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“Saboteur” is a story of the abuses of police power and judicial authority, and the chief and the two policemen are the human representation of those abuses. In terms of attitude, the chief is less brash and vulgar than his underlings. He is not the sort of person to make faces at Mr. Chiu as he is brought in. Rather, he is seen seated behind his desk, often holding a white silk fan, with aides on either side. The chief’s attitude, it should be noted, is described as scholarly as he listens to Mr. Chiu’s protests. In this respect, the chief can be seen as a much-distorted mirror image of Mr. Chiu’s role as a university lecturer. In this police station, the chief is the lecturer, and Mr. Chiu is in the role of the reluctant pupil. But behind the scholarly-seeming exterior, the chief is ultimately the same as his underlings, and his message is the same as the one delivered by the policemen: Mr. Chiu has no concrete evidence that the policemen attacked and harassed him and his bride. The chief inflicts injuries with words rather than with force. In this way, the chief may be seen as the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove.

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