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Beijing Splits Hong Kong's Pro-Democracy Forces |
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Written by Our Correspondent
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Monday, 21 June 2010 |
 Electoral reform pushed by Chief Executive Donald Tsang delivers little
reform
Clever divide-and-rule tactics by Beijing have split the pro-democracy
camp in Hong Kong and assured passage of what passes for political
reform in the territory. The now-certain passage of the electoral
changes, which only marginally enlarge the franchise, represents a
victory for chief executive Donald Tsang, who has devoted massive
government resources to trying to drum up popular backing for the
proposals.
It is doubtful that Tsang had much success with the
populace -- and even less when he appeared in a debate on the subject
with Audrey Eu, who leads the Civic Party which continues to reject the
proposal. Even Tsang himself acknowledges he was trounced.
But
the barrage of propaganda was effective with the current leadership of
the Democratic Party, the largest and oldest of the pro-democracy
groups, who felt that a little progress was better than nothing. The new
reform package is only a little more democratic than ones rejected by
the legislature in 2005. Although pro-government members, mostly drawn
from business groups, are in the majority in the legislature, any
constitutional changes require a two thirds majority. In 2005 the
pro-democracy groups were united in rejecting the reform as totally
inadequate.
This time Beijing played hardball till just the right
moment. The Democrat Party had suggested an enlarged franchise for
voting for District Council members who form part of the group of
so-called Functional Constituencies that comprise half the legislature.
This originally had been dismissed as contrary to the Basic Law, the
mini-constitution created by Beijing for Hong Kong. However, seeing that
enough Democratic Party and some non-party waverers would accept this,
Beijing changed its tune.
Although this will now be trumpeted as a
major advance, the fact remains that Hong Kong is still lacking a
timeline for moving to a fully democratic system of direct election of
legislators. It remains stuck with a system of functional constituencies
which are in effect corrupt, rotten boroughs via which business groups,
some with corporate not human electors, get favors from the government
in return for votes in the legislature. Although the functional
constituency franchise is being expanded, these indirectly elected
groups will continue to form half of an enlarged legislature.
The
role of the legislature is anyway subject to erosion by a government
which, in good Communist party and colonial tradition, believes in
"executive-led" government and prefers that the legislature and courts
be subservient to it. The courts are not but the legislature's
composition means it seldom fights to protect its authority from being
bypassed.
The Tsang government has, despite its failures to win
over the populace, been quite successful in presenting some of the
pro-democracy groups as radical and extremist – even the Civic Party,
which consists mainly of lawyers. It has even attracted onto its
Executive Council some high-profile persons once regarded as
pro-democracy liberals such as former Equal Opportunities commissioner
lawyer Anna Wu and academic Anthony Cheung . They seem to have scant
influence on major social and economic issues on which they might be
thought to have strong feelings. But evidently they enjoy the position –
and membership of innumerable other government so-called advisory
bodies and private company boards.
Where all this leaves the
pro-democracy parties is anyone's guess. The Civic Party, which had
alienated many for instigating by-elections as a form of referendum on
democracy, has probably made up ground thanks to its firm stance and the
performance of Eu in the debate.
The more radical League of
Social Democrats, with three high-profile and unruly legislators, has
stuck to its guns and refused to budge. Its core constituency will
approve.
But the Democratic party itself is now deeply divided
with its still much respected former leader Martin Lee opposing the deal
with Tsang while high profile battler and former journalist Emily Lau
has supported it. In the process she and others such as party leader
Albert Ho have come in for much abuse from student and other activists
groups who feel let down by the older generation of pro-democracy
leaders now seen as too eager to do deals with Beijing.
The
bottom line is that although the pro-democracy parties may be split, the
underlying sentiment still runs in their favor. This is a consequence
not so much of their eloquence, tactics or leadership, which are all
sorely lacking, but of government actions which daily show that its
executive and legislative councils are pawns of tycoons and Beijing.
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