weekly
Author: Contributing writer
2019-12-29 20:15
Last updated: 2019-12-29 20:16In the first half of 2019, there was a "# 10yearchallenge" boom in social media. Everyone is keen to post a comparison of ten years ago and the present. Many brands, stars and politicians have followed suit. Change for ten years. Ten years have passed, and some people have experienced ten years as one day, and others have weathered the storm. On the last day of 2019, if we play the Ten Year Challenge again and change the protagonist to "Hong Kong's political system", what kind of results will we see? Is it comforting or sighing? Or will we ask the last question, what has you experienced in Hong Kong's political system in the past ten years?
Written by: Huang Yilin
When it comes to the democratic development of Hong Kong's political system, many people can easily associate with the Democratic Party, the largest party of the Pan-Democratic Party that has won the most support from voters. If we take the time back ten years ago, two major political events in Hong Kong in 2010 happened to be related to the Democratic Party. It should be said, which political event has nothing to do with the Democratic Party?
The first one is for the Citizens Party and Social Democracy Links to fight for Hong Kong to "realize universal suffrage as soon as possible and abolish functional constituencies". On January 26, 2010, it called for five directly elected legislative councils to submit resignation letters. , Hoping to conduct a disguised referendum by the by-elections in the "Five Districts" speech. However, the use of by-elections instead of referendums has been controversial. The mainstream Democratic Party has also clearly opposed the general resignation, and abstained from voting on the "Five District Referendum" motion. The by-elections also failed with an ultra-low 17.1% turnout.
The second major event was the morning of May 24, 2010. The then Democratic Party Chairman He Junren, Vice Chairman Liu Huiqing and Legislative Council Member Zhang Wenguang stepped into the China United Nations Office, joined Li Gang, Vice Chairman of the China United Office, and Minister of Law Feng Wei and others met to discuss the 2012 political reform plan, hoping to improve the electoral methods of the Legislative Council, and lay the foundation for the next political reform to move toward "true universal elections."
Former Democratic Party Chairman He Junren (pictured) Zeng Lian, concurrently Vice Chairman Liu Huiqing and Legislative Council Member Zhang Wenguang, entered the China United Nations Affairs Office to discuss with the officials of the China United Nations Affairs Office the 2012 political reform plan, which caused great controversy. (Profile picture / Photo by Lu Yiming)
Background of the 2012 Political Reform Plan
The Standing Committee of the National People ’s Congress interpreted the Basic Law for the second time in 2004, and determined the “Five Steps” of Hong Kong ’s political reform. The first step was to propose to the Standing Committee of the National People ’s Congress through the Chief Executive the need to review the political reform plan and be approved by the Standing Committee of the National People ’s Congress. .
The SAR Government released the "Green Paper on Political Development" in 2007 to consult citizens on the mode, road map and timetable of dual universal suffrage. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed a decision at the end of the year. Hong Kong will not implement dual universal suffrage in 2012, but the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council The election method can be modified. The Chief Executive can be elected by universal suffrage in 2017, and all members of the Legislative Council can also be elected by universal suffrage.
The decision caused dissatisfaction among the pan-democracy. Since then, several demonstrations have been launched to implement the double universal suffrage in 2012. By 2008, the then Chief Executive, Mr Tsang Yam-kuen, issued a Policy Address and promised to consult on the 2012 Chief Executive and how the Legislative Council should be formed. At the end of 2009, the SAR government sought opinions from all walks of life for three months, and in mid-April 2010 announced the "2012 Chief Executive and the Legislative Council Proposal Proposal Plan", which was ready to be passed by the Legislative Council and lobbying for democratic MPs.
Liu Huiqing pointed out the results of the negotiations with the Joint Office of the People's Republic of China. (Profile picture)
In 2010, the first step in political reform was taken
"The result of the negotiations ten years ago was here. Originally there were only 60 members, but now they are 70. How many people can you vote for? Three million people can vote too. This is what our Democratic Party proposed." At the beginning, Emily Lau, who had been removed from her post as a member of parliament in 2016, took out a document and introduced it cheerfully, telling reporters the current distribution of seats in the Legislative Council and which seats were the result of their efforts to enter the China United Nations Office. How this result is hard to come by.
"Many people think that the extra 10 seats were proposed by the Central Committee. They were mistaken. The Central Committee originally did not support it. We said that we violated the Basic Law. Only at the last minute (Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee) Liang Aishi came out to clarify. Regarding the statement. You know, the Central Committee rarely changes its attitude by itself. After it changed, all the pro-Beijing camps changed accordingly. They were angry and (feeling) ugly. "
Speaking of this past, Emily Lau revealed her hidden pride. Indeed, if according to the 2012 political reform plan proposed by the then Chief Executive Tsang Yam-kuen, the five new functional constituency seats in the Legislative Council will all be elected by district councillors; the Democratic Party proposes to change the territory to those in other functional constituencies Voters are elected one by one, which is now commonly known as "super district councillors", and they have five additional directly elected seats in the districts, that is, a total of ten directly elected legislative seats.
No matter from which point of view, the negotiations between the Democratic Party and the Central Committee have been regarded as a certain achievement in the political process of Hong Kong. However, it was not glory and applause that followed, but internal and external pressures and questions.
(Profile picture / Photo by Luo Junhao)
"The idea at that time was that Hong Kong's political system would take a step forward and progress gradually in 2012, and talks would only take place in 2017 and 2020. The main point was that the central government should not have an excuse to abandon the timetable for dual universal suffrage. The central government has a great chance to withdraw the timetable. But the allies of the democratic parties cannot understand. "Recalling the negotiations with the central government, He Junren, who is now an ordinary party member, still believes that the Democratic Party has made the right decision. In the 2012 political reform plan, the central government will no longer give a timetable for Hong Kong's political reform.
However, at that time, external public opinion was obviously not so interpreted. Many people could not understand the move of the Democratic Party into the China United Nations Office, and even more so that the Democratic Party did not make the slightest commitment to the dual universal suffrage plan for 2017 and 2020. The seats were easily compromised and dissatisfied. The call for "Democratic Party, Selling Hong Kong" spread all over the streets. The then Legislative Councillor, Zheng Jiafu, resigned from the party. The Democratic Party also suffered a heavy blow in the subsequent 2012 Legislative Council elections, and the voting rate fell from 20.63% to 13.65%. The number of seats has also been reduced from eight to six; the Citizens' Party, who opposed the negotiation with the central government, rose from 13.66% to 14.08%, and the number of seats increased from five to six. The Democratic Party is no longer a popular leader, but has become a "traitor" who betrays Hong Kong.
"The political reform in 2012 is not the most important thing. What we value is how to talk to the central government in the future, but what happened later? Radical democrats have been attacking and chasing the Democratic Party. They have also sent people to attack the Democratic Party in district board elections. , Divide our votes. "Speaking of this, He Junren was slightly angry.
He mentioned that after the central government negotiated with the Democratic Party, many pro-communist forces in Hong Kong were very dissatisfied, and believed that the central government's compromise on the 2012 political reform plan suddenly brought the Democratic Party to the altar, which was undoubtedly a major blow to the establishment forces. According to his analysis, in order to appease the internal noise, the Central Committee effectively weakened the aura of the Democratic Party in various ways, and then divided and split the Democrats.
He Junren said that the Democratic Party was sniped, and was slightly angry. (Photo / Photo by Liang Pengwei)
The internal and external forces have forced the people and the central government to "lost contact"
"After the political reform, the Central Committee never talked to us again." He Junren said that Li Gang and Feng Wei had promised them that the negotiations in 2010 were only the first step. After that, they would discuss the double universal suffrage plan with the Democratic Party in detail. But after that, there is no after.
Emily Lau also has a similar view: "After our political reform plan passed in 2010, the central government did not pass through with the Democratic Party until (2014 NPC) 831 came out. We thought that after this stage of (negotiation), it was not just democracy The Party, the (Central Government) will also communicate with all parties to see what to do next. (Results) None at all, which is very bad. "
Asked why Emily Liu had lost contact and communication between the two parties after the talks between the Central Committee and the Democratic Party in 2010, and if there were any episodes or incidents in the middle, she quickly replied: "How do I know? The Communist Party is like this, you do n’t need to use it. But she went on to add that it was not that the Democratic Party was used, but that the Democratic Party had already stated publicly in favor of communication. How could the Democratic Party talk to the Central Party if the central officials did not take the initiative?
Zhang Wenguang also interpreted the negotiations with the China United Nations Office. (Profile picture)
According to He Junren and Emily Lau, the Democratic Party has not changed. The door of communication has been open. The central government has changed. There may be many reasons, but no one can tell which is the main cause. Maybe the central government is also under pressure from the establishment and internal forces; maybe the central government is afraid that the democrats will have an aura; or maybe the central government and the Democratic Party have actually changed.
In response, Zhang Wenguang, another veteran of the Democratic Party, interpreted it differently. He mentioned that at that time, the public had a lot of opinions on the five legislative council elections in the 2012 political reform and the election of district councillors. Many people agreed with the Democratic Party's plan and thought that one person and one vote would be required to accept it. However, everyone said this, but no one thought that the Central Committee would accept the proposal, especially Liang Aishi had said that the plan was illegal and unconstitutional, and no one believed that the Democratic Party could successfully win ten direct elections.
"The ten-seat direct election, the transition plan that you may fight for, do you want it or not? Is n’t that what many people say they want to fight for? As a result, they do n’t seem to want it, but all the elections in the future It's strange to run for the "Super District Council." Zhang Wenguang seemed helpless. He emphasized that if it went well at that time, it would be possible to continue to discuss the political reform in 2017 with the central government; if the newspapers and magazines of that year were opened, this would be a live and serious discussion of the issues faced.
The above excerpt is from the "Ten Year Challenge of Hong Kong's Political System" in the 195th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly (December 30, 2019).
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