The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, which formerly operated as the Public Opinion Programme at the University of Hong Kong, on Friday released a new survey result of Hong Kong people’s views on the city’s anti-epidemic policies. It showed that 57 percent of interviewees hope the city can turn to “coexist with the virus”, while only 32 percent support the “dynamic zero infection” strategy, which has long served as the basic COVID-19 control policy in Hong Kong.
That seems to show that Hong Kong society has largely agreed to shift to a loosened pandemic control policy. But is that true? Those who live in the city would be in strong doubt.
We have been stunned when local hospitals were overwhelmed by the infected amid a spike in cases. We saw long lines of people waiting to get tested. We witnessed an exodus to the Chinese mainland, on safety grounds. We also read numerous comments online daily, calling for more decisive and stronger pandemic control measures to quell the current wave of the pandemic. Why so contradictory?
The secret lies in the biased sampling.
According to the HKPORI report, a total of 6,913 were polled, among which, however, 84 percent were supporters of the “pro-democracy camp”, or the opposition camp. Among them, 90 percent voiced support for the “coexistence strategy”. It is obvious that their opinions greatly outweighed those of other people. This is not representative of the opinions of the people of Hong Kong. Those with different views were subtly and maliciously silenced.
If you follow Hong Kong politics, you would know well that the opposition camp, in recent years, developed an indecent habit to oppose whatever the government does. So what else can we expect from them?
Therefore, such a poll is far from a professional test of public opinion, but a trap to mislead public opinion. As the masses are always susceptible to rumors and misinformation, the surveyor knows that people with no clear stance would be easily influenced by the poll and join their effort to derail the city’s public health strategy.
And this is an old trick of HKPORI. While presenting itself as an objective and professional surveyor, it has a long and bad track record of plotting polls for political intent. In 2014, the institute fabricated a survey showing 90 percent of the people of Hong Kong opposed the central government’s plan for universal suffrage to elect the city’s leader. However, later details showed that 90 percent of the surveyees were supporters of the Occupy Central movement. In 2020, it also forged a poll, following the same pattern, to show that 60 percent of those questioned supported a US sanction against Hong Kong, if the national security law were to take effect in the city. Does anyone really believe that the majority of Hong Kong people would support a sanction against their home city, which would only hurt their own interests?
It could not be more obvious that HKPORI is a biased political organization rather than a public opinion research institute. Not to mention that its CEO Robert Chung Ting-yiu has long been an open member of the opposition camp.
Facts speak louder than words. The people of Hong Kong should now know better what the HKPORI really is and turn our back on it. It is also high time for the Hong Kong government to investigate any illegal activities by this organization.
The author is a member of the Guangdong Province Zhongshan City Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and an executive vice-chairman of the Hong Kong CPPCC Youth Association.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.