Hundreds of people paid their final respects in Hong Kong yesterday to veteran democracy activist Szeto Wah (司徒華), a leading campaigner for the victims of Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters at Tiananmen Square and a voice for dissidents in mainland China.
Mourners filed into the grounds of an Anglican church, signing a condolence book, then laying flowers and bowing to a large black backdrop bearing Szeto’s portrait and the Chinese inscription “Uncle Wah, we will always miss you!”
Many Hong Kong residents identify with Szeto, who died on Jan. 2 from lung cancer at 79, because of his strident opposition to the undemocratic mainland regime.
“Hong Kong is a window for mainland China. If Hong Kong can serve as an example of democracy for all Chinese, then there is hope for Chinese democracy,” said one mourner, 45-year-old primary-school teacher Bruce Lee. “And Mr Szeto Wah was a critical component of Hong Kong’s resistance to the oppression of the Chinese Communist Party.”
“He was a leader. He was very successful in his persistent pursuit of democracy and his ability to organize people who cared about democracy,” said Kay Wong, a 48-year-old TV commercial director.
Later yesterday, Szeto’s casket was carried into the church for a Christian funeral service as a church bell was struck six times, then four — symbolizing the late activist’s lifelong cause of remembering June 4, the date of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. He was to be cremated later yesterday.
Besides fellow democracy activists, among the attendees was Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君樞機), also a harsh critic of Beijing’s human rights record and a key papal adviser on Sino-Vatican relations.
Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed administration has had to handle Szeto’s funeral carefully, given his revered status in the territory and his open opposition to the mainland regime.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) stopped by before the funeral service, bowing to Szeto’s portrait and conveying condolences to his family members, but skipped the service itself. Upset by the perceived slight, several mourners chanted “Shameless” as Tsang left the church.
Tsang also decided to ban Wang Dan (王丹) and Wuer Kaixi (吾爾開希) — former student leaders of the 1989 protests now living in exile in Taiwan — from attending the funeral.
A primary school principal who set up a powerful teacher’s union, Szeto, like many Hong Kongers, was galvanized by the student-led protests at Tiananmen Square. He channeled his organizing skills to build a support group for the Tiananmen movement, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China.
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