Be thankful for HK's colonial past
Anna Tse's letter ('Hamstrung by colonial past', December 30) illustrates various problems certain people in Hong Kong have with universal suffrage.
She presents arguments, essentially for stalling or limiting its implementation, all of which we have heard before and none of which is legitimate.
She contends that universal suffrage need not be introduced instantly.
Presumably this is because, as she implies, Hong Kong residents have not yet earned the right to it because they lack 'political maturity' and cannot be trusted to resist the 'easy decline into demagogy'.
It always strikes me as ironic that opponents of universal suffrage prefer the current crisis-ridden, non-mandated and stagnant political situation to real democracy, as if genuine democracy will end up being somehow even more chaotic.
There is no reason to deny the city immediate universal suffrage. It is an insult to suggest that Hongkongers are political dupes, yet this is a well-worn inference trotted out by opponents of democracy.