By consensus, not confrontation
Last Wednesday, 20 legislative councillors from the pro-democracy movement met Chief Executive Tung
Chee-hwa to urge him to support introducing direct elections in 2007 and 2008. That would mean him having to ask the central government to reconsider its decision in April to rule out direct elections for the chief executive in 2007 and for all members of the legislature in 2008. As expected, we were rebuffed. Three days later, Mr Tung met members of The Frontier for the first time. We made a similar request, and got the same response.
On July 1, about 500,000 people braved intense heat and humidity to march for direct elections in 2007 and 2008. The peaceful and dignified demonstration exploded the myth that Hong Kong people do not care about politics and democracy, and that they would not press any demands once a decision has been made, particularly by Beijing. Thus, many people were stunned by the overwhelming turnout.
The meetings with Mr Tung were to ask him to respond positively to the people's desire for democracy. As head of the government, Mr Tung has a duty to reflect the people's concerns to the central government, and also to try to persuade Beijing to heed the people's wishes.
To our dismay, Mr Tung said he had checked with the central government and was told he has no power to reopen the issue. When asked why Beijing said he could not do so, Mr Tung was unable to provide an answer. The incident reinforces the widely held impression that he merely does what he is told.
Mr Tung's meetings with the pro-democracy camp are part of the government's response to the tense political atmosphere. At the beginning of the year, the pro-Beijing camp launched a savage attack on pro-democracy legislators for being unpatriotic. The community became bitterly divided.
In April, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress reinterpreted the Basic Law and ruled out democratic elections in 2007 and 2008. Such high handedness caused uproar in the community. Many of these machinations were related to Beijing's twin worries - a big turnout for the July 1 march and a pro-democracy majority in the legislature after the September 12 election.