The rise of identity politics
As 2006 draws to a close, Hong Kong is going through a significant new political transition. The first element of that change emerged from the recent Election Committee sub-sector elections: voters in the professional sub-sectors clearly showed that they favoured a contested chief executive election in March. That explains why the pan-democrat tickets won so handsomely.
Those results were a boost for Alan Leong Kah-kit, the pan-democrat challenger. For Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, who is expected to stand for re-election, a contested election should provide the opportunity to run a campaign as if the populace were voting for him directly. He could address the community as a whole, instead of being confined to the 'small-circle' game played in the Election Committee.
The public is waiting to hear the candidates' long-term visions and concrete policy strategies. Even though most citizens remain disenfranchised, their views should have more weight in an increasingly open and competitive election. If so, the election process could mark the beginning of a collective search by Hong Kong society for the way forward.
Should the national leadership in Beijing also appreciate the merit of such a chief executive election, then a virtuous cycle will have crept in, making it a win-win situation for all sides.
The second element in Hong Kong's transition was reflected in the public protest against the demolition of the Star Ferry clock tower. The growing public opposition to the demolition of landmarks in our collective memory points to the rise of a new politics of identity. We are seeing not merely a conflict between development and conservation, but calls for policymakers to be more assertive in preserving symbols of local roots.
Many Hong Kong Chinese are worried about losing the city's 'Hongkongness'. That is a quality that flows from the city's historical legacy - including its various cultural forms, ways of living, core values and institutional expressions. It underscores the raison d'etre of the Hong Kong system within the 'one country' principle.
For historical reasons, Hong Kong did not undergo a proper process of decolonisation during the pre-1997 transition. But it is not immune from a trend that many new and post-colonial nations have experienced in their transition from a nationalist to post-nationalist stage: classical nationalism gives way to a search for cultural identity, and the single goal of economic development is not strong enough to hold the community together. Decolonisation has only just begun for Hong Kong. It entails twin processes of national identification with the mainland and building a new, distinct cultural identity.
It is clear that the character Beijing wanted to impose on Hong Kong has not worked, and may even have backfired. That was a vision of an economically powerful city that submitted itself, out of patriotism, to the mainland's definition of what is best for both the nation and Hong Kong.
The politics of identity was subscribed to particularly by the more vocal and defiant young middle class. It was fully played out in both the 2003 controversy over national security legislation and in subsequent debates on constitutional reform.
The new middle class is concerned that the indigenous Hong Kong culture might disappear. With the conventional middle-class dream of upward mobility largely shattered after 1997, young, middle-class professionals were pushed towards a rediscovery of politics. In addition to demanding democratisation, they have also become active in the new politics of identity, culture and heritage.
A new era of civil-society interventions - based on action by middle-class people and professional networking - has come to centre stage. New, middle-class activists are setting up their own platforms and agendas for political participation and policy intervention. This is a new brand of politics, posing a new challenge to government and parties alike.
Anthony Cheung Bing-leung is an executive councillor and founder of SynergyNet, a policy think-tank
