MORE THAN 13 YEARS after an anti-subversion provision was instated in the Basic Law, there appears to be a fundamental change of public sentiment over the controversial article.
As the government prepares to start the lawmaking process, public fears and anxieties about the new legislation stem mainly from their lack of trust in the Hong Kong government, not doubts about the communist leadership of China.
Sceptics have no confidence that the SAR's leaders are able to produce a good piece of legislation and resist pressure from influential sectors, such as conservatives in the pro-Beijing circle, to curb freedoms.
This is in contrast with the sentiment of the populace 13 years ago, when the Communist Party leadership decided to insert a last-minute provision in the Basic Law to ban subversive activities, in the wake of, among other things, the Tiananmen protests.
Stunned by the outpouring of support Hong Kong people gave to the student protesters in Tiananmen Square, Beijing leaders became obsessed with the idea that Hong Kong's openness would make it vulnerable to infiltration by so-called hostile international forces.
Senior Beijing officials had then labelled Hong Kong a potential base for subversion and the city's flagship pro-democracy organisation, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, was also called subversive.
