Accidental democrat（曲線民主派）
Donald Tsang’s retreat on universal suffrage could be the spark to stir the public into action
History may record that the most unlikely of people, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, unwittingly proved to be the lightning rod that sent Hong Kong on the path to democracy by forcing the people to realise that the government will not deliver universal suffrage and that they will have to fight for it themselves.
This week, his administration flagrantly broke its seemingly unambiguous promise to settle the problem of democratic reform. And it had the audacity to suggest that the best way forward was to march backwards by reviving the old, colonial democracy-blocking device of increasing the number of functional constituencies in the legislature.
It has been suggested that the government’s current plans are little more than a modification of the failed 2005 plan for constitutional reform. This is incorrect; they are far worse, precisely because they so blatantly contradict assurances given by the chief executive on many occasions but most often during the farcical election campaign that brought him to office.
The public can now clearly see that the government has not the slightest intention of working towards universal suffrage. This produces a historic opportunity for mobilising the Hong Kong public; but it needs to be treated with caution because not only can things get out of hand but the aggressively intransigent nature of the government’s plans may invite intemperate action that will backfire.
It would, for example, be little short of suicide for democratic legislators to vote either for or against the bill that the government will eventually present to the chamber. A vote against invites accusations that the democrats are blocking reform, while a vote in favour gives endorsement to the unacceptable.
It would be far more effective to simply boycott the whole charade and allow the government to enjoy North Korean-style unanimity among its supporters in the Legislative Council. Those who are committed to the creation of democracy in Hong Kong have better things to do and need play no part in this farce.
While the government and its acolytes busy themselves with erecting new barriers to prevent the realisation of universal suffrage, democrats have no choice but to embark on the hard road of mobilising public support in the streets and everywhere else except Legco itself, where the cards are too heavily stacked.
There is already a mood of disillusion and anger surrounding the Tsang administration, which is seen as providing comfort to the very comfortable, favouring cronyism over popular participation and downright lying over its intentions.
We are probably not at the stage reached when a popular mobilisation was sufficient to thwart the Tung Chee-hwa administration’s oppressive anti-civil-liberties legislation, but democrats should take comfort from the Tsang administration’s arrogant stupidity.
It could easily have diluted discontent over its proposals by offering at least a few crumbs of compromise to those seeking democracy, such as abolishing some of the more flagrant rotten boroughs in the functional constituencies and by announcing some kind of vague timetable leading towards universal suffrage. Instead, it presents a destination sign board as a road map.
This is not a smart government; on the contrary, it seems almost determined to force a confrontation, no doubt hoping that its opponents will be even dumber than it is and will thus fall into the many traps that lie ahead. The crazy idea of democrats resigning from Legco to force by-elections no doubt gave them comfort in this regard.
However, a lack of smart tactics on behalf of the democrats is not to be taken for granted now that there is an open-and-shut case for mobilising the freedom-loving people of Hong Kong.
Given a stark choice between the continuation of a deeply flawed system of government and one that works in practically every civilised country, the people of Hong Kong will have little hesitation in making their choice.
By coincidence, these proposals have come forward on the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. The unimaginable rapidly became reality.
Democracy in Hong Kong may be equally unimaginable today, yet nothing is forever. Change will not come without effort but, fortunately, this is a place where effort is part of the DNA.
Read the full version（原文刊於南華早報20/11/2009）: Here
