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Why I'm Not Running Taking politics outside the system in Hong Kong CHRISTINE LOH, a directly elected independent member of Hong Kong's Legislative Council, recently announced that she will not seek re-election in September My decision to not seek re-election has taken many people by surprise since the probability of winning would have been high. I am not leaving Hong Kong politics. Just reloading my gun from another corner of the arena. The Hong Kong Legislative Council is our most significant political platform, but I find that another four years there could well sap much of my energy. My personal choice is to stay out so that I can remain energized to push for social change. I am not recommending this to other legislators. We need upright people in the council because there is important work to do. But for me, there is a danger that if I stayed in, I could feel more and more debilitated. I would hate to just go through the motions and lose the edge to fight. This is not a time to be lulled into complacency. While on the whole Beijing has kept its distance since the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the hectoring face of Hong Kong-based Chinese official, Wang Fengchao, on April 12, telling the local media that they should not report views that advocate Taiwan independence shows just how vulnerable our freedoms are. Wang's denial that what he said had anything to do with press freedom is frightening enough. Taiwan is, according to him, a "state matter." This means it cannot be treated as general news; the correct political line must be observed. Wang's advice to Hong Kong was that the government should hurry up to pass laws to prohibit subversion that will presumably prevent anyone from even reporting news relating to Taiwan or Tibet independence. We need legislators to do their best to prevent any law passing that would drive a dagger into the heart of Hong Kong people's right to free speech. We also need people on the outside to galvanize public opinion, indeed, to try to bring things to a boil. If Hong Kong allows itself to be cowed by Beijing's neurosis we will go down a path of no return. I want to help generate a greater public voice from outside the council. For now, attempting to focus the public voice and directing it at specific issues is where I think I can best spend my time. Furthermore, the legislature is being suffocated by the unwillingness of the executive branch to share power. The statement by Chief Secretary Anson Chan responding to my announcement is proof. She gave a technical view of cooperation saying that the executive was "assiduous in explaining our policies and legislative and budgetary proposals to them [legislators]" and that each piece of legislation is gone over "often line by line." What she is unwilling to do is involve us in developing policy. Indeed, senior bureaucrats, like Chan, view the legislature as an inconvenience that has to be overcome rather than an active partner in building participatory governance. For example, I have been pushing for legislation to prohibit race discrimination in Hong Kong. For some reason, this perfectly straightforward issue does not accord with her thinking, and for many months I cannot even get a meeting with her. What's more, the executive branch is using every excuse to prevent me from raising a private bill. Officials say that it is their "policy" to provide public education and not to legislate to outlaw race discrimination. This is outrageous when Hong Kong's obligation under international human rights covenants requires domestic laws. Furthermore, you know they are insincere when the budget for public education on such matters is not much more than $100,000 for the year. It is also shocking that those in power can sink so low in their contempt for the effort of others. In response to my announcement, the spokesman for Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa referred to my work on the environment, and said: "Her views and interest are appreciated . . . But I should point out that the chief executive took the initiative to make the environment a major priority in the 1999 Policy Address. We took this initiative on our own." It is childish that he should say that the CE did it all on his own. These two examples only go to show how little senior officials understand what power sharing means. They remain stuck in the old elitist paradigm where bureaucrats were omnipotent. They also deny that Hong Kong needs to redesign the political architecture. The current system preserves a 19th-century colonial model that does not take politics seriously. It allows part-timers to serve in the cabinet and tolerates civil servants who often do not have the required expertise to chart policy. It is no wonder that they spend substantial sums every year hiring outside consultants. Cracks are beginning to show, however. The system can't handle elected politicians, some of whom are better qualified than the bureaucrats. As a result, there is much frustration all round. And yet, the chief executive is not re-engineering to provide a system with real legitimacy. Hong Kong is stuck in a time warp. We need to get out of it to remain vital. Talk of dissastisfaction is all over town. I want to spend more time using the Internet to provide information to people in an objective, digestible form so that they can speak and associate to push for change. I want to capture the people's voice and direct its firepower at the bull's eye. Write to Asiaweek at mail@web.asiaweek.com
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