Legislature Nomination and Civil Nomination

(translated by Chapman Chen)

Since the occupation action has entered an organizer-free state, Hongkongers have to reach a consensus about constitutional reform as soon as possible, so that it will be promoted as the aim of the revolution, and that Communist China will clearly know what Hongkongers want, thus making rational compromises.

Civil nomination of Chief Executive candidates is put forth by pan-democrats, and legislature nomination by Prof. Wan Chin. These two forms of nomination tend to gradually become mutually exclusive. But I think this is unnecessary. Legislature nomination is entrance to the lobby while civil nomination is fire exit. The two are not only non-mutually exclusive but also complementary and indispensable to each other.

In other words, at a normal stage when politics has already been put on the right track, legislature nomination is enough to fully realize the will of the citizens, such that running for election through civil nomination becomes unnecessary. However, at an abnormal stage like now when politics is comprehensively distorted, running for election through civil nomination to uphold civil will is indispensable. It can even be considered a low-cost means to realize civil will without overthrowing the government by revolution.

Civil nomination is a safety valve to prevent revolution! Doubtlessly, Hongkongers, for the sake of their own political interests, have to fight for legislature nomination and civil nomination. But even Communist China and Western powers should take this as their aim of compromise if they do not want a blood-shedding revolution to break out and bring about enormous losses.
In particular, regarding the Communist Party of China, allowing Hong Kong to have legislature nomination and civil nomination has more pros than cons. The worst possible result is that Hongkong announces independence through referendum after obtaining full de facto sovereignty, which simply means Hong Kong returning to the pre-1997 situation. In that case, Communist China can get rid of Hong Kong as a burden but continue to reap profits from Hong Kong. What else is there to lose? Moreover, Hong Kong is a special administrative region, to which Tibet and Xijiang cannot be compared. How can this lead to other autonomous regions taking Hong Kong as a model and struggling for independence? So much the more, the possibility of Hong Kong going independent is very small. More probably, Hong Kong will become a second Wu Kan Chun, albeit on a larger scale.

Once Hong Kong builds up through legislative nomination and civil nomination politics committed to local interests, and exclude interferences from China and the West, the political situation of Hong Kong will return to the normal track and the interests of both China and the West will be protected. It is certainly better than the current messy situation, in which a blood revolution will break out any minute to overthrow the government, subjecting all powers to unnecessary political risks!
In order to strengthen the political function of legislature nomination, the two following measures have to be adopted:

• 1. Cancellation of functional constituencies and universal election of the Legislative Council. To use the door as a metaphor again, suppose at the entrance to the lobby, there are a large crowd of gangsters, how can decent women walk in and out with their mind at rest? Now the Legislative Council is thoroughly corrupt and controlled by pro-CCP running dogs by way of functional constituencies and split voting in such a way that civil will cannot be upheld at all. Isn’t this like a large group of gangsters blocking the entrance to the lobby? Unless they are wiped out, legislature nomination, etc. will be like empty talk!
• 2. Conditional “one person, one vote”. In order to prevent the communists from buying and rigging votes, I do not agree to unconditional general election of the legislature and Chief Executive. In order to be an eligible voter, every citizen must pass a simple examination, which is divided into two parts. In the first part, the candidate is required to fill in a form, the difficulty of which is similar to that of the BN(O) (British National Overseas) application form. Making mistakes over a certain limit (e.g. 3) in the exam will mean fail. The second part is an IQ test. Candidates with an IQ below, say 105, will lose their right to vote.

This assumes that in this city-state to elect legco members and the Chief Executive require intelligence above vulgar minds so that sound choices can be made. It also assumes that these people will vote according to public interests, including interests of those who do not have the right to vote, rather than out of selfishness.

The right to vote is bought with blood and even lives. How can it be contaminated by those paid off by corrupt politicians? Even before you can drive in public, you have to pass an exam, because it involves the safety of other people. Driving a car will involve the safety of a small number of people while monitoring a city-state involves the lives and assets of all the citizens. Isn’t it strange that one can vote without passing any test? That is why I advocate “conditional one person one vote”.

The interests of China and Western powers in Hong Kong rely on its stability. Only establishing localist politics can rescue Hong Kong from chaos. The only way to stabilize the political situation of Hong Kong is to set up a wholesome political system of democracy. In order to protect the wholesome political system of democracy, both legislature and civil nominations are required!

Hongkongers have to clearly recognize that legislature and civil nominations are exactly their targets. They must not be distracted by other baits, such as “Down with CY Leung”. They have to fight to the very end for legislature and civil nominations! Without legislature and civil nominations, we will never ever retreat!

圖片說明：來自「人大」的禽獸說：「先強姦，後檢討。腿張開之前，請先付五元﹗」
圖片來源：2014年6月12日「中國人在香港犯罪記錄」上載facebook的圖片。

*此文為《議會提名和公民提名》的英譯本，刊登於十一月廿四日《本土新聞》。