Guest Comments by Au Yeung Chi Fei

The writer represents the Civic Party, a political group at the forefront in Hong Kong’s long battle for universal suffrage. Five legislators plan to resign today to force Hong Kong-wide by-elections as a referendum on the need for valid universal suffrage by no later than 2012.

HONG KONG -- The Civic Party’s recent advertisement about a territory-wide referendum, calling on Hong Kong people to use ballots to bring about a new era of democracy, has attracted intense discussion surrounding use of the Chinese expression hei yee (roughly translated as “uprising”).

Our plans for the referendum call on the people to vote and to bring about changes via the ballot box. The issues to be voted upon are the implementation of universal suffrage at the earliest possible date and the abolition of functional constituencies. The process is entirely peaceful, rational and lawful.

At present, the vested interests in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council refuse to give up their free lunches. This has created a deadlock blocking democratization. Although the pan-democrats represent the majority-will of the people, they form just a minority in LegCo and cannot push forward any democratic reform.

Actually, the referendum plan is all about creating a window of opportunity to allow the wider public to express, through peaceful, rational and lawful means, their wishes for the abolition of functional constituencies and the prompt implementation of universal suffrage. In this way, the deadlock can be broken.

As Civic Party leader Audrey Eu has said: “The territory-wide referendum movement encourages the people to stand up for fairness, to fight for universal suffrage through peaceful, rational and lawful means. It benefits the whole community. Everyone can use his or her vote to take a clear stand.”

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