Today, the HK govt. will submit to LegCo (our parliament) the Constitutional Reform Paper for reading, debate and voting.
Our govt. says that this reform package marks a great step forward towards democracy.
You be the judge........
Currently, the Chief Executive is selected by a committee of 800 people who are selected by a group of 160,000 people who are stacked with pro-Beijing, pro-HK Govt and pro-business supporters - very few of whom are elected by our electorate of some 3.5 million registered voters (people have to actively register here before they can vote), many are hand picked by Beijing.
The proposed package is to double the size of the election committee to 1,600 - but still ensure that it remains stacked with lackeys so that Beijing can be sure of the outcome.
Currently we have a bicameral LegCo. Of 60 seats, thirty are returned by universal suffrage (3.5 million people) and the other 30 returned by so-called "functional constituencies" (remember the old "Rotten Boroughs" in the UK?). The functional constituencies comprise largely of business interests, pro-HK govt. groups, pro-Beijing groups and a smattering of professional and sector (such as education and social worker) groups.
Some FC's are so narrowly based that as few as 160 people (in some of the industrial groups) can elect a Legislator. Some individuals, due to their business associations across various industries and vast number of directorships get to vote for as many as 10 seats - and effectively control many of those). It is important to remember that the business sector in HK is very pro-HK govt. and even more pro-Beijing - why risk money by pissing off the commies, eh?
For the 30 directly elected (geographical) seats each seat takes, on average over 100,000 votes to secure. These seats usually split fairly evenly between the democratic camp and the DABPHK (The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong - Yup! You guessed it, the defacto Chinese Communist Party in HK). The DABPHK usually capture the elderly vote and some of the working class - they have huge resources both human and financial, being massively financed by the CCP. They give away loads of free rice all the time and bus people in to vote at each election (armies of geriatric, octogenarians; grannies and granddads who barely know what they are doing, being bussed in to vote for the name that they are given on a piece of paper to remind them before they enter the booth - you get the picture).
Worse, for any bill to pass there needs to be an overall majority in LegCo (60 seats) BUT ALSO a majority within each of the two 30-seat chambers (functional and directly elected). This means that the functionals' have an effective veto on any bill, even if there is an overall majority.
Overall, the pan-democrats (including independents,) control about 18 of the 30 directly elected seats and seven of the 30 functional seats. That's 25 out of 60.
To say the least, the system is STACKED in the Beijing/HK governments' favour.
The govts proposal for LegCo, is to add five new seats to each chamber (five directly elected and five functional). For the five new functional seats, however, it is proposed that all members of the district councils will elect them. The district councils comprise @ 500 members in all, of which @ 380 are directly elected and 120 appointed by the HK govt. Of the 500, probably about 60% are pro-govt and 40% pro democracy.
The new LegCo will thus comprise 70 seats, 35 directly elected and 35 functional.
All in all, perhaps a wee bit more democratic 'cos the new functional seats have an element of indirectly being voted for by universal suffrage (380 of the 500 district councillors). On the other hand, any expansion of the functional constituencies could be seen as a backwards step. Why not just replace five or 10 of the existing FC's with five or 10 new directly elected seats?
Anyhooooooooooo...........
The Lego debate starts today and, since this is a constitutional matter, the govt. needs a two-thirds majority, that is: 40 votes out of 60. After a marathon debate, the vote is expected some time tomorrow afternoon/evening.
A few "democratic" independents are wavering and right now it looks like the govt. have 38 votes (they need 40). The remaining 22 pan-democrats are solid and promising to vote down the bill.
The govt. is desperate to get this bill passed. Even the Chief Executive (Donald Tsang) has been out on the street with a megaphone lobbying public support and taking out TV adverts to try and sway public opinion (IMO, the fucking twat should rather be up in Beijing lobbying for more democracy for the people he supposedly represents, but anyway, I digress........). His argument is that this is the best possible deal and if it's voted down then the arrangements for the 2007/8 elections will remain as is (800 electing the CE and the same 60 seats in LegCo,) and the democrats themselves will have thwarted the forward movement of democracy. If he loses this vote, Beijing will be very pissed off with him.
The democrats argue that this package is an insult and a slap in the face to the many, many hundreds of thousands of HK people who have repeatedly taken peacefully to the streets demanding universal suffrage ASAP - or at least a roadmap and timetable towards universal suffrage (Beijing refuses to even discuss a timetable). They say that it makes little if any progress towards democracy and must be voted down until we have a roadmap and timetable in place for full democracy, preferably universal suffrage in 2012, or at least 2017 at the latest. If the bill is voted down, Beijing will be very pissed off with the democrats.
So, should the bill pass or should it be voted down?
What say you, ho?
(Poll Coming!)
Woof
Our govt. says that this reform package marks a great step forward towards democracy.
You be the judge........
Currently, the Chief Executive is selected by a committee of 800 people who are selected by a group of 160,000 people who are stacked with pro-Beijing, pro-HK Govt and pro-business supporters - very few of whom are elected by our electorate of some 3.5 million registered voters (people have to actively register here before they can vote), many are hand picked by Beijing.
The proposed package is to double the size of the election committee to 1,600 - but still ensure that it remains stacked with lackeys so that Beijing can be sure of the outcome.
Currently we have a bicameral LegCo. Of 60 seats, thirty are returned by universal suffrage (3.5 million people) and the other 30 returned by so-called "functional constituencies" (remember the old "Rotten Boroughs" in the UK?). The functional constituencies comprise largely of business interests, pro-HK govt. groups, pro-Beijing groups and a smattering of professional and sector (such as education and social worker) groups.
Some FC's are so narrowly based that as few as 160 people (in some of the industrial groups) can elect a Legislator. Some individuals, due to their business associations across various industries and vast number of directorships get to vote for as many as 10 seats - and effectively control many of those). It is important to remember that the business sector in HK is very pro-HK govt. and even more pro-Beijing - why risk money by pissing off the commies, eh?
For the 30 directly elected (geographical) seats each seat takes, on average over 100,000 votes to secure. These seats usually split fairly evenly between the democratic camp and the DABPHK (The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong - Yup! You guessed it, the defacto Chinese Communist Party in HK). The DABPHK usually capture the elderly vote and some of the working class - they have huge resources both human and financial, being massively financed by the CCP. They give away loads of free rice all the time and bus people in to vote at each election (armies of geriatric, octogenarians; grannies and granddads who barely know what they are doing, being bussed in to vote for the name that they are given on a piece of paper to remind them before they enter the booth - you get the picture).
Worse, for any bill to pass there needs to be an overall majority in LegCo (60 seats) BUT ALSO a majority within each of the two 30-seat chambers (functional and directly elected). This means that the functionals' have an effective veto on any bill, even if there is an overall majority.
Overall, the pan-democrats (including independents,) control about 18 of the 30 directly elected seats and seven of the 30 functional seats. That's 25 out of 60.
To say the least, the system is STACKED in the Beijing/HK governments' favour.
The govts proposal for LegCo, is to add five new seats to each chamber (five directly elected and five functional). For the five new functional seats, however, it is proposed that all members of the district councils will elect them. The district councils comprise @ 500 members in all, of which @ 380 are directly elected and 120 appointed by the HK govt. Of the 500, probably about 60% are pro-govt and 40% pro democracy.
The new LegCo will thus comprise 70 seats, 35 directly elected and 35 functional.
All in all, perhaps a wee bit more democratic 'cos the new functional seats have an element of indirectly being voted for by universal suffrage (380 of the 500 district councillors). On the other hand, any expansion of the functional constituencies could be seen as a backwards step. Why not just replace five or 10 of the existing FC's with five or 10 new directly elected seats?
Anyhooooooooooo...........
The Lego debate starts today and, since this is a constitutional matter, the govt. needs a two-thirds majority, that is: 40 votes out of 60. After a marathon debate, the vote is expected some time tomorrow afternoon/evening.
A few "democratic" independents are wavering and right now it looks like the govt. have 38 votes (they need 40). The remaining 22 pan-democrats are solid and promising to vote down the bill.
The govt. is desperate to get this bill passed. Even the Chief Executive (Donald Tsang) has been out on the street with a megaphone lobbying public support and taking out TV adverts to try and sway public opinion (IMO, the fucking twat should rather be up in Beijing lobbying for more democracy for the people he supposedly represents, but anyway, I digress........). His argument is that this is the best possible deal and if it's voted down then the arrangements for the 2007/8 elections will remain as is (800 electing the CE and the same 60 seats in LegCo,) and the democrats themselves will have thwarted the forward movement of democracy. If he loses this vote, Beijing will be very pissed off with him.
The democrats argue that this package is an insult and a slap in the face to the many, many hundreds of thousands of HK people who have repeatedly taken peacefully to the streets demanding universal suffrage ASAP - or at least a roadmap and timetable towards universal suffrage (Beijing refuses to even discuss a timetable). They say that it makes little if any progress towards democracy and must be voted down until we have a roadmap and timetable in place for full democracy, preferably universal suffrage in 2012, or at least 2017 at the latest. If the bill is voted down, Beijing will be very pissed off with the democrats.
So, should the bill pass or should it be voted down?
What say you, ho?
(Poll Coming!)
Woof
)
