Disappointment is to be expected at the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to rule out universal suffrage for the election of the chief executive and all legislators in 2012, the wish of a majority of Hong Kong people. But it is tempered by a silver lining in the decision, and should now be put aside in favour of following a clear path that has opened up towards democratic development.
The NPC decision paves the way for the achievement of universal suffrage for both the chief executive and Legislative Council within a time frame. In that respect we should welcome it and seize the opportunity. In ruling that Hong Kong may not elect its leader directly until 2017, the NPC has left the way open to elect Legco by universal suffrage at the first opportunity after that. The earliest possible Legco election year would be 2020. Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has lost no time in adopting it as the goal.
Timetable
We now have what pro-democracy forces have clamoured for - a timetable to achieve full universal suffrage, the ultimate goal of constitutional development laid down in the Basic Law.
It is a timetable the democrats may find hard to accept. But at least it sets deadlines for forging consensus from the many diverse views in the community on the way forward. It was the enormous difficulties in reconciling these views that forced Mr Tsang to rethink his approach of seeking consensus on a road map to democracy and models for universal suffrage first, and then setting a timetable. He acknowledges that persisting with this approach might effectively have held back the pace of constitutional development. He rightly adds in his statement yesterday that if emotional debate and conflict between political parties drags on, Hong Kong's stability and development could also be hampered. Mr Tsang is to be commended for a sensible change of course in the hope that a timetable will prompt protagonists to make serious attempts to narrow their differences.
Rather than moaning about not getting universal suffrage in 2012, politicians should now work towards 2017 and 2020. A five-year delay is better than having an indefinite debate over an issue that has bogged Hong Kong down for 20 years.
It is true the democrats may find it difficult to accept a rather tenuous promise of possible universal suffrage in 2017 - and only for the chief executive. But now that the NPC has left the door open for electing Legco by universal suffrage in 2020, there is no reason for them to stand in the way of progress. In 2005, they achieved nothing by blocking a limited package of reforms put forward for this year's chief executive election and next year's Legco election, other than to give Beijing an excuse for ruling out 2012 on the dubious basis that this would not be in line with the Basic Law's requirement for progress to be gradual.
