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Hongkong Diary by T. S. Lo
Silence, please
ON September 26 when British Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd met Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, Britain requested the Chinese Govern. ment to withhold any criticism of the Governor's proposals for constitutional change until the latter had had a chance to argue his case.
I can see why. The British side want. ed sufficient time for the Hongkong Government's powerful public relations machine to orchestrate unopposed support for the Governor's proposals before his Beijing visit. China would then surrender before the weight of such public pressure
Or so ran the script. This would be fol. lowed by applying a face-saving balm and that would have finished the argu- ment and won the war.
I suppose this ploy might have worked in the last decade in the Qing Dynasty when Hongkong was first colo- nized and China the "sick man of East Asia", but in today's China the idea is simply grotesque.
What breach?
THE Governor issued a challenge on October 10 that if anyone thought he had made a breach of the Joint Declaration or the Basic Law, he should cxplain why and point out where that breach was made. I shall comply with that request in this column.
Fundamental breach
THE breach was a fundamental breach of both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, destroying the fabric of Hongkong's society as we know it and ncgating the attractions that made it great.
The bi-cameral system laid down in the Basic Law gave protection to minority but essential interests in the Legislative Council. The Basic Law allowed for change but only after a lapse of time. because time was needed for those inter- ests to be appreciated and valued by the people.
When sovereignty was cxercised by the British Colonial Government, the sys. tom of government enabled all essential interests to be protected by the Queen's representative, the Governor, helped by an elaborate web of consultative machin- ery.
The Governor Mr Patten's proposals arc a fundamental breach of the concept of protection of essential minority interests and, to quote the Sunday Post on October 11, they "flushed the Basic Law and Joint Declaration down the toi- let".
64 WINDOW \ OCTOBER 16, 1992
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Blue collar dictatorship MOREOVER, they would propc! Hongkong headlong into becoming a dictatorship of blue collar workers. Naturally, the interests of the worker must be protected but in Hongkong, man cannot live alone on wages of sweat.
Few representatives of any work- force can resist labour demands for more benefits from cmployers or are permitted to work for the overall interests of Hongkong.
Democracy
THE spirit of democracy is the great liberating movement of our times. All dictatorships manacle and injurc that spirit, but à dictatorship of the majority. has the greatest potential to wreak the greatest harm. A malevolent minority can be overthrown but the reverse is not true. Fundamentally, therefore, the argu- ment against the Patten proposals is their denial of democracy itself,
Resolution of conflict
THE true spirit of democracy requires the establishment of a system whereby unavoidable conflicts between various interest groups can be resolved for the good of the community as a whole. The system that the colonial Government formerly used to deal with such conflicts was by benevolent dictatorship. The Basic Law provided for the resolution of conflicts by encouraging their open debate in the Legislative Council where compromises could be reached and optimum solutions found. The Patten proposals, however, left all essential minority interests naked and unprotected from a dictatorship of the blue collar worker, a dictatorship which because it would drive away investment is ultimately self-destruc- tive.
Blueprint for strife
SUCH a dictatorship of the blue col- lar worker is tailor-made to ferment strife and discord not in the Legislative Council, but in society itself. In the cir- cumstances, how could China give wholehearted support to the building of anything? Of course when the Governor suggested that Hongkong could build the airport on its own, Chen Jor'er, repre- scnting the Chinese Government, could say that “it would be wonderful”. Although the Governor's bravado was only a politician's promise, and Chen's response the debate's counter-thrust, the Idea was still hard for Hongkong to swal- low. Truly, this was flushing the Joint Declaration down the toilet!
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the proletariat.
18 sterling men
WHAT amazed a number of busi- nessmen I talked to was the implied sup port for these proposals given by the 18 sterling men appointed to the Govamor new Business Council. Perhaps they did not realize that these changes meant that potentially all future labour disputes will be heavily loaded in favour of the work-force. Perhaps having been trained more in business than in politics, they thought that the changes proposed more democracy. Given time to reflect, they may come to realize that faw systems ca be invented for Hongkong which would take us farther from democratic ideals 7|| or a viable investment climate than a
labour dictatorship.
Sugar coating
A SOCIETY that has grown more accustomed to living off an oil line such as that in Britain, rather than hard work. the hallmark of Hongkong, may charita- bly support the proposed social spendin as the just rewards for the prosperity tha Hongkong has worked so hard to achiev with the theoretical proviso that in hard times we can always pull back.
The unfortunate fact of human nalur however, is that once people get used to receiving benefits in good times they soon regard them as their right at all times. The work habit that gave Hongkong the independent spirit that made it great would soon give way to th opiate of Government largessc. It would be much more acceptable if most of the additional benelīts had gone to the aged. specifically defined as 70 and above.
A kingly crown?
WHY would Mr Patten proposo con- stitutional changes that he must know ar a fundamental breach of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law and will ultimately destroy Hongkong's entrepre ncurial spirit, and public spending that he knows will ultimately drain away the pec ple's self reliance? Is he looking for a Kingly Crown so as to return triumphant to British politics? Have we been too hard on one who, like any young politi- cian, hungers for quick popularity at all costs? It must have been irresistible for him to try to satisfy an appetite for a free- lunch society with someone else's money
Taking the long view, he will find few disagreentents with his Exco dis- missals, muted disquiet over his spending sprees, amazement at his airport bravado but total rejection of his proposal for con- stitutional change. In view of this, any airport agreement looks a long way off, [
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