HONG KONG – People who live in glass houses should avoid hurling stones or verbal abuse at their neighbors. Since Monday when a 10-hour hostage-taking in Manila claimed the lives of eight Hong Kong travelers, people here have indulged in scornful hissing, spitting and rhetoric aimed at the nearby Philippines.

A disgruntled and unbalanced former policeman solicited a ride on a tour bus and then held its passengers captive in the vehicle at the heart of the Philippines capital. Bungling police efforts to end the crisis only worsened matters amid flying bullets until the culprit died, shot as commandos stormed the bus.

Some victims died heroically, trying to shield others. The entire tragedy justifies sorrow and mournful tears, but not vitriol.

Yet since watching much of the hostage crisis on TV, Hong Kong people have launched barrage after barrage of bitter criticism across the South China Sea toward everyone from Philippines president Benigno (Noynoy) Aquino to individual policemen. Aquino's alleged sins include not looking contrite enough when discussing the situation and failing to take crisis phone calls from Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang.

Much of Hong Kong's fury, whether expressed by government officials or people on the streets, reflects a disturbing arrogance and selective vision. Deranged murderers strike in Hong Kong too. People from the Philippines regularly encounter problems in Hong Kong, and the local government rarely notices.

Ideally, Hong Kong people should direct wrath not to the east, but north and west at the Chinese mainland. There, police malpractice and corruption, plus a legal system that bows to political interference, constantly cause injustice, suffering and death. The victims number more than eight per month, more than eight per week, more than eight per day.

Too many vociferous critics of Manila neglect to mention that Hong Kong's “motherland” more blatantly fails to treasure human life. People in the Philippines have little to learn from Hong Kong, and even less from Beijing.



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