Hong Kong desperately needs to drag itself out of its political stupor. Hong Kong people will often tell you they are not happy with the political system. They feel that they have no power over policies. But may people shrug their shoulders and accept political reality. Elected legislators have little power. Many Hong Kong people believe our chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, is taking his cues from Beijing. Our society cannot afford to stand still. Particularly as we leap into the knowledge era, Hong Kong needs to be vital in every sense. If we don’t open up the political system, our economy could fall backward, too.
Hong Kong’s legislature has been continuously stunted by the unwillingness of the executive branch to share power. Shortly before Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997, a new sense of democratic rights was sweeping Hong Kong. The city was becoming more democratic, not less. But from the early days of this term of office, the executive branch has tried to stunt the territory’s democratically elected representatives. Often, officials simply ignore us. I have been trying to set up a meeting with the chief secretary for months to discuss a race-discrimination bill. Officials constantly use the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-Constitution under Chinese rule, as a pretext for diminishing our power. For example, shortly after the handover, Tung’s government argued that legislators do not have the constitutional power to amend government bills without the executive’s approval. This is nonsense. If it were so, it would make a laughingstock of the Basic Law. So far we lawmakers have stuck to our guns, ignoring the executive branch’s warnings.
Anson Chan, Hong Kong’s chief secretary, has said she doesn’t accept my reasons for not seeking re-election. She claims that the government has worked hard to forge a constructive and effective working relationship with legislators. The truth is, the government’s top officials just don’t like what I say. The executive’s efforts to work with us have been abysmal–which is why there is so much bleating in the people’s chamber. The frustrations are not mine alone. The government’s attitude toward us is remarkably condescending, considering that we–not they–are the elected representatives. Shortly after I announced my decision to leave the legislature, the government’s spokesman noted my work on environmental issues, defensively adding that the chief executive had “taken the initiative” on his own to make the environment a priority.
Hong Kong desperately needs to redesign its political architecture. We need a chief executive who is willing to work with elected representatives as equal partners. Neither Tung nor other senior officials understand what this means. They remain stuck in the old elitist paradigm, in which bureaucrats were omnipotent and answerable to no one except their superiors. There are real consequences for having a system in which appointed officials dominate elected representatives: we will never have real political accountability. The postcolonial system still tolerates part-timers in the equivalent of the cabinet and top policymakers without the required expertise to make decisions. At the same time, those who have the people’s mandate are denied the responsibility to govern. The Hong Kong formula humiliates our intelligence.
Tung and other government officials always say that the Basic Law has set a timetable for change, albeit a nonspecific one. (The Basic Law provides that there could be change to how the legislature is constituted after 2007.) Anyone can see that constitutional reform is a major task that will take time to develop. And yet Tung does not even want to engage in talks on how to begin a communitywide discussion. He has not shown an iota of interest in engendering political development. It is no credit to him that many people believe he is only doing Beijing’s bidding. People are disappointed that he does not stand up for Hong Kong even when our freedom is under direct attack. Last week Chinese officials demanded that the legislature should pass subversion laws so that the local media can’t report views that advocate Taiwan independence. Tung said nothing.
Past colonial rule never empowered its subjects. What is mightily disappointing is that even now, the government is making no effort to infuse citizens with a sense of political mission. I am envious of how engaged Taiwan folks have become. I sense that it is a society going places. In Hong Kong, by contrast, the executive’s refusal to acknowledge that major reform is urgently needed only reinforces the sense of disempowerment.
Politics matters. Just as officials are beginning to wake up to the fact that a degraded environment is an economic disadvantage, they need to understand that an ineffective political system also slows development. For fear of retribution, businessmen may never tell it like it is. Tung and his chosen few could do a lot worse than pause for some honest reflection.
