Public Eye | Don't let hatred of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying extend to his family problems

How much is Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying loathed? The answer lies in the way some in the media are gleefully exploiting the latest Facebook postings by his troubled daughter Leung Chai-yan. Where is the line between the public's right to know and protecting the privacy of political leaders? Is it in the public interest to know about the painful and private family problems of a person, even if that person is the chief executive? Those who loathe Leung say there is no line in his case because his daughter has made her troubled relationship with her parents public. True, her bizarre postings on social media mean Leung has lost his right to privacy. But the media can still choose restraint instead by heeding Leung's plea to give the family some space. Loathe the man all you want, but should this loathing also translate into gloating over his daughter posting that she wants to jump off a building?

Another week, another public opinion survey. We're swamped by them. Forget the fact that survey organisers skew the questions to get the answers they want. Remember only this fact: despite the skewing, almost all the recent polls, including that released by the Chinese University last Sunday, show Hongkongers are sharply divided on democracy. Half are willing to accept Beijing's political reform framework, the other half are not. Which half is on the right side of future history? Don't answer that. Ask instead which way legislators should vote.

Our democratic future lies in the hands of 70 lawmakers. Should they vote according to their conscience or should they put aside conscience and do what's really best for the people? Is one person, one vote for the 2017 chief executive election best for the people even if conducted through a framework considered as fake democracy by half of Hong Kong? Or is voting down the framework best for the people even though half of Hong Kong wants it passed?

Here's what will happen if legislators vote down the reforms: one person, one vote is possibly gone for good, and we'll have to live indefinitely with the current undemocratic system of 1,200 election committee members picking the chief executive. Whoever ends up winning will lack a real mandate to govern. That will make the legislature far more dysfunctional than it is now, unable even to handle crucial livelihood issues. Approving the reforms will allow millions of voters to give the next leader a mandate to govern, even if through a supposedly fake democracy process.