The videos of a female investigating officer questioning a woman in a hospital about whether she had verbally abused the staff there have been making their rounds on social media after the one who recorded it uploaded it on Chinese social media platform 抖音。
We didn’t have to wait long before someone got what she deserves. Han Feizi 韩菲子, age 29 was charged on 13 October 2023 with multiple offences, including alleged use of abusive language on a public servant and harassment.
the charges brought against Han are as follows:
- One count of being a public nuisance, punishable with a fine that may extend to S$2,000
- Two counts of using abusive language against a public service worker or public servant, punishable with a jail term of up to 12 months or a fine of up to S$5,000, or both
- Two counts of assaulting or using criminal force on a security officer, punishable with a jail term of up to two years or a fine of up to S$7,500, or both
- Intentionally causing harassment, which is punishable with up to 12 months’ imprisonment or a fine of up to S$5,000, or both
Apparently, this is not the first time Han Feizi had a brush with the law. On 3 October 2023 the police received a call from a condo at Marina Boulevard. The condo security officer had assisted an intoxicated woman to her unit when she pushed the security officer, tugged her tie and used abusive language on her. During their investigation, the police also discovered that she had violated employment regulations. That case has been referred to the MOM. She has been held in remand with a bail set at $15,000. Any local “patriots” want to save her?
Since the case is now in the court, I shall not say anything that may sway public opinion. The first interesting thing about this woman is the name Han Feizi. Han Fei was a scholar who lived during the period of the Warring States. The word zi was added behind his name to put him on the same level as Confucius and Mencius. He put forward a school of thought called 法家. Under 法家, there is no room for compassion. Punishments are meted out without any mitigation. Rulers should be feared and not loved. Benevolence is a sign of weakness. Qin state ruler 嬴政 who would later become 秦始皇 was so eager to adopt 法家 that he invaded the state of Han to seek an audience with Han Fei. Though Han Fei was framed and later died in prison due to a devious plot hatched by the jealous future prime minister Li Si, 秦始皇 continued to adopt 法家 as opposed to 儒家。After Qin Shi Huang united China, one of the first things he did was 焚书坑儒. He burned Confucian texts and buried Confucian scholars up to their necks until they died. The success of the first emperor of China rested on the ignorant, downtrodden common people who were dying to get even with people in authority. He may have managed to seize power but his dynasty lasted for only 15 years.
Next, Mao Zedong and his cultural revolution. Mao had already been relegated to an inactive post after the 7000 人大会 in 1962. How did he manage to make a comeback and topple Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping’s leadership? Teachers were shouted down and forced by students to admit their mistakes, supervisors were tortured by workers who took over the administration of every department. Criminals locked up law enforcers. Debtors punished creditors for making them repay loans. It was literally a world turned upside down. How on earth did Mao manage to do that? Mao was a genius. He held his cards close to his chest, making his enemies go along with his revolution, to the extent of digging their own graves before they realised what the end game was. Even though he had temporarily taken the back seat, Mao was the greatest Chinese influencer of his time. He had incredible charisma and he targeted it at the most ignorant, downtrodden and impressionable people who were eager to turn the tables on their superiors. There was no reason and no logic during that time. The fiery 红卫兵 bulldozed forward, forcing the reasonable folks to give way to their madness. Take note that it only took 12 million 红卫兵 to hold 800 million Chinese people captive. How did they do it? Temples, churches and mosques were torn down. Mao became the people’s god. Anyone who opposed the 红卫兵 was instantly branded as an enemy of the republic. People who were afraid of 批斗 just shut up and went along with the movement.
Now let’s get back to 抖音 and Chinese influencers. Recently, there was a case of a Chinese woman who complained about a budget airline not allowing her to bring two luggage bags into the cabin. She insisted that she had the right to do so and called on all her followers in China to boycott that airline. Chinese nationals who had problems at immigration in foreign countries also went on 抖音 to complain about how they are being discriminated against. At the same time, there are there are numerous bragging posts about how great China is and how insignificant those of us in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore are. The ironical mindset of “我们最伟大， 我们最委屈” is a powerful rallying point for many netizens with a paradoxical superiority-inferiority complex.
Miss Han Feizi’s game was simple. She wanted to rally support on 抖音 and it might have worked if she had had edited out the parts where she was accused and questioned. She could have just shown the parts where she ranted about how she was knocked down and how the police refused to deal with the culprit and picked on her (because she is Chinese), not allowing her to see the doctor after 3 hours. Even I dinosaur like me knows how to edit the footage, throw a few red herrings here and there and make it look like I’ve been wronged. Fortunately, Miss Han is not that clever and her 辱华 card was not successfully pulled.
As more and more people from different nationalities arrive on our shores, it’s imperative that we do not allow foreigners who come from countries without human rights to take advantage of our civility. She behaved this way because as I found out in China myself, being polite is often a sign of poverty or low rank. Another factor is the depth and breath of censorship in China and the kind of stupid 抖音 videos that go viral and propaganda movies give many Chinese people a totally distorted view of the world. It would be a slap on the face, an own goal if people pull the racist card at us. We also cannot underestimate the power of their numbers. If you’re interested to understand and discuss this topic, check out my FB group 兵临城下. The time to put up our defences is now; not when the hostile forces are at our doorstep.
New Book!
