My Take | New polls system needed to restore political order
- Truthfully, the electoral overhaul is much less democratic, not more, but Beijing has no choice after the wreckage wrought in the city by the opposition and anti-government movement
Order is governability. No society can function without it. Hong Kong was on the brink of chaos for more than six months in 2019. No Western democratic society would have tolerated such a long period of social unrest.
It only happened in Hong Kong, ironically, because of a mixture of unusual freedom in a city of authoritarian communist China and local government incompetence. Only a highly disciplined police force kept the city from descending into complete anarchy.
But that was the last straw. The central government had no choice but to radically overhaul Hong Kong’s political system to keep the city from spiralling out of control.
That’s why the city needs the new polls plan promulgated by members of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee this week.
Action, reaction; did the rioters and their opposition supporters think they wouldn’t have to pay a heavy price for setting the city they claimed to love on fire? As it is, everyone in Hong Kong will now pay a political price for their “idealism”.