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Hong Kong holds valuable lessons

The anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre is just behind us, while that of the handover of Hong Kong to China, along with dates associated with important protests in China, are just around the corner.

Hong Kong has been increasingly thinking about democracy and development. A few days ago, Wang Dan (王丹), one of the leaders of the Tiananmen protests now living in exile, published an article titled "A letter to my Hong Kong compatriots." In it, Wang expressed worries about the future of democratic Hong Kong, but was very hopeful about democratization in China.

Wang is right about the state of Hong Kong's democracy and the future democratization of China. In the absence of individuals who fight for democracy, the people in power are never going to give it on their own volition.

Under Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), China has seen a tightening of controls over the Internet, an erosion of freedom of speech, leading to deep disappointment among observers who had had high expectations of this generation of Chinese leaders.

Consequently, Wang Dan and the others who care about the democratization of China have pinned all their hopes on the development of civil society in China, and especially on an awakening to and awareness of human rights. If the rights protection movement is the medium through which the spirit of the Tiananmen movement can be perpetuated, then what is the medium for the democratization of Hong Kong?

This question warrants a second look at the role of the media and the effect it can have -- especially on matters pertaining to democratization -- on society.

First, Hong Kong's political parties are not reliable. In a real democracy, political parties integrate interests and propose policies. In Hong Kong, however, political parties are becoming increasingly weaker and are unable to take the lead on matters such as organizational development, social movements, or the generation of ideas.

Sadly, this characterization applies to all the political parties in Hong Kong, from the pro-Chinese left to the pro-democracy faction. They are divided, the factions overlap and internal fights arise on occasion. As a result, parties compete for small favors from the government and at best can only commit themselves to representing the voters in their local districts.

Second, Hong Kong's Legislative Council is incapable of action. Even though under Hong Kong's special representative system the democrats hold the greatest number of directly elected seats, their voice keeps getting suppressed in legislative votes and elections. As such, even though the democrats succeed in making their voice heard on key issues, any attempt to direct the legislative agenda that does not conform with the political framework of the executive will be shot down by Beijing.

Many civil movements emerged in Hong Kong after the handover, with objectives ranging from environmental protection, preservation of historical sites and immigration to more traditional matters such as wages and social welfare. All these movements have had an impact on the policies of the government of the Special Administrative Region and have generated some change.

However, the sheer number of civil movements in Hong Kong makes coordination difficult to achieve. Add to this the fact that Hong Kong's economy has improved, which has resulted in people feeling less inclined to protest in public -- always a rationally calculated risk there.

Civil movements will only become the medium for democratization when historical opportunity meets energized activists.

With political parties unreliable, the Legislative Council incapable of action and local civic groups unable to cooperate with one another, Hong Kong's best hope perhaps lies in the media, which have a long history of monitoring the government and mobilizing public opinion.

Through its expression of public opinion during the British colonial era, the coverage of the SARS outbreak in 2003 and of the large-scale demonstrations on July 1, 2003, and the following year, as well as its role in forcing then Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa's (董建華) resignation in March 2005, the media has played three principal roles.

First, it took the initiative and reported information that was concealed by the government. Second, it defined key public issues and forced the government to react. Third, it provided a timely formulation of public opinion and relieved public anger.

Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of press freedom, although residents have questioned the credibility of the media. But as the most important media and international information center in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong has the opportunity and the means to turn its media into a medium for democratization -- despite pressure for self-censorship. It can serve as a remedy to the political deficiencies of the political parties, the legislature and the various civic movements.

The 10th anniversary of the handover is approaching.

Despite Hong Kong being the showcase for China's policy of "one country, two systems" for Taiwan, Taipei has been unwilling -- or perhaps even afraid -- to look at the Hong Kong experiment closely.

Taiwanese are incredibly fortunate to have political magazines, the dangwai (黨外, outside the party) movement and intellectuals who act as media for democratization. It would therefore be in our interest to closely scrutinize Hong Kong's rocky journey of democratization.

Jackson Yeh is a research assistant in the Center for Contemporary China at National Tsing Hua University.

Translated by Anna Stiggelbout and Eddy Chang
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