Source:
https://scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3015785/why-hong-kong-protesters-must-fight-greater-rights-not-just-protect
Comment/ Letters

Why Hong Kong protesters must fight for greater rights, not just to protect what they have

  • The shelving of the extradition bill has been celebrated by some as a victory, but it is not enough to stop the erosion of civil rights in Hong Kong
Protesters march against the extradition bill, in Hong Kong on June 16. Many view recent legislative proposals as eroding the city’s judicial independence and, more broadly, as a sign of the central government’s efforts to chip away at the freedoms of this semi-autonomous special administrative region of China. Photo: AP

I write in response to the phenomenal backlash in Hong Kong against the government-proposed extradition bill (“Hong Kong tense but calm as police pursue justice and protesters plan ahead”, June 23). As a Hongkonger, witnessing over two million people marching on June 16 in protest was a reminder that we still have hope of defending our values. However, if our existing civil rights continue to be threatened, I am afraid society as a whole will focus on trying to safeguard – rather than maximise – our civil liberties.

A decade ago, scholars including political scientist Sonny Lo Shiu-Hing noted that our city was increasingly politically influenced by, and economically dependent on, mainland China. At the time, however, the core values of Hong Kong – high autonomy and the rule of law – remained very strong. Hongkongers believed they deserved the right to select their own chief executive, and were striving for universal suffrage.

Since then, Hong Kong has experienced a substantially greater extent of mainlandisation. From the proposal to make national education mandatory in schools in 2012, to the incidents related to the disappearance of book publishers in 2015 and again in early 2018, and the recent proposal to amend the extradition law, Beijing has speeded up the process of political, social and legal intervention in Hong Kong.

Although both the national education and extradition proposals have been suspended due to public pressure, it is plausible that Beijing will continue to tighten the space for our civil rights and freedom.

When Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor backed down on the extradition bill, announcing it had been suspended and setting no time frame for its reintroduction, many labelled it as a victory for Hong Kong people, even though all we did was safeguard what we already had.

This worries me. We are so focused on defending what is ours that we may not remember to strive for rights like universal suffrage, which is our deserved right under “one country, two systems”.

Even if our civil liberties – in the form of social, economic, political and legal autonomy and freedom – are not further eroded, we should always remember that Hong Kong people deserve the maximisation of civil rights.

Jason Hung, London