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January 21, 2005
Walkoutgate Continues
The stupidity mounts in Walkoutgate.
First off, EastSouthWestNorth has a similar view as mine on the whole incident. Of course, he expresses it with a lot more intellect and a lot less bile. Now on to new developments, which are not very promising.
First, the "Pro-Democracy" members continue their efforts to portray Legco as a children's playground instead of the SAR's highest legislative organ. When requested by Rita Fan to follow Legco's rules of procedure, their response was that they would do so unless in "exceptional" circumstances. As Long Hair, the craziest of them all, puts it:
"If they [pro-Beijing camp] don't like me, they can move a motion to impeach me. But to ask me to guarantee not to break the rules again, no way.
"What kind of an era is this? We are not in a secondary school," he said.
Yes, you're not in a secondary school. That sort of attitude is closer to kindergarteners. What the hell is following the rules except in "exceptional" circumstance? Isn't disobeying the rules an exception by definition? Or are you suggesting that this isn't the last time you're going to use Legco for scoring cheap meaningless political jabs?
The "Pro-Beijing" crew counter with the equally dumb declaration that they will walk out again if their opposition would not follow the rules. Look, at least when the "Pro-Democracy" camp defile Legco, Legco is still in session. You're shutting down the whole thing.
I'm particularly concerned by the behaviour of James Tien, leader of the Liberal Party (he's the one who announced that moronic idea above). James Tien has been, in my opinion, the only intelligent current politician in Hong Kong. His maneuvers in the original Article 23 mess showed a shrewd understanding of popular opinion that is beyond Tung Chee-Hwa and most of the "Pro-Democracy" camp. Hong Kong needs capable politicians to demostrate to the central government that democracy is viable in Hong Kong, but obviously, such politicians have to be willing to work with democratic institutions.
The Liberal Party's image as "Pro-Beijing" is only partially true at best: the business community (the LP's constituency) merely sees a stable relation with the central government as beneficial. After all, Allen Lee (Tien's predecessor as LP chief) did a much better job trying to bridge the differences between the camps. Unfortunately, this move, after his even greater transgression to bring Article 23 back from the dead, suggests that Tien does not see democratic reforms as anywhere near as important as satisfying the central government. The "Pro-Democracy" camp needs to grow up and cultivate real political talent (and no, Long Hair is not a political talent; he's a political sideshow), and do so immediately, lest the people of HK are so disgusted by their inability to work with the central government that they will allow the complete erosion of democratic institutions.
Posted by Kelvin at January 21, 2005 5:15 PM
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Tracked on January 25, 2005 2:37 AM
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