Song of a Reformed Headhunter

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . This Thanksgiving I'm giving thanks for the Hong Kong protesters who struggled bravely for democracy and human rights, and for the brave Hong Kong people, who voted in record numbers and handed authoritarianism a stinging defeat. There is mourning amidst the thanksgiving, for the protesters who died or were badly injured in the struggle. For injured members of the Hong Kong police too, who are someone's father, brother, and son. It is unbridled authoritarianism that pitted one side against the other. There should be a commission of inquiry into excessive police violence and the higher-ups who gave the orders, not those who had to carry them out, have to be held responsible, but the commission should include not only the goal of truth, but also that of reconciliation. The Hong Kong protests will, I hope, inspire those of us in the USA to take part in the mass movement to impeach Trump, if any inspirat...

Weekly column written for Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here .  On Sunday more than a million Hong Kongers took to the streets to protest against the passing of a bill that will extradite suspected criminals to China for the first time. The protesters suspect that the bill will be used to target political dissent and so accelerate the erosion of their civil liberties. Pictures of the protest march moved many Singaporean on-line commentators to praise Hong Kongers for their love of their freedoms and to wish that Singaporeans would be just as active and passionate about theirs. Faced with government intransigence over the extradition bill, Hong Kongers mounted a second, smaller, protest on Wednesday, which was met by police tear gas and rubber bullets. 72 people had been hospitalized by the end of the day. Together with other civil-rights organizations, Singapore Unbound condemns the use of excessive force by the government to suppress a people movement. As expected, the...