Date with destiny
The Hong Kong government has an obligation to come up with proposals for implementing Article 45 of the Basic Law, which says 'the ultimate aim is the selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures', and Article 68, which says 'the ultimate aim is the election of all the members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage.'
So far, however, seven years after Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty, the government has done nothing to meet these goals.
Of course, it can say that it wants to listen to the public first, rather than to tell the people what to do. However, in the absence of any proposals, it is difficult for the community to enter a thorough and systematic debate. At the least, the government should present several alternative scenarios and explain what it sees as the pros and cons of each.
So far, in the absence of government leadership, the non-government sector has come up with various ideas. One, is to expand the size of the legislature from 60 to 90 seats in 2008, so that the number of policymakers elected through universal suffrage can be doubled from 30 to 60, while keeping 30 functional seats. This is meant to cater to both the democrats, who want to see more directly elected seats, and the more conservative elements, who want to see functional seats retained.
Such a model would not, by itself, fulfil the 'ultimate aim' stipulated in the Basic Law. However, it may be a transitional step, because with 60 of 90 seats filled through direct election, it may be easier to meet the Basic Law's requirement that the move to universal suffrage be approved by two-thirds of the Legco members.
Similarly, the proposal, made by Tsang Yok-sing, the former chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, and by others, to set up a nomination committee - perhaps by using the current election committee - to nominate several candidates, all of whom are acceptable to Beijing, before asking the electorate to choose among them, can only be an interim proposal.
This is because such a system, while certainly superior to the current one, will not be fully democratic and cannot be considered to have met the 'ultimate aim' in Article 45.
Such compromises, to be used in 2007 for the election of the chief executive and in 2008 for the election of Legco members, are acceptable only if it is clear that they are transitional measures.
Since the Basic Law emphasises the need for gradualism in moving towards full democracy, such transitional measures would certainly be in full accord with our mini-constitution.
What is important, however, is to emphasise that such moves can only be considered steps on the way to the 'ultimate aim'. They cannot on their own be considered the realisation of this.
What is needed at this stage is not only agreement on what the transitional measures may be, but also on a certain date for the realisation of universal suffrage. One possibility would be to go for 2012, when there will be elections for both the chief executive and the legislature.
Many people have pointed out that if the legislature is given a full mandate by being elected through universal suffrage first, then the chief executive would have even less legitimacy than now.
The best situation would be for the chief executive and the legislature to be simultaneously chosen by universal suffrage, so that both of the 'ultimate aims' in the Basic Law can be realised at the same time.
Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based journalist and commentator
