An SCMP op-ed laments the ‘patriots only’ District Council elections for their poor turnout, low level of diversity and the system’s overall lack of popular participation…
The dismal turnout for the latest election is a stark reminder of waning community engagement in Hong Kong, a reflection of a growing disconnect between people and their communities.
…While it is important to establish limits, excessively rigid restrictions risk dampening people’s enthusiasm and stifling their sense of belonging. Genuine community integration calls for more than superficial connections; it demands the public’s deep-rooted engagement and a profound connection to the community they call home.
…The crux of people’s sense of belonging lies in their active participation in community affairs. Hongkongers must be given a say in social matters and be able to actively contribute to community development. To achieve this, the government must prioritise the fortifying of public consultation processes, within and beyond the district council.
…One effective approach is to incorporate people from diverse backgrounds into district consultation committees, casting a wider net of perspectives to shape community decisions. By fostering collaboration and actively involving residents, we have the opportunity to weave together a tightly knit and prosperous community.
The piece is written by legislative councillor Tik Chi Yuen of the ‘Third Side’ mini-party, who is the nearest thing the chamber has to a token non-establishment member.
The lack of public engagement isn’t an accidental by-product of the ‘all patriots’ system – it’s the whole purpose. In a top-down Leninist structure, the ruling party cannot share power or allow any rival political forces or independent institutions, or even civil society. The genuine political process takes place behind closed doors, not with ‘public participation’. Consultative bodies are in practice appointed by the ruling party, and their activities are stage-managed as shows of support for the government. Hence the near-unanimous votes of approval in China’s National People’s Congress (or in today’s LegCo).
If you want the public to be connected with the political process, you have to let them take part – running in elections and voting for the candidates they want. If you don’t let them do that, it’s because you don’t want them to have any input. The public obey the government, not the other way round. (I assume Tik knows all this.)
Of course, followers of Marxist-Leninist theory claim that their model represents the masses through ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’. But such systems are famously intolerant of criticism and protest.
On which note, three more items…
Hong Kong drops 17 places in the Fraser Institute’s latest Human Freedom Index, which reflects the state of things as of 2021. In 2010, it held third place; it is now 46th.
Not everyone might agree with the Index’s exact methodology, but Switzerland and New Zealand come at the top and places like Saudi, Venezuela, Myanmar and Syria at the bottom. The report says…
Given ongoing attacks on freedom in Hong Kong, we will be surprised if future reports do not show a continuing and pronounced degradation in the territory’s ratings, including a noticeable decline in economic freedom.
An HKFP op-ed on the Hong Kong authorities’ apparent fear of the gay rights movement…
…the size of the gay community in Hong Kong may be precisely the reason to suppress it. The Chinese party-state, and presumably its minions in Hong Kong, seems to see every minority of any size as a potential threat. The larger the minority, the larger the perceived threat, and thus the greater the perceived need to control or subdue it.
The government comes up with interesting arguments against a previous court ruling against an injunction to ban dissemination of the song Glory to Hong Kong…
The song boosted people’s morale and encouraged them to “do things they were not prepared to do,” [senior counsel Benjamin] Yu argued.
“When you try to upset the government, you don’t necessary need to use conventional weapons… the song is regarded by the composer himself as a weapon,” Yu told the court.
Despite the implementation of the national security law, Glory to Hong Kong remained prevalent and continued to “arouse emotions.” It was mistaken as Hong Kong’s national anthem more than 800 times, Yu said citing an estimation by the police.
So will they be coming for YouTube? I mean – boosting people’s morale like that?
The “gay rights” movement is so boring. Spinsters and confirmed bachelors have been with us for eons and life went on. Who cares how they get their kicks in private? Can’t they just leave the rest of us alone?
Looks like carrying around a sheet music version of “Glory” will be prosecuted (successfully) as having a so-called weapon of terrorism.
“An SCMP op-ed laments the ‘patriots only’ District Council elections for their poor turnout, low level of diversity and system’s overall lack of popular participation…”
The government chose the embarrassment of a low turnout over a repeat of their utter humiliation resulting from the 2019 election results.
@Seamus O’Herlihy
Life didn’t go on if you were a man arrested for having sex with another man, even in your own home. And there are about 65 countries were it is still illegal and you can be imprisoned, or worse. I, personally, do find the hypersexuality of many pride events distasteful, but that’s a different issue. Surely it’s never boring to be reminded that many people, decent people, live under constant fear of official arrest or unofficial mob violence simple because they are gay.
Like everyone else with a finger in the pie, Tik Chi-yuen chooses his words carefully. Even so, I chafe at “disconnect between people and their communities”, which would more honestly read as “disconnect between the community (meaning the people) and the authorities”.
The government cannot impose ‘community’, any more than it can patriotism, happiness, good stories or vibrancy.
Love this cold weather. Finally I can wear my furs. And this afternoon I’ll have tea with Bonnae at Sevva. But knowing her we probably end up finishing a bottle of prosecco or 2.
Tik Tock; “One effective approach is to incorporate people from diverse backgrounds into district consultation committees”
What rock has he been hiding under for the last six month? This is what the ‘improved’ election system has promised to deliver. The DC is effectively a generator of committees. An autocracy thrives on them, all talk and no action and concensus stifling any initiative.
To get anything done it is necessary to have one committed and decisive person who is prepared to devote themselves to the cause take charge. Greta Thunberg is a good example.
The current climate here is designed to prevent any charismatic individual from putting their head above the parapet.
@Seamus O’Herlihy – by and large, they do leave us alone – no one is forced to join a Pride march or attend the Gay Games. The problem is the bigots who won’t leave them alone.
1. The gays will happily leave you alone when the government leaves them alone to live, work, marry the person of their choosing, and pass on their property in peace.
2. Hong Kong long existed in the large crack between totalitarian police state and fully representative democracy, so you can’t really blame people for wishing to go back to that, but the self-proclaimed centrists’ half-baked pleas to pry that crack open again demonstrate a near-comical inability to read the room.
The real civil society – NGOs, community groups, charities, green groups, the ones that aren’t just about making influential donors look good – they’re just keeping their heads down and getting on with it. They’re quietly figuring out what is still possible to do without the interference of the government, and doing it.
Well done Tik Chi-yuen!
You are our prima donna in Hong Kong’s Democracy Theater!
Just remember, once the backward Marx-Leninists believe that you have an impact, they will find a way to deal with you. Google “Dr Chee Soon Juan” and learn how this can be done.
@reductio: You beat me to it.
@Seamus: Don’t be such a wanker. In private, of course. And they DO leave the rest of us alone.
Seamus O’Herlihy = Reactor #4
Deary me.
All these so-called “Indices” claiming that Hongkers is going down the pan.
Such smearing and bad-mouthing is surely doomed to fail.
Oh yes.
@reductio
Homosexuals who didn’t advertise their predilections were seldom harassed, and the past is the past.
Only in Africa & Muslim countries are consenting adults arrested for homosexual acts in private. In a tolerant society like Hong Kong (and most Western societies) the notion that LGBT people “live in constant fear” of official arrest is absurd. If one is concerned about homosexual rights in Arab countries, then one should hold gay protests and parades there, not here.
The same is true of “unofficial mob violence” in civilised societies. It is a complete myth. Violence against homosexuals almost always includes an element of either a domestic dispute, drug trafficking or prostitution. Gangs roaming the streets hunting down gay people are few & far between, and certainly not more prevalent than the type of heterosexual assault that goes on every day around the world.
So, yes, it’s boring. Boring as hell. I look forward to the day when homosexuals act like normal people and keep their sexual activities to themselves, like the rest of us.
Pip! Pip!
@Dr. Anita Dick
Not me. I do, though, concur with his viewpoint. Interestingly, most nitty-gritty HKers feel similarly. They are a pretty conservative bunch, and so much the better for it.
@Seamus
—“I look forward to the day when homosexuals act like normal people and keep their sexual activities to themselves, like the rest of us.”—
Sir, you really shoulda come along to the Gay Games. Thousands of participants acting “like normal people, keeping their sexual activities to themselves”, right up your street.
The Gay Games athletes were, through sport, supporting gay rights around the world, including the places where, as you rightly say, gay rights have a LONG way to come and where a known gay person, even if not persecuted/beaten/jailed as such, would be unlikely to make a national or even local sports team.
Oh and “Like the rest of us”?? My man, hetero sex is in our faces EVERY DAY, EVERYWHERE!
“I do, though, concur with his viewpoint.”
Of course you do. Cunts of a feather…