Two weeks ago, I had an inside view of how hopelessly divided Hong Kong's once-proud democracy movement has become. It was painful to watch. Two of the movement's leaders came on my TV show to discuss the drubbing of the democrats in the district council elections. The icy contempt they had for each other startled me. It went way beyond simple political differences. Off and on camera they left no doubt that the bad blood ran too deep for even simple niceties.
For me, it made for an awkward situation. There was no handshake, small talk or even a nod to acknowledge each other's presence. When one or the other talked, they looked only at me, not at each other. After the show, they studiously went their separate ways without even a cursory goodbye.
It is hard to believe Sin Chung-kai and Christopher Lau Gar-hung were once comrades-in-arms in the fight for democracy. Sin, the vice-chairman of the Democratic Party, is a serious and affable man. Lau, the leader of People Power, is easy-going despite his radical brand of politics. But, that day, I saw another side of them - an angry, spiteful side that does no justice to their shared democratic cause.
Get used to it. This is the new, scowling face of our democracy movement. What we're now seeing is the self-destruction of a movement that once boasted a message that resonated with the people. That message has lost much of its magic, dulled first from inefficient use, and, later, by inept articulation.
Hong Kong's democracy movement began as a noble cause associated with such towering figures as Martin Lee Chu-ming and the late Szeto Wah. It is now associated with the thuggish tactics of people such as legislator Wong Yuk-man of People Power.
That Sin and Lau, both solders of the democratic cause, were not talking to each other is in itself an affront to the democracy ideal. But their mutual contempt goes beyond them to the parties they lead - and for no reason other than that the Democratic Party backed the government's political reform deal, which People Power felt didn't go far enough.
