Hong Kong Catholic millionaire won’t surrender fight for democracy

Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai said police raided his private offices on Oct. 15, months after he was arrested on suspicion of violating the city’s national security law and this will not deter him from his faith.

Lai is a British-Hong Kong citizen and is accused of “colluding” with foreign forces under the sweeping national security law for supporting the pro-democracy movement, ucanews reported on Oct 10.

But he said he would not leave Hong Kong for the United Kingdom.

The 71 year-old Lai has been a supporter of Cardinal Joseph Zen, who baptized him in 1997.

The cardinal who retired in 2009 has been outspoken for human rights, political freedom and religious liberty.

“If I go away, I not only give up my destiny, I give up God, I give up my religion, I give up what I believe in,” he said in a video conversation with the U.S.-based Napa Institute on Oct. 5.

“I am what I am. I am what I believe. I cannot change it. And if I can’t change it, I have to accept my fate with praise.

“When you lift yourself above your own self-interest, you find the meaning of life. You find you’re doing the right thing, which is so wonderful. It changed my life into a different thing.”

Lai told the Catholic institute that the Chinese Communist Party is eager to supplant religion with government control and guidelines.

He said he had supported the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong for the past 30 years because of “the Lord’s teaching that your life is not about yourself.”

Lai told the Catholic institute that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is eager to supplant religion with government control and guidelines.

He said he had supported the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong for the past 30 years because of “the Lord’s teaching that your life is not about yourself.”

“The way I look at it, if I suffer for the right cause, it only defines the person I am becoming. It can only be good for me to become a better person. If you believe in the Lord, if you believe that all suffering has a reason, and the Lord is suffering with me … I’m at peace with it.”

When police conducted an Aug. 10 raid on the office of Apple Daily, the newspaper Lai started in 1995, he was arrested along with at least nine others for their role in the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony.

Though Lai is out on bail, he is charged under the draconian national security law, which China imposed on July 1, bypassing the Hong Kong legislature.

The drama comes as Cardinal Zen returned to Hong Kong after a visit to the Vatican during which he tried in vain to meet Pope Francis, Hong Kong Free Press reported Oct. 5.

Zen, 88, said he had journeyed to Rome in the hopes of persuading the Pope to appoint a new bishop for Hong Kong, who “can be trusted by the people” and not be mired in political considerations related to a desire to appease Beijing.

Lai came to Hong Kong when he was 12 years old from mainland China. He launched a chain of clothing stores under the brand name Giordano’s, which fetched rich dividends and allowed him to launch pro-democracy magazines and newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

He financially supported Cardinal Zen’s programs, which included sponsoring mainland Catholic priests in studies and training.