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Having argued, for example, that the Bill of Rights was entirely consistent with the Basic Law, have they been converted to some other point of view? Having made mincemeat of the suggestion that the Bill of Rights somehow claimed pre-eminence over the Basic Law, have they now done a U-turn? Having argued with eloquence and passion that the Bill of Rights was an important building block in Hong Kong's defence of its civilised values, are they now going to allow that building block to be turned to sand?
In justifying their decision to join the provisional legislature they very often talk about the importance of facing up to reality. Which is a bit like saying that because 'flu is a reality you should spend most winters trying to catch it. But where's the reality in the argument about Hong Kong's human rights. The reality is that our human rights protection is fundamental to our way of life, and that way of life is fundamental to our economic success. It seems to me that it's a reality which is worth defending.
What are some of the consequences of the Sub-Group's recommendations? One pretty obvious consequence is that the early months of the SAR Government will be dominated by legal arguments and courtroom battles. I should have thought that Hong Kong needs that like a hole in the head. People often say that we should have less politics in Hong Kong. I don't happen to think that the politics we have already is particularly extreme or immoderate, to put it mildly. But forget that for a moment. What is plain as a pikestaff is that if you start trying to curtail people's liberties in Hong Kong you really will start to politicise everything. You rapidly start to turn the Hong Kong Government from a light touch administration to a heavy-handed one. And do you really think that if we ban the use of loudhailers in demonstrations - that's one of the consequences of messing about with these laws Hong Kong would become overnight a safer and more stable society? What sort of a place do these people think Hong Kong is today?