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April 08, 2005
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Getting Hong Kong moving
Beijing will release its interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law on April 27th following The Don's request yesterday. Beijing will send representatives to a meeting to consult on the interpretations. Audrey Eu rightly said "It is just a show to pacify the local legal sector. For myself, calling for a two-hour meeting and photo-call session after the government decides to seek the interpretation will not cultivate a good relationship between both parties. The end result. This July 1st rally will again have hundreds of thousands marching, just a couple of weeks before the Chief Executive election. The stupidest part of all this is The Don is by far the most popular politician in the city. But again Beijing and Hong Kong's elite have blundered the sucession, corrupting the Basic Law and process for the sake of political expediency. That might work in China. It appears it now works in Hong Kong too. Meanwhile The Don has used his official mouthpiece, the South China Morning Post, to print his defence of asking for the interpretation. It's below the fold, with some thoughts on the difference between The Don's words and deeds. Update: Hong Kong's lawyers are on the march. ESWN summarises some polling and opinions on the rule of law in Hong Kong. It includes this killer quote: "Some barristers only know how to nap while sitting on the toilet". That's going to keep me smiling all weekend. I have been part of Hong Kong's civil service for more than three decades. Throughout my entire career, I have worked with many people whose driving impulse has been to serve Hong Kong. That remains as true today as it did when I first entered government. The past couple of weeks have been among the most momentous periods since our reunification with the mainland in 1997, and it has left me in the hot seat as Hong Kong's acting chief executive. It is not easy to describe the enormous level of responsibility I feel.If you had stopped reading here, you would have thought he was arguing why the Basic Law process should be followed, letting the courts decide. Alas. Hong Kong's cosmopolitanism long ago planted the seeds of tolerance and respect in our approach to government. As a result, we are committed to dialogue and compromise as the only way to balance the many competing demands and opinions that pervade public affairs. Good government is not a competition. It is not about winning or losing, or whose view or will prevails. It is about making the best decisions for the community.Here endeth The Don's campaign speech. But it is curious that he undermines his point on the rule of law and the Basic Law as "safeguards" given he has circumvented the Basic Law on the clear meaning of Article 45 and the CE's term. It's a curious political tactic. Usually politicians wait until they're elected before they contradict themselves. This is a clear disconnect between words and deeds. Hong Kong can only hope this is an exception rather than what we can expect from The Don's rule. posted by Simon on 04.08.05 at 11:04 AM in the
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TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blog.mu.nu/cgi/trackback.cgi/74338 Send a manual trackback ping to this post. Only the Stupidity Is Clear Excerpt: It's official: the words on the Basic Law are not enough for the Hong Kong government, so it's asking mommy to explain what exactly should be term length of the next CE. My position on this is one of resignation:... Weblog: Plum Blossoms Tracked: April 8, 2005 03:07 PM |
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