Politics
Written by: Lin Jian
2020-02-06 07:00
Last updated: 2020-02-06 07:00New pneumonia in Wuhan has hit Hong Kong, masks are out of stock, and the city is rushing. Chief Executive Lin Zheng Yue'e also issued a "limitation order" to officials the day before (4th). The Okuma government also had difficulty purchasing goods. At present, people buy masks on a first-come-first-served basis. They line up in the early morning and may face price increases in stores. Recently, some constitutionalists, including the chairman of the DAB, Li Huiqiong, have suggested that the government should use the Emergency Regulations Ordinance ("Emergency Law") to limit the price of masks when necessary.
The "Emergency Law" can give the government near-infinite power. Last year, the government's anti-revision law once enacted a banned masking law, which once triggered a larger-scale violent demonstration on the streets. In addition, the Hong Kong government's publicity campaign failed. Dust the Emergency Act. If the "Emergency Law" is used today to limit the price of masks, or even rationed, under the current severe epidemic situation, it will ensure that masks on the market will not be unreasonably increased in price, one can stabilize the people's hearts, and the other can reduce society's response to the "Emergency Law" Will this negative impression become the government's "jedi salvation" killing two birds with one stone?
▼ A hood is hard to find in the whole city to buy ▼
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The Emergency Law empowers nearly unlimited, including restrictions on sales
After the local epidemic, masks have become the target of the public. Even if some citizens have mask reserves, they may worry that they will not be able to buy them any more, and they tend to buy more for hoarding for their own use. Some merchants are aware of the shortage and have sharply increased their prices. When the citizens are out of stock, they know that they will be helpless to pay. Coupled with Lin Zheng's remarks on the "mask-limiting order" the day before, it has created a perception that the government cannot even guarantee the supply of masks by its employees, exacerbating the panic, forming a vicious circle, and the demand continues to rise. The dragon still becomes a unique scenic line in each district. Applying the logic of the government, the gathering of people waiting in line to buy masks will also increase the risk of cross infection. From the perspective of epidemic prevention, it is by no means ideal.
The current "Emergency Law" empowers the Chief Executive in conjunction with the Executive Council to make any regulations that the Chief Executive considers to be in the public interest when the assessment is an emergency or a situation that endangers public security, that is, close to "unlimited power". Take a closer look at the contents of the regulations, including the trade, export, import, production and manufacture of goods; the allocation, control, confiscation and disposal of property and its use. The Ordinance also allows the government to pay compensation and remuneration to those affected by the regulations, and to make decisions on such compensation.
In other words, as soon as the government uses this example, it has the right to exercise full control over the import and export of masks, production, and the entire sales process, including limiting their prices and suppressing significant price increases. If the government wants to go one step further, it can use the regulations to implement mask rations. Similar to Macao, it can restrict purchases at designated stores and designated prices, or even by the government. The specific form can be negotiated again.
At present, a mask is hard to find. There are up to HK $ 1780 a box of 50 masks on the market. (Facebook picture: Joe Tay Zheng)
The first step to protect the image of the people
After the anti-revision storm last year, the government ’s public expectations were downturned, and its prestige in governance was greatly lost. The outside world had originally waited to see if the government could recover a little point through the prevention and control of the epidemic.
However, from January to now, a number of government anti-epidemic measures have been accused of slow response. For example, before the epidemic occurred, they refused to introduce health declarations for high-speed rail arrivals on the grounds that "filling forms is at risk". The patient arrived in Hong Kong from the high-speed rail. The government was eager to "make up" on January 24 and implemented a health declaration system on the high-speed rail. In addition, the Hong Kong Government began to close the gate gradually on January 30. It was also accused that the local case has been more than a week away, and the epidemic prevention has lagged. As for the problem of masks, it was in a dilemma. There was no specific measure for the delay in supply. He only said that he was in contact with the supplier many times. Lin Zheng's remarks on the "mask restriction order" the previous day were more like directly announcing the failure of purchasing masks. To this day, even the establishments have "supported the government".
Adopting measures to restrict the purchase and sale of masks and suppressing the situation of buying and raising prices in the market is an important step to stabilize public opinion. Although the supply problem may not be resolved immediately, at least, even if resources are limited to ensure an even distribution, there is a chance to become the government's "Jedi counterattack" and a slightly regained support.
The government has been accused of slow response to epidemic prevention, losing points again, and adopting decisive measures to limit mask sales, or will it help restore some popularity? (Photo by Ou Jiale)
Restricted Commodities Regulation restricts emergency law not necessarily for political events
Recently, many members of the Legislative Council have proposed that the "Reserved Goods Regulations" can be used to restrict the mask reserves and prices, and implemented in the form of first review and then review, which is naturally a plan worth considering. However, the actual problem is that the "Regulations on Reserve Commodities" generally stipulates that commodities must have a certain reserve, but the current supply of masks in the market is unstable, and it is difficult to require merchants to store specified quantities. Comparatively speaking, the "Emergency Law" has no related restraint, and it can produce more political marginal effects.
In early October last year, the government cited the "Emergency Law" to enact the "Prohibition of Masking Law", which has been regarded as a highly political move and has been questioned during its implementation: for example, the Secretary for Security Li Jiachao has told reporters at the scene of the conflict It conforms to the principle of exemption, but the police at the scene were repeatedly found to forcibly remove the journalist's mask and provoke criticism; they also faced judicial review challenges in law, and the judicial process of the case has not yet been completed. Objectively, the "Emergency Law" has been labeled negatively by some people, and it is purely a government's political weapon against the opponent.
If the government uses the "Emergency Law" to restrict the sale of masks, it can display a clear message to the public. This law is not only used for political purposes, but can also deal with urgent issues of society and people's livelihood. ". From this perspective, not only the livelihood issues of public health can be solved, but also political issues can be dealt with.
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