For those of you who only started following my Twitter feed recently, I basically became a public figure in #HongKong as a result of an event 5 years ago today (see (7) below for why I was crying back then). (1) 
In short, we had a Law Society president endorsed a State Council White Paper which stated, amongst other things, that judges should also yield to the State’s socio-political “interest” when making rulings. He also said that the CCP was great. He spoke those words as LS Prez. (2)
I was a member of the Law Society’s Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights Committee at the time and was outraged by this politicisation of the office of the Law Society Presidency. (3)
So some friends and I moved a LS EGM to demand LS uphold judicial independence and the rule of law, as well as moving a vote of no-confidence against the President. (4)
The campaign was really hard fought. The Central Government Liaison Office used every trick in the book to force proxies out of law firms, in house lawyers and the like to back the Law Society President. We expected to lose our EGM motions and to lose big time. (5)
On the night of that EGM (ie 5 years ago today), the President’s camp was confident. One of his supporters even went so far to boast that “The CCP would never let the President lose”. (6)
But solicitors refused to be cowed. My allies and I ended up carrying all EGM motions by a margin of 2 to 1. When we first heard the result, we thought it was an error. When we realised it was for real, our team broke down in tears both privately and in front of the press. (7)
The media in #HongKong labelled that day “Hong Kong Legal Profession’s Day of Big Miracle”. The legal profession stood tall and we were all proud and very touched by the result, which cake despite an enormous proxy gathering and smear campaign against us by Beijing (8)
A group of lawyers who were inspired by what happened 5 years ago today and by #OccupyHK then by together to form @HongKongPLG. I was one of its founding convenors and served for 3 years (I promised my family not to do this forever). (9)
Since I “retired”, I largely stayed away from commenting prominently on politics save for a monthly column at @mingpaocom. Instead, I started writing columns on parenting and doing video restaurant review blogs for various publications. (10)
For a time, I also became very frustrated for a time with the democracy movement in #HongKong and had wanted no further part in it even if I still would vote for pro-democracy candidates. (11)
That led me to speak out more loudly again, especially on Twitter, a platform that I had previously neglected when I was active in civil society. (13)
I now look back on the events 5 years ago with a mixture of pride and sadness but without nostalgia. There is pride in the victory that we achieved, there is pride in @HongKongPLG which grew even stronger after I got out of the way 😂😂😂. BUT... (14)
There is real sadness when looking at the events 5 years ago today against all the shit that had happened in #HongKong ever since. I really don’t want that “big miracle” night to become one of the last significant victories that #HongKongers achieve. (15)
Thank you all for your support to date, and let’s hope there will be a brighter tomorrow for my beloved home. (16 and Ends)
