THE debate over women's inheritance rights in the New Territories has unleashed strong, and violent, passions. This is worrying but it is not surprising, for changing the law to end the automatic right of men to inherit rural land would offend ancientcustoms and threaten the dominant male position in village society.
So the opposition to the attempt by legislator Christine Loh Kung-wai to give inheritance rights to indigenous New Territories women is presented as a defence of traditional cultural practices. But there is far less lofty motive for the resistance to Ms Loh's plan: money. The change would weaken men's access to the immense wealth that comes from owning land. Younger sons who stand to inherit riches by virtue of their sex face the risk that their father's land could be passed on to their sisters.
Any one of these factors would be capable of generating outrage and anger; taken together, they are a powerful provocation to the vested interests involved. Opposition to Ms Loh's proposed amendments to the New Territories Land (Exemption) Bill - aimed at reversing the century-old law that stops New Territories women inheriting ancestral property - already has taken the form of violence.
Last month legislator Lee Wing-tat, who supports the change, was punched to the ground during a demonstration outside the Legislative Council. Ms Loh was threatened with violence, including rape, if she visited villages in the New Territories but, thankfully, the threats were not carried out.
But there will be more protests - today, when Legco's Bill Committee discusses Ms Loh's amendments and on April 27, when Legco is due to vote on them. The police already are planning ways of controlling the big crowd expected at this second demonstration, for it has the potential to become violent. The rural representative group Heung Yee Kuk is mounting a well-organised effort to intimidate legislators and may bring as many as 10,000 people to the streets of Central.
Legislators should reject this attempt to stop them dealing with Ms Loh's proposal on its merits. They should give her amendments, which would allow parents to leave their property to their daughters should they choose to do so, the calm and thorough consideration they deserve as a genuine attempt to find a compromise between New Territories cultural tradition and the rights of women.
