Pulled apart by indifference

Hong Kong's next chief executive will take office on July 1 next year, after being 'elected' by 800 people. Nine years after the handover, the lack of progress on democratic political reform has turned the city into an international laughing stock. It will cast a shadow over the planned celebrations of our 10th anniversary, next year, as a special administrative region.

Last week, Chief Secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan told a London audience that the community needed to forge a consensus on a model for implementing universal suffrage. If Hong Kong was going to move forward, all the principal players - the democratic camp, other factions in Legco, the business sector and the government - had to compromise on key issues.

Mr Hui neglected to tell his audience that Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has done little to foster trust between the various parties since becoming chief executive in June last year. Mr Tsang did make a good start, however, by leading a delegation of all Legislative Council members to Guangdong province in September last year. For over a decade, Bejing had banned more than a dozen of those Legco members from visiting the mainland. However after the visit, the ban was not lifted.

Mr Hui referred to Legco's rejection of the chief executive's political development package in December: but he didn't mention that Mr Tsang had refused to discuss the package with the 25 pro-democracy legislators. In fact, Mr Tsang has never met pro-democracy legislators to discuss constitutional reform, not to mention explore ways of reaching a 'meaningful compromise'.

In the coming weeks, a small number of people will take part in the election of the 800 members of the Election Committee. That committee will 'elect' the next chief executive on March 27. This election generates little excitement because many people cannot take part. Furthermore, they believe the result of the March election to be a foregone conclusion: Beijing will endorse Mr Tsang for another term.

To prevent any surprises in the Election Committee poll on December 10, officials of the central government's liaison office have been working overtime to co-ordinate the nominations and to warn off unwelcome candidates. Since the Election Committee is dominated by business and professional people - many of whom have business ties in the mainland - this makes them particularly susceptible to pressure.