My Take | Hong Kong students don't deserve seats on chief executive nominating committee

There is at least one thing in Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee's proposal about redistributing seats in the future nominating committee that most people would like.

This involves reducing the absurdly high number of seats - 60 out of 1,200 - that the agriculture and fisheries subsector has been assigned under the old election committee. But beyond that, it's not clear why we should give protesting students seats on the nominating committee which will pick candidates for the 2017 chief executive election.

The idea from the chairwoman of the New People's Party seems to be driven wholly by a need to address the political demands of the Occupy protesters. But there is a problem. First, the leaders of the Federation of Students don't recognise the nominating committee, which as far as they are concerned will have zero legitimacy. That's why they are in the streets in the first place, to fight for what they call civil nomination, which would either neuter or replace such a committee. It goes without saying they don't want any seat on what they consider an illegitimate and democratically unrepresentative body.

Second, it's not clear who and what the federation represents. It appears their power base primarily rests in Admiralty but has limited influence in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. Neither the student leaders nor anyone else could really claim to represent or speak for the "umbrella" movement. So far, the students have been fighting for what they call "real" universal suffrage. Would they represent the pan-democrats in the newly reassigned seats in the nominating committee? Would not other pan-democratic groups with a longer history and better organisation deserve those seats?

Now Ip seems to argue the federation could represent young people. But as far as I know, the student leaders have never really tackled youth issues such as education, lack of employment, poor housing prospects, social mobility and economic opportunity. Far more qualified social workers, economists and even political parties have pondered and worked on such issues.

So while we should welcome new ideas at a time when nobody seems to have any good ideas for overcoming the Occupy impasse, Ip's proposal is not workable.