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DAB member Holden Chow Ho-ding

Accept Beijing's democracy 'morsel' and keep working for real reform

I do not share David Akers-Jones' overflowing enthusiasm for Robert Chow Yung and his Alliance for Peace and Democracy.

I do not share David Akers-Jones' overflowing enthusiasm for Robert Chow Yung and his Alliance for Peace and Democracy ("Academics are acting irresponsibly", September 11).

The silent majority that they both like to invoke is politically inert, indifferent and complacent, and therefore malleable in the hands of pro-establishment puppets.

I distrust any organisation that has alliance in its title, as it suggests an underlying lack of cohesion and direction.

As for peace and democracy, the piece of democracy that the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has handed down for the chief executive election in 2017 is minute and not particularly tasty.

Holden Chow of the Young Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) pleads with the pan-democrats to consider the cost to society if they veto the proposed political reform ("Pan-dems must think of cost to society of political reform veto", September 12).

One of your columnists wryly remarked recently that DAB stands for direct administration from Beijing, and I tend to agree with him ("Markets more focused on what Hong Kong could lose than universal suffrage", August 29). However, I do think that Holden Chow has a point.

If "one person, one vote" becomes institutionalised in the Hong Kong system, it is a valid component of a true democratic system - even if the actuality of that vote will be meaningless in 2017 due to a paucity of candidates.

The democrats do need a reality check. Genuine democracy will not come to Hong Kong until China is genuinely democratic.

The ruling Communist Party has not the slightest inclination to allow true democracy here, or anywhere. Occupy Central can occupy until the cows come home, but they will remain impotent to exert any pressure on China to change.

It is best to take the morsel that has been thrown to us. And then keep protesting for real reform and working to influence "one person, one vote" and then further more meaningful political democratic change throughout China. The mainland tourists visiting here are not blind.

The Communist Party will not last forever and Hongkongers who feel for freedom and democracy can help it along towards its demise.

In the meantime, the DAB should work for real betterment and progress in Hong Kong, and stop being a compliant tool of the Communist Party.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Accept Beijing's morsel and keep working for real political reform
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