(Clearwisdom.net) On April 29, 2004, I left Taiwan with a group of fellow Falun Dafa practitioners for Hong Kong. We planned to attend the 2004 Hong Kong Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference and the parade in Hong Kong that would be held on May 1 and 2. We boarded Taiwan's China Airlines flight CI619 and shortly arrived in Hong Kong. When we tried to go through customs, the immigration officers refused to let three fellow practitioners and me through. They took us to a room where the Hong Kong police searched each of us twice, and inspected our luggage. They also confiscated our cellular phones and cameras. Thus we were unable to tell anyone what happened to us or take any photographs for evidence.
This is not the first time that the Hong Kong Immigration Office has ill-treated Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners and denied them entry into Hong Kong. On February 21, 2003, the Hong Kong Immigration Office denied entry to 89 Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners and sent them back to Taiwan on the same plane they came on even though all of them had obtained legitimate visas and had no criminal records. [1] The Hong Kong Immigration Office has violated Hong Kong's Basic Law in failing to provide any reasonable explanation to justify these actions.
A young airport policeman who appeared to be in charge said to me, "There is no way we can give you entry to Hong Kong." That evening, he repeatedly apologized to me. I asked him, "You know very well that all of us are good people and would never do anything to disrupt the order of Hong Kong. Why must you insist on doing this to us?" He replied, "I have no choice. We have been given orders that we must obey. I am very sorry!"
Why did they receive orders to expel us? We and the airport police all understood why: it was because we were Falun Dafa practitioners. We Falun Dafa practitioners are most proud of our cultivation in Dafa. The world respects and honors Falun Dafa, but Jiang Zemin envies and hates Falun Dafa for its overwhelming popularity. Falun Dafa students are required to cultivate according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, a most righteous spiritual path. Teacher Li Hongzhi said,
"all of this is your goodness (shan) made manifest, and it is what evil fears most, as those who attack goodness are bound to be evil."
(From "Rationality" in Essentials for Further Advancement II.)
It is precisely as Teacher said. Jiang Zemin is completely consumed by his jealousy and fear of Falun Dafa. Besides launching the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China, Jiang Zemin has also been harassing Falun Gong practitioners outside China through any and all methods available to him. One of the approaches is to obstruct Falun Gong practitioners from attending Falun Dafa cultivation experience sharing conferences in Hong Kong by denying them entry.
I felt really sad for Hong Kong, but not for the treatment I was subject to. I explained to these young Hong Kong police officers, "When you expel Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners, you are not really hurting us. You are actually hurting Hong Kong's reputation. Yesterday (April 28) the Hong Kong police forcefully administered an unknown drug to a Taiwanese lady and expelled her back to Taiwan. Today (April 29) she held a press conference at Taiwan's Legislative Yuan (similar to the U.S. Congress) revealing to the world Hong Kong's violation of human rights." Their faces sank upon hearing my words. I didn't have the heart to reproach them because they were pressured by their superiors to expel us.
I decided to use an alternative approach to clarify the truth to them. I said to them, "In the past when I frequently took flights to Hong Kong, the planes would be completely packed, and it was usually very difficult to book a flight. Today our flight was half empty. The back cabin was completely empty and there were a lot of empty seats in the front cabin. Aren't you worried about Hong Kong's future? Hong Kong does not value human rights or the law any more, and is losing her charm. What will become of Hong Kong?" In my heart, I was really beginning to cry for Hong Kong. Two policemen answered, "But there is nothing we can do." Although they are still very young, I believe that they are able to tell right from wrong and know there are consequences for every action. Judging from their gloomy faces, I saw that they must feel bad as well.
I continued, "The only way to save Hong Kong is to work cohesively to oppose unreasonable orders. Remember the July 1 march when over 500,000 people in Hong Kong came out to oppose Article 23? You rose up together to oppose Article 23, and the Hong Kong government dared not act against such a weight of public opinion. The only way to save Hong Kong is to fight against the persecution together!" They answered simultaneously, "Yes!" One of the airport police said, "I will tell my colleagues what you have just told us."
People of Hong Kong, please wake up! The persecution against Falun Gong is not limited to several individuals or several regions, but against the fundamental moral values that sustain each and every society! To protect the luster and beauty of Hong Kong, "the Pearl of the Orient," the people of Hong Kong must join Falun Gong practitioners in opposing and ending the persecution! Please accept my heartfelt wishes for Hong Kong. May the Pearl of the Orient remain lustrous forever!
Reference:
[1] Ming Bao (a Hong Kong Chinese Newspaper): Falun Gong Sues Immigration for Discrimination (Photo)
