Rear Window | Pride that blinds

Severo Portela

Contrary to some (un)conventional wisdom, making the case for the gentle, well-behaved, realistic Macau, as against the fiery and doomed Hong Kong, we think there is no reason to silence professor Gu Xinhua’s scholarly considerations and recent comments made in public. Let us be clear, professor Gu is entitled to voice his positions or opinions on matters related or otherwise to his courses at the Faculty of Business and Administration. And he does so openly to his students. It is called freedom…a staple food in academy!
Gu, who holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Toronto, displays a kind of self-confessed no-color blindness in his evaluation of the legal system in Macau and Hong Kong. Professor Gu blames “foreigners”, almost a metaphor for “white people”, for engaging and sustaining the corruption of Hong Kong’s judicial system. Despite the race-grounded theme, Gu Xinhua is voicing discomfort with the current status of the common law, and at the same time he seems to be recommending some reconstructive surgery. Or perhaps not; it is just a matter of replacing white people!
The Toronto trained professor of the University of Macau goes further; chastising the evil-doers at the core of the judicial system in the SAR: “Hong Kong’s legal system is in the hands of white people and foreigners. Hong Kong people do not have judicial sovereignty, they only have administrative sovereignty”. No mention about political sovereignty.
Professor Gu Xinhua refutes the idea that his comments could be deemed “racist”; he is sure he could spot the difference, as “racism is everywhere in America”. Interestingly, he views as an “advantage” the fact that “Macau´s judiciary system is not controlled by white people”.
May we believe his hubris when Professor Gu says his analysis is not race motivated, but white suppression seems to be his founding block toward the restoration of Hong Kong’s integrity: food for thought, indeed!
If we were prone to black states of mind – and please do forgive the black – we would be afraid this rationale would be a two-step dance: deconstructing the dominant narrative, deconstructing the judicial system.
Finally, we underline Professor Gu’s creativity, who opposes Beijing’s support of Hong Kong as an international finance center, which he revealed when giving an example of the “advantage” Macau could benefit from, given its judiciary is not controlled by white people: replace Hong Kong as the “window of the world” for Southern China. Now, Gu Xinhua is inviting MSAR people to a “Magical Mistery Tour”. Ad lucem.
Final notes this week should go to the replacement of Carrie Lam at the helm of the Bauhinia (source: Financial Times). (Stubborn Lam waited until the 23rd of October to formally withdraw that extradition bill, ultimately, the start of her descent into chaos.) And there are frontrunners.
Norman Chan, former head of the Monetary Authority. A non-political, favored by the HK elite.
Henry Tang, CPPCC member, former Chief Secretary. Well-placed for Beijing …if it were not for the scandals.
Paul Chan, former Legco, former secretary for Development. Scandals.
Regina Ip, of Article 23 notoriety, hard written into pro-democracy demonstrations.
All should be discarded. Bernard Chan, Executive Council, former deputy to NPC, will be the bet if the choice goes to a mastermind operator during the ongoing Hong Kong crisis. Even though, and because of it, he said he does not want a full-time job.
If everything goes wrong, the top job will go to current Chief Secretary, Matthew Cheung. He can replace Carrie Lam for a period of six months.