The View | Hong Kong: one city, two narratives

The pan-democrats are a heterogeneous group that shares a common "bottom-up narrative" of "one country, two systems". This narrative anchors political decision-making in the people and no one else, and it is influenced by three things: (1) democratic ideals, (2) championing the underprivileged and disadvantaged, and (3) defending civil liberties against Beijing.

The democratic ideals are rooted in the theory that political liberty is the foundation of the rule of law and other economic and civil liberties. Adherents regard a diversity of minority interests as the pluralistic foundation of a democratic polity, and majority rule as the democratic expression of society's preferences and its general will.

However, such a system can be held hostage to all kinds of vested interests, which is why the "establishment narrative" regards it suspiciously. It fears both the tyranny of the majority and the tyranny of the minorities, and surmises that since Hong Kong developed a robust rule of law and economic and civil liberties without political liberty under British rule, why change the game?

The second influence on the bottom-up narrative has its roots in the democratic movement of the 1980s. Many leaders of this movement were drawn from non-government organisations, in particular the professional and labour unions and social service advocates and providers, who shared two common characteristics: (1) they did not belong to the circle of Beijing sympathisers, and (2) their main, non-political work involved pressuring or lobbying government for resource transfers and favourable regulatory treatment.

These leaders championed the underprivileged and disadvantaged, and seldom challenged the existing political arrangements. Instead, they served as watchdogs and critics of government actions and policies. They could not share in political power under British rule, but as 1997 loomed on the horizon, they saw an opportunity for this to change with the promise of greater democracy. This bloc began to evolve into an opposition coalition focused on labour and social issues.

The business and professional elite naturally feared that this group would advocate big social welfare spending and threaten Hong Kong's limited government and free enterprise system. The Basic Law, which promised democracy, did not resolve the conflict between these two narratives, which has intensified today.