FIRST it was Director of Education Dominic Wong Shing-wah who insisted that the tragic events of June 4, 1989 were not a matter that should be mentioned in the history textbooks of Hong Kong's schools. Now it is the Democratic Party which seems to be anxious to delete any reference to Tiananmen Square from its platform for fear of it looking like a history book. Party leaders predictably deny there is any political significance in the move: insisting they will continue to mark June 4 in other ways. Certainly they are unlikely to win any favours from China for such a gesture. So, perhaps they are right, and it is simply a matter of presentation, albeit one which they have bungled badly. But the Democrats, of all people, should know better than to tamper with the memories of an event so deeply ingrained in the minds of Hong Kong people. The increasing trend towards sanitising references to June 4 are troubling. And the Democrats, who might have been expected to oppose it, do no one any favours by - whether inadvertently or not - jumping on the bandwagon.
