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HK legislators reject first part of government's plan

Demonstrators march around Hong Kong's legislative chamber asking for full democracy yesterday. Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang has been under fire after proposing a draft bill designed to quell the clamor for greater democracy. PHOTO: AFP

Pro-democracy lawmakers voted down the government's proposal to expand an 800-member panel that picks Hong Kong's leader.

The measure was part of a political reform package that the pro-democracy lawmakers oppose because it doesn't provide a timetable for when Hong Kong will become fully democratic.

The measure needed 40 votes -- or two-thirds of the legislature -- to pass, but it only got 34 votes. Pro-democracy lawmakers hold 25 seats.

The government has warned that rejecting the reforms would derail gradual progress toward greater democracy and sour relations with the territory's rulers in Beijing. The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Pro-democracy lawmakers complained that the package doesn't go far enough. It includes two main proposals: expanding the 60-member legislature by 10 seats and doubling the size of an 800-member committee that elects the city's leader.

The pro-democracy legislators also want the government to set a date for universal suffrage -- the right for voters to directly elect their leader and entire legislature.

Tens of thousands of people marched against the reform plan earlier this month.

"People have the right to know when they'll get to their destination," Legislator Lau Chin-shek (劉千石) said during a debate before the vote.

Lawmakers are to vote again on the government's proposal to expand the legislature.

Pro-democracy Legislator Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄) added, "The package is really something that would short-change the Hong Kong people."

But other lawmakers argued that Hong Kong wasn't ready to set a date for full democracy because the public still hasn't agreed about how and when to reach the goal.

"We have to admit that the majority of the public supports democracy, but democracy can't be monopolized by anybody," pro-government lawmaker Ma Lik (馬力) said.

Others said the reform package represented progress toward greater democracy.

"It will be a big step for our constitutional development. It is much more preferable than leaving us to march statically on the spot and going nowhere," said Independent Legislator Abraham Shek (石禮謙).

Hong Kongers were denied the right to elect their leader when it was a British colony.

When it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Beijing also balked at allowing full democracy, though it has said universal suffrage is a long-term goal. The territory is under a "one country, two systems" formula, designed to give Hong Kong a wide-degree of autonomy. Its people enjoy civil liberties -- like the freedom to hold political protests and criticize their leaders in the media -- that those on the mainland can only dream about.

However, the chief executive is chosen by an 800-member committee loaded with Beijing loyalists. Only half of the 60-member legislature is elected; the rest are picked by special interest groups.

Joseph Cheng (鄭宇碩), a political science professor at City University of Hong Kong, said that if Beijing were sincere about democracy, it would provide a timetable for universal suffrage.

"The lack of a timetable certainly gives the view that there's a lack of sincerity on the part of the Chinese authorities to bring democracy to Hong Kong," he said.
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