As Hong Kong winds its way into what looks increasingly like a summer of protest - more than 20,000 attended yesterday's rally in Central to call for democratic elections - the United Nations has reaffirmed the city's ranking as the second-best place to live in Asia.
The measures used in the UN's human development index take account of factors like social spending, average income, gender equality and life expectancy. It also takes into account the city's participation in international human rights treaties. By these measures, Hong Kong has done well for many years. However, there is one factor that the UN index does not take into account, one that would explain why the populace of one of Asia's richest cities has taken to the streets: political development.
Yesterday's rally followed two recent mass protests which drew much higher turnouts - 500,000 marched from Causeway Bay to Central on July 1 and more than 50,000 surrounded the Legislative Council on July 9 to express their opposition to proposed national security legislation and general discontent at the administration of Chief Executive Tung Chee- hwa.
While mass demonstrations are not unusual even in countries where there is full democracy, it is significant that many Hong Kong families are sacrificing comfort on their days off and bracing the intense summer heat to press their case to have the right to elect all their legislators and the chief executive. It is the professional and middle classes who are most dissatisfied with the government. Frustrations are running high, no matter how calmly the crowds are expressing them, and the powers that be who ignore these frustrations do so at their peril.
In just two weeks, the protests have created new political stars. Some of the organisers have announced intentions to run in future elections; and if their current popularity is any indication, their prospects are good. These include people who have never run for office or expressed political ambitions. Many have already observed that the social landscape has shifted since July 1.
What is even more undeniable is that the topic of electoral reform has moved to the centre of both the debate and the political spectrum. When the drafters of the Basic Law deliberated on the shape of our post-1997 political system in the late 1980s, they opted for a gradual approach towards full democracy.
