June 4 vigil still important for Hong Kong
I am concerned about the controversy over commemorations in Hong Kong of the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989.
In April, the Hong Kong Federation of Students withdrew from the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organises the annual June 4 candlelight vigil at Victoria Park. Althea Suen Hiu-nam, president of the University of Hong Kong students’ union, asked whether such commemorations should be ended.
Localists in the pro-democracy camp oppose the China-oriented remembrance of the massacre in Beijing 27 years ago, particularly the call for democratisation in the country. They are also dissatisfied with the candlelight vigil, for being merely ceremonial and ineffective.
I disagree with localists and student leaders who say there should no longer be any remembrance of the June 4 incident.
The 1989 student-led, pro-democracy movement and military crackdown on June 4 are taboo subjects on the mainland.
Activists like Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) demanding official reassessment of the movement are persecuted. Youngsters on the mainland are increasingly ignorant about what happened. For 27 years, Hong Kong has been the only Chinese city where large-scale commemorations of the Tiananmen Square crackdown are freely held. If Hongkongers abandon such remembrances, precious memories of the crackdown will gradually fade.