A Death in Hong Kong: The MacLennan Case of 1980 and the Suppression of a Scanda

“Collett’s vivid account of the MacLennan case and its aftermath allows us to rediscover an episode that is important not only to Hong Kong gay history but to the history of law and criminal justice in a colonial context more broadly. A fascinating read.” ――Dr Marco Wan, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Programme in Law and Literary Studies, The University of Hong Kong
 
In January 1980 a young police officer named John MacLennan committed suicide in his Ho Man Tin flat. His death came mere hours before he was to be arrested for committing homosexual acts still, at that point, illegal in Hong Kong. But this was more than the desperate act of a young man, ashamed and afraid; both his death and the subsequent investigation were a smokescreen for a scandal that went to the heart of the establishment.
 
MacLennan came to Hong Kong from Scotland during a tumultuous time in Hong Kong’s history. The governorship of Sir Murray MacLehose was to be a time of reform and progress, but with that remit came the determination of many to suppress scandals and silence those who stirred up trouble. Both the life and death of John MacLennan seemed to many of those in power to threaten the stability of one of Britain’s last colonies.
 
Nigel Collett (1952-), a retired lieutenant-colonel of the British Brigade of Gurkhas now a biographer based in Hong Kong, is the author of The Butcher of Amritsar (2006), a life of General Dyer, perpetrator of the Amritsar massacre, and of Firelight of a Different Colour: the Life and Times of Leslie Cheung (2014).  He is a contributor to the Asian Review of Books and to China Daily and is a moderator for the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, for which he was instrumental in promoting the first event which had a focus on gay and lesbian writing in 2008.