Sir.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Inflammatory or not inflammatory
I read with considerable interest in local English newspapers an argument which rose between a certain 'magistrate', M.P. Corfe, and one or two lawyers here concerning the question of whether the slogan 'Down with British imperialism' is 'inflammatory".
The 'magistrate' put up a none-too-convincing pre- tence at 'demoracy' by saying that the law would be in a very unhappy state if all who expressed such a sentiment were charged', (while taking care not to mention that those who had expressed such a senti- ment' could be, and have been jailed on other pretexts, anyway.)
As a "magistrate', Corfe should know full well that more than a thousand Chinese have been jailed be- Cause they are opposed to British imperialism. And a number bave been murdered-said to be done so 'legally for the same reason.
The law of the British colonialists is indeed in an extremely 'unhappy state' since the day the British colonialists started their national suppression on the Chinese residents here. As Corfe is che of Hong- kong's ugly colonialists, his remark quoted above can ́ only be dismissed as hypocritical-so much so as to tura one's stomach.
On the other hand a barrister called Gerald de Basto was more frank, in a sense. He 'wholly disagreed with Corfe. He said: "The words in question may not be inflammatory when spoken in Hyde Park Corner. But the same words, having regard to the circumstances in
Hongkong today, are in my opinion definitely in- flammatory
What are the differences between Hyde Park Corner and the circumstance in Hongkong"? If I may sug- gest an answer to this question for Mr de Rasto, there are two differences:
First, in Hyde Park Corner, nothing is meant to be taken seriously and no action is supposed to follow any of the things uttered, no matter how vehemently done, there. High-sounding ejeculations made there are to be taken only as lip-service. One is asking for trouble if one really gets serious at Hyde Park Corner. To wit, the men who tried to sell "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung' there landed in jail in no time, Here in Hongkong where the patriotic Chinese quite seriously mean what they say, the slogan 'Down with British imperialism', harmless enough in London, be- comes very 'inflammatory", indeed.
Second, Britain is not a colony while Hongkong is. In a colony the 'natives' are not supposed to enjoy the rights, even nominal ones, accorded to the people in the 'mother' country. For a gentleman like Harold Wilson to shout 'Down with British imperialism!" to show how open-minded he is that is quite all right. But for the 4 million victims of British imperialism here to shout 'Down with British imperialism!'-that is dangerous!
What a twisted logic the British colonialists have created for us! And how stupid they are to imagine that we Chinese would swallow it!
Kan Chik-tung let cat out of bag
Systematic exposure of hush-hush prison scandals,
outrages & ill-treatment of every kind
Mr Kan Chik-tung, who had known life behind the bars of Stanley Prison for three years, five and a half months, recently released, wrote to the TA KUNG PAO on Saturday, relating his pri- son experiences and first-hand discoveries. The object of his communicativa, wrote Mir Kan, is to
"Testens of Trongkong" "Waar the real conditions inside the 'colony's' pri- sons are like. Following are some highlights of Mir Kan's communication. Racial discrimination
Prisoners are separated into two classes: the Chinese and the foreign--the latter class includes white Europeans of any nationality, as well as Phillipinos. Indians and Pakistanis -with the pri- son authorities stringently practicing racial dis- crimination in favour of the latters. Just to give one example out of thousands: Chinese prisoners live three in a cell, sharing one bed, while foreign prisoners occupy each one a single room, having each one his own bed. Items such as soft foam- rubber mattresses, pillows, sheets, scented soap. shaving cream, water pail, &c. are provided to foreign prisoners and denied to Chinese prisoners. When I first became fully acquainted with the prison's extremely unequal treatment of pri- soners as based
on racial discrimination. I thought that being British subject my- self and having done national service, I ought to qualify for receiving the good treatment given to foreign prisoners. But the authorities did not take the same point of view at all-and let that be a lesson to all those Chinese who imagine themselves equal to the British because they hold a British passport- the treatment I received was infinitely incomparable to treatment given to even Indians, let alone white prisoners.
I must therefore make it clear, before I go any further, that the prison conditions recorded below applies only to Chinese prisoners, of whom I was one. The conditions are quite different in the case of foreign prisoners.
Living conditions
In the Chinese blocks, three prisoners were crowded into each cell, which measured ap proximately 6ft by 10ft with no windows or ventilation of any kind on the three walls. The sole furniture of each cell was a small iron bunk, and therefore two cell-mates would have to sleep on the concrete ground at night—i.e., crammed beside two plastic buckets (holding urine and excrement discharged, respec- tively), three plastic basins holding the daily ration of water (one for each cell-mate), and six plastic drinking beakers (two for each). These plastic drinking beakers had no lids, thus allowing the abundant dust and flies to go in freely. Nails and
strings were not allowed inside cells, and so, clothes, towels and everything else had to be laid on the ground amid prisoners' own filth, as regu- lations forbid placing any object on the bunk.
head. This basin of water was precious indeed, The daily pittance of water was one basin per
and was frugally used to meet many and various daily needs cleaning, washing the face, rinsing the mouth, drinking, and so forth. Prisoners were allowed to wash themselves in the Public Bath- room once a week and no more, and the same arrangement whether in winter or summer: not so bad in winter, perhaps, but it was intolerable in the blazing summer. Change of (outer) clothes was allowed once a week, underwear and towels, once every three months.
Three full-grown men locked up in a tiny re- ceptical like our cells, and having to spare room for putting things as well, it was like packing sar- dines. I must stress that the authorities, while branding as 'cruel' and 'illegal' the putting of 100 many hens or ducks into a cage, freely nod ap- proval to similar treatment being given to human beings (i.e. Chinese human beings).
The authorities also desired the prisoners to 'keep clean', for which purpose, not mops or dusters, but twelve pieces of toilet paper (!!) were issued to prisoners each day (which had to cover the additional purposes of wiping oneself clean after emptying bowels and wiping chop-sticks and spoons clean after meal). You can easily imagine how 'clean' we kept the place, not to mention ourselves.
Prisoners were given two smelly old blankets in the summer and one more in the winter. When sleeping on the concrete ground in winter, it was cold, hard and bumpy, three thin blankets hardly enough for keeping warm.
There are holidays in prison--but these occa- sions are dreaded most and looked forward to with dismay, for during each ‘holiday', prisoners since not being required to do labour, are all confined to celis 24 hours around the clock except for the precious short time during which they were allow- ed out to take their meals. And strangely enough, both kinds of excretion, which had to be executed into the appropriate plastic buckets in- side cell, are more abundant during holidays' than at other times,
Ta Kung Pao October 14, 1967
7
"Having regard to the circumstances in Hongkong today', the British colonialists at last want no more camouflage to cover their colonialist and fascist nature. We must ignore the 'good words' of Corfe, and let de Basto and the likes of him understand what the 'real situation is. Obviously, to bring the day-dreaming British colonialists to their senses, the only way is to carry the anti-British struggle through to the end.
Down with British imperialism!
C. Chan
Sir,
Young girl insulted in police station
went to the Kowloon Magistracy yesterday to attend a 'court session. What I heard there I can never forget.
The first defendant, Chan Yik, was a 23-year-old house painter. He was strolling with a 16-year-old girl Ng Mai-lin while they were 'arrested' under the trumped up charge of ‘possessing a bomb'.
Chan said that, while he was taken to the police station, a policeman No. 23X6, in an attempt to make him admit to the charge, put bullets between his fingers and squeezed them. When this failed to soften him, they beat him up brutally.
What the 16-year-old girl experienced in the polics station was even more shocking. She said that, while she was in the police station, two policemen No. 23X6 and 38X1 undressed her and even tore her underwears They beastly insulted her and called in other policemen to look at her.
These beastly behaviour failed to cow Chan and Ng. They fought valiantly in the 'court. They protested against the trumped up charges imposed on them.
When the judge' learned the warning through the interpreter, I saw him leer at the thugs while the latter looked blankly at the floor. An amateur reporter
Breakfast was at 7:30 in the morning. ‘congee' Three at 10:00 a.m., and dinner at 2:30 p.m. meals, however inadequate, within seven hours was not too unreasonable, but after these three meals, there was absolutely nothing to eat for the follow- ing seventeen hours to come, and prisoners must do the best they could until 7:30 the next morning. The authorities think only of making, their own work more convenient; maintenance of proper and bugicnic meal timer.
pation of inc
These seventeen hours of starvation caused wide- spread stomach disorders among prisoners.
As prisoners go in or out of cells, workshops. dining hall, they are subjected to arbitrary searches by prison guards. And whether in suin- mer or winter, prisoners must, at the slightest whim and fancy of the prison guards, strip off all their clothes to stand stark naked for 'search'.
prisoners were made to turn up their buttocks Sometimes when it so amuses the prison guards,
for 'examination". I declare this treatment ex- tremely insulting to say the least. (No foreign pri- soners are treated in this way, ever.)
The outer prison garb is changed once a week. Whether or not the new change of clothes fits the person is a question forbidden to be raised. The material of which these garments are made (green drilling) is the same in winter as in summer, the only difference being that shorts are issued in summer and trousers in winter. A so-called 'PT shirt' (very thin ones) and a pair of woollen socks (no changes, the one same pair to last through the whole winter) are also issued. In these extremely inadequate clothings, prisoners must freeze and bear the winter out.
The food was one of the gravest problems. Regulations lay down that prisoners are to be given beef and vegetables at breakfast, and fish and peas at dinner. But the objects we got which was called 'beef' was in fact one small thin slice of Heaven knew what, and which sometimes was so tough as to be inedible. As to the 'fish', any prisoner would gladly exchange his share of it with ones given to cats, and this 'fish' sometimes even took the form of two teeny weeny pieces of 'salt fish'. The vegetable was invariably spoilt. The ration of rice was 10 spoonfuls per head. Chinese prisoners, who had to do labour on this diet, were famished around the clock. Malnutri- tion was extremely common. (If you visit Stanley Prison, you will never see the food listed above, because they don't let visitors see it.)
Foreign prisoners of course get vastly better food altogether. There were some Chinese pri- soners who managed to get better grades of food, and I too could have got myself those better grades of food if I was willing to spend money in the right quarters (there being unofficial 'channels" open to people who had the money). I only re- fused to spend this kind of money myself.
(To be continued)
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