Beware of the next session of the Legislative Council. The US-led “blackshirts”, if elected, have vowed to wreck the government by vetoing bills, including the budget. If they did manage to veto the budget, the entire special administrative region government would come to a standstill and much-needed money for social welfare, education and infrastructure, among other things, would not materialize. In a worst-case scenario, the chief executive could disband LegCo if it didn’t pass the budget. This is exactly their ultimate game plan. But this hypothesis is based on the blackshirts winning a majority in the legislature.
Those who took part in the two-day “primary” did so not for the benefit of Hong Kong, but for its destruction, by calling for the subversive radicals to hijack the legislature and halt the passage of essential bills. Attendees at the poll have no regard for the security and development of Hong Kong. Instead, in their naivety they are destroying their homes and future. Italian academic Laura Ruggeri said it was perverse that members of the opposition had lobbied the United States government to impose sanctions on their own city. “You can be critical of your government, but you don’t go as far as demanding sanctions on your own city”, she said in a podcast.
The various sanctions placed on Hong Kong by the Trump administration can be blamed on those who were selected to run in the September Legislative Council election. Those same people — Joshua Wong Chi-fung in particular — have lobbied US Vice-President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as well as certain members of the US Congress for the past few years to bring about harsh treatment on Hong Kong. And yet Wong was on top of the selection poll to bring about the downfall of Hong Kong and all of its inhabitants. The young radicals are puppets on strings pulled by the US administration, which is hellbent on bringing down the Chinese government with Hong Kong as a pawn in the game. As Ruggeri said, their political strategy is perverse and it may boomerang badly on the perpetrators.
“Voting” for those who scream the loudest achieves nothing, and a conscientious voter should carefully weigh up the merits of a candidate and examine his or her sincerity to work for the best interests of Hong Kong and not just to further some narrow political or ideological agenda
However, it appears the whole exercise of polling for “pan-democratic” candidates for the September election was a sham as most of the 16 final candidates are likely to be disqualified by the returning officers for their failure to uphold the Basic Law and to pledge allegiance to the HKSAR.
At a press conference on July 15, they said they would be vetoing bills in an effort to force Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to agree to their “five demands”. By making these public comments they are showing their intent to the returning officers that they plan to overthrow the government. This, of course, could be their overall plan to draw worldwide condemnation of the dismissals. And the pollsters were mere pawns.
The organizers of the poll claim more than 600,000 people cast their selection over a two-day period. This won the approval of Pompeo, their benefactor, who tweeted his congratulations to the “pan-democrats” for a “successful primary”, adding, “The Legislative Council election in September should be equally free and fair”. This foreign endorsement, from a country that continually complains about foreign intervention in its own elections, will undoubtedly strengthen the base of the “pan-democrats”. The US speaks with a forked tongue. And what audacity of the man to suggest that elections in Hong Kong would not be free and fair. Of course, our elections have always been free and fair. Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai should protest to Pompeo and urge him to stop interfering in Hong Kong’s elections.
The illegal-polling organizers, law professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting and pollster Robert Chung Ting-yiu, were quick to announce the results of the poll but failed to give any demographics. However, videos and photographs of the queues suggest those polling were possibly young university students to ensure that the more-conservative, traditional members of the “pan-democratic” camp were ousted and replaced by younger, more-radical members. The “voters” have demonstrated that our potential leaders of tomorrow have little knowledge about true democracy and the importance of passage of legislation to make laws of the land. To them, democracy simply means “one man, one vote”. But it goes much further; it includes the ability to debate proposed laws to ensure they are fair, reasonable and beneficial to the entire community. “Voting” for those who scream the loudest achieves nothing, and a conscientious voter should carefully weigh up the merits of a candidate and examine his or her sincerity to work for the best interests of Hong Kong and not just to further some narrow political or ideological agenda.
The author is a former chief information officer for the Hong Kong government and a veteran journalist.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
