I am upset, if not furious, about the comments made by P.Y. Chan in his letter dated August 5 (“ What Hong Kong’s banned Legco hopefuls fail to grasp ”). I doubt if Chan, from faraway Ontario, understands the implications of the disqualification of 12 Legislative Council candidates here. Chan mentioned sovereignty. What about the autonomy promised by the Joint Declaration? It has already been overridden by the national security law, which was passed arbitrarily in a rush , and in which Hongkongers had no say. While Chan would support its passage as he applauds sovereignty, what he is overlooking is Hongkongers’ deepest urge to have a window or channel left to voice our views, however insignificant, and the banned Legco hopefuls could have been our outspoken representatives. We made our humble voices heard with our votes in last year’s District Council election, and we did have high hopes of voting in the ones we thought were capable enough to counterbalance the incompetence of some in the Legco. However, our earnest wish has been denied and we have been deprived of this right. What’s the point of an election with only candidates favoured by the local or central government? While Chan might want only one voice, probably the pro-establishment camp’s, in Legco, would that be a healthy system? His apparent premise that those pan-democrats would oppose the government and that their disagreement would amount to a challenge to sovereignty is groundless. Is the pro-establishment camp always right ? Chan elaborated on our minimal ability to think big. This is utterly unjustified. While some of us, if not all, support voices other than the mouthpieces for Beijing, we do not take democracy for granted, or uphold personal rights over the general well-being of society. It is exactly because we value this city as a whole that we cannot bear to see it being torn apart piece by piece through the erosion of its systems, be they political, judicial or even educational. Contrary to what Chan claimed, I would say this generation is cultivated, capable of independent thinking, and values fairness and justice. How long does it take to awaken a generation from political indifference and social apathy? This generation has done it, and this is what we take pride in. Helen Lo, Sham Shui Po