Hong Kong government submits report surrounding Occupy protests to Beijing

The government report supposedly reflecting Hongkongers' sentiments on Beijing's rulings on political reform has been dismissed by pan-democrats as "economical with the truth".

Pan-democrats yesterday accused the government of intentionally distorting public views with the "unsubstantiated" conclusion that "it is the common aspiration" of Hongkongers to have universal suffrage in 2017 "as scheduled and strictly in accordance with the Basic Law and [Beijing's rulings]".

They vowed to veto any reform proposals based on the rulings in August by the National People's Congress Standing Committee, which they claimed would not allow Hong Kong "genuine universal suffrage".

The report, which is mainly a summary of events and protests related to the August 31 ruling, was submitted to the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office yesterday and was also made available online.

"The office has noticed the development and changes in situations in [Hong Kong], and the central government understands the views of different sectors," an office spokesman said, adding that the August 31 decision was conducive to national interests and that "its legal effect is undoubtable".

In an odd move, however, the government report carries a disclaimer, saying it had only collected materials "in the public domain". It did not "verify the accuracy" and "shall not be held responsible" if anyone incurs any legal liability in using the report. It also said it "cannot guarantee" all opinions were included.

The compilation of the report was promised by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor at a meeting in October with activists from the Federation of Students, which had led the 79-day Occupy Central protests that ended on December 15.

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The criticism came as student leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung said the report did not even qualify as "a piece of liberal studies homework" - in which secondary pupils were required to analyse and express their views on current affairs - because it had distorted public demands for genuine democracy.

Dr Robert Chung Ting-yiu, director of the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme, said he was disappointed by a report that mostly described what had happened since the central government laid down a stringent framework for political reform in August.

"We welcomed the government's idea to compile a public sentiments report with a hope that it could explore the ways forward to ease the political deadlock, but it fails to meet that objective," said Chung.

He said it failed to acknowledge that the mass civil disobedience movement last year originated from its first-round reform consultation report to Beijing that had disappointed many democracy supporters.

While a government spokesman said the report had "reflected truthfully the events related to constitutional development" from August 31 to December 15, Chung said it did not compare which incidents could better reflect the views of Hongkongers.

"If the compilers of the government's report were only primary school level, I could still grade them a pass," Chung said.

Civil Society Joint Action - founded by a group of academics and professionals, including Chung, in November - will produce its own version of the public sentiments report next month.

Fellow group member Eric Cheung Tat-ming, a legal scholar at HKU, questioned whether the report had met professional standards as it frequently described the pro-democracy protests as "unlawful assemblies".

As most protests during the 79 days of Occupy Central were peaceful, Cheung said it would only constitute the charge of "unauthorised assembly" rather than "unlawful assembly".

One notable omission from the report was the stripping of former Liberal Party leader James Tien Pei-chun of his seat on the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in October after his calls for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to step down.

Tien said his remarks on Leung should have been included. "The call was based on the fact that Leung had failed to govern properly; the report should tell Beijing that Hong Kong has become ungovernable under Leung's administration."

Wong, convenor of student activist group Scholarism, also criticised the government for "twisting" public opinion in the report's conclusion.

"How can they say that it's a common aspiration among all Hongkongers to follow the national legislature's 831 [August 31] decision in implementing universal suffrage? It's only understandable if you say ... some residents," Wong said.

Pro-democracy concern group Hong Kong 2020 said the government's report failed "totally to convey the deep sense of disappointment and betrayal felt by Hong Kong people" at the August decision.