Letter from Hong Kong...

For anyone who gets his adrenaline rush from the din and bustle of political rallies of the sort you experience in India, Hong Kong can seem rather tame. In the absence of a participatory democratic system in Hong Kong, calls for political mobilisation typically don’t draw the kind of crowds that, say, a ‘Crazy Sale’ at an upmarket fashion retail store might draw.

But on July 1 every year, the diehard rally junkie can get his political fix: the anniversary of the handover of the former British colony to China is the one day when the streets of central Hong Kong get filled with pan-democratic political aspirations. And although the turnout – typically, a few thousands – would embarrass even a lowly candidate in a Mumbai Municipal Corporation election, it’s a noisy and colourful articulation of democratic aspiration, and an annual test of the ‘one country, two systems’ policy under which Hong Kong is administered.  

Curiously, Indians are grossly under-represented at these pro-democracy rallies, which might seem odd for a community that has an open democratic system hardwired into its genes. But in fact, this is easily explained. The bulk of Indians in Hong Kong – businessmen, bankers and other professionals – fare rather well under the oligarchic system that prevails here, and so aren’t inclined to march on the streets to demand universal suffrage (or ‘one person, one vote’), particularly when the Beijing-backed administration paints it as a vehicle for tax-and-spend liberal politics. And even the Indians at the other end of the social spectrum – domestic workers and casual labourers – haven’t been politically sensitised and organised.

Among the handful of Indians marching this year was James Joseph Keezhangatte, a social worker and an honorary lecturer at a Hong Kong university who actively contributes to the debate on policies towards ethnic minorities and domestic workers in Hong Kong. With placards that said: “End Modern Slavery” and “Treat Us Equally”, Keezhangatte was drawing attention to the limitations in the proposed Race Discrimination Bill and to the treatment of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong.

Elsewhere on July 1, another event associated with the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover proved to be a huge crowd-puller. Two panda cubs – Le Le and Ying Ying – that had been gifted by the Beijing government were put on public display at a park, and drew tens of thousands of gawkers. But for much of the day, as cameras clicked and visitors streamed by, the shy panda cubs kept to themselves or snoozed, emerging only to grab some food. Overall, the pandas’ apathy for the visitors was nearly as severe as the popular apathy in Hong Kong for all things democratic.