I am a university student who took part in a number of protests against the
now-shelved extradition bill in June because I was concerned that criminal suspects transferred to mainland China would not be guaranteed
a fair trial. However, I have now stopped protesting because of the increasing polarisation and violence of the protests. I am writing to address such issues and suggest an alternative path for achieving the five demands of the protests.
First, I would like to address the extent of the polarisation in Hong Kong society and violence between protesters and the police, and explain why this rift does little to achieve protesters’ demands. For instance, protesters have
lit fires in the streets and hurled petrol bombs at the police force. The police retaliate by employing
water cannons and tear gas. Such conflicts have not resulted in progress in attaining police-related demands, such as the setting up of an
independent investigation into the police’s use of force, or the release of previously arrested protesters. Instead, there has been a vicious cycle of protests, government condemnations of violence and crackdowns on protesters.
It is time protesters rethink how to effectively achieve the demands of the movement, and find representatives who can serve as a voice to work out various action plans with the government. For instance, I believe that both the government and protesters would agree to uphold the aspiration for democracy and would want to set up a certain degree of, if not an entire system of, universal suffrage.
The means to achieve this would be through dialogue, policymaking and policy implementation. The dialogue we need should consist of a compromises between the government and protesters regarding the political aims to be achieved, and how to achieve them. Then, these aims should be implemented as promised.
Change does not come overnight, but through a series of compromises and concrete actions.
Rachel Wong, Pok Fu Lam
