My Take | Common sense needed with Hong Kong’s ‘decolonisation’
- Legislator Maggie Chan is right to demand that Hong Kong remove leftover colonial terms from the lawbooks but there is no need to change historic street names or remove other landmarks
How people feel about their home city and history is highly subjective. You may or may not share their experience and nostalgia, but it’s not for you to judge.
Unlike many of my fellow “blue ribbon” patriotic friends, I was more amused than outraged by the sight of thousands of Hongkongers who queued for hours to mourn the British queen’s death outside the country’s consulate in Admiralty. I was told many Britons felt moved and proud. Well, good for them!
Besides expressing grief, I am inclined to think many people were just taking advantage of the situation as an act of protest outside the consulate to thumb their noses at the authorities.
Personally, I had as much emotional attachment to Elizabeth II as I do with the Empress of Japan or the queens of Spain and Denmark, which is to say very little.
Actually, that’s not quite true. As a former colonial subject and lifelong student of the history of the British Empire, I even bore some ill feelings, not towards the late queen personally, but what she symbolised. But that’s just me. I am sure she was worthy of admiration for many people. Even Mother Teresa had her critics.
But the collective mourning for the queen has reignited calls for greater decolonisation efforts in Hong Kong. I am all for preserving historic city street names or other colonial landmarks. Good or bad, they are relics of history, and I am a history buff.
