Time for Hong Kong's pan-democrats to bury the hatchet

As Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor begins to meet pan-democratic lawmakers for discussions on the political reform framework, certain invited pan-dems have described the meeting as a "trap", if not a "perfect scam", to divide members of the camp.

One political pundit told me that these pan-dems are like "crybabies" who may eventually lose their footing in this end game of political reform.

As this political pundit pointed out, any smart person would begin any kind of political discussion by first approaching those who hold a milder or more liberal stance, which explains why Frederick Fung Kin-kee, Charles Mok and members of the Democratic Party were among the first to be invited to the discussions.

It's evident that, in the eyes of the Hong Kong and central governments, they are deemed more easily approachable, and it's wise for them to seek common ground to facilitate the approval of the political reform blueprint.

What's disconcerting is that, when responding on a radio programme to a survey that showed up to 60 per cent of respondents supported the passing of the reform package, Charles Mok expressed doubts about whether biased wording had been used in the survey, while adding that "there are still 30 per cent in support of the status quo" - as if that was enough reason to veto the reform. Mok is not the only one in the pro-democracy camp to stand firm on this uncompromising view, and one can't help but wonder whether they are actually pursuing their own political careers at the expense of the will of the majority of Hongkongers.

The realisation of the political reform goal is the embodiment of something for which pan-dems' political careers and individual political parties' interests are no match: it epitomises a great leap forward in democratic development for Hong Kong and the entire country.