Dear President Obama,
Date: 18th June 2013
We were shocked, indeed
outraged, when the Guardian published on June 9th the NSA surveillance scandal
as revealed by Mr. Edward Snowden. We wish to thank and applaud the courage of and
sacrifice made by Mr. Snowden in exposing the PRISM surveillance scandal
masterminded by the NSA of the United States. Our gratitude also goes to the
journalist Mr. Glenn Greenwald and his team in publishing the content of the
scandal against the wish of the Big Brother of the world.
As Hongkongers, we
have had the inclination to regard the Western norms as modern and advanced. Indeed,
we would certainly choose to live in a democratic society as freemen instead of
one which is ruled by tyranny or despotism. However, we are becoming less and
less impressed by such slogans as “we are the justice (protector, standards,
etc.) of the world”. By looking at what Uncle Sam has been doing and advocating
in recent eras, the world today is still far from the ideal and admiration
longed for by many of our forefathers.
Coming back to the
PRISM scandal, we wish to ask you to offer a clear and justified explanation to
the people being monitored or affected by the NSA surveillance program,
especially those outside of the USA. Obviously, we would like to know how far
and how deep we, Hongkongers, have been monitored and our privacy invaded. We
deserve to know the reasons behind any such similar surveillance actions or
programs. Even though we are not Americans, we do wish to question your
integrity in terms of your
pledges of civil liberties and greater transparency
made
during your presidential election in the past.
Why should we suffer
such infringement upon our privacy and sovereignty which are so much treasured
by the people of the civilized world? To say the least, the PRISM surveillance can
easily create injustice and damage to its targets, those being accused
unilaterally and subjectively by the NSA secret services. Indeed, there is no
convincing check and balance visible to the public.
We happened to notice that one of our friendly NGO’s, namely, the
Federation of the Yau Tsim Mong Parent-Teacher Association (YTM PTA) has
surprisingly been pinpointed by the US State Department in its 2012 China Human Rights Report. The apparent reason is
simply that the chairperson of the YTM PTA has made some remarks to the effect
that the parents have a concern over the controversial legislation to forbid
the so-called sexual orientation discrimination. Besides the question of
reverse discrimination, most issues concerning sexual orientation are still
controversial globally today. Even in USA, different states
deal with the issues differently. Furthermore, Section
3 under Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that parents
have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their
children. The remarks by the said chairperson are mainly an expression of her
wish to uphold the concerned parental right.
As far as we know, the US State Department is so bureaucratic as to ignore
a written request from the said NGO for an explanation of why and how the NGO was
pinpointed. Coupled with Snowden’s revelation, we believe that parents and
teachers are being wiretapped and monitored by the US State Department
electronically. If such were the case, the world’s Big Brother is truly engaged
in a massive surveillance program to terrorize the world!
Even
if we accept the pretexts based on national security and safety for NSA’s
secret surveillance, one could hardly be convinced that such snooping efforts
are effective and justified. The recent Boston bombing incident is clearly a
counter example as Russian authorities alerted the U. S. several years ago that
the Tsarnaev brothers were potential trouble makers. According to news.investors.com, (see also Is Islam the most favored
religion?) while the White House assures that
tracking US citizens’ phone calls and keystrokes is to stop terrorists, and yet
it won't snoop in mosques ever since 2011 which could explain why the Tsarnaev
brothers were missed. The recent scandal of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeting conservative-oriented
groups in
the States is another tip of the iceberg implicating the heavily biased
politics in US. Thus, our belief and queries on the legitimacy and
effectiveness of the NSA surveillance program are well-founded with prima facie
evidence.
Let us suggest to you that you should honestly
and conscientiously re-examine the NSA surveillance and such programs. Should you
conclude that the programs are indispensable, people outside the States (at
least) should be given justified and convincing justifications accordingly. As Chinese,
we wish to tell a Confucian proverb to you, namely, “Don't
do to others what you don't want others do to you.” Since you admit you are a Christian,
let us also share with you Jesus’ teaching: do to others whatever you would
like them to do to you (Matt. 7:12). Regards.
Yours sincerely,
Howard Lai,
President, Parents for The Family
Association.
