Pulled apart by indifference
Hong Kong's next chief executive will take office on July 1 next year, after being 'elected' by 800 people. Nine years after the handover, the lack of progress on democratic political reform has turned the city into an international laughing stock. It will cast a shadow over the planned celebrations of our 10th anniversary, next year, as a special administrative region.
Last week, Chief Secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan told a London audience that the community needed to forge a consensus on a model for implementing universal suffrage. If Hong Kong was going to move forward, all the principal players - the democratic camp, other factions in Legco, the business sector and the government - had to compromise on key issues.
Mr Hui neglected to tell his audience that Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has done little to foster trust between the various parties since becoming chief executive in June last year. Mr Tsang did make a good start, however, by leading a delegation of all Legislative Council members to Guangdong province in September last year. For over a decade, Bejing had banned more than a dozen of those Legco members from visiting the mainland. However after the visit, the ban was not lifted.
Mr Hui referred to Legco's rejection of the chief executive's political development package in December: but he didn't mention that Mr Tsang had refused to discuss the package with the 25 pro-democracy legislators. In fact, Mr Tsang has never met pro-democracy legislators to discuss constitutional reform, not to mention explore ways of reaching a 'meaningful compromise'.
In the coming weeks, a small number of people will take part in the election of the 800 members of the Election Committee. That committee will 'elect' the next chief executive on March 27. This election generates little excitement because many people cannot take part. Furthermore, they believe the result of the March election to be a foregone conclusion: Beijing will endorse Mr Tsang for another term.
To prevent any surprises in the Election Committee poll on December 10, officials of the central government's liaison office have been working overtime to co-ordinate the nominations and to warn off unwelcome candidates. Since the Election Committee is dominated by business and professional people - many of whom have business ties in the mainland - this makes them particularly susceptible to pressure.
As on previous occasions, many property tycoons have been nominated, and they will be re-elected, including Li Ka-shing and son Victor Li Tzar-kuoi of Cheung Kong (Holdings); Sun Hung Kai Properties' Kwok brothers; Peter Woo Kwong-ching of Wharf Holdings; Lee Shau-kee of Henderson Land Development; and Stanley Ho Hung-sun of Shun Tak Properties.
Over the decades, the developers have been given extraordinary amounts of political influence. In fact, the political system is tailor-made for them. The Basic Law grants them, and the professionals who work for them, a big say in choosing Hong Kong's political leaders.
Despite their political clout, the developers are not answerable to the public. On important occasions, they are invited to Beijing to give their views to leaders. They exert influence through these closed-door meetings, to the detriment of Hong Kong's public interest.
In London, the chief secretary talked about the need for meaningful compromise. At present, however, there is no dialogue between the pro-democracy legislators and the developers. Nor is there dialogue between the pro-democracy camp and Beijing.
Furthermore, both the central government and the developers see no need for such dialogue, and they do not want to change the current system. If the administration does not do something to break this impasse, constitutional development will remain a dead-end street.
Emily Lau Wai-hing is a legislative councillor for The Frontier
