‘His Sacrifice [Is] Worth It’ : Sydney Premiere of ‘The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom’

Founder of now-closed pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily Jimmy Lai Chee-ying. Profile Picture. Sung Pi-Lung/The Epoch Times

“I owe freedom my life.”

This is what Jimmy Lai Chee-Ying, the media tycoon who founded Next Media and Apple Daily, said in a new film that tells of his legendary life.

The recently released documentary, “The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom,” was screened at Ashfield Civic Centre in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 26, with a discussion session following.

Produced by the Action Institute, the film combines interviews and speeches given by Lai before he was imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and interviews with Lai’s friends, presenting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement through the experience of this well-known figure.

“The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom” was screened in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 26. supplied

Escaped Communist China

Born in 1948 in mainland China, Lai experienced the CCP’s repression when he was growing up. His mother was sent to a labour camp after experiencing “struggle sessions” in which she was publicly humiliated and called a “class enemy.”

Lai was smuggled into Hong Kong from mainland China in 1959 when he was 12 years old, with only one dollar in his pocket, and was forced to do all kinds of work to make a living. But by the time he was 33, Lai built Giordano, an Asian clothing empire.

Support of Democracy

Being a billionaire, Lai could have retired and enjoyed an easy life. However, wealth did not change him.

In 1989, the Tiananmen Square Massacre sparked opposition to the communist regime in Hong Kong. Amid regular rallies, Giordano donated 200,000 T-shirts to pro-democracy protesters.

In the 1990s, Lai dipped into the media business. He founded Next Media and Apple Daily in 1995.

Lai once wrote an open letter in his magazine, NextMag, criticizing the former CCP Premier Li Peng. The letter cost him his Chinese market as the regime banned his businesses in China. Lai was forced to sell his shares in Giordano and completely stepped away from it in 2000.

Mixed Reception 

Known for exposing celebrity scandals, gossip, and the wrongdoings of those in power, Lai’s media turned Hong Kong’s media ecosystem upside down.

Lai adopted the concept of yellow journalism, pursued celebrities, and turned news into entertainment. The public accused his media group of having a bad influence on Hong Kong teenagers.

However, Lai proactively supported pro-democracy movements. From the protests against Article 23 legislation in 2003, the Umbrella Revolution in 2014, and the anti-extradition movement in 2019, to the June 4 commemoration vigils for the Tiananmen Square Massacre and all other political struggles in Hong Kong, Next Media Group and Lai himself always stood alongside the democratic camp.

Copies of Apple Daily were sold at the screening on Nov. 26, 2022. The Epoch Times

Despite Lai’s anti-CCP stance, he was well aware of the trouble this political stance might cause the newspaper. According to former Apple Daily employees, the company believed that reporting on “organ harvesting” by the CCP was “too sensitive,” which made them keep silent on the topic.

In 2014, Apple Daily published a CCP advertisement that smeared Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted in mainland China. The same ad was also published in two other Hong Kong newspapers on the same day. The Apple Daily version did not post the word “advertisement” in the top right corner as standard adverts usually do.

It’s speculated that Lai truly believed Hong Kong’s freedom and the rule of law were protected by Hong Kong Basic Law, and that as long as there were no touchy articles against Beijing, his newspaper would survive.

Arrested by the CCP

Lai was arrested by the Hong Kong National Security Bureau on multiple charges in 2020, the same year the Hong Kong National Security Law was introduced.

His Next Media empire was crushed and ceased operations in 2021 when the Hong Kong government froze the group’s assets and operating funds.

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily, looks on as he leaves the Court of Final Appeal by prison van, in Hong Kong, on Feb. 1, 2021. Tyrone Siu/Reuters

The media tycoon and six former Apple Daily executives were charged with conspiring with others to collude with foreign powers or forces to endanger national security last week. All six members except Lai pleaded guilty to the charge at High Court on Nov. 22.

Lai’s case is scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 1. It’s widely expected that Lai, 74 years old, would get a life sentence based on the National Security Law.

Wall Street’s Complicity in Human Rights Abuses

The documentary also sheds light on the West’s complicity in Beijing’s human rights abuses.

“Wall Street is so focused on making profits, the documentary points out, that it ignores blatant human rights violations committed by the Chinese government against the Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hong Kongers. Yet, Wall Street continues to invest in China,” reads a National Review article on the film.

“Lai’s reaction to this greed was predictable: ‘Any company that will bow down to China… that will hurt the dignity of the American people.’”

Police carry evidence they seized from the headquarters of the Apple Daily newspaper and its publisher, Next Digital Ltd., on June 17, 2021, in Hong Kong, China. Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

‘His Sacrifice [is] Worth It’  

Ms. Cheuk, the chairperson of Aus-Hong Kong Connex, a local Hong Kong community that hosted the screening, said the organizers would like to bring more public focus back to Hong Kong while Lai was facing an upcoming trial.

“We would like to [ask] Australians, Hong Kongers, and people all over the world to focus back to [Hong Kong]. [We] don’t want people to forget about Hong Kong,” Cheuk told The Epoch Times.

“We’re not only talking about what we’ve been enjoying in Hong Kong. We really would like to stay together against the cruel regime of the CCP.”

“Not only do we want to see him [Lai] sacrifice, we also want to tell people that his sacrifice [is] worth it,” she said.

Call for the Australian Government’s Help

Asked what the Australian government can do to help with Lai’s case, Cheuk said she hadn’t heard about anything from the Australian government or high officials.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets China’s President Xi Jinping in a bilateral meeting during the 2022 G20 summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Australia, on Nov. 15, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

This comes at a time after Australian Prime Minister Albanese met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at G20 and raised a range of issues with Beijing, including the human rights issues in Xinjiang, the detention of Chinese-Australian nationals, and the possible removal of trade sanctions that have stopped $20 billion (US$13.5 billion) worth of goods entering the China market, which was imposed in response to calls for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

Foreign policy experts have urged the Labor government to focus on compelling the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to uphold human rights and international rules around trade.

“He [Albanese] got a very nice day photo with Xi Jinping,” Cheuk said. “So we really would like to have more activities to alert Australians that the CCP is dangerous. We should not play with fire.”

Nie Law, Teresa Zhang, and Summer Lawson contributed to the report.