Opinion | HK's young activists bring hope of democracy

The campaign against the introduction of national education has grown in Hong Kong, touching the hearts of many people. It motivated individuals and groups to come forward to organise their own protests or support other large-scale events.

The campaign has effectively evolved into an unstoppable civic movement. The "Occupy Tamar" campaign, organised or supported by members of Scholarism, the National Education Parents' Concern Group and the Professional Teachers' Union, staged an impressive 11-day "occupation" of the government's headquarters as well as a hunger strike.

During the sit-in, tens of thousands of Hongkongers turned up night after night to offer their support. At the peak, an estimated 120,000 people gathered around Tamar. If not for the government climbdown, the campaign could have led to unthinkable social and political impact.

On the surface, the government seems to have compromised by withdrawing the requirement for its implementation in schools in three years and not to bring up the issue in the next five years. In reality, it's a delaying tactic because the issue has only been shelved, not scrapped.

There are reasons why its proposed introduction stirred up so much angst in society. When the subject was raised by the last administration, it didn't seem to raise many eyebrows. The public sees the Leung Chun-ying administration as a political puppet controlled by Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong.

First, Leung won the chief executive election by default, meaning he came to power without a genuine mandate. And then he tried to push through national education despite rising public discontent. People were bound to resist; Leung should have seen it coming.