The View | How Hong Kong came to be governed by an oligarchy

After the Occupy movement ended, the government hoped political reform would take a back seat to livelihood issues. However, livelihood issues are inextricably linked to politics. Without a working political system to aggregate diverse views and interests, the implementation of livelihood policies will become unavoidably opportunistic, populist and fragmented.

The background to this situation lies with the political forces that formed around two large coalitions in the lead-up to 1997: the democrats versus the establishment.

The democratic coalition had initially two groups of supporters – the social liberals and the liberal democrats. The social liberals favoured an expanded role for social policies, wanted to limit economic liberalism, and were ready to use populist democracy to realise their goals.

The liberal democrats were more concerned about building liberal democracy to shield Hong Kong from Beijing and protect civil and economic liberties, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, rule of law, and private property rights.

The establishment coalition also contained several diverse interests. Business and professional interests supported the rule of law, private property rights, free markets, and low taxes, but were divided in their support for political democracy. Some supported it as a system to uphold the rule of law and protect private property rights.