Interview: The last faith of Choy Yuk-ling - selfless and fearless
By Translated by Guardians of Hong Kong 17 May 2021Youtube trailer caption: Bao Choy Yuk-ling, former Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) director of Hong Kong Connection (HKC) programmes, convicted of giving false statement to obtain vehicle registration information, said “I only wanted to humbly approach the truth of the 721 incident.”
Before interviewing Choy Yuk-ling, some of my colleagues who knew her well said that Bao (her nickname in the journalism industry) would talk a lot about news but might not much about herself.
After the interview I realised that she was not hiding herself intentionally. Instead she had just injected her passion, faith, and most of her time into journalism. Speaking of her days after the suspension of her duty, she said, “My vocation as a journalist cannot be separated from my personal values. If I can no longer be a journalist, I can imagine the value of my life will become zero.” To her, nothing is more worthy to talk about that journalism.
“Selfless and fearless” were on the banners from the RTHK production trade union in support of her. The word selfless is a beautiful word and it suited her. It is a state of having no self.
One can only be fearless when one is selfless. When the National Security Law (NSL) was imposed, many media owners and journalists pondered on where the ‘red line’ lied and who would become the first target. “I really never thought about this,” said Bao with a slightly blank and apologetic smile. “I concentrated on how to report and how to balance different opinions. I never worried or self-censored. These are always the ways of RTHK.”
She continued her work until one day the police knocked on her door. After her arrest, she kept reminding herself to stay calm and rational. She overcame her dislike to be interviewed and said what she had to say. “This is no longer a personal issue.” After the trial and verdict, she could not hold back her tears anymore.
Time has chosen to convict such a reporter. She understood that continuing to report under totalitarianism would not bring justice instantly but more oppression instead. However, her interviewees were her motivation. “I think the interviewees are more courageous than journalists. They face more immense pressure. Yet, they are still willing to share with us and assist our investigation. How could I let them down?”
Growing up protected
As to why she never took any political precautions in her work and got caught by surprise, she laughed at herself that she might be over-protected in the past.
She thought she was a lucky journalist. She loved watching HKC during secondary school because of its humanly production. She graduated from the faculty of journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2005. She started working at RTHK in 2007 and stayed there for 10 years. Initially she mainly worked on current affairs related programmes such as LegCo Review and Rich Mate Poor Mate whereas from 2012 she began to work on HKC. “My bosses and colleagues repeatedly told me that there was no censorship in RTHK and no one would censor me. I was growing up in a free and fair culture during that golden era to seek my ideals.”
When she was still green, she produced an episode of “Legco Review” in 2009 interviewing politicians on their changes of attitudes towards the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. TAM Yiu-chung, a member of Legislative Council (Legco) then, named the programme and voiced out his dissatisfaction against that episode during a Legco meeting, saying it was directing against the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB). “A reporter in the Legco press room told her, ‘He is complaining about you inside.’ Nothing happened afterwards. The episode went ahead to air. No one complained and I was not suspended.”
Working for the generous FactWire
In 2016 she moved to FactWire to concentrate on investigative journalism. “That is another great organization.
” The first news she worked on was about Qingdao Sifang Locomotive, a China based train compartment manufacturer involved in railway projects in Hong Kong and GuangDong. The source indicated that compartments they sold to Singapore were found to have cracks and needed to be returned to QingDao for repair. However the return time and location were not clear. FactWire sent her and a photographer to Singapore just to try their luck. After several days of waiting, they finally could capture the shipping of these compartments.
“Some media companies would not send reporters oversea if they are not sure of the detail. They might say, ‘God knows how much it would cost to send two staff over.’ But if you think the other way round, how can you confirm the details if you don’t go to the site? I then realise an organisation can actually provide such a space and be so forgiving to allow trial and error. They don’t demand success every time.”
During that period she had time to systematically organize her knowledge and experience in journalism. In 2018, FactWire ran into financial difficulties and she accepted a voluntary departure package. She returned to RTHK and continued producing episodes for HKC under a freelance contract.
Picture caption: On 24 March 2021, Choy Yuk-ling appeared in West Kowloon Magistracy and denied making any false statement to access vehicle registration data.
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The process of producing 721, Who Owns the Truth
Bao always concentrated on doing her best in journalism. While the vivid memories of the violence of the “mobs in white” were still fresh, those who watched 7.21 Who Owns the Truth reports told them, “It is too dangerous for just you two women to enter some villages for investigation.” However, the main concern of the production team was about technicalities of presenting the matter appropriately and the discussion of news ethics.
“We were so detailed that we discussed matters such as ‘How to contact interviewees?’, ‘Is this question offensive, accusing, impartial, fair or infringing privacy?’ and ‘How to respond when interviewees asked how we obtained their information?’. We also discussed how to shoot and process the videos. Many of these meetings lasted for hours.”
“We discussed a lot of these questions. However, we did not discuss matters such as ‘Will there be someone attacking us with a knife?’ or ‘Will we be arrested?’. Never! I believe the society’s perception on media is always the same – there must be a bunch of folks asking questions persistently. I don’t think we have used particularly aggressive or inappropriate means in the process to attract any backlash or consequences. I care more about whether our work can face the challenge and examination of professional ethics and morality.”
Probably because their gentle and neutral approach, out of the many visits her team only encountered rebuke once. “We included the relevant footage of ‘Do not stay. Go away!’ in the episode. The majority of the interviewees knew what our aim was.”
No mob assaulted her team. Then 4 months after broadcasting the episode, detectives from the New Territories North Regional Crime Unit came to arrest her at her doorstep. The same unit was also responsible for investigating the 721 Yuen Long Attack. “Are there any conflict of interest here?”
That moment when Hong Kong overlapped with mainland China
It was around 1pm on a very common day. She was working at home in home clothing when suddenly about five to six detectives rang the doorbell. “I was of course very surprised as I never thought or heard any sign about this.” She asked for time to get changed before opening the door. Within one minute they started ringing the doorbell again. “They might think I was eliminating evidence or something.”
On entry, police cautioned and arrested her. The content of the caution clearly mentioned the HKC episode 721, Who Owns the Truth involving a car at the scene. She was alleged for infringing the Road Traffic Ordinance by making a false statement when requesting for the vehicle registration data.
“I fully understood what they were talking about. I just found it hard, at that very moment, to accept that it was for real.”
“I became indifferent probably because I kept telling myself to stay calm, not to lose, not to show signs of weakness - there was nothing to fear if I did nothing wrong. So we quickly turned to pragmatic details. I asked to call my lawyer and requested the police not to search my flat until my lawyer arrived. I adopted the most rational approach thinking about how to protect my sensitive information and myself, minimizing any damage. So I did not have much feeling.”
After searching her flat, the police took her to Cheung Sha Wan Police Station to register the case. Then they took her to Tai Po Police Station for deposition.
During her journey to the police stations, sitting between two police officers in the vehicle, she recalled her arrest by the police in mainland China after her interviews with the Tiananmen Mothers. At that instant, she felt she was in a similar scene. “So I sighed - the situation of Hong Kong had finally come to this!”
Picture caption: Police arrested Choy Yuk-ling, a director working for RTHK, at her residence, 3 Nov 2020.
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The pro-establishment was trying to re-invent some facts
To many Hongkongers, they shared the same sigh repeatedly, starting from 21 Jul 2019.
Bao could not get the 721 Yuen Long Attack off her mind. There were still too many unanswered questions even after 2 HKC episodes done one one week after and another one year after the incident. She was further disturbed by the narratives from the pro-establishment camp—changing from “men in white launching indiscriminate attacks to innocent people”, to “men in white fighting against those in black”, then to “a group in black conspired to stir up troubles in Yuen Long.” This narrative seemed to attract a lot of audiences in some part of the society.
Bao recalled that the producer of HKC sensed the 721 Yuen Long Attack would have a huge impact on the anti-Extradition Bill movement and even the whole of Hong Kong. Early morning the next day of the incident, the HKC shooting team rushed to Yuen Long and asked for CCTV footages from the shops there, hopefully before the police. Six to seven shops provided their footages. The team meticulously reviewed the videos and within a week they broadcasted Yuen Long Nightmare. This episode attempted to reconstruct the timeline of the incident, questioned the preparation of the police force and asked why they were absent at the scene.
In the following months, attention to the incident was distracted by other events in the movement. Her team decided to set it aside. She also had a feeling that they had already reviewed all possible footages.
To investigate the truth again
In early 2020, she felt the proliferation of the pro-establishment narratives. She was still in contact with the interviewees of the Yuen Long Nightmare episode while some of victims told her the police had not arranged any identity line up session yet. “He really wanted to know who beated him and why.” They decided to produce an episode for the first anniversary.
“We are frustrated as to where to start. So we decided to review the footages again.” Last year due to time pressure they viewed the videos at double to quadruple speeds. This time they could view it at normal speed and also noted down persons with significant facial or clothing features. They systematically named each person, their time of appearance and create screen capture records, etc. The whole process took a few months. The four directors spent time outside their office hours to review all videos and managed to identify the gathering place of the “men in white” and the logos on their clothes after some time. They then recognized a few involved vehicles registration plates and managed to summarise a list of names and addresses and started visiting them.
She was grateful to the only interviewee who agreed to appear in front of the camera with the title— a village head.
All other “men in white” either could not be contacted or refused to be interviewed. However there were about two of them who were willing spend nearly an hour to discuss behind the camera. “They were very friendly and brought out an umbrella to shield us from the sun. You cannot imagine they are the same persons appearing in the video. It is also hard to tell whether they were involved in the assault or fight or not. I only assume they are not 100% bad. When you meet up with real people, you won’t easily jump to conclusion on the incident.”
She emphasized the aim of 721, Who Owns the Truth was to listen to what the “men in white” had to say with no strings attached. It was to know when or why they were there, whether it was organized or they had different purposes, etc. She believed that only after we collected their stories could we construct a better picture. “A lot of folks criticize us for only talking about the victims or the stories of the people in black. Let us interview the persons identified in the footages and let them speak. Isn’t this what the critics should expect?”
It felt like she was not being sarcastic. She was very calm when she asks this crystal clear question.
Youtube link: Hong Kong Connection: Who Owns The Truth
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Approaching the truth—from 0% to 5%
Her arrest sends a message out— the government does not want these questions.
The interview was conducted before the verdict. Bao admitted she was still stuck in the court case and could not properly organize her thoughts. Sometimes she searched for phrases and sighed that words were too weak to describe the absurdity of what happened. The trial itself was brief where the two sides debated about the legislative intention of Road Traffic Ordinance, the legal definition of “other traffic and transit related matters” and its applicability, etc. The defence lawyer did not debate on whether there was a search for the vehicle registration details and who did the search.
In the eyes of all journalists, such searches are parts of their daily lives. “Yes I did the search. And then I am guilty?” During the trial she chose not to self defend and only said “I plead not guilty” twice and loudly. She appreciated Allan Au who spoke out for her in an article. “It expressed my stance from a third person’s perspective, in a ‘clear mind’, elaborating the nature of this court case and its impact on the freedom of the press.
Shortly after her arrest and bail out, RTHK suspended her duty and did not offer any legal assistance. A few of her friends financially helped her find a lawyer. The suspension allowed her to spend more time taking care of herself, workout and accompanying her family. “It might be a blessing. I cannot control what’s going on in this court case, but I don’t want to be impacted on. I would like to live better. I always strive for this way.”
Moreover, Bao sincerely thanked her friends and colleagues for inviting her to write on a Facebook page “listening to Stories of Anti-Extradition Bill in court” and lining up job offer from the internet media Late Show to produce society related documentaries. “It is sometimes sad being a reporter, which may imply that … I have no value anywhere else? I am not sure but in the past I often used my occupation to identify or introduce myself.” Bao felt so lucky that though she lost her role at HKC and she quickly got another job with less pressure. This allowed her to maintain self esteem and prevented herself from feeling lost.
After the verdict Bao said she was proud of her reporting on the 721 Yuen Long Attack in HKC. Who Owns the Truth brought her and her team a prize in journalism. It also got her convicted. However, the questions she asked about the incident were still unanswered and the justice expected by the victims was still remote.
“I always say news and investigative journalism are only attempts to reach the truth which is complicated and may contain many pieces of facts. This round we may have found 5 pieces.
If we realize there are actually 100 pieces, we will feel that 5 are inadequate to represent the whole truth. However, it is a necessary process. If nobody continues the work, the vacuum will remain.”
On the incident, she saw someone publish books, some look for witnesses and even the tiny facts revealed in courts. All these contributed to assembling the puzzle. She still expected that when political tension eased, more witness would be willing to speak out. “Don’t belittle any small thing happening in this period. If we continue to pursue, in longer term more and more facts will surface, leading to a comparatively more complete picture. Once you give up, it will stop.”
Photo caption: 22 Apr 2021, A Hong Kong resident presented Choy a white doll, a metaphor to “return her innocence (in Chinese, clear and white)”.
Author: LAM Yun
Photos(Studio): LAU Tsz-hong
Source：Standnews #Apr22
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