Hopes for the introduction of full democracy in 2007 and 2008 have been dashed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. But most Hong Kong people still want to make their wishes clear to Beijing through the upcoming Legislative Council election. Riding on this popular sentiment, the democratic camp has, in the past few months, engaged in a series of internal consultations to forge a strategy for winning as many seats as possible. Under the current proportional representation system, electors can only vote for one ticket of candidates, no matter how many seats are being contested in a geographical constituency. The Reverend Chu Yiu-ming and Professor Joseph Cheng Yu-shek of City University have been chairing the meetings aimed at producing the best possible line-up of candidates. Several different combinations of candidates have been released recently: it appears the democratic activists have yet to finalise their decision. The discrepancies have sparked public speculation that there has been a serious rift within the ranks of various democratic parties. Some of their candidates are reportedly poised to run for office against the democratic camp's collective decision. Meanwhile, some sensationalist media outlets have adopted an anti-democratic stance. They portray the democrats' internal differences as an ugly in-house struggle. According to these papers, the democratic camp has been made rotten by some members' gluttony for money and power. The democratic camp is far from being a ruling party. It has neither the power nor money to make political trade-offs. It can only rely on its members' moral principles. Democracy stems from diversity in the first place, so differences in opinion are not only inevitable but healthy. One pro-China businessman has come up with all sorts of insults against the pro-democratic camp. He denounced, for instance, Martin Lee Chu-ming of the Democratic Party as a traitor who has conspired with foreign powers against the motherland. He also insisted that no civilian was killed in the Tiananmen Square suppression in 1989. He was rewarded recently with an invitation to join a group of billionaires touring northeastern China. He claims that Hong Kong's freedom of expression has never been under threat. His illusion might well be built on the fact that he himself enjoys easy access to the media. Newspaper columns aside, he has been given air time on radio and television to spread his message of hate. Recent polls have suggested that the popularity of the democratic camp has been on the decline. But such surveys do not have to be taken too seriously. There are signs to suggest that some of this so-called research has been manipulated by forces that are rallying against the democratic camp. More recently, even the Hong Kong government has become involved by commissioning some so-called independent pollsters to come up with statistics to discredit the democrats. But Hongkongers are too clever to be fooled. At every critical juncture, I believe the public will come forward and be counted, such as in the upcoming July 1 march. I predict a turnout at least half as large as last year's. Vice-President Zeng Qinghong has recently declared that there was no conflict between the central government and the democratic camp. His remarks have helped ease the tension. In any case, the majority of Hong Kong people are staunch supporters of democracy at heart. Those who think the turnouts for the July 1 rally and the September polling day will be much lower than previous occasions may be in for a big surprise. Albert Cheng King-hon is a political commentator
