HKFP Monitor Jan 31, 2026: Democrats outside bars; lawmaker in hot water

2026-01-31 - 02:07

Welcome to HKFP Monitor: Your weekly bird’s-eye view of the latest news and trends across Hong Kong’s media landscape. Subscribe to receive our free, essential round-ups by email every Friday. Welcome back to HKFP Monitor. This week, with more activists convicted in the “47 democrats” national security case released, HKFP tracks how those who have returned to civilian life are faring. We also delve into local media coverage of the controversy following a lawmaker’s traffic violation. | POST-PRISON LIVES Over the past two weeks, four pro-democracy activists convicted and sentenced in the “47 democrats” national security case have completed their jail terms and returned home. Eddie Chu (right). File photo: Legislative Council, via Flickr. Eddie Chu, Lester Shum, Fergus Leung, and Sam Cheung – who received jail sentences ranging from four years and five months to four years and 11 months – were the latest to be released. Twenty-seven of the 45 convicted in the high-profile case remain behind bars. Laying low To date, 18 of the activists sentenced in the case have been released from jail. The public has heard little from most of them, as they keep a low profile. Most of the activists have long deleted their Facebook and Instagram pages. Others have left theirs up, but their last posts date back to 2021, before they were arrested and detained. Per HKFP’s tally, just six of them are active on social media. Activist Jimmy Sham, who was released in May, mostly uploads Facebook posts related to the LGBTQ community, including his response to lawmakers’ failure to pass the same-sex partnerships bill in September. Screenshot: Claudia Mo, via Facebook. On her Facebook account, ex-lawmaker Claudia Mo reshares news, including about Chu’s and Shum’s recent releases from prison – though she has refrained from commenting. ‘Some things can’t be said’ After they were charged in 2021 or through their lawyers during mitigation hearings last year, a number of activists convicted in the case said they would no longer participate in politics. Among those released, Chu, Lau Chak-fung, and Carol Ng have made it clear they will not be returning to politics. On Tuesday, Leung posted a photo of himself with his cat, saying he would not get involved in politics again. “I will withdraw from political work, focus on personal development, and make up for the time I lost with the people who love me,” he wrote. Screenshot: Fergus Leung, via Instagram. Perhaps Sham is the only activist who has maintained a relatively high profile – appearing in public and responding to media interviews, in addition to regularly updating social media. Still, he has acknowledged that times have changed. Hours after Sham was released in May, a reporter asked the activist whether national security police had told him not to contact certain people. Sham said he had “self-censored,” adding that there were “concerns that some things can’t be said.” What are they up to? Most of the activists no longer have an active social media presence – but for those who do, they appear to be slowly easing back into civilian life and spending time with family. Screenshot: Tiffany Yuen, via Instagram. Frankie Fung and Tiffany Yuen – who were released in July and August, respectively – are settling into married life after getting hitched behind bars. The couple have posted photos and videos of celebrating a birthday, watching a football game in support of Team Hong Kong and holidaying in South Korea. Mo visited family in London over the summer. She also shared photos of sunset views from her window and peppers harvested from her garden. Henry Wong has been busy building Gundam models and baking Basque cheesecake. “Baking cakes is stress relieving, and you can cheer up when eating cake,” he wrote in Cantonese in a December post. ‘The world is cruel to us’ After years behind bars, returning home to normal life hasn’t been easy for everyone. In a heartfelt post in October, Yuen said she was trying her best to move on, but still felt stuck. “I’m 32, and my career path hasn’t even begun, or maybe it already ended long ago,” she wrote in Chinese. “The world is cruel to us. How much resilience do we need to face these inexplicable fears?” Photo: Kwok Ka-ki, via Facebook. Kwok Ka-ki’s old Facebook page has been deleted. His personal account contains a few public posts, one in late November about the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire. “In a city that feels foreign to me, few things move me to express my thoughts. But these past few days... I’ve been sleepless. I feel angry and sad,” he wrote in Chinese. “People can’t help but ask, how could this tragedy happen?” he went on to say. “There may not be anyone who can come out and say it.” Days later, in early December, Kwok shared photos of a beach and a hiking route in Stanley. “I think this is my first time running to Stanley since leaving Stanley Prison this year,” he wrote. “Many years ago, running from Wong Nai Chung Reservoir to Stanley was a regular route for me. It’s been many years since I last ran it,” he said. “I hope that one day, I’ll be able to meet all my friends still imprisoned and go swimming with them at Stanley Beach, raise a glass, and chat about everything under the sun.” | STATE MEDIA MONITOR Defending new seat belt law: State-backed paper Wen Wei Po published a report on Friday morning, “debunking” findings by local think-tank Liber Research Community on a new law requiring bus passengers to wear seat belts. A sign on a Citybus vehicle reminding passengers to fasten their seat belts. File photo: Citybus. According to the NGO, New Zealand has no statutory requirement for installing or wearing seat belts on heavy vehicles, including buses. But the newspaper said that this was “not entirely correct.” “The main reason for this is the design of the buses, such as their size and specific seating layout, such as the presence of a guardrail or another seat in front, which makes them relatively safe even without seat belts,” Wen Wei Po said. “However, if seat belts are provided on the bus, passengers must wear them.” Hong Kong implemented a new law on Sunday, requiring bus passengers to fasten their seat belts, but the rule quickly received widespread public backlash. Hours after Wen Wei Po published the report, transport chief Mable Chan announced that the controversial law would be “repealed as soon as possible” due to a “technical shortcoming” in the provision. | LOCAL MEDIA MONITOR Lawmakers should lead by example, or do they?: The saga of lawmaker Judy Chan driving in the wrong direction in Wan Chai last week has continued to spiral. Chan, a lawmaker from Regina Ip’s pro-Beijing New People’s Party, was caught on camera driving against traffic on Jaffe Road in Wan Chai on Friday last week. She apologised for the incident on social media that night, saying she had made “a wrong judgement” while driving. The next day, Chan provided a statement to police and vowed to refrain from driving “in the short run.” A screen grab of a viral video showing Hong Kong lawmaker Judy Chan driving against the flow of traffic in Wan Chai on January 23, 2026. Photo: Screenshot, via YouTube. Chan’s apparent violation of traffic regulations quickly became a hot topic in Hong Kong political circles, local media reported this week. The political columns in the city’s major newspapers speculated on Chan’s future as a lawmaker, as many perceived the saga as a stain on the reputation of the new Legislative Council (LegCo). Last year, LegCo introduced a new code of conduct with tougher penalties for misconduct, ranging from a written warning to the suspension of duties. Sing Tao’s political column predicted that Chan could be the “first drop of blood” under the new code, citing anonymous lawmakers. Adding to the perceived reputational damage is the fact that Chan is one of the 13-member “Legislative Council Supervisory Committee,” which is empowered to investigate complaints against lawmakers and recommend sanctions. LegCo President Starry Lee told the media earlier this week that the committee would not comment on or investigate the incident at this stage due to the ongoing police investigation. But Lee’s decision has not been free from criticism. The Hong Kong Economic Journal’s political column cited anonymous lawmakers as saying that waiting for the police investigation to be completed may only “prolong the pain” caused by Chan’s wrong-way driving. “The public will say lawmakers knowingly break the law,” an anonymous lawmaker was quoted as saying. “This incident will simply become an embarrassing stain.” The lawmaker suggested that Chan could resign from the supervisory committee as an interim remedy while awaiting the results of the police investigation. But damage has already been done to LegCo and the unity of the city’s “patriots only” pro-establishment camp, the unnamed lawmaker said. Regina Ip (centre) and Judy Chan (second from right) leaves the Legislative Council chamber after the last council meeting of the term on October 23, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Ip, who is considered Chan’s mentor, this week engaged in a fiery text exchange with former lawmaker Choy Soy-yuk, a veteran of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), defending her handling of Chan’s incident. The war of words has exposed fractures in Hong Kong’s pro-establishment camp, just as Xia Baolong, Beijing’s top official overseeing Hong Kong affairs, told a high-level seminar on Monday that lawmakers should maintain a high level of personal conduct. Chan herself has not made further comment about her driving since the weekend. Asked about her mode of transportation at LegCo on Wednesday, Chan said she took the bus. She added that she did not have to wear a seat belt, as required by the controversial new law, because she was standing. | HKFP PHOTO OF THE WEEK Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang (right) announced his resignation at Chief Executive John Lee’s press conference on Tuesday. The 62-year-old minister said he decided to step down due to health concerns, as his Prostate-Specific Antigen index had been above 11 for some time, indicating a cancer risk. | BEST OF THE REST Zolima CityMag: Is the West Kowloon Cultural District Too Big to Fail? Lingua Sinica: Letters From a Party Broadcaster BBC: Why China moved so quickly to execute 11 members of a notorious mafia family O.cult: A mime of passion: Balatro, the renaissance man of mime and clowning