The rule of law, supposedly dead because Joshua Wong Chi-fung and other activists were jailed, was given a new lease of life as former University of Hong Kong student union president Billy Fung Jing-en and his then vice-president Colman Li Fung-kei were given a lenient sentence for their roles in the HKU Council siege.

But our rule of law is still in a critical condition. The latest concern is whether comments by lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu who called for pro-independence activists to be "killed mercilessly" would be investigated "fairly."

Ho was busy lately with his campaign to pressure the HKU to sack "Occupy" co-founder and associate law professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting. He was quite successful in building up a momentum and a following. Then, three words tripped him up: "Kill without mercy."

The occasion was a rally attended by thousands against Tai and those advocating "Hong Kong independence" on university campuses. Afterward, Ho was in an agitated state and surrounded by reporters. He then launched a tirade against them saying they were ignorant, stupid and biased.

"If 'Hong Kong independence' advocates are subverting the fate of a country ... why not kill them?" Ho asked. "To 'kill them without mercy' means we deplore wrongdoers like our enemies."

The dissidents exploited Ho's slip of the tongue immediately and issued a statement. In the statement, 22 dissident lawmakers said Ho, as a legislator and lawyer, had "gone beyond the bottom line of freedom of speech and morals".

"We strongly reprimand his cold-blooded speech, as it advocated direct violence and allegedly broke the law," the statement read.

They then added that according to the Public Order Ordinance, it is a criminal offense for any person to "use threatening, abusive or insulting words" in public and with intent to provoke a breach of the peace. It is also a criminal offense for anyone to make any public statement "which is likely to incite or induce any person to kill or do physical injury to anyone else".

"The police have arrested people who use hate speech in the past. Ho has broken the law and the police and the Department of Justice should take action," the statement added.

What the dissidents' statement was aiming at is quite childish. They obviously have the "democracy wall controversy" in mind when they say Ho has "gone beyond the bottom line of freedom of speech and morals".

Similarly, they invoked the Public Order Ordinance because Joshua Wong, Alex Chow Yong-kang and Nathan Law Kwun-chung went on trial and was convicted for this crime. Needless to say, the prosecution had successfully sought a heavier sentence against the three on the grounds that the word "retake" in their rallying cry to "retake Civic Square" indicated the use of violence.

Our dissidents are now smiling smugly. They suggest that law enforcers now apparently are fine with people openly using the word "kill" at a public rally. This smacks of double standards.

But I must say, the joke is on the dissidents. What kind of "democrats" who claim they themselves are being oppressed would tell the authorities to oppress others so as not to appear inconsistent? What is more important for them, consistency or freedom and rights?

If Junius Ho is also convicted by the Public Order Ordinance, will our dissidents respect it from now on and not utter a word when in future the same law is used to prosecute other public order disrupters? In other words, will our dissidents also be consistent? I don't think so.

This brings us back to Chris Patten, who was in town again recently. It was unfortunate that he needs excuses to visit our city, and a book takes a long time to finish. If I were him, I would have blogged instead so that every time a blog post is published I could then comment on Hong Kong's current affairs.

All self-respecting retired politicians know that it is not prudent to comment on the job they have left behind. This is especially true with a former colonial governor and a former colony. I really cannot imagine why this kind of "the former white master knows best" mentality is even acceptable in today's politically correct world.

Our city's politics is ridiculous, and therefore may be a few wrongs will make one right. I would start with jailing Junius Ho. I am just kidding!

(HK Edition 09/26/2017 page8)