By-election sounds death knell for Hong Kong localists
The writing is also on the wall for pan-democrats who allied themselves with those seeking autonomy or independence for the city
Their disqualifications have sown deep divisions within society and caused much damage to the body politic, but the latest poll results show that most people either tolerated the government’s high-handed method or might even be glad to see the back of them.
From day one when Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang tried to swear in as a lawmaker by calling China “the people’s re-f***ing public of Chee-na”, people should have seen that radical localism was a dead end. Leung may soon be forgotten but he has taught a whole generation of young people to call China and mainlanders Chee-na and Chee-na-men just like the Japanese imperialists did during the second world war.
At last, pan-democrats, who had tried to be bedfellows with the localists even as the latter completely repudiated their core political commitments, have seen the writing on the wall. Alas, it’s too late.