DEMOCRACY－Let HK People Be Their Own Master, Return the Power of Governance Back to the People

The handover has merely transformed Hong Kong from a British colony to a Communist one. First, the Chief Executive is selected by 400 people, all of whom are the only voters eligible to choose the Provisional Legislature members. Second, as was the case last year, the democratically-elected Legislative Council members were all thrown out while many political insiders were reelected by their respective "functional constituencies" and "election committee" to dominate the Legislative Council. The government not only reintroduced the appointed and official seats to the District Board, but also intended to abolish the two elected municipal councils. Apart from this, in rural representative elections, women are still subject to discrimination. How is this an improvement over colonialism?

The political elections of Hong Kong, at all levels, have been devised to favor the interests of a small clique of insiders. The right of the common citizen to enjoy a just and universal one-person-one-vote election is ignored. This is a breach of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the CCP and Tung Chee-hwa intend to centralize their power: they limit the voice of citizens; they are rolling back, rather than instituting, democratic reforms, and they are trampling underfoot the inalienable rights of the citizens.

FREE SPEECH－Defend Our Inalienable Right to Freedom of Expression

Even before the transfer of sovereignty, the trend of self-censorship among members of the news media has been increasing. Now the pace is quickening. A number of journalists－in response to Tung Chee-hwa appeal for "non-politicization,"－play down political issues as much as possible. Last year, a member of the Chinese People Political Consultative Conference, Xu Si-min, breathed fire at the Radio Television Hong Kong for not acting as a mouthpiece of the government; later on, the Information Coordinator of the Hong Kong government Lam Sui-lung criticized Zheng An-Guo for making remarks about the "two-states"theory on the RTHK Hong Kong Letter programme; the leftist newspapers then joined in to keep attacking Zheng and the RTHK. Freedom of speech and of the press was subjected to grave pressure. Under such circumstances, the RTHK suddenly announced the transfer of the director Chenug Man-yee to another position in Japan, a highly unusual career move.

DISCRIMINATION－Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination, and Build up Justice In Our Society

Whether it is visible or not, many forms of discrimination still exist in Hong Kong. Even though laws have been passed to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race and physical disabilities, these laws are useless because the government is not willing to implement them and promote public awareness of equality. For example, discrimination on the basis of age and trade union status is prevailing in the labour market. Many employers openly refuse to hire women as shop assistants above the age of thirty. Also, it is shameful to see racial bigotry and homophobia, but we are not prohibited by law to mock the homosexuals, to name the Philippine maids bun mui, the Indians ah cha and the Westerner gweilo. As long as such prejudice continues at the highest levels of our society, and the government refuses to enact laws to curb discrimination, the struggle for social justice will never be complete.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION－Something Must be Done Now

For the past twenty years, Hong Kong population has grown and our economy has turned into one of the world financial centres. However, it has also made Hong Kong one of the most polluted city in the world. The natural environment is subjected to such a great pressure that the pollution problem has come to a stage beyond endurance. Take air pollution as an example: it is estimated that 2,000 people die each year of illnesses related to air pollution; the economic loss of the society climbs to as high as one billion dollars a year. To cope with such serious environmental problems, the government just brought about temporary measures, for example, the government did not effect measures to support the use of liquefied petroleum gas in taxies so that the scheme was much behind schedule. Further, the government deals with the sewage problems only by making use of incineration and landfills, rather than promoting public awareness of the recycling. Some minor steps are crucial.

Besides, the contamination of drinking water and the harbour is also a direct hazard to the health of the citizens and a hinderance to our economic development. In order to protect the rights of every citizen to live a healthy life, and to ensure Hong Kong continuous development, the government should put more resources into taking the environment into consideration when making policy.

Infringement of the Rights to Hold Public Meetings and to Organize Societies

Soon after the change of sovereignty, the SAR government promptly promulgated the administrative guidelines on national security as well as the Public Order (Amendment) Ordinance and the Societies (Amendment) Ordinance. As it now stands, the Commissioner of Police need only consider the viewpoint of protesters (for example, any public procession supporting Taiwanese or Tibetan freedom) in order to consider that protest as constituting an imminent threat to the "Public order." He need not consider whether it will actually incite an occurrence of violence. Even if it is an academic meeting, he can prohibit such a procession. Furthermore, public processions are not permitted unless a "Letter of No Objection" is firsat obtained from the Commissioner of Police. This blatantly breaches the freedom of assembly and expression. The government hand-in-hand with the CCP － has reduced the human rights of Hong Kong citizens to a category requiring governmental approval. Such limitations violate, in spirit and letter, the International Covenant on Human Rights. Indeed, a number of peaceful processions and demonstrations have been suppressed. For example, the police have ordered music to be played so as to drown out the protesters’ chants, have wantonly arrested participants in the anti-World Bank protest, have seized the loudspeakers from the hands of protesters at the demonstration against Hu Jin-tau, the vice-chairman of the Chinese government, and have used several hundred police officers to physically block protests of no more than twenty people citizens.

The Breach of Freedom of Religion and Autonomy－China Won't Allow the Pope to Visit HK

The Pope wanted to visit Hong Kong in November of 1999, but the CCP would not allow it. The Catholic Diocese in Hong Kong remarked that it posts a limitation to the Church in Hong Kong, [and] our chance to enjoy freedom of religion is being deprived.” The Assistant Bishop of the Catholic Church Chan Yat-kwan also expressed disappointment, yet he hoped that the government would adopt an open attitude concerning the diplomatic relations in this incident, and uphold the "one country, two systems" principle. As for the Catholics, the aborted Papal visit is a grave loss and disappointment. For all people of faith－and those who cherish freedom of religion－it constitutes a rejection of their ideals. On another, purely practical level, it damages the image of Hong Kong as an open, international city. Mr. To Yiu-ming, Assistant Professor of the Baptist University, said that the central government was in breach of Article 149 of the Basic Law, which clearly stated that religious organizations in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region "may maintain and develop relations with their counterparts in foreign countries and regions and with relevant international organizations." He added that the Hong Kong government not only failed to convey to the central government the concern of Hong Kong people over the freedom of religion, but also failed to defend such freedom entrenched in the Basic Law.”

Undermine the Judicial Independence－Reinterpret the Basic Law

On January 29, a Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA) ruling granted right of abode to the mainland offspring of the Hong Kong residents. The CFA also asserted that it has the rights to review the acts of the National People's Congress(NPC). Yet, the ruling was criticized by the central government, and then the Hong Kong government sought an unprecedented clarification of the ruling from the CFA and was unwilling to have the ruling executed. They commented that the ruling was an error. In order to stir up the people against the prospective migrants, the government inflated the mainland immigration figures which meant to overburden Hong Kong. Furthermore, the government bypassed the CFA to seek a reinterpretation of the Basic Law by the Standing Committee of the NPC. The NPC resorted to overturning the ruling of the CFA. The rights of final adjudication by the CFA has been severely undermined. Yet, the government further stated that this incident implied that Hong Kong legal system is no longer a common law system.

Basic Rights to an Adequate Standard Of Living

Since the handover, people have been suffering tough hard times: some laws which aimed to protect the rights of labourers were repealed by the Provisional Legislature; The government even seized the opportunity of maligning the Comprehensive Social Security Assistant Scheme recipients to slash payment; the housing problems such as cagehomes which have been dragging on for a long time remain unsolved. While the promise made by the Chief Executive to supply 85,000 residential flats has come of nothing, together with his pushing up of the property prices by putting a hold on land sales, those people who are the most in need of accommodation finally come to nothing. After the financial turmoil, the government rescued the financial markets rather than rescued the people. The unemployment rate thus continued to rise. The basic rights of the people to have an adequate standard of living for themselves (including adequate food, clothes and housing) is ignored.

The Deteriorating Rule of Law－Is Everyone Equal Before The Law ?

A number of incidents reiterated that before the law people no longer enjoy equality. The rule of law has been undermined. For example, the Hong Kong Standard, a local English newspaper, was suspected of inflating circulation. The proprietor Sally Aw Sian, an old family friend of the Chief Executive and a member of the Chinese People Political Consultative Conference, was not prosecuted despite the fact that she was named as a conspirator to defraud in the three senior executives’ indictments. But after the three executives were convicted, the Secretary for Justice decided not to prosecute Aw Sian on fraud charges, stating that because there was not enough evidence and feared that the charges would throw many people out of their job as she was an employer of more than a thousand people, thus it was not in the public interest to bring her to court.

Another case arose when the New China News Agency failed to reply Emily Lau's request to see her personal files within the required time. It was a breach of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, but again by reason of public interest, Elsie Leung refused to make prosecution against the NCNA. The government has neglected the rules entrenched in the Basic Law that everybody should be equal before the law, and that the mainland agencies are required to abide by the Hong Kong law. Instead, the government introduced the "Adaptation of Laws Bill” to exempt the mainland agencies from abiding by more than five hundred Hong Kong laws.