IT is time to stop talking about the British ''giving'' democracy to Hongkong. This kind of thinking helps to prevent the development of democracy in Hongkong by implying that Hongkong people are impotent. Recent letters in your paper have supported this fallacy.
Many Hongkong people, even those now advocating a ''go slow'' approach to democracy, claim to have been fighting for democracy in Hongkong for many years. How can one belittle all of these efforts? Those who have fought for democracy have been threatened for years. They have sacrificed promotion and other benefits as well as their future.
Some are prepared to be branded as ''traitors,'' some may lose their positions in government, some may go to prison, and some are prepared to pay the ultimate price.
With the price so high, how can it be that the British are ''giving'' democracy to Hongkong? How can one belittle the price that will be paid if democracy is achieved? Most of the price for confronting the British and the Chinese over democracy may not yet have been paid, but a price it is nonetheless, and as such, nothing will have been given to Hongkong that they will not earn.
The British have never ''given'' anything that has not first been fought for.
The blood, sweat, and tears of thousands in China has secured their right to democracy. No matter how long it takes, their sacrifice will be a part of the price paid and no one pays so dearly for a ''gift'' in China or here in Hongkong.
