks, especially since the police had been using tear gas against them.
One commenter noted that the writer needs to understand Hong Kong and its contexts.
/TISG
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