All sorts of bizarre suggestions about the future status of Hong Kong are making the rounds these days. A number of them fly in the face of one immutable reality, i.e., the sovereignty of Hong Kong rests firmly with the motherland. It is a fact, which no amount of fanciful political doubletalk can alter.

In this atmosphere of fantasy about our future, it was probably only a matter of time before somebody proposed the idea that the solution to all Hong Kong's present uncertainties would be to extend the period of the territory's status as a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China.

But when the idea was publicized last week most of us gulped in disbelief when we read that the suggested length of that extension was a staggering 100 years, to 2147! This not only flies in the face of the facts, but this is a quantum leap in the realm of unreality.

The proponent, solicitor Stephanie Cheung, claims this extra 100 years would promote mutual understanding and give our political system time to mature, or to iron out the kinks. But it isn't going to happen. It was only thanks to the far-sighted vision of the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping that the pragmatic concept of "One Country, Two Systems" was extended to Hong Kong as the basis of its governance.

Just think back to how happy we were when in 1984 - 13 years before the handover - we learnt that under the Joint Declaration between China and Britain, Hong Kong would, from July 1, 1997, enjoy 50 years as a SAR of China, being left to continue its capitalist system and lifestyle.

And just consider how some sections of our community have shown their "appreciation" of the freedoms they enjoy by doing their damnedest to upset Hong Kong's applecart by inciting street clashes, obstructing the passage of legislation, obstructing streets for months under the instigation of university lecturers and egged on by opportunistic politicians and a certain media tycoon. My message to these young hotheads is "If you think you're not enjoying enough freedom in Hong Kong, try your stunts in the supposedly leading democracies of the world and how you will be treated by their respective law enforcers."

Truth be told, if I were asked, and it was within my power to extend Hong Kong's "high degree of autonomy" by a century, I would say to myself: "If you can't get your act together in 50 years, you would only make a bigger mess of the job if you were given another 100 years to fiddle around." The proverb: "Too many cooks spoil the broth" comes to mind!

When the "umbrella movement" folded up in failure after 79 days of deliberately orchestrated chaos and confusion, causing untold inconvenience to the hapless citizenry and economic losses to the business community, most of us assumed the students responsible for the troublemaking would have learnt their lessons and in future keep their noses in their books - not in matters affecting China's national policy over its HKSAR.

We hoped the courts would take sufficiently firm action to jolt these spoilt brats back into the world of harsh reality. But then again we also thought that the universities and post-secondary schools might take action against the teachers who influenced the students with revolutionary ideas. False hopes indeed!

The fact is that the students aren't letting go at all. Now some of them are calling for independence, while others have taken up the cry of nationalism.

The author is a former journalist and civil servant.

(HK Edition 04/01/2015 page11)