If you survey the political landscape of Hong Kong today, terms like "splittists" and "splittism" may come to mind.

Apologies in advance for using such loaded words; they were first used by Maoists to denounce people whom the Great Helmsman deemed counter-revolutionary enemies of the Communist Party state. But they are useful and graphic descriptors of the Hong Kong political scene, where you find people splitting away from their once-mainstream and dominant political parties or associations, whether it's the pro-Beijing, pro-government or the pan-democratic camps. This is why such general terms - of which I am guilty as a columnist for using too much as shorthand terms - are no longer adequate.

You have seen how bullies from People Power assaulted leaders of the Democratic Party in Central last week. The divisions within the Alliance for True Democracy, an umbrella association of key pan-democratic groups, are well-known. But the traditional allies of the government are breaking away, too. The Liberal Party, much weakened and now needing to play the populist card, is no longer a pro-government party. In fact, as a proxy for the business and property sectors, it has been a frequent opponent of the Leung Chun-ying administration's policies, especially its anti-property-bubble measures. Among the property tycoons, Leung probably can only count on Ronnie Chan Chi-chung of Hang Lung Properties.