Last week, the Hong Kong security authorities made a big fuss by sending a deputy director to lead a delegation to Thailand to follow up on the case of 12 Hong Kong residents who were abducted to a fraud park in Myanmar. Initially, they announced that they could bring them back to Hong Kong, but in the end they returned empty-handed and there was no even a return date.
A high-profile, pre-announced rescue operation may have failed to establish the government's authority, but it exposed the security authorities' inaccurate intelligence and inadequate planning. Officials embarked on a high-profile operation, believing their efforts were imminent, and their eagerness to predict success led them to either mislead others or miscalculate, leading to embarrassing consequences. The rescue operation devolved into a series of visits, exchanges, and liaisons.
Undoubtedly, the authorities themselves may not feel embarrassed, but they may also wish to review from three aspects: first, how to improve the quality of intelligence and judgment ability; second, human life comes first, and taking credit comes later, and the rescue operation must be kept highly confidential and not publicized until the victim is out of danger; third, learn to manage expectations well, save people first and then publicize, otherwise it will raise everyone's expectations, and in the end, they will be very passive. The authorities are still explaining various doubts and accusations.
