The potential demise of Hong Kong's oldest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party, marks the end of an era defined by a colonial pressure-group mentality in the quest for democratic reforms. The author argues that the movement's failure stems from deep-seated skepticism toward the central government and reliance on Western pressure rather than dialogue with Beijing.
The Democratic Party's demise will mark the end of an era, one when a colonial pressure-group mentality dictated the quest for democratic reforms in Hong Kong, a mentality which, sadly, was destined to ensure failure of the quest. As Hong Kong’s oldest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party was once the vanguard of the movement before the handover. In a way, the party was born with a political mindset rooted in colonial-era values, characterised by a deep-seated scepticism of the central government.
After the handover, the colonial-era scepticism continued to manifest as a lack of trust, breeding a belief that any form of communication with Beijing would only lead to subsumption, or a dangerous betrayal of the values espoused by the movement. Thus, the movement with the Democratic Party as its leader firmly believed the only way to achieve democracy in Hong Kong was to generate maximum political and social pressure, including from Western governments, to compel Beijing to yield to its demands for an ideal, Western-style democracy.
"The only hopeless aspect is the erroneous thinking that Hong Kong can have democracy without the central government’s blessing." Keywords include colonial-era, one country two systems, Articles 45 and 68 of the Basic Law, Democratic Party, Civic Party, and Beijing.
