What follows is a brief English-language summary of the legislative debate on the 2012 political reforms (derived from the Ming Pao text feed), with a few brief comments.
Synopsis:
Pro-establishment groups have booked out Chater Garden for their pro-reform “carnival” - which is closed to anybody who doesn’t have an admission pass or a press pass. The irony of the Royalist camp claiming that a majority of the public is on their side - then excluding members of the public at large from their events - is palpable.
An early challenge by Audrey Eu (HKI; Civic Party) to the current proposals on the ground that they are fundamentally different to the proposals originally tabled by the Government (thereby necessitating an adjournment of at least 12 days) was overruled by Chairman Tsang Yok-sing, on the basis that the wording of the proposals as tabled before Legco remained unchanged.
A motion by Cyd Ho (HKI; Civic Act-Up) to adjourn the debate for 2 weeks for further deliberation was voted down by Royalist legislators. For the duration of the day’s proceedings, the pan-Democratic camp managed to be consistent in stance on this issue alone. Lau Kong-wah (NTE; DAB), speaking on the issue of adjournment, stressed that the prolonged political argument was affecting Hong Kong’s economic competitiveness. (Palmerston: As if nothing else mattered.)
Leung Kwok-hung (NTE; League of Social Democrats) blamed Szeto Wah’s recent support of the Democratic Party’s proposal on his cancer. Fellow LSD legislator Wong Yuk-man (KW) asserted that the Democratic Party had done an under-the-table deal with Beijing, while candidly admitting he had absolutely no evidence to support that contention. Ronny Tong (NTE; Civic Party) and Lee Cheuk-yan (NTW; Confederation of Trade Unions) subsequently spoke in Szeto Wah’s defence.
Margaret Ng (Legal FC; Civic Party) set out her grounds of opposition to the current proposal:
- The failure of the current proposal to address the iniquity of the functional constituency system;
- The political dishonesty of the Government throughout the reform process and the fact that the current modified proposals were arrived at behind closed doors; and
- The continued absence of a road map for the abolition of functional constituencies.
Andrew Cheng Kar-foo (NTE; Democratic Party) announced his departure from the party which he had helped to found 16 years ago.
Related commentary:
Columnist Lo Chi-kin, writing in this morning’s Ming Pao, queried if recent developments heralded a fundamental change in the Hong Kong political landscape. Lo pointed out that Beijing would never truly allow the Hong Kong people to govern Hong Kong, and mooted the possibility of a “coalition” between the Royalists (supported by about 40% of the vote) and “moderate” pan-Democrats (carrying about 30% of the vote).
Lo’s column is, in several senses, particularly telling. Lo accepts as read that there will effectively be an unimpeachable, permanent 40% party of government (namely the Royalist factions), with which the “moderate” pan-Democrats will be expected to side. This, however, completely fails to address the fundamental structural problems with the Hong Kong polity - many of which are to do with the fact that Royalist incumbency is institutionally guaranteed. As even Lo admits, a “grand coalition” would still face fundamental difficulties due to the entrenched interests of Big Business, represented by the functional constituencies; in the absence of any concerted effort to remove functional constituencies altogether, or even a timetable for doing so, the newfound collaboration between “moderate” pan-Democrats and the Royalists may well be short-lived.
It is entirely possible, of course, that no such collaboration is in fact on the cards, and that some (if not all) Royalists are counting on “divide and conquer” to achieve political domination. The most virulent expression of these sentiments came from Chim Pui-chung (Financial Services FC; independent Royalist), who suggested that opponents of the current proposals engage in armed insurrection - or emigrate. The wholesale abolition of functional constituencies might not make Chim’s ilk entirely unelectable, but would certainly force them to clean up their political act - a step which certain Royalists would, it seems, be singularly reluctant to take.
