The walk-out of pro-establishment lawmakers last Wednesday in protest over the political resignations of five League of Social Democrats-Civic Party Alliance lawmakers will prove to be the first blow-back and the beginning of a full-scale showdown between the two opposing political forces in Hong Kong. On the one side are those who support "one country, two systems" under the Basic Law framework, and on the other side, those who want to destroy it and set up something else under the seductive banner "power to the people".

Power has indeed been returned from the hands of the British colonialists to the people, the Chinese people in 1997; and the Central Government then assigned a large part of it to Hong Kong through the Basic Law. People of Hong Kong by ourselves never have had any legitimate power, and if we throw away the Basic Law, we will end up with nothing. There are some dissidents who want to acquire power either through usurpation, or outright "uprising" and "liberation", which they now openly advocate. They still hide the word "independence", but it now transpires that this is their hidden agenda.

It looks like an uprising, smells like an uprising, and the organizers assert time and again it is an uprising. We cannot bury our heads in the sand, and imagine it is otherwise just because some soothsayers tell us these are just harmless rhetoric. Revolutions of the colored kind can be non-violent too, but prove to be equally destructive. No self-respecting government can tolerate such rebellious advocacies, yet some of our officials still insist they are obliged by law to fund and assist these seditious acts. Are there laws that stipulate the government fund an uprising? No sir, I am afraid not, not even in Alice's Wonderland.

Fortunately we have other means to stop this nonsense. For one thing, we have enough votes in the Legislative Council to veto any inappropriate move. From the walk-out, we can see that they are flexing their muscles to defend the institutional framework of the Basic Law. This is a stern message serving notice that any unconstitutional act will not be tolerated.

Let us cheer these brave defenders of the Basic Law! There will still be a few more battles to fight, and the Central Government together with most Hong Kong citizens is firmly behind you. Victory will surely be on our side.

The author is a member of the Commission for Strategic Development

(HK Edition 02/02/2010 page1)