Hong Kong residents shudder at what 1997 may bring

Hong Kong residents shudder at what 1997 may bring

Text and photos
by Fritz H. Pangemanan

The Jakarta Post reporter recently spent five days with ethnic
Chinese families in Hong Kong to collect first-hand information
on their hopes and fears about Hong Kong's impending reversion to
China in 1997. Following are excerpts of Hong Kong residents'
comments on unification.

HONG KONG (JP): Less than three years ahead, on July 1, 1997,
Hong Kong will revert to Beijing's authority.

Everybody here -- from academic to economic players, from
drivers to students -- all are talking about the reversion. But
not all of them have been happy about the pending change since
1982, when Britain first announced its plan to return Hong Kong
to China.

The reversion to China is, therefore, the number one issue
during talks everywhere, from street food stalls and shopping
centers to multi-story star-rated hotels here.

Two factors have made people in Hong Kong anxious about the
Union Jack being formally lowered on June 30, 1997. It is, of
course, a fact that Hong Kong residents and main-landers are now
living widely different life styles, particularly in terms of
cultural values. Another important factor is the uncertainty over
the form of existence Hong Kong will take on after unification
with Beijing.

Michael Wong Tak Wing, an executive of Hong Kong's Mindo
Petroleum Co. Ltd., told The Jakarta Post: "People in Hong Kong
are quite advanced in all sectors under the colonial administra
tion. But once we talk about the reversion, we become worried
because we are now totally different from our brothers in the
mainland in the sense of identity and values."

It is understandable as the two Chinese communities have long
gone their own way and done their own thing.

Free-market

It was as long ago as August 1842, on board the British ship,
The Cornwalles, that China signed the Treaty of Nanjing in favor
of the British after China's defeat in the first Anglo-Chinese
War. With the treaty, China had to cede Hong Kong Island to the
British government and open five ports, Guangzhou, Xiamen,
Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai, as treaty ports.

Later on Oct. 24, 1860, in the Convention of Beijing, China
again signed an agreement with Britain (and France) to cede
Kowloon Peninsula with some additional adjacent territories to
the British government after the Opium Wars. Under the Nanjing
and Beijing treaties, Britain enjoyed most-favored-nation
treatment, especially in free trade activities, as granted by
China to other nations, including the United States, Norway and
Sweden.

Since then China's gonghong system -- a traditional monopoly
of trade by a group of Chinese firms in China's provinces -- has
given rise to public business entities.

Under the British administration, many ethnic Chinese here
have relished in non-commune businesses. They believe more in
free-market mechanisms than in the adoption of the gonghong
system, a monopoly of trade which was merely an instrument of the
central bureau in China.

For modern Hong Kong residents, who only know to work hard and
compete with each other to earn a good life, business is
business. Even bellboys and doormen always expect small tips,
Michael says citing an illustrative example.

In many aspects, Hong Kong residents have adopted basic
changes in values, Michael explains. And most of them even look
down on main-landers in China as disadvantaged relatives.

Powerful main-landers on the other hand see the people of Hong
Kong as brash upstarts who have no knowledge about their own
ancestry and lack patriotism or nationality, he points out.

Why did this happen?

Chang Chung Ming, a newly graduated student at Leung Kau Kui
High School in Tsuen Wan district, says that the Hong Kong
textbooks on Chinese history do not seem to teach an objective
version of what really happened even dozens of years ago in
mainland China.

Citing an example, he said that the main textbooks available
at his School of History and Administrative Affairs talk more
about the British kingdom of the medieval era, including kings
like Edward the Confessor, Henry and Richard, instead of
discussing the Chinese dynasties.

"Many of my classmates should, therefore, take extra lessons
on China's history and even on the language itself at evening
classes," Chang said. Most Hong Kong residents use Cantonese in
their daily conversation, he added.

"More embarrassing is that students learn about China from
foreign authors instead of from the Chinese," he said.

"I would say the `biased' history in our modern education is a
seed of our current reluctance to the 1997 reversion to China,"
he said.

Aware of the situation, Governor Christopher Patten pledged in
his 1993 policy address before the Legislative Council (Legco) on
Oct. 6 last year: "We shall spend over HK$300 million on
improving the quality of the teaching of both Chinese and English
language skills and an extra HK$600 million to modernize schools
in the territory for the next five years."

Uncertainties

However, the modern life style, which constitutes the cultural
identity of Hong Kong residents adopted under Britain's rule, is
probably one of the most important aspects in terms of the
general feeling of anxiety.

Supporting the British commitment to return Hong Kong to
China, Deng Xiaoping proclaimed a new popular principle: "one
country, two systems". The tenet will be exclusively dedicated to
Hong Kong, which is specifically designated to become a new
burgeoning enclave after unification. Deng has vowed that Hong
Kong will be granted a high degree of autonomy after its
reversion to the mainland and be allowed to preserve its current
life style and capitalist system for at least 50 years into the
future.

But many Hong Kong residents raise their eyebrows at Beijing's
promises. They don't seem to trust in them.

They have a lot of reason for being pessimistic.

The Tiananmen Square massacre in June 1989 is an undeniable
reason for people here to be worried about China's commitment to
the enclave. "But so far, nobody here will be so heroic to
proclaim the Tiananmen tragedy as the root of uncertainties
toward the unification," Michael says.

As far as they are concerned, China does not seem to have made
enough efforts to restore their confidence after the Tiananmen
tragedy. Instead the incident continues to intimidate people and
social organizations who tend to blow the tragedy out of
proportion.

Frank Ng Tai Keung, a multilingual guide resident in Kowloon,
who lived in Beijing for over 20 years, said some social movement
founders in Hong Kong seem to have been blacklisted by China's
authorities.

"One of them is Hong Kong's prominent lawyer Martin Lee, who
some years ago led a movement to demand clarification of the
Tiananmen tragedy from the Beijing authorities," he said.

In the business sector, the case of Jimmy Lai, the owner of a
large chain of Jordano multi-stores in Hong Kong and China, is
another example of the sensitive cases, which have increased Hong
Kong residents' nervousness about unification.

Lai, who also owns the outspoken publication, Next Magazine,
recently wrote a scathing, open letter to Li Peng, accusing him
of being a fool and an idiot, Frank said.

"You know, immediately afterwards Beijing closed some of his
stores in China without any notice," Frank added. Lai was clearly
intimidated and he reacted by protecting his business interests,
not his statements.

Frederik Balfour, a business journalist of the Kowloon Bay-
based Eastern Express magazine says that entrepreneurs from the
small and medium-scale business sectors are in the worst position
in terms of worrying about unification, partly due to an absence
of relations with China.

Businessmen should, therefore, keep a low profile in the face
of Beijing's authority, otherwise they could be considered
persona-non-grata citizens, Balfour warned.

"Unlike small and medium-scale businessmen, the wealthiest
Hong Kong businessmen are all really, really well connected with
the mainland. They have good friends in high places. The mainland
needs them. And you know, almost all prominent businessmen and
tycoons here have been appointed special advisers to Beijing," he
said.

"They have, therefore, nothing to worry about, because Beijing
badly needs their positions and huge investments," Balfour said.

The small-scale businessmen and the have-nots are experiencing
serious levels of anxiety when in comes to China. For them, China
is like a sleeping giant, which is far too sensitive to any
criticism.

In their minds the metaphor of China as a moody person looms
large. "Anytime it can change its decision," Frank Ng says.

Citing an example, he said China has agreed with the British
government to set up a board of advisers. This "Preparatory
Committee" is to prepare for the Special Administrative Region --
a shadow government -- which will work to facilitate the taking
over of Hong Kong by 1997. The body is expected to start
functioning at least three years before the deadline for
unification.

"But China insisted on setting up the board two years earlier
on the grounds that the Preparatory Committee is quite necessary
to anticipate the fast growth of Hong Kong's economy," Frank
said.

For many, the move clearly shows that China is not consistent
with its own commitment.

The committee, which is designed to have more pro-Beijing
activists, is now becoming an extended hand of China's central
authority. "The committee is like a thorn in the current Hong
Kong legislature's flesh under Governor Pattern's commands," he
said.

While the countdown is going on toward 1997, the Hong Kong
administration continues its conflicts with Beijing, among others
over the construction of the 1,248-hectare (3,048-acre) Chek Lap
Kok airport on Lantau Island and connected with Lam Chau Island.
The two sides are disagreeing over the financing scheme for the
HK$127-billion colossal infrastructure project, plus Chek Lap Kok
airport, expected to be operational in 1997.

Beijing's papers recently reported that China's parliament has
even urged that Hong Kong's legislature and two lower tiers of
the government be abolished once Beijing takes over the crown
colony in 1997. China's parliament also passed an amendment
giving more power to the Preparatory Committee with the hope it
can ensure a smoother way for China to assimilate Hong Kong.

The official Xinhua news agency also recently reported: "China
has even issued a legal regulation to abolish Hong Kong's
political structure based on Governor Chris Patten's reform
package and will establish a new structure when the country
regains sovereignty over Hong Kong in July 1997."

With that phenomenon, Hong Kong people are becoming more
pessimistic than ever of Beijing's vow: "One country, two
systems." They are afraid that China will do whatever it likes.