Why young people need a history lesson on the Basic Law

Does teaching young Hongkongers how the Basic Law was drafted in the 1980s hold the key to helping people understand why Beijing has a role in the political reform debate? One young member of a government steering committee thinks it might.

Laurence Tang Yat-long, 24, says the lack of historical knowledge might explain why many in his generation advocate letting the public nominate candidates for chief executive in 2017, despite Beijing's insistence that doing so would breach the city's mini-constitution.

Tang was appointed to the government's Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee, having previously served as president of the student union at the University of Hong Kong. He is the youngest of 21 non-official members of the committee, which is chaired by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and works with the government to promote the Basic Law.

Tang's call reflects the gap between many Hongkongers' views and the insistence of Beijing that the Basic Law allows only a nominating committee to have a say in who runs when the public elects its leader for the first time in 2017.

More than 780,000 people voted in an unofficial referendum in June run by Occupy Central organisers, with the overwhelming majority supporting public nomination. The turnout was widely thought to have been boosted by Beijing's white paper, published just before the poll, which highlighted the central government's "comprehensive jurisdiction" over the city.

The in August, Beijing imposed a stringent framework for reform, insisting only two or three candidates would be allowed to run and that each would need the support of more than 50 per cent of the 1,200 members of the nominating committee.

Tang said Hongkongers had been told the "one country, two systems" principle was intended to guarantee that the city's social and political systems remained unchanged after the 1997 handover, but now officials had changed their tone.