HONG KONG REALITIES AND 1997: AN ASIAN PERSPECTIVE

Shum Yun Shan

SOCIO-POLITICAL REALITY IN ASIA

People in Asia are poor and largely rural except for the following countries where percentages of urbanized population are higher: Japan 77%; Singapore 100%; Hong Kong 93%; Australia 86%; New Zealand 84% and South Korea 65%. Apart from these the rest of Asia is rural, starting in India whose population far outnumbers the combined populations of all the urbanized countries mentioned above. India is 75% rural, Indonesia 78%, Bangladesh 84%, Pakistan 72%, Thailand 83%, Sri Lanka 78%, China 80% and the Philippines 59%.¹

Since the nineteenth century or even earlier, many Asian countries were colonized by Western powers. Indo-china, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were French colonies since 1887. Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India were British colonies and protectorates. Indonesia and Borneo were Dutch colonies. The Philippines was under Spanish rule. It was also in this period that China was imperialised by the Western powers, Russia and later by Japan. Many foreign spheres of influence were formed in China after wars were waged against the European powers and many unequal treaties were forced to be signed. Hong Kong became a British colony after the Opium War in 1842.

Asia is a multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious region, very rich in raw materials and natural resources. However, people in Asia are poor and oppressed. The abundant natural resources, raw materials and labour force have been ruthlessly exploited by the colonial powers. They use the cheap natural resources and produce high-value products for export to maintain the capitalist economy which ensures them big profit. This has led to dependency and subjugation of many Asian states. The plunder of resources, cheap labour, taxation, and export, monoculture has reduced many Asian states to under-development.²)

People have struggled to be freed from colonial rule. Millions have been killed, enslaved, uprooted from their culture, native land, and deprived of their wealth. The history of our people is a history of struggle against oppression and suffering. However, the eviction of

the colonial powers and the attainment of "freedom" did not severe the socio-political and economic tie-up between Asia and the Western (colonial) countries.

Although economic exploitation under direct colonial political rule has been terminated, the job of colonial administrators and trading companies is now played by powerful commercial institutions - the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Economic Community, etc. These institutions and their subsidiaries continue to subjugate the economy in Asia and extract the surplus labour and natural resources. They establish "Free Trade Zones" and "Economic Processing Zones". Thus, Asia is linked to the international economic system through the giant "Multi-National Corporations" (MNC).

The total wealth transferred from India by British imperialism has been variously estimated at-t 500 million and •£ 1,000. In 1970, the Philippines had a total foreign debt of US$ 1.96 billion to be repaid to about 25 governments and international institutions. If the rescheduling of the debts had not occurred, the Philippines would have paid 480 million US dollars by way of interests in 1970, accounting for 33% of the estimated earnings from exports of commodities and services.³ The investment and official repatriation of profits from Asia by MNC's in 1970 was 200 million (investment) and 2400 million (repatriation).⁴

The dependence of some of the Asian countries for developmental assistance poses a serious threat to their economic independence and self-reliance. In the case of Indonesia, for example, 40.3 % of official international assistance in 1970 was from USA. The Philippines relied on USA for 34.9% of total external assistance. Despite appeals to the developed capitalist countries to soften the terms and conditions of loans advanced by them to the underdeveloped countries, no tangible results have been forthcoming.

Asian people are also oppressed by the dominantly feudal, male-oriented, political-economic and cultural structures of Asian societies, at the same time, under the authoritarian and military regimes. These oppressions have become even more glaring as a result of the development of capitalism and its cultural attributes. People are struggling for their identity as they are being forced to fit into internationally defined roles and standards.

The people of Asia have kept their lands viable for thousands of years, their forests lush and green, their rivers and seas pristine, their wildlife diverse, and their traditions vibrant. Now Asian forests are exhausted, rivers and seas polluted by industrial and nuclear waste. Asian soil is ravaged by chemical fertilizers. And the cultural identity has become merely a tourist commodity which enhances the sexual industry and the prostitution and exploitation of women.

CHRISTIANITY AND COLONIAL RULE

Many of the Asian countries were colonized by European nations which claimed to be Christians. Thus colonization and evangelization happened at the same time. In general, Christianity was with the rich and powerful colonial rulers. Yet, there were few Christians on the side of the people who struggled against the colonial rule. The missionaries started to come to China together with the foreign business in the nineteenth century. The unequal treaties signed after the war with the Western invaders legitimized the activities of the missionaries in China.

Western ideology was infused to the urban educated and wealthy elites in the colonized countries, who looked upon western civilization as better and more desirable. The traditional values and attitudes continued to prevail in the rural areas. In India, British rule facilitated the spread of Christianity. Along with colonial rulers Christian missionaries started to flow into India in increasing numbers. They came to the countries of Asia under the label of "spreading Christ's Kingdom among the heathens".

The missionaries gave the impression to the natives of being part of the European imperialism and domination. They came as agents of that same culture, as exporters of European religion. Politically, they were conservative, and went along with whatever the imperialist rulers did.

The churches established another power structure and authority within the colonial rule through the requisition of huge properties with funding from foreign capitalist companies. The people's movement has always desired to overthrow the exploitative colonial and capitalist system that has been threatening the churches.

In India, missionaries organized a network of educational establishments for the training of local officials who were recruited from the higher castes. Alongside these schools which were producing a new, urban, westernized social class, the missionaries founded orphanages for the rural and the popular urban classes. They converted the children and trained the more intelligent of them as village catechists. They expressed the superiority of their western culture over those from Asia.

The colonial rulers coopted the educational efforts of the missionaries to perpetuate and strengthen their power. Thus, the churches became tools in the hands of the colonial masters.

HONG KONG IN RELATION TO THE PATRIOTIC AND DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT

Historical Perspective:

Hong Kong Island became a colony of the British with the signing of the unfair treaty after the Opium War in 1842. In 1860 Britain enlarged its colonial territory by invading China and another unequal treaty was signed. In 1898, the rest of the land area (92%) of the existing Hong Kong was leased to Britain for 99 years until 1 July 1997.

Hong Kong's British Colonial Government is not representative of Hong Kong people's interest. The British government sends a senior official as governor to rule Hong Kong. The governor of Hong Kong has immense power. He handpicks his chief advisors to form the Executive Council which deals with all the important policy matters. The majority of the members of the law-making body, the Legislative Council (Legco), are also appointed.

In the beginning, most of them were British. Only a minority of seats in the Legco have been indirectly elected since 1984. Direct elections were introduced in 1984 in the District Board which however, is not a decision-making body. It only acts in a consultative role by collecting people's opinions and it does not have any real influence or power.

In 1984 the government published a white paper stating that Hong Kong would have direct legislative elections in 1988. But the government ruled out direct elections in 1988, on the pretext of the division of public opinions over the timing to introduce direct elections. Finally in 1991, Hong Kong had its first direct elections for 18 legislative seats; 21 seats were indirectly elected through the functional constituency, and 19 seats were appointed.

Even today the British-Hong Kong government is representing the interest of Britain and the rich Hong Kong people. Hong Kong is divided between the powered and the powerless in political terms.

In September 1982, the Chinese government started to negotiate with the British government over the sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997. In 1984, the Joint Declaration between the two governments was signed. Its main principle is "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong" under "One Country, Two Systems" which allows Hong Kong to have high degree of autonomy except in matters of defence and foreign affairs.

However, in the process of their negotiation, the local Hong Kong people were not consulted. When the British government decided to return Hong Kong to China, it forgot the fundamental right of the local Hong Kong citizens - the right for self-determination. Opinions of Hong Kong people for direct elections in 1988 were neglected by the British-Hong Kong government.

Hong Kong People and the Democratic Movement in China, 1989:

The 1989 democratic movement started by the Chinese students received support from the Hong Kong people. Thousands of Hong Kong people supported them by organizing demonstrations, releasing statements to the media, donating things and money, and even bringing the things to them all the way from Hong Kong to Tiananmen Square in China. At that period, hundreds of local organizations came together to form a "Joint Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China" to coordinate their actions and to strengthen their voices.

The Christian churches and organizations also formed the "Joint Committee of the Hong Kong Christians in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China".

Most of the churches and organizations organized the Christians to voice their support for democratic change in China. At this period the "patriotic" consciousness of the Hong Kong people was raised up. They felt their Chinese identity was affected by what was happening in their motherland, China. They tried to take action to support the betterment of the Chinese people. However, the crackdown of the democratic movement in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 made the Hong Kong people, from the youngest to the oldest, women and men cry out of sadness and despair. They lost hope and confidence in the Chinese and British governments and the "Joint Declaration" signed by them on the future of Hong Kong after 1997.

"Confidence Crisis":

Actually the "Confidence Crisis" started in early 80’s when the people knew Hong Kong would be returned to China after the agreement signed between the Chinese and British governments. The local middle-class professionals and businessmen are the most frightened and have the least confidence in the future of Hong Kong. They are afraid that when Hong Kong is returned to socialist China, they will lose their

interests and profits from business, the freedom arid privileges to enjoy life. Thus, many middle-class intellectuals and professionals have emigrated and are emigrating to western countries. They move business overseas to secure their profit, and to get a foreign passport to secure their own lives. In five years since the "Joint Declaration" was signed between the Chinese and British governments in 1984, nearly 150,000 Hong Kong citizens have emigrated, mostly to Canada, the U.S.A. and Australia.

After the crackdown of the democratic movement in China in 1989, the "Confidence Crisis" in the future of Hong Kong reached its highest point. More Hong Kong people wanted to emigrate. In early July 1989, when Singapore government announced it would take 25,000 middle-income families from Hong Kong, more than 350,000 application forms were handed out within a few days. Also, according to the Hong Kong government, by 1996 about 426,000 people would have emigrated. Although only 10% of Hong Kong citizens can emigrate according to the qualifications required by the western countries, this emigration or "confidence crisis" hurts Hong Kong more as much of the wealth, the brain and the money is lost to the western countries. This at the same time affects the remaining 90% of the local Hong Kong people.

Whose Responsibility:

How about the 90% who are less better off in the social structure of Hong Kong? They have to remain in Hong Kong. If "the youth is the future of the society", the young people of Hong Kong need to reflect on their role in this social reality. We can easily blame China for causing the "Confidence Crisis" in Hong Kong. However, the British government is also one of the main causes. In 1962 and 1981, the British government had taken away the right of entry to and the right of abode in the United Kingdom.

Although Britain is the colonial government of Hong Kong, it does not take up the responsibility to take care of the people whom it has ruled and benefited from. It has not tried hard to bargain and fight for the interests and rights of the Hong Kong people with the Chinese government.

Hong Kong government itself is another cause of the confidence crisis. It depends on a few hand-picked "elites" to govern Hong Kong. It keeps its people in the darkness. Its policies are mainly to protect the interests of the minority middle-upper-class elites, professionals and businessmen. Thus, Hong Kong has become a place for the rich only. Although in recent years, the economy in Hong Kong continues to do well, the profits mainly go to the hands of the very few. There is no real improvement of the quality of life for the lower-middle-income groups and especially the majority working class.

Instead of improving the social welfare of the majority working people who are the real workers for Hong Kong, the government has paid the greatest support in the HKS127 billion (US$16.3 billion) project - PADS (port and airport development strategy). According to the government budget for 1991-92, because of this big project and the high inflation rate, the government suggested to increase the revenue from the expenses of the majority middle-income and working class people, e.g., rates for housing, the registration fees for motor cars and motorists and the tobacco tax. Sale tax may be introduced in 1992. Even though it is the businessmen who earn the most, the profit tax or corporate tax for them are the least likely to be increased. The government has also decided to charge the hospital and social welfare services which in the past were either free of charge or just needed minimal fees.

Today in Hong Kong, there are still 330,000 people living in squatter huts on the hillside and 32,100 in small junks. Another 4,000 elderly and retired people are living in crowded bed spaces. They are called the "caged" men. There are also nearly a thousand street-sleepers without any place to stay and no one to take care of them. Their existence is unnoticed and their voice is unheard. The government does not take any responsibility for this lowest class of people in society. Instead, their policies continue to maintain the unfair social and economic system which only benefits the minority wealthy middle-class professionals and the very few rich and powerful people. Although the big gap between the rich and the poor is existing, the government only wants the people to see the superficial beauty in Hong Kong society.

The present social and political system in Hong Kong is not really democratic. The voices of the Hong Kong people are also unnoticed and neglected. In 1991, the Hong Kong people were given the right to elect less than 1/3 of the councillors in the legislature. However, the voting turn-out was just 750,000 or 39.15% of those registered eligible voters. But actually only about half of the 3.8 million eligible voters have been registered to vote. The 18 elected legislators do not really represent the interests of the silent majority who comprises 80% of the eligible voters in Hong Kong.

Another 1/3 of the legislative councillors were indirectly elected by the functional constituency which is just a system to ensure that the elite share the power in the government structure and, at the same time, to protect their own interests.

Few in the government really represent the voice of the people. Some people even say that the present political system in Hong Kong is just a power game for the few elite. To a certain extent, it reflects the thinking of the people that the government is not working for their welfare and benefit. It cannot govern the society with social justice to the people. So in fact, we cannot say the present Hong Kong government is representing the majority people and, thus, it is not "democratic".

THE FUTURE PROSPECT OF THE PATRIOTIC AND DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT

The majority Hong Kong people are neither rich nor particularly inclined to leave, torn between a sentimental attachment to the "motherland" China and an Irrepressible desire to make money; they are likely to stay and make the best of it.

When we say that "the future is in the hands of the youth", it is just the same that the future prospect of the patriotic and democratic movement is in the hands of the people themselves, especially the younger generation in order to create a better society or country which is for the benefit of the mass.

Firstly, we should not forget the people's history of our own country. History is the one to link up our sentiment with the people in the motherland, to develop the sense of belongingness to our own country and to make people identify with their culture. History makes people understand the present reality; mistakes or lessons from history make us have a clearer analysis of the present socio-political and economic situation.

One of the problems of the youth in Hong Kong is that under the present educational system, they do not receive the education which can help them to develop their own potentials and interests and to learn to be persons with humanity. The present educational system is just preparing students to pass various kinds of examinations and to graduate with high marks in the university: then expect to work in big multinational companies, climb up the social ladders, and maintain the present system by accepting the dominant values in society. They are being molded to become the elite group. This is how we define a person to be successful and to be the hope or future leader of society.

The educational system never emphasises the history of our own country and culture. There is no civil and political education in Hong Kong. Recently, few schools started to emphasise this but it is still very inadequate because of the shortcoming in the whole educational system or for lack of government support in terms of finance, resources and training qualified teachers. What the Hong Kong government is most concerned about is the GNP the increase of which does not necessarily reflect the living standard of the majority of the people. Thus the number of conscious Hong Kong people to take up the social responsibility is small; the majority are not aware of their social and political rights in society.

We need to understand the social, political and economic reality of society. We have to put more emphasis on those unheard, unnoticed people and the silent majority of the working-class because they are the ones most neglected. We need to analyse the causes of all these happenings, and from the causes try to find the solutions and take action.

We also need to reflect on our values in life. In a typical capitalist society, like Hong Kong, materialism, consumerism, individualism, making lots of money and becoming famous are the prevalent values. The definition of being a successful person depends on how much money he/she earns, how many luxurious things he/she possesses and how high the social status he/she has.

Nowadays, many people in Hong Kong especially the young people have the habit of reading newspapers or magazines. However, they look at the items on film stars, their idols, horse-racing, the classified post or shopping, entertainments and job opportunities where they can earn the most but work the least; rather than local or world news.

We want to continue the patriotic and democratic movement to create a better society. We need more people who are concerned and committed to the people and their own society. We need people who can understand their people's history, identify with them and their suffering, at the same time, understand the present situation. We also need more people who believe and take initiatives and actions to create a world with the values of freedom, justice, peace and love - caring and sharing in the community.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF 1997 FOR THE REST OF ASIA

On 1st July 1997, the western powers will lose the last colony, Hong Kong, in Asia. It is the period that Asian people should be more consolidated and cooperate with each' other. Asia, as a developing region, should be strengthened and developed culturally, socially, politically and economically to have our own Asian identity which is not defined by others but our own Asian people.

Asia has a very long people's history - over thousands of years. It is very rich in culture. The population of Asia is over three billion which is over half of the world's total, and with 1/5 of the world's total land area.⁵ So we see that Asia has the richest human resources with the rich lands producing many natural resources like timber, rice, and various kinds of agricultural products. Asia has all the potential to develop to be a strong region, socially and economically. However, when we review the events in Asia in the last fifty years, we can notice amidst the exploitation and oppression, poverty and despair, the vibrant and hopeful movement of the people: marching, demonstrating, moving, shouting, demanding from authorities their due, overthrowing the colonizer and their oppressors.

We remember the massive people's movements that forced Great Britain to grant independence to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1947 and 1948; the people's movements which drove out the Dutch in Indonesia in 1950; and the British from Burma and Malaya in 1948 and 1957, respectively; the victory of the Chinese people in the fighting of

World War II against the invasion of great powers; the victory of the tiny Indo-Chinese nations in 1975 and 1976 over the most powerful country in the world; the mass movements which deposed President Marcos in the Philippines in 1986 and Chun Doo Hwan of Korea in 1987; the mass movements which brought Benazir Bhutto to power in Pakistan in 1988; and the workers-farmers movements which ended martial law in Taiwan in 1988.

People's movements in Asia are manifested through many types of mass actions which proclaim people's sufferings and demands in order to be liberated from all types of oppression and exploitation, to create a more equal and just society.

There is a South Korean song which says "Reunification is our hope. Reunification is our dream. To it we dedicate our lives. Reunification come soon!" If the "1997" issue were to happen in South Korea, many Korean people would probably be preparing how to celebrate when the day came. How are Hong Kong people facing reunification with the motherland? The Hong Kong people should try to understand, feel and identify with the Asian reality as we are part of Asia, and learn from the experience of the people's movement in Asia.

CONCLUSION

The future of Hong Kong depends on the committed people who would like to stay and work for the needs of the people. Now the urgent thing that Hong Kong people need is not how to maintain "prosperity and stability". I think the most urgent thing to do is to develop more people who will follow the experience of the historical liberative Jesus: to give up what they possess, to be compassionate to the weak and oppressed, to suffer together with them, to voice the needs of the voiceless, to confront violence with non-violence. The Bible (Phil. 2:1-11) teaches us to "be united in our convictions and united in our love", with a "common purpose" and a "common mind", "no competition", "no conceit", "always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people's interests instead".

Without the willingness of the Hong Kong people to suffer, there is no future either for Hong Kong or China. Furthermore, without the willingness of the Asian people to continue the struggle for justice against the exploitative rich and the powerful, oppression and exploitation will remain. Then the mission of the "God of Peoples", to create the Kingdom of God, will never be accomplished.

The Asian reality depicts a picture of poverty, landlessness, corruption, unemployment and ethnic conflict within states or with each other. We realize the local elites are closely linked with foreign elites, with the support of advance technology like fax,

E-mail, modems and telephones. The international exploitative rich elites all over the world exploit the poor all over the world. The national states do not uphold the human rights of the people and cannot decide on the common interests for their people's future.

The Multinational Companies (MNC's) control the situation of the world and national states. They decide which country to be economically open and which to be more exploited. The MNCs benefit from sucking the blood of the poor people.

The young people in Hong Kong need to analyse and study the role of the MNCs in exploiting the poor people in the world, especially the developing Asia. We should openly reject the benefits received from the exploitation of the poor.

In our history, Christianity came along with exploitation, colonialism and neo-colonialism. This happened as those people who believed in Christianity forgot Jesus who was with the poor and oppressed. They remade Jesus to suit their own interests and dreams.

Let us rediscover the "original Asian face of Jesus". We need to rediscover the meaning of redemption and Jesus' relationship with people in terms of social justice to return to the original Jesus' gospel - the expression of love, sharing and caring for each other.

Let us unite in our struggles, actions, beliefs and prayers to bring the Good News of liberation and justice to the suffering poor and oppressed.

NOTES

1. "Asia Yearbook, 1989", Far Eastern Economic Review.

2. Normal Girvan, "The Question of Compensation: A Third World perspective" Vol. XVI, No. 1, July 1974, p.56.

3. Dr. Matthew Kurien, "Socio-Economic and Political Reality in Asia", IMCS-Asia Document Reprint Service, March 1979. ,

4. "United Nation Report", 1973.

5. "Third World Guide 91/92", Institute del Tercer Mundo, 1990.

REFERENCES

1. Kinder and Hilgemann, "Atlas of World History", Vol.11 Anchor Books, London, 1978.

2. Stan Lourdusamy, "Religion as Political Weapon", Multi Book Agency, India, July 1990.

3. "Tripod", Vol.XI-No.63, Holy Spirit Study Centre, May-June, 1991.

4. "Working Youth - Faith, Action" report by International Young Christian Workers - Asia-Pacific, November 1988.

5. Jean and Hildegarde Goss-Mayr, "The Gospel and the Struggle for Peace", by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1990.

6. "Newsletter" by the Hong Kong Christian Institute, 1989, 1990, 1991.