Faced with Beijing's political reform decision, pragmatism must guide legislators

One cannot but be left feeling shocked, disappointed and cheated by the National People's Congress Standing Committee's decision on universal suffrage. Who was there to speak on behalf of Hong Kong people's interests in the Beijing meetings last week? Not the Hong Kong deputies to the NPC who were only observers with their own interests to protect. Deputies are elected by a body made up primarily of members of the same committee that has nominated and will continue to nominate chief executive candidates; surely deputies would not want to see any major change to the make-up of this committee.

Then there was the chief executive's report and consultation report, but these presented a wide range of public views in a misleading and selective manner. The Basic Law Committee, which has six Hong Kong members, was not formally consulted. This leaves just one Hong Kong member, out of the 175 members making up the Standing Committee. Compare this to the committee that drafted the Basic Law in the 1980s, whose composition had almost 40 per cent Hong Kong members.

One needs to get over the initial shock in order to think clearly on the question of what remains possible. Is veto of any proposal a virtual certainty? Are mass protests the only answer? To make any progress here, one has to place to one side the ideal world and "international standards". Pragmatism kicks in.

The main question becomes, even with the Standing Committee's constraints, can there still be a package of reform that, when implemented, will give us a better system of executive government, an executive more accountable to the people of Hong Kong? Would such a system get us closer to a more democratic system of universal suffrage than if we stood still in 2017 and tried again for 2022? I urge legislators to ponder these questions seriously in the coming months and, in doing so, take into account the following considerations.

First, the Standing Committee's decision does not address the first stage of nominations that decides who can go before the nominating committee for the 50 per cent vote. Legislators should insist upon a low threshold here, maybe even requiring public endorsement, which has not been ruled out. Getting in the door is important, especially if there will be public debates with candidates who appear to be favoured by Beijing.

Second, do not underestimate the final power of the people to accept or reject the candidates presented to them. Hong Kong voters are intelligent and pragmatic. They will readily see through a candidate who is merely a puppet of Beijing. They will also see which candidates they would rather have as outspoken legislators than as the top political leader.