Stand up for your rights
The District Council election on November 24 once again proved Hong Kong citizens' determination to remove the Tung administration in the name of freedom and democracy.
This year, the voting percentage rose to 44.06 per cent, compared to 35 per cent in 1999. In total, 1,065,363 citizens voted. Moreover, the Democratic Party won the majority of the seats in the council.
So why did the Democratic Party outwit the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB)? Actually, not many people agree with the radical and irrational ways in which the Democratic Party voices its opinions, scolding the government with no constructive suggestions.
People who cast their vote for the Democratic Party may not necessarily support it, rather, they wanted to show dissatisfaction with Tung Chee-hwa. And it just happens that the DAB is pro-Tung.
Another trend was that candidates below the age of 30 increased by 1.3 times. It's something we should be happy about. Young people in Hong Kong have always been criticised for not paying any attention to politics. But this election has clearly shown that we do care about what's happening in Hong Kong and we do care that we're now putting up with an inefficient leader who relies on the help of mainland China to drum up support.
We should thank Mr Tung, actually - without him, we wouldn't know that we were so powerful, so full of the spirit of unity, or that we could also play a role in politics by pressing the government for a better society. We tasted success on July 1 when we voiced opposition to the Article 23 proposals and now we are succeeding in transferring the balance of power to the Democratic Party.
Mr Tung has to pay for what he has done. No matter how hard he's trying to improve himself, we've suffered enough.
Victory will be in our hands soon. All we need is to sustain this spirit of unity among Hong Kong citizens.
Pulcheria is a regular SYP columnist.
