Let’s make July 1 a day of happy public celebrations

This year’s annual July 1 protest march attracted just 9,800 demonstrators, a record-low turnout since 2003 as reported by police, and 32 percent less than the previous year’s 14,500. The turnout was a lot less than the 22,000 who attended horse races on the same day!

The opposition parties have always claimed the July 1 protest march is a reflection of the people’s discontent with the special administrative region government and a demonstration of their support for democracy. It is therefore logical to deduce that the low turnout this year is an indication of declining discontent with the government and less support for their version of democracy. Indeed, the chief executive’s popularity rating has remained at more than 50 percent throughout her first year in office. This is a clear indication that the people of Hong Kong are generally satisfied with the current government. The decreased support for “democracy” is not surprising in view of a number of scandals among the opposition parties, who like to picture themselves as champions of democracy. There was the case of opposition Legislative Council member Ted Hui Chi-fung, who snatched a mobile phone from a female government officer inside the LegCo building, and prominent Democratic Party member Howard Lam Tszkin’s debunked allegation that he had been kidnapped and tortured by mainland secret agents. He had alleged his tormentors fired 21 staples into his legs and displayed his self-inflicted injuries in a conspicuous press conference accompanied by his two highprofile supporters, Martin Lee Chu-ming and Legislator Lam Cheuk-ting.

But the principal reason for the protest’s lack of appeal is their choice of the theme for this year’s march — “End one-party dictatorship” — oblivious of the fact that the Chinese mainland has made substantial achievements in both the economic and international diplomatic spheres. Clearly, the organizers wanted to use the older generation’s phobia of communism to ignite the public’s hatred of the central government. In the process, they were hoping to incite public opposition to the first part of the “one country, two systems” principle, and disrespect for constitutional order. But most Hong Kong people can now see through their devious plot. They deplore people like Benny Tai Yiu-ting who traveled all the way to Taiwan to promote “Hong Kong independence”. This explains the record-low turnout for this year’s annual July 1 anti-China protest march organized by the opposition camp.

So who were the people that joined this