'Occupy Central' anniversary is not a cause for celebration
Updated: 2015-09-24 09:37
By Peter Liang(HK Edition)
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On the first anniversary of "Occupy Central", the illegal protest movement is remembered by many Hong Kong people as nothing more than a colossal nuisance that was - to paraphrase Shakespeare - full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
The movement that started off almost a year ago quickly degenerated into chaos, as control by the original organizers was usurped by radical student groups and political extremists of diverse backgrounds. Splinter groups soon erected barricades in other busy commercial districts to stake their claims under the false pretense of fighting for universal suffrage.
Other than idealistic students, many of the protesters on the barricades were a mixed bag of social misfits who blamed the government, businesses, institutions and everyone other than themselves for their failure in life. Instead of fighting for democracy and the common good, as they claimed, they were simply venting their anger and taking revenge on a society which they could not fit into.
The disruptions they caused turned the public against them, and when the police moved in to clear them out, nobody came to show support.
In the aftermath, some political analysts assumed that the movement had destroyed the common values and shattered any semblance of civility. Based on this assumption, they predicted increasingly violent civil strife which would tear the social fabric apart and, in the process, render Hong Kong ungovernable.
They also predicted that the political landscape would be polarized by "Occupy", leaving no breathing space for moderate factions in the opposition camp. What they envisaged was a highly charged political arena pitting the pro-establishment camp against the radical opposition.
Even some moderate politicians from the "pan-democratic" camp expressed a loss of hope for any form of compromise in what they considered to be a contentious political environment. A few of them have tried to distance themselves from their colleagues whom they thought too radical and unrelenting.
Fortunately for Hong Kong, these political commentators mostly got it wrong. Rather than pushing Hong Kong's opposition politicians to the extreme, the failure of "Occupy" made them realize the futility of confrontational tactics which did not go down well with the public.
To be sure, a significant proportion - estimated at about 30 percent - of the public shared the "pan-democrat" view of electoral reform. But those same people did not approve of the uncompromising stand by the opposition camp.
As a result, the radicals and the extremists within that camp were pushed to the fringes and their voices ignored. Small groups of radicals staged numerous small-scale demonstrations against mainland tourists. But those violent and senseless antics to attract public attention were widely condemned.
In recent months, the mainstream "democrats" in the opposition camp have toned down their firebrand rhetoric and demonstrated a willingness to at least talk in public or in private with representatives of the establishment. The August meeting between visiting Deputy Director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Feng Wei and leaders of the Democratic Party was hailed by political analysts and academics as some kind of a breakthrough.
In September, Ronny Tong Ka-wah, a noted moderate legislator from the "pan-democratic" camp, met Director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Wang Guangya, Feng and other officials of the agency after attending the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
Nevertheless, the schism has remained wide and politicians in the opposition camp are not going to change their political stance without gaining any concessions in return. But a more compromising attitude can go a long way toward fostering mutual trust with the Hong Kong government in facilitating implementation of social and economic policies for the benefit of the people.
The failure of "Occupy" has sent a clear message that the majority of Hong Kong people have neither the interest nor the time for political grandstanding, especially at a time when the economic outlook is clouded by the impending increase in interest rates, the slowdown in external demand and dwindling tourist arrivals.
Moreover, economic uncertainties have made it all the more important to reach out to the young people who feel that they have been marginalized by escalating property prices in recent years.
The author is a current affairs commentator.
(HK Edition 09/24/2015 page9)