Blame officials’ lack of faith in Hong Kong voters for Legco election declaration form row
Alice Wu says by imposing a redundant requirement on aspiring lawmakers, the government is making the same mistake it did with political reform – overreacting and alienating the masses
I realise that the phrase “Your word is your bond” has been overused lately. But given the circumstances in Hong Kong, it seems appropriate to be reminded of what it means. It’s about honouring your word, and honouring the trust of those who you have given your word to. It cannot be imposed, which is exactly what is wrong with the controversial declaration form the Electoral Affairs Commission asked aspiring lawmakers to sign.
While the legality of it should be left to our courts, it’s impossible to ignore the few things that are a cause for anxiety.
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The commission’s naiveté is astounding. Nagging must be the worst form of communication and the additional declaration requirement is nagging of the paper-pushing kind. By requiring aspiring candidates to sign what is essentially a redundant declaration on their willingness to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the SAR, it has unnecessarily opened a can of worms.
The logic behind it is convoluted at best. When someone upholds the Basic Law, he or she upholds it in its entirety. If the commission cannot trust the signatories’ word, a second declaration has no effect. When someone doesn’t treat their word as their bond, no amount of paperwork will change that fact. It is precisely because of this that Edward Leung Tin-kei’s nomination was rejected. There is no reason to believe that making Leung sign an additional form would elicit his change of heart about independence.
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The complete breakdown in basic trust is worrying. While there is little surprise that the government finds pro-independence advocates untrustworthy, it is very unfortunate that it has decided to treat all voters as untrustworthy, too. If the government truly believes that only a small group of people are advocating independence, then why would voters not be trusted to keep them out of the Legislative Council?