Everybody loses in Hong Kong game of political stalemate
Keane Shum says protesters and the government keep playing the same game to the same standstill, when they should be trying to change the script
The roles, even the lines, are well rehearsed now. The government, whether intending to assert its authority or simply carry out routine administrative tasks, takes clumsy actions that seem completely oblivious to public sentiment.
The government and its supporters are sharp in their rebukes, condemning the naive and reckless – also unpatriotic/subversive/separatist – youths who would try to tear apart the fabric of society, undermine the rule of law and abuse our sterling police force. Voices of the protest movement preface their pronouncements by saying they are not trying to justify violence, but that the government should accept some responsibility for breeding discontent.
Both sides keep playing the same game to the same standstill, only instead of a draw, everyone loses, the spectators most of all. This feels painfully obvious to me and, I can only hope, to government and protest leaders as well. Why then aren’t they trying to change the script?
This was never going to be easy, integrating one of the most freewheeling cities in modern times into history’s largest communist autocracy. But the government hasn’t done itself any favours by consistently demonising anyone who expresses what is clearly a widely held fear of the mainland encroaching on our way of life.
READ MORE: Inside Mong Kok – Hong Kong’s simmering melting pot where passions can boil over
Pragmatic suggestions from the public could be implemented in the spirit of responding to the citizenry – “From the masses, to the masses”, as Mao would say – rather than appear as giving in to protesters’ demands. A government website could log petitions and trigger an official response if they reach a threshold of, say, 10,000 signatures.
A series of public debates on law, culture and identity could bring together officials, academics and students, not unlike the civil discussion the chief secretary had with the Occupy student leaders in October 2014.
Assuming the protest leaders have a strategy, it should focus on the matters that concern large swathes of the populace: universal suffrage, freedom of expression, and, now, arbitrary detention.
For there is no shortage of issues that make a large plurality, if not a majority, of Hongkongers wary of the ever-lengthening arm of mainland Chinese justice. Those are the issues to rally peacefully around – not street hawking and parallel trading – and reclaim the moral high ground. Seize these opportunities by capturing the public’s sympathy through strictly non-violent protest, and not just the usual marches and sit-ins. The box office success of Ten Years proved that there is a large, willing audience still ready to engage the debate as long as it is presented creatively, thoughtfully and professionally. Amateur hour is long over.
READ MORE: Beijing signals less tolerant approach in branding instigators of Mong Kok riot as Hong Kong ‘separatists’
The growing pains of our curious reverse adoption by China were inevitable. But another violent outburst and this seemingly endless loop of political stalemates don’t have to be. With some humility, and a little innovation, we could find some common ground; maybe even some solutions.
Or we can each stick to our tried, tested and failed ways and watch the same scenes play out over and over again for the next 31 years.
Keane Shum is a lawyer in Hong Kong