The changes proposed for the 2012 elections by Chief Executive Donald Tsang have met with strong criticism from pan-democratic groups and the public.
“We feel that it is very difficult to support this 2012 political reform package. This is the only opinion we can provide to the democratic camp,” said Albert Ho, chairman of Hong Kong Democratic Party, reported NTDTV.
The former British colony was promised a Western-style democracy when it was handed back to China in 1997. Since 2003, Hong Kong’s pan-democratic camp has pushed for universal suffrage—allowing people to directly elect their leader and legislature.
In April this year, Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed administration announced a new package for democratic reform that barely addressed the issue.
On Monday, hundreds of pro-democracy protesters gathered to oppose what they considered a publicity stunt by Chief Executive Donald Tsang, namely his rallying pro-Beijing supporters to back his reform package.
As Tsang struggled to spread his “Act Now” message—the official slogan employed for the reform campaign—protesters drowned his speech with an “All Wrong” chant.
Over 9,000 people have joined a Facebook group called “All Wrong,” which ridicules the reforms.
Opposition groups say the reform package is merely an overhaul of the undemocratic proposals put forward in 2005.
In December 2005, more than 250,000 Hong Kong residents took to the streets in a massive protest march against the reforms. The package was ultimately defeated in the legislature, blocked by pan-democrats who control over one-third of the seats, 23 of 60.
Tsang says the latest reforms aim to bring greater democracy to Hong Kong. However, the package fails to address the crucial issue of universal suffrage.
Proposed reforms
The latest proposals preserve the elite committee that selects the chief executive, equivalent to prime minister, under Hong Kong’s system. The committee, largely made up of powerful business tycoons and pro-Beijing groups, will be increased from 800 to 1,200.
The Legislative Council (Legco)—Hong Kong equivalent of a parliament—remains a largely toothless body, with half its seats still chosen from elitist functional constituencies comprising bankers, property tycoons, and other trade-based groups.
The government wants to add 10 seats, enlarging the Legco from 60 to 70 lawmakers, but preserving the 50/50 balance. This means that only half the seats would be elected through a system of universal adult suffrage.
Under the 1997 handover agreement, Hong Kong should be able to directly elect its leader by 2017 and its legislature by 2020. The latest reform deal omits both these elements, which democracy groups say are crucial in the transition to full democratic rule.
“The impression [is] that the central government wants to keep interest group seats and launch fake universal suffrage,” said Ming Sing, a politics expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, reports Canada Press.
Tsang has kept to his formulation that whomever is selected chief executive in 2012, must decide the next administration in consort with the communist central government in Beijing.
For years, Hong Kong activists have argued that the wealthy financial hub of 7 million people is ready to elect its political leaders, but the Chinese government has resisted.
Democratic Party Vice Chairwoman Emily Lau countered that the government’s decision to go ahead with the reforms without amendment showed it had not listened to public opinion.
Gao Yu, a renown Chinese journalist and activist, has also voiced concern that the recent events are stalling the region’s development.
“In the past over 20 years, the political reform in China did not make any progress. On the contrary, it even went backward. As for Hong Kong … I feel that in many aspects Hong Kong is also going backward,” said Gao.
Gao knows what it is like to be on the wrong side of Beijing. In November 1988, she published an article in Hong Kong’s Mirror Monthly, which was described by Beijing’s mayor as a “political program for turmoil and rebellion.”
Gao was arrested in 1989, after Tiananmen Square protests, and was released 15 months later because of health problems. Gao was honored for her work in 1999 when she became the first journalist to receive the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
Today, Gao draws on the difference in governance between the mainland and Hong Kong, saying that it is up to the people to protect their right to freedom.
“In China, GDP [gross domestic product] is the number one priority. The economic development is fast paced. However, the development is achieved by total monopoly,” she said. “Hong Kong is a society ruled by law. If the rules of law are destroyed by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] authoritarianism, Hong Kong people’s fundamental rights will be infringed upon.”
