THE memories of June 4 have faded in Hong Kong. Five years after more than a million people - including pro-Beijing figures - took to the territory's streets to support the Tiananmen Square protests, all eight district board candidates who portrayed themselves as champions of the 1989 democracy movement were beaten.
Political analysts warned it would be dangerous to assume their disastrous showing was automatically linked to fading memories. But at the very least it shows that being a pro-democracy activist is no guarantee of election to the political arena.
They said the activists should learn from these results and concentrate more on local concerns.
Lau Yui-siu, deputy editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly, said they had used the wrong strategy by failing to cover grassroots issues.
He did not rule out successes in next year's municipal and legislative council elections, but said the candidates would have to do more than simply trumpet the abstract concept of democracy.
Pro-democracy activist Lo Hoi-sing, who did not stand in last week's polls, also criticised his colleagues for making the strategic mistake of overemphasising their record in 1989.
'The district board is a consultative body, and the political stance of candidates is not the major consideration of the voters. It may help, but they can't just rely on that,' said Mr Lo who was jailed from 1990-91 for assisting mainland dissidents to escape the country.
