The values we hold dear manifested in DC election results

Ding Wang November 29, 2019 18:26

The liberal and democratic political faction swept to a landslide victory in the District Council elections on Sunday, thereby reshaping the landscape of the district councils in the city.

Over the years, the DC elections were focused on livelihood issues. Members of the academic and professional sectors, as well as university students, have always shown lukewarm interest in those livelihood topics.

However, this year’s DC race was very different, with political issues taking center stage right from the start and voters’ choices being largely determined by the political stance and affiliation of the candidates.

The fact that street violence from the “valiant” protesters, the police and alleged gangsters has become increasingly rampant in recent months has served as a catalyst for both the record-high voter turnout and voters’ overwhelming preference for pro-democracy candidates.

At first, both the government and the pro-establishment camp thought that public opinion would turn against the pro-democracy camp in the election due to the violence used by the “valiant” protesters.

As it turned out, it was only wishful thinking on their part: the vast majority of voters actually considered police brutality as a more pressing issue to deal with and stop.

That being said, the catastrophic defeat of the pro-Beijing camp in this DC elections is indeed tantamount to a vote of no-confidence cast by the public against the government. No wonder many people have referred to it as a de facto referendum.

As a matter of fact, what enables the civil movement against the abuse of public power to continue to gain momentum is the prevalence of universal values such as freedom, equality, democracy and respect for human dignity among the people.

By saying “no” to the abuse of public power by the authorities through the ballot box, members of the public have expressed loud and clear their hopes for a more “humanized” style of governance and model of law enforcement, as well as their perseverance in pursuing dignity and happiness.

I believe the people of Hong Kong are so resilient and determined that they are fully capable of continuing with their fight for social justice and human dignity through peaceful and rational means.

This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Nov 28

Translation by Alan Lee

[Chinese version 中文版]

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Ding Wang

HKEJ columnist