Letter to Hong Kong (2006-07-16)

Dear Yan Yan,

Your 21st birthday is coming soon – I wish you a happy and exciting birthday.

Being 21 gives one the impression of having reached maturity, but I hope that it won ’ t diminish the joy and drive of being young. Coincidentally, your age matches the years of my political participation in Hong Kong.

The year you were born was the year when I first ran in the district board election, and it was exactly 21 years ago that I publicly advocated for universal suffrage. Unfortunately, after 21 years, universal suffrage is still nowhere in sight. In the last three years, tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong took to the streets on July 1st demanding universal suffrage, but people\'s demand has fallen into deaf ear. I hope that by the time you finish your study and return to Hong Kong, the scenario for democratic development will be better and brighter. Though I am not optimistic at this point, I will not give up any opportunity to push for its realization.

If you have been reading the Chinese newspapers, you probably would have learned that there was a tragedy in Tin Shui Wai again. Three women jointly committed suicide, in a protest against a life of agony with no way out. This sad story has attracted a lot of public attention, and I hope that the Government has finally waken up. In the past few years the Government has not been paying adequate attention to the deprived people of new towns, and has failed to address the needs especially of the elderlies, the low income group, single parents, the unemployed, and those suffering from emotional crisis. Moreover, budget cuts resulted in huge shortfalls in social, community, leisure, and health services in Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung new towns, aggravating further the living conditions of the affected people. I daresay that the Government should be held partially responsible for the recent tragedies, since it has the power and resouces and yet failed to fulfil its responsibility towards its people.