Hong Kong’s Journalists Association holds its election tomorrow. Yet before voting has even begun, pro-establishment media have attacked the candidates and questioned the election’s legitimacy.
Today (7 Aug.), Security Secretary Chris Tang went further, branding the HKJA “illegitimate” and “disgraced”, and warning those deemed to have national security concerns: “I will come after you.”
When government officials seek to undermine a union’s legitimacy and threaten its members in the name of national security, the issue goes far beyond the HKJA.
It strikes at the heart of trade unionism and the fundamental right to freedom of association. Who decides whether a union is legitimate — its members, or the government?
If even a journalists’ union faces political pressure over its internal election, what does this mean for the autonomy and survival of other unions in Hong Kong?