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Opinion | Hong Kong desperately needs political reform to make Legco and the chief executive accountable
- Far from ripping Hong Kong apart and deepening divisions, political reform will allow a more representative government to better deal with controversial legislation, whether on extradition or national security
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
It is clear from radio talk shows, interviews on the street, letters to the editor – everywhere ordinary people can put their views across – that most of us are feeling a kind of helpless weariness.
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We see young people throwing bricks at policemen, many of them our friends and relatives, and whom we rely on to keep us safe. And these young people are our sons and daughters, who carry the hopes of our community. Why are police marksmen kneeling down to take aim with rifles and shoot them, albeit luckily only with rubber bullets and beanbag rounds? It is becoming obvious to everyone that we are all facing the consequences of a colossal political failure.
Our young people feel, with some justification, that they have been betrayed by an administration that is not protecting their long-term interests. While our policemen feel that they have been left to take responsibility on the streets for coping with public anger. Literally everyone feels powerless.
It is against this background that I listened incredulously to the comments of former Central Policy Unit head Lau Siu-kai earlier this month that political reform would deepen divisions and rip Hong Kong apart. That means what we have now is a big unifying success?
It would be wrong to place the blame for the current situation wholly on the recent extradition debacle. The roots go back to the failed political reform saga of 2013-2015.
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