It has been a virtual consensus in political circles that the Occupy Central movement has hit a nerve in Beijing. But while the focus has been on the planned day of action itself - which is more than a year away - the organisers themselves are concentrating on their three "Deliberation Days" in which they hope Hongkongers will develop a way to achieve universal suffrage in the 2017 Chief Executive election. The first D-Day is on June 9 and should see 500 supporters and 100 randomly invited members of the public gather at Hong Kong University, where Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who has spearheaded the movement, is a professor of law. Tai is confident the proposal that emerges will not be a radical one given it would by then have been "deliberated" by a majority of Hong Kong people. He believed it should be acceptable to Beijing - in which case there would be no need for the planned blockade of Central. But some pan-democrats fear the proposal will be scuppered, noting that some pro-Beijing newspapers, together with some business chambers, are attacking the campaign of deliberative democracy, a process pioneered by Stanford University professor James S. Fishkin. "I would be surprised if the movement's programme runs as smoothly as planned before the occupy action," said a veteran democrat. "If the pro-Beijing camp boycotts its events, such as the electronic voting, it will weaken the representation of the whole campaign." Joshua But A vigil too far for Horace Chin Conventional wisdom tells us that there's no such thing as a friend forever in politics. A fresh example emerged on Monday when Horace Chin Wan-kan, a vocal supporter of "local interests" - as against national interests - declared he was "parting company with" two new lawmakers - the NeoDemocrats' Gary Fan Kwok-wai and the Civic Party's Claudia Mo Man-ching. Their alliance had worked until it came to this year's annual June 4 vigil organised by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Chin has been appealing to Hongkongers to boycott the event, saying the mainland's political system has nothing to do with Hong Kong's democracy. Fan and Mo disagreed. "Political disputes are nothing as compared to students who lost their lives two decades ago. I will definitely attend the night vigil this year," said Fan. Chin was not impressed. "Local interests cannot be blurred. I will part company with Fan and Mo from now on. We are no longer allies," he posted on his Facebook page. Joshua But Economics first lesson for political class Lawmaker Wong Yuk-man's departure from People Power does not mean he's going to be taking it easy. In a media gathering yesterday, Wong revealed his plan to nurture young talent through his Proletariat Political Institute, an educational organisation offering classes in politics. He is launching a year-long course for about 20 young people that will consist of three two-hour sessions per week. The annual fee will be about HK$10,000. Wong suggested that this was not at all expensive as it is the equivalent of what corporations pay lawmakers like him to give a one-hour talk on media communications. Tony Cheung
