Slogan's mention of 'uprising' said to connote use of force against govt

HONG KONG: The opposition camp's planned "referendum" campaign and self-described "uprising" movement have provoked fierce criticism among supporters of the government's reform plan and in official circles.

Maria Tam, a member of the Committee for the Basic Law, said the word "uprising" implies intent to overthrow the governing authority by force.

Chan Wing-kee, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said the opposition went too far by embracing the word "uprising" for their resignation campaign.

On Thursday, five lawmakers from the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats announced they would submit resignation letters to the Legislative Council Secretariat on January 26. They will then stand in the resulting by-elections, which they have declared to be a "referendum" to push for early adoption of universal suffrage in Hong Kong, prior to the established date set out by the Central Government.

Instead of calling the upcoming by-elections a de facto "referendum" as they had claimed earlier, the two opposition parties have changed their campaign slogan to "referendum in the five geographical constituencies, uprising by all the people". The opposition denied they were advocating "independence of Hong Kong" or the overthrow of the Central Government.

A Google search of the term "qi yi" (uprising) that the opposition has embraced produces a definition describing a situation in which a group of people join together to fight against those in power. When there is an uprising, a group of people fight against the established authority to bring about a political change.

The search engine also says the word "uprising" has similar meaning to rebellion, revolt, mutiny and insurrection.

Speaking after a public function Friday, Tam advised the two opposition parties not to use the word "uprising" for its movement and called on the concerned legislators to think twice about resigning.

Elsie Leung, vice-chairman of the Committee for the Basic Law, said the government has a statutory duty to run the by-elections if vacant seats arise. "To run by-elections does not mean the government is in support of the so-called 'referendum'," she pointed out.

Leung further queried why lawmakers, who would resign because they are dissatisfied with the current system, should want to return to the legislature after resigning.

She suggested the government amend the relevant ordinance to spell out situations when the by-elections shall be held or shall not be held.

Chan said the word "uprising" is grossly inappropriate.

If the by-elections is deemed a "referendum", he said the pro-establishment camp should not take part in it. "If the pro-establishment camp contests the by-elections, they may be deemed to sanction the carrying out of a 'referendum'," he said.

According to sources, the pro-establishment camp will in the end abstain from the by-elections, leaving only the opposition camp to play a solo game contrived on rules self-declared by the opposition camp and recognized only by the opposition camp.

In the absence of candidates from major opponents, media coverage may be expected to be scant and voter interest and turnout are likely to be low, sources said.

(HK Edition 01/23/2010 page1)