Flashed back to 1984, the sealing of Hong Kong’s fate after 1997 had triggered a massive fleeing of people and capital. It also gave a catalyst to political activism among the stayers who held out hope for a democratic Hong Kong after the end of colonial rule.

Veteran democrats including Martin Lee, a prominent barrister, and the late Szeto Wah, a patriot and a school headmaster, were elected through functional constituencies to the Legislative Council in 1985. The pair also sat on the then Beijing-appointed Basic Law Drafting Committee formed in the same year until after the June 4 crackdown.

Lee led the democrats to snap up 16 of the 18 geographical constituency seats in the maiden Legco direct election in 1991, marking the beginning of a three-decade-long period of ups and downs of the city’s democratic movement.

 

Primary election in 2020

Fast-forward to 2024. On November 19, the disintegrated democratic camp suffered another heavy blow when a panel of three High Court judges handed down the sentencing of 45 democrats. They were earlier convicted of conspiring to subvert state power for their role in an unofficial legislative “primary” election in 2020. The judges ruled that it was part of a plot to bring down the Hong Kong government.

Former legal academic Benny Tai has been jailed for 10 years for his role in the plot. The other 44 defendants, most of whom were primary election candidates, were jailed for between four years and two months and seven years and nine months.

Held in July 2020, more than 610,000 people cast their votes in the unofficial “primary”. According to the plan mooted by Tai, it was aimed to maximise the chance of the democrats winning a majority of seats in the 2020 Legislative Council election, dubbed as “35+” plan. With a majority of seats, they could exercise their power to veto the Government’s budget, which Tai believed could bring down the Government.

The Tai-initiated plan came to a quick end after the then Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the deferral of the Legco election scheduled for September 2020. In July, the Hong Kong national security law came into force.

Three years and eight months after they were held in custody for the charges, the 45 democrats were given a date of the end of their loss of freedom.

 

The fight come to an end

The fight for democracy, however, has come to an end at a much earlier time.

The dream for democracy that began in the 1980s has become a nightmare for the 45 democrats from different generations. They include veterans such as former chairman Wu Chi-wai, Wong Pik-wan and young stars including Joshua Wong and Lester Shum.

Compared to Martin Lee and Szeto Wah, they are the younger tiers of the city’s democratic force.

Their jail terms may be arguably shorter than predicted; they will still be young when they finish the jail terms. But it looks certain their journey for political activism has come to an end. The subversion case has and will cause devastating impacts on their life – and the city’s democratic movement.

Barring unexpected sea changes in the political environment, the chance of their political comeback is zero. Under the revamped election system, it is plainly impossible for them to get a ticket to stand for the Legislative and District Council elections.

 

No signs of an end to the crackdown

Moreover, the ongoing purge of the Democratic Party, which is the only political force which is still alive, has sent shivers down the spine of the democrats.

Following last week’s sentencing, the Democrats saw another round of attack by pro-Beijing newspapers and social media with calls for them to disband and for the Government to take two Democrats to court for their role in the 2021 “primary”.

Eight people, including former Democrat legislator James To and Roy Kwong, are still under investigation. The pair have their travel documents being surrendered to the Police.

A senior Police national security officer said after the sentencing their investigation is still underway, adding they will proceed with prosecution if there is enough evidence.

Meanwhile, Regina Ip, Executive Council convenor, legislator and head of the New People’s Party, said her party will not give nominations to any Democrats who seek to bid for seats in the next Legco election scheduled for the last quarter of 2025.

Taken together, there are no signs of an end to the crackdown against the Democrats, the remaining and depleting pro-democracy force, and an opening up of space for opposition in the political landscape.

What a 40 years!

(圖 : Leo Li from Hong Kong, CC BY 2.0 )

▌[At Large] About the Author

Chris Yeung is a veteran journalist, a founder and chief writer of the now-disbanded CitizenNews; he now runs a daily news commentary channel on Youtube. He had formerly worked with the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Economic Journal.