By Emily Lau

One of Hong Kong’s most outspoken and popular politicians, Emily Lau leads The Frontier party.

On June 4th, the 18th anniversary of the Beijing Massacre, 55,000 people went to Hong Kong’s Victoria Park for a yearly candlelight vigil to commemorate the 1989 tragedy in which so many innocent people died.

The vigil participants wished to show that they neither forgive nor forget the bloody crackdown. Some attended because they were incensed at hearing some offensive remarks by Ma Lik, chairman of the pro-Beijing political party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

Speaking to reporters in mid-May, Mr Ma denied there was a massacre in 1989. He said that tanks could not turn people into mincemeat and suggested testing by using a pig. Given the tendency for self-censorship, the term Beijing Massacre is nearly gone from Hong Kong’s mass media. Ironically, Mr Ma’s remarks helped to rehabilitate it.

Mr Ma also criticized teachers for not stressing the Chinese Communist Party’s virtues instead of negative events like the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. He said that Hong Kong’s government should issue guidelines to teachers on what facts should be presented to students about June 4th.

Ominously, Mr Ma said that Hong Kong’s reaction to June 4th shows that its people lack patriotism and so aren’t ready for universal suffrage. Maybe they’ll be ready by 2022, he said.

Such inflammatory, ill-judged remarks caused uproar and consternation. Mr Ma admitted on a radio show that his comments were “rash and frivolous”.

The convenor of Hong Kong’s executive council, C.Y. Leung, urged Hong Kong people not to allow the June 4th incident to polarize society, but that’s exactly what Mr Ma has done. On the public demand for universal suffrage, Mr Leung said the political system must ensure that the chief executive elected is acceptable to Beijing because the Central Government has the power to appoint that person. He warned of a constitutional crisis if Beijing rejected a chief executive elected by Hong Kong’s people. Asked what the solution is, Mr Leung said he didn’t know.

Obviously, the Beijing Massacre remains on the minds of many Hong Kong people. Attempts to whitewash the atrocities should be strongly rebuffed.

Former Communist Party secretary Zhao Ziyang, a key figure before the 1989 massacre, was purged for opposing the use of force against student protests. The Party kept him under house arrest until his death (at age 85) two years ago. Such barbaric treatment of a respected government leader is horrific and must be condemned.

In February 2007, a book, Zhao Ziyang: Captive Conversations, was published in Hong Kong, but banned on the mainland. It was compiled by Mr Zhao’s old friend, Zong Fengming, one of a few people with access during the 15-year incarceration.

Reportedly, the central authorities began to intervene two years ago because they feared the book could threaten their power. That’s because it holds Mr Zhao’s opinions that China should move away from one-party dictatorship towards democracy and that government mistakes led to the 1989 crackdown. He mentioned at least three times when tensions could have been defused, including once when he made an official visit to North Korea. Before he left Bejiing, the situation was “cooling down”, but then some officials submitted reports to the paramount leader Deng Xiaoping describing the student unrest as “extremely serious”. These reports led to an infamous People’s Daily editorial that denounced the student demonstrations as “anti-party, anti-socialist turmoil”.

Mr Zhao’s views make Beijing nervous because he remains well respected. Many people wish to read his inside accounts. The sensitive manuscript that prompted the book may be one reason for the mainland’s detention of journalist Ching Cheong. Allegedly, Mr Ching tried to obtain a copy, and now he serves a five-year jail term for espionage.

In 1989, the Beijing Massacre rocked Hong Kong to its foundation. It severely strained relations between the mainland authorities and Hong Kong’s democracy movement. Some democrats, including myself, have been banned from the Chinese mainland for more than a decade.

Mr Zhao said the Chinese Government should abandon one-party rule and embrace democracy. Although he’s gone, I hope there are people in the Chinese leadership who share this vision.

In Hong Kong, the price of fighting for democracy isn’t yet so high, but we must contend with the likes of Ma Lik and C.Y. Leung, who seem determined to block the progress of political reform.

Compared to the mainland, Hong Kong is only a tiny city. But if we can sustain the memories of June 4th and the people’s desires for democracy, human rights and clean government, then we’ll make a significant contribution to modern China.

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One of many memorial wreaths
awaits Hong Kong's candlelight crowd.