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Linda Choy

At 39, Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong  has seen the city through some momentous episodes in the demonstration of 'people power'.

As an undergraduate student, he took part in organising local students' support for the pro-democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989.  He soldiered on in his fight for labour and human rights in subsequent years, staying at the forefront of many demonstrations before becoming convenor of the Article 23 working group for the Civil Human Rights Front in 2002-2004 - a position that put him in the role of commander for the 500,000-strong march on July 1, 2003.

From the command post on that bright summer day, Mr Tsoi declared to the hundreds of thousands who had sweated their way through the bustle of the city to demonstrate their discontent against the Tung Chee-hwa administration: 'The people of Hong Kong have stood up. We made history.'

Four years after the climax of 2003, the ardent social activist does not sound as positive in his assessment of social activism, or the power of  the people to effect social change in Hong Kong.

'The future of social activism in Hong Kong is rather bleak,' he said.

Activists like Mr Tsoi have a goal of pursuing social advancement through representing  the interests of the minority or the underdogs - from those living in destitution to the silent supporters of  the preservation of some of Hong Kong's heritage that stands in the way of development and, to an even wider extent, those who are disenfranchised under the existing electoral arrangements.

In the 10 years since the handover, most of them have gone about their  business in much the same way as in the pre-1997 years. Protests and petitions are still a common feature  of Hong Kong's everyday life.

With the exception of last year, the city has recorded more than 1,000 public processions and meetings  every  year since the handover. Such public rallies were so frequent that The Washington Post once labelled Hong Kong the 'city of protests'.

The development is a pleasant surprise for the doomsayers, who predicted a dire future for the city's freedom  with its return to China,  based on the sequence of events building up to the handover.

In February 1997, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the mainland's national legislature, on a recommendation of an earlier decision by the Preparatory Committee for the handover of Hong Kong, intervened to scrap 25 pieces of legislation promulgated by the Legislative Council under the Hong Kong British administration in full or in part.  The amended Public Order Ordinance   effectively restored a licensing requirement for processions and lowered the number of people in protests from 50 to 30 and for rallies without notification from 30 to 20.

In what was seen as a major blow to the city's human rights protection, the NPC also repealed provisions in the then Bill of Rights that would have given the human rights law an overriding status. Had it been retained, the law would have prevented the city's legislature from passing any law that went against the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

However,  there was no massive suppression of the opposition in Hong Kong in any blatant form. The kind of barefaced curbs on free speech frequent  on the mainland have not appeared here.

The people have even managed to score a few notable victories in their challenges to unpopular government policy decisions.

The most obvious success was the handover day march in 2003, which  eventually thwarted the highly unpopular bid to turn Article 23 of the Basic Law into local legislation. The bill  was launched to fulfil Hong Kong's obligations under the mini-constitution, but the draconian provisions  in the draft  become a major cause of social anxiety.

The march was followed by withdrawal of support for the bill by Liberal Party leader James Tien Pei-chun,  prompting the government to shelve the legislation.

The march, with a turnout much bigger than expected by authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong,  triggered a rethink by the central government of its Hong Kong policy and eventually brought the downfall of Tung Chee-hwa in 2005.

In 2004, the Housing Authority was forced to postpone an attempt to sell about HK$30 billion of government-owned real estate through the listing of The Link Reit, the world's largest initial public offering of a real-estate investment trust, after 67-year-old public housing tenant Lo Siu-lan  launched a judicial review against the disposal plan.

Ms Lo and her supporters fought the Link deal on the grounds that it undervalued public assets and fears that it could lead to higher prices for housing tenants. Her case was eventually taken to the Court of Final Appeal, where it was dismissed in July 2005.

More recently, the campaign by a group of activists against the demolition of the Star Ferry pier in Central triggered a review of the government's policy on heritage conservation and a rethink on its consultation mechanism.

However, any suggestion that the people have become more 'powerful' would seem too hasty for the city's ardent civil rights campaigners.

The Article 23 legislation is due to make a comeback, The Link Reit successfully launched its IPO and placed the management of public car parks and shopping malls at public housing estates in the hands of a listed entity, and the Star Ferry pier in Central can now be seen only in photographs.

The so-called victories in getting the government to reverse its policies were at best contingent on the political atmosphere of the day and exploiting the  legal system, rather than being entrenched in the Special Administrative Region's established system to address and incorporate dissent.

Mr Tsoi said the July 1 march in 2003 became an occasion for different local interest groups to voice their appeals, rather than  a forceful unity to fight for full democracy in Hong Kong.

Against an improved economic situation, he fears that the minority voices in the city will be further marginalised.

'What worries me also is the increasing dominance of mainstream views in society, to an extent that society will become less and less diversified,' he said.

'While it is not a bad thing to sing praises for the handover, it will be problematic if celebrations are all we have to mark the occasion. There has to be a critical look at the road Hong Kong has taken since July 1997. We should not blindly take what is presented to us by the authorities.'

Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor director Law Yuk-kai  said the city's civil liberties situation had remained fragile since the handover. 'It is unstable. It all depends on the top officials,' he said. 'People without much political awareness may think there is not much difference from before. But those who challenge the current system have to bear a high risk.

'[Police] tend to enforce the law selectively. The Hong Kong Federation of Students, April Fifth Action and Falun Gong are often given 'special care' during rallies and protests,' said Mr Law, an assessment shared by Mr Tsoi.

'While the majority of the people still see Hong Kong as a free society, the level of 'freedom' for some has declined,' Mr Tsoi said, pointing to the close monitoring of activities by the more radical groups and prosecutions of activists on legal grounds, such as criminal damage.

For what it's worth, the authorities have also become more responsive in addressing dissent in society.

The row over the demolition of the Star Ferry pier in Central last December  has resulted in, among other things, the revamp of the membership of the Antiquities Advisory Board to incorporate more young professionals and critics.

The government also moved to halt the promotion of an unpopular goods and services tax in its nine-month consultation on broadening of the tax base last year amid fierce opposition from retail sectors and the public.

Shortly after his selection to the chief executive post to serve the remainder of Mr Tung's term, after Mr Tung bowed out claiming ill-health, Mr Tsang  told  senior aides that they should let no controversy linger.   Ministers were  required to come up with solutions to stop any escalation of a controversy.

In his second term as chief executive,  Mr Tsang has promised that he and his administration will adopt a more people-oriented approach to running the city.

The lesson of his predecessor is clear: never let social dissent reach the  point of undermining the  ruling authority.

It remains to be seen whether Mr Tsang's governance approach will create  a more harmonious society.

The tough tests will come in his handling of the question of universal suffrage for the chief executive and legislative elections, as well as  legislation for Article 23 of the Basic Law.

Additional Reporting by Colleen Lee



Stand and be counted