How Hong Kong has come to this? It is a sad day for Hong Kong that it has lost the power to enact a security law that was given to the government of the Special Administrative Region under Article 23 of the Basic Law. Defining treason, sedition, subversion from the perspective of the People Republic of China will no doubt be very different from defining these terms from a Hong Kong perspective. Article 23 has just one sentence and no ambiguity. It says,
"The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies."
Basic Law is the mini-constitution that sets out how Hong Kong should be governed after 1997. The intention is to set out the parameter and impose restraints and obligations on both the government of the People Republic of China and the SAR government. Article 23 is very clear and the responsibility rests with the HKSAR government to enact a security law. After 23 years and 4 chief executives, different political parties in the legislature (the LegCo) have failed to work together, find a compromise and enact one piece of legislation that could have far-reaching consequences on the human rights of Hong Kong citizens. Is 23 years a reasonable time-frame to pass one piece of legislation? What does it say about the competence of the political class in Hong Kong? Quite rightly, people understand the significance of this piece of legislation and its ramifications. Their concerns are on full display to the world by the passionate demonstrations on the street. Hong Kong people deserve an answer but there is no hope for a public inquiry on this blatant dereliction of responsibilities and how we have come to this. Two things we can be certain: (1) the blame game continues, and (2) this is not the fault of millions of hardworking Hong Kong people making sacrifices daily and earning a meager wage to make Hong Kong such a vibrant city. The political class on both sides of the divide since the handover from Britain to China and those who have the ability to influence the political process and outcome directly or indirectly will have a lot to answer for to the Hong Kong people. It is a political own goal that gives the Beijing government the opportunity, at this chaotic time, to step in to enact such an important piece of legislation. History will judge those responsible harshly.