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One
country, two
systems
Man, President
Hu Jintao must hate crossing the Pearl River Delta
and speaking in Hong Kong. These days, the
residents of that super-city are not particularly
well disposed toward their mainland cousins. And
with real estate surveyor Leung Chun-Ying -
perceived by many as a stooge for the Chinese
Communist Party - now installed as chief
executive, things could get messy. By RICHARD
POPLAK
Chinese President Hu Jintao
stands in a hall of 2,500 people and prepares to
deliver a conciliatory message. He wants to assure
the citizens of Hong Kong that China intends to
maintain the
clunky "one country, two
systems" mandate that has existed since the
handover of Hong Kong by the British in 1997. He
wants to tell his fellow citizens that their civil
liberties are safe and they should expect no
rollback on their freedoms, such as those freedoms
may be.
As he opens his mouth, a lone man
stands and shouts at the president-something that
happens not at all in Beijing. The protestor
reminds Hu of "June 4"-a reference to Tiananmen
Square-and suggests the CCP should consider
introducing a democratic system of governance,
something that is unlikely to have occurred to Hu.
The protestor doesn't get much further into his
disquisition before he is hauled off and taken to
a quiet, dark place to calm down. For the rest of
his life.
The lone dissenter is less
lonely than he appears in the hall crowded with
sycophants. Outside, as Hu installs mega-rich real
estate surveyor Leung Chun-Ying as chief executive
of Hong Kong, thousands walk through the high-rise
canyons, making their displeasure known. Hong Kong
has become the most unequal society in Asia,
partly because of the real estate "crisis" that
has so enriched Leung and his peer group.
Wealthy mainlanders, in order to protect
their money from taxation and political vendettas,
have pumped billions into Hong Kong real estate.
Consequently, locals can no longer afford to buy
or rent in their own neighbourhoods. Illegal
townships have sprung up, but Leung has vowed to
wipe them out.
"A wolf in sheep's
clothing," is how Leung's (numerous) opponents
have uncreatively described him, for Leung has
never been much of a sheep. His major opponent in
the run-up to the "elections" (more on this in a
moment) was a gentleman named Henry Tang, leading
light of a wealthy manufacturing clan, linked to
the Shanghai faction that controls politics in the
mainland. Tang was embroiled in controversy after
controversy, most notable the fact that a basement
was built under a home owned by his wife, without
planning permission or the payment of taxes. That
the same controversy recently landed at Leung's
doorstep-several illegal additions to his
$64-million home have been reported-hasn't passed
the attention of the citizens of Hong Kong.
Neither has the fact that Leung gave his
inaugural address in Mandarin, rather than the
Cantonese traditionally spoken in the city-state.
For a chief executive who claims to have no real
ties to the mainland, using the language of the
overlords across the China Sea has made many
uneasy.
"The Government will uphold the
core values of Hong Kong and protect the freedom
and rights of the people," read an official
statement that has done little to calm the
restiveness. "The chief executive and his team
will honour their pledge to hold themselves
accountable to the people. They will go to the
districts to listen to people's views and
aspirations and work together with them to address
the deep-rooted problems in a pragmatic manner,
improve people's livelihood and promote harmony
and stability in society." Good luck with that.
The citizens of Hong Kong are clamouring
for more say in the day-to-day running of the
special administration region (China has two, the
other being Macau-also a playground for China's
ultra-wealthy.) The average man in the street
never voted for Leung, because the average man in
the street isn't allowed to vote. The chief
executive is chosen by an election committee of
1,200 members-Leung earned 689 votes, hardly a
unanimous mandate. It's not a situation that
pleases too many a Hong Konger, and it leads to
serious suspicions that the CE is under the thumb
of Beijing, which has not been this unpopular on
the island since the handover.
No one is
entirely sure what is meant by "guaranteed
freedom" in a place where they cannot vote for
their leaders. Nor are they sure what "political
and economic autonomy"-also guaranteed
post-handover-actually counts for, when their CE
is embroiled in the sort of sleaze that has a
distinct mainland flavour. Beijing insists that
Hong Kong will be able to elect its own leader in
2017, and all legislators by 2020, but there
hasn't been any serious movement on this. The
status quo remains worryingly intact.
And
that's why tens of thousands of islanders have
taken to the streets-many of them young, many of
them angry. "Affluence isn't affluence at all,"
wrote Jonathan Gash in The Jade Woman. "Hong Kong
is the benchmark; everybody else's affluence is
mere tat. Until you've experienced that
perfume-washed air as polarized glass doors
embrace you into a luxury hotel's plush interior,
you've only had a dud replica of the real thing."
All of that affluence is killing Hong
Kongers. They want change, and it will be a
historic moment if, and when, Beijing is willing
to supply it. DM
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