THE positions taken by Meeting Point (MP) and the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), (South China Morning Post, April 25) for banning all foreign passport holders from Legislative Council elections is a regrettable and regressive step for democracy in Hongkong.
How is it possible for someone to believe in democracy, and at the same time advocate discrimination? When one believes in liberty and democracy, one must also believe in the equality of men.
Why are the supposedly pro-democracy parties toeing the Chinese Government's line and actually going further? By arithmetic alone, Hongkong with 97 per cent Chinese population will naturally elect Chinese legislators. There is no need to bar any group of people to make sure that only people approved by MP and ADPL are elected.
Is there any difference in the Chinese Government's insistence on checking the legislators' patriotism, and MP and ADPL's ban on foreign passport holders? Why not let the people decide? The saddest part of the whole matter is that MP and ADPL do not even realise that in making public a morally repugnant position like this, they are showing their latent racism for all to see.
It is morally wrong to end 150 years of colonialism and institutionalised discrimination with reverse discrimination. MP and ADPL deserve contempt from the electorate.
One lesson MP and ADPL must learn is that democracy has to be combined with tolerance.
