Apple Daily to Close Tonight

[anxiao]

After 26 years of publication Apple Daily will close tonight. A dark day for press freedom in Hong Kong, and a reminder that Hong Kong is changing very quickly.

Here's to the brave 500 police that it needed to raid the offices and arrest 5 senior staff. Asia's finest (?), now cowed by 5 unarmed managers. Didn't it used to be an offence to waste police time?

For those who did not know the paper, it started as a salacious "Which actress is dating which actor, and who's paying the rent" type of flashy trashy thing and developed in the ensuing years into the serious liberal newspaper it became today. The last bastion of HK news that you knew was neither censored nor self censored. They had an English online version, which was a shadow of the print version, but gave you a taste for the real thing.

So, Vale veritate

[Sqwak7700]

Sad day indeed. One of many HKG brands that will go by the wayside in this new dystopian society that we all once proudly called our home.

Put your muzzle on, install the required spyware on your mobile, and don’t make eye contact or congregate. Welcome to “Asia’s World City Prison”.

[quadspeed]

Weeks, not months, before Facebook, Google (unrestricted) and anything else mildly resembling free speech gets blocked. Seriously.

​​​​​​The money required to entice anybody with a Western mindset to work under those conditions has been, and will be, ludicrous . To which the response is:
​​​​​​
a) It will not be, and
b) we do not want anyone with a Western mindset.

And that was that.

[veryoldchinahand]

The Apple Daily a 'serious liberal newspaper' is rather akin to referring to The Daily Fail as the British a heavyweight newspaper of record. The AD was seldom ever more more than a salacious comic until it perceived that there was increased adv revenue and circulation in becoming the organ of the mob bent on destroying the fabric of Hong Kong. Any serious liberal leanings were purely incidental until the US realized that it was a useful stick with which to beat China and channeled funds to the proprietors. A typical Hong Kong story of a money making scheme dressed up to be something of benefit to the local working class.

[Load Toad]

- Absolute garbage. I'm sure you'll enjoy being in the open prison that will be Hong Kong JAMC (Just Another Mainland City).

[veryoldchinahand]

I have rather enjoyed Hong Kong for thirty years when it was a hard ruled British Colony so very possibly yes. The first 20 years under the Chinese have not been at all bad and going forward the fabric of this much loved city is unlikely to be destroyed by the packs of roaming adolescents children and thugs with who we were plagued for the past two years. Taking history as a guide many of these rioters would have been shot and killed under British rule whereas as a Chinese colony the governance is likely to be more benevolent if anything.
Anyone who believes that Hong Kong was in any way 'free' and had no draconian security laws under our British masters is in my opinion severely delusional. BTW I am British, vote conservative and have a subscription to Country Life Magazine.

[Rie]

Vote conservative but sound like a Tankie? Retirement plans are off to the old Soviet Bloc?

[Bokpiel]

quadspeed

Yes we are in trouble, but weeks are a bit far fetched, even months.

[JMock]

veryoldchinahand

let me take a stab at it. You are an old white retired HK copper or similar conveniently blurring the boundaries between then and now, sitting handily far far away from us in HK now.

[veryoldchinahand]

JMock - I live and work in HK and have kids in school here. Do you ?

[JMock]

my children were born and raised here and work here as adults.
One side of my family has been here for 5 generations

as for your ridiculous comment that the Brits would have shot similar rioters.
that’s the point old bean. There were no riots under the Brits. We could march to commemorate what we chose, read any publication and listen to any uncensored broadcast and enjoy trials by jury.
we were so repressed

[Less Hair]

China could just quietly have waited out the entire transition period and HK would have been "theirs" automatically. China would have looked "strong".
Instead they went for all these little changes way too early creating a lot of global attention, protests and such, breaking promises and looking "weak".
I still don't get why they went the second route? Wanting to demonstrate "we just don't care" like the heavy handed Russia sometimes does? Do they think it worked whatever it was?

[taobao]

JMock

You may like to refresh your knowledge on the riot in HK in 1967. That went against your belief of "we could march to ...".
1936 people were charged, 832 injured, (including 212 from the police), 51 dead.

Before that, there was also the riot in Oct 1956.

If you still believe you had more freedom under the Brits, check out what the "Special Branch" in the police was, est in 1934 til 1995.

[JMock]

Are you delusional?
that was the communist insurrection attempting to suborn HK
my family suffered and our then government fought and repelled the cross the border communist insurgents
And when calm returned it was a calm until the breach of the legally binding Joint Declaration when China drove a coach and horses through its promises

when did this site attract wumao ?

Christ on a bike
how about a few aviation related questions before the tick to join

Over it

[anxiao]

Jmock the old china hands have been part of the problem for generations, as you know from your family history.

I must admit to a surprise that there is such agreement on this thread from a few (well two so far..) contributors that the Hong Kong government under its Beijing mentors is doing such a fine job. It is one thing being a mainland resident and regurgitating the China Daily themes of the last few years as you don't understand the other point of view. It is a Trumpian dystopia to have lived in Hong Kong and seen the value of its legal and press freedoms ripped up and open your arms to the appalling future to which the majority of Hong Kong people are destined.

Less hair I agree that if president Xi could have waited until 2047 then both Hong Kong and China would have both been very different political entities, much closer in many ways. I believe it was the main reason that the 50 years was agreed. But Xi cannot wait, as he knows that to be known as a famous emperor he must unite Hong Kong and Taiwan in his reign, and he is not getting any younger.

I fear there may be more eggs broken before his designs are satisfied, or frustrated.

[Load Toad]

The only reason there were protests was that Calamity Lickspittle and the CCP couldn't keep to an agreement made legally, signed by both sides and registered by the UN. Also they constantly tried to erode Hong Kong's freedoms and rights as protected by 1C2S (which practically no longer exists). Even when 1 - 2 million people peacefully protested she tried to push through the Extradition Bill. The escalation of violence and disorder came mostly from the side with all of the guns, batons, body armour and other munitions. What is happening in HKG is the choice of the CCP and the puppet government....not the majority of the people in HKG.

[Flying Clog]

That's a pretty good summary.

[Curry Lamb]

These muppets now pride themselves in the fact that Hongkers is now a POLICE State.
They’ve successfully turned the place into the new Auschwitz.

Nothing wrong with HK being a police state: lawmaker
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1597683-20210625.htm

[Less Hair]

You know what Auschwitz was? Something very different. There is no need for comparisons like this.

[Curry Lamb]

You’re right Hairless One. Hong Kong is worse!

[anxiao]

Oi, this was my thread, and you've Godwin's Law'd it in 17 posts. :=

Back to the thread. I tried to buy a copy of Apple Daily on Thursday, the last day, and their 1 million print run had run out in my local 7 Eleven at 0800. I understand it had run out shortly after midnight as people queued for it at newsagents that stayed open. They could perhaps have sold 2 mill if they had the capacity to print them.

Seems there was a need for such a journal in Hong Kong, irrespective of what some people think of its quality. We cannot all be Guardian readers... :hmm:

[veryoldchinahand]

anxiao, You should have got up earlier.
They made a few bob out of that for sure and I rather though that they would have donated the proceeds to those in need ..... but this is Hong Kong and silly me they did.......in HK charity defiantly begins at home.
Curry Lamb , I am wondering why you don't save yourself a lot of stress and just bugger off if you now hate HK so much and Cathay even more.

[JMock]

oldwhitebloke, the profit from the newspaper sales was directed to pay the suppliers to the paper and salaries of staff made jobless after bank accounts were frozen …
there was no profit

Just stop, you are an embarrassment

[quadspeed]

Bokpiel

"Far fetched" . Just give that some thought, in light of the situation in HK just a few years ago. The Iron curtain has fallen, do not expect a gradual transition to totaliarism.

[JMock]

Alice Mak, pro Beijing legislator just came out saying she could see absolutely nothing wrong with HK becoming a police state

[Load Toad]

https://twitter.com/galileocheng/status/1409499900115525637

[Flying Clog]

The exodus is in full swing. Who in their right mind would want to remain in this dystopian dump for a minute longer than necessary?

[G Merch]

The irony is that the UK is passing bills which puts their totalitarianism to levels which makes anything Beijing has look like a holiday resort.

[quadspeed]

Hehe. I'm sure the Uighur holiday campers would agree. Whatever totalitarian bills are passed by the UK lawmakers, the citizens can protest them, spreak out against them, challenge them in a court of law and in the end - throw them out of office. Should Beijing be inclined to accepting peacfeul protests, free speech, legal justice and democratic elections, then we can compare your oranges to my apples.

[G Merch]

You don't seem to be quite up to speed on the state of the UK. Do a quick search of the "Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021". I'd post a link but prune wont allow it.

[IFB]

G Merch

And which planet are you from exactly? It’s clearly not the one I’m living on.

[Flex88]

JMock

As is ALWAYS the case you must translate what "pro" Beijing persons ( in particular legislators) say into plain English ( or Cantonese).. What she said translates to; "I have mine already, money is in the bank in other countries and I have 1 or two other passports"...

[S22]

The exodus is in full swing. Who in their right mind would want to remain in this dystopian dump for a minute longer than necessary?

Me, I like it here.

[Bokpiel]

quadspeed

Well, I believe we have more than just a few weeks or months left of FB, YT, etc, which is all I meant with my reply. Anyway, we shall find out in a few weeks, months or years.

[1200firm]

https://www.fridayeveryday.com/opinion-peter-fredenburg/10100/The-untold-story-of-Apple-Daily?fbclid=IwAR3DrKyHrt6UCg-wOb6RYTvv3J_PGFs4Uu1FLEMPvMutKEo45heSOd26x0U

[Pistolpete47]

Nice little pro-china article from an author who also thinks nothing untoward is going on in Xinjiang.

[JMock]

yep

Nury Vittachi CCP lapdog

[Rie]

Eventually all of Nury's tankie antics will fall apart when the Mainland Overlords realise he isn't Chinese. Maybe he can start writing books about back home in Sri Lanka. Every single thing that comes out of his mouth is pure drivel.

[Load Toad]

...he's a refugee - he alleges that (aged 2) he overheard a telephone call to his father '..get out now, the police are coming' - so the was a precocious two-year-old.

Now, this claim has been removed from his Wiki page. Edited Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=1027357082&oldid=1008387365&title=Nury_Vittachi)

But the SCMP story still has it: NV SCMP (https://www.scmp.com/magazines/hk-magazine/article/2035577/nury-vittachi) I was born in Sri Lanka in 1958 when the civil war broke out. I was two or three when the civil war got worse and my family was targeted. We had to flee in the night.

My dad got this call from the chief of police, who said, “I’ve been ordered by the prime minister to arrest you—better make sure you’re not home.” My dad said, “Put your shoes on, children, we’re going out.”

The reason why we were thrown out was because my father wrote a column. I remember thinking, “Wow, dad wrote something in the newspapers and now we’re being chased by men with guns—this is so cool!”

In a sense, that influenced me and I thought: “I’m going to do what dad does—cause trouble.”

So, refugee, fleeing persecution to the UK, where he is safe & secure, moves to HKG - earns a living writing and enjoying the freedoms that HKG had - but now...?

Interesting.

[1200firm]

The article was written by Peter Fredenburg. It must be really annoying for you Brian Kern types when the facts don't fit the foaming at the mouth BBC/FOX NEWS style anti China rant narrative.

[JMock]

Christ on a bike

he is a Nury clone