Against a backdrop of colourful banners and fluttering flags, Hong Kong politician Allan Wong is trying to get morning commuters excited about the city’s upcoming “patriots only” legislature polls.
Wong, 41, is one of 153 people vetted for their political loyalty and allowed to stand in a new system that has drastically curtailed who can run for office.
Polling data suggests turnout for the Dec. 19 Legislative Council election could hit record lows. But Wong is undeterred. On a housing estate in his constituency, he tries to engage residents with conversation and leaflets. Some stop to chat, most walk on.
“I need to go to the street, introduce myself, get in touch with voters and the public and do the best I can to explain what I want to do,” he told AFP.
It’s not an easy sell. In the quiet neighbourhood of Tai Wai, constituents tend to project ennui.
A middle-aged couple told AFP they had no plans to vote this year but declined to say why because such discussion was “too sensitive.”
Now the pro-democracy opposition has been demolished under a Beijing-imposed national security law that has criminalized much dissent
A young man, who gave his surname as Pang, said in the last local polls he voted for a pro-democracy candidate who is now in self-imposed exile overseas.
Pang called this year’s vote “pointless” because even those who want to distance themselves from the establishment must still play by Beijing’s rules.
Hong Kong has never been a full democracy. But until recently, a vocal minority of Beijing critics was tolerated, something that made previous local elections periods of colourful and at times rambunctious debate.
Now the pro-democracy opposition has been demolished under a Beijing-imposed national security law that has criminalized much dissent, combined with new political rules designed to purge “anti-China” elements.
Thank you. You are now signed up to Daily newsletter
Under the new system, just 20 of the city’s 90 legislature seats are directly elected — down from half. The rest are chosen by reliably pro-Beijing committees. One of those committees is made up of 1,500 people — 0.02 percent of Hong Kong’s population — and will pick 40 seats.
Additionally, all aspiring candidates now have to be vetted and only those deemed sufficiently patriotic can stand for office.
Traditional opposition figures, including many elected pro-democracy lawmakers, have been jailed, disqualified or have fled overseas.
The result is a comparatively uniform candidate slate jostling for an even smaller piece of the legislative pie this year.
Wong is about as close as you can get to a non-establishment politician within this new system. Campaigning on local constituency issues with a smattering of environmentalism, he identifies as neither pro-democracy nor pro-Beijing.
Instead he sees himself as a “third way” candidate, though he concedes that is a tricky pitch in a city where residents have tended to vote for pro-democracy figures when they are given a chance.
He is also realistic about the new legislature being dominated by loyalists. “Even if [non-establishment candidates] all win seats in the Legislative Council, we are just the minority, like 10 seats or even less,” he said.
Chinese officials argue their new system will bring Hong Kong back on the right track after the massive and often violent pro-democracy protests that engulfed the city two years ago.
Officials also say the new system will also ensure the legislature — a previously boisterous debating chamber — will no longer be bogged down by the minority opposition filibustering.
The more these officials would like to blow their own trumpet, the more people would see what they say as little more than state propaganda
On Dec. 13, senior Chinese official Xia Baolong said Hong Kong had wasted time “blindly seeking Western-style democracy” but argued that a plurality of backgrounds and views was still permitted.
Hong Kong political scientist Kenneth Chan said Xia’s remarks came from a “parallel universe” that is disconnected from many Hong Kongers.
“The more these officials would like to blow their own trumpet, the more people would see what they say as little more than state propaganda,” he told AFP.
Chan pointed to polling numbers from the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, which showed only around 51 percent of respondents planned to vote — a record low.
For previous legislature elections between 2004 and 2016, that figure consistently hovered above 80 percent.
Nearly half of the respondents this time said they found no candidates worth supporting.
A previous survey by the same institute found respondents struggling to identify candidates and an examination by the South China Morning Post found one in six candidates has not even published a manifesto.
Chan described the upcoming race as “heavily manipulated from start to finish.” He added: “We are in a very different game, a game that Hong Kong people are not comfortable with.”
Support UCA News…
….as we enter the last months of 2021, we are asking readers like you to help us keep UCA News free.
For the last 40 years, UCA News has remained the most trusted and independent Catholic news and information service from Asia. Every week, we publish nearly 100 news reports, feature stories, commentaries, podcasts and video broadcasts that are exclusive and in-depth, and developed from a view of the world and the Church through informed Catholic eyes.
Our journalistic standards are as high as any in the quality press; our focus is particularly on a fast-growing part of the world – Asia – where, in some countries the Church is growing faster than pastoral resources can respond to – South Korea, Vietnam and India to name just three.
And UCA News has the advantage of having in its ranks local reporters who cover 23 countries in south, southeast, and east Asia. We report the stories of local people and their experiences in a way that Western news outlets simply don’t have the resources to reach. And we report on the emerging life of new Churches in old lands where being a Catholic can at times be very dangerous.
With dwindling support from funding partners in Europe and the USA, we need to call on the support of those who benefit from our work.
Click here to find out the ways you can support UCA News. You can make a difference for as little as US$5…
Credit: Source link