'Occupy Central' undemocratic, hypocritical

The planned "Occupy Central" protest advocated by opposition political parties is undemocratic and hypocritical, says Francis Lui, an economics professor.self storage Not only is the planned protest counter-productive to democratic development, it would also result in huge economic losses if Hong Kong's financial foundations are harmed. To counter the planned occupation of Central district, Lui, along with fellow professors Chang Chak-yan and Ho Lok-sang and former radio phone-in show host Robert Chow, founded "Silent Majority", an alliance, in March this year. Lui believes "Silent Majority" does represent the views of the majority of Hong Kong people, but most people remain silent because they have no channel for making their voices heard. Now with "Silent Majority" established, people have the chance to speak out. "The reason we formed 'Silent Majority' was because we didn't like the behavior of the 'Occupy Central' organizers," he told China Daily. "It is a totally ill-conceived plan without careful thought. I support democracy but I think the movement is counter-productive to democratic development. "According to a survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, only 30 percent of respondents think the central government will make concessions to demands regarding universal suffrage for the 2017 Chief Executive election, if Central is under occupation. The result of other polls also revealed that only around 25 percent of the people back the occupation. "There is not any relation at all between universal suffrage and occupation of Central, but they rashly bundle the two things together," he commented. "From the perspective of democracy, the occupation is not the right thing to do when the majority of the people are opposed to it. If the occupiers press ahead, they are simply acting against the people's wishes. There are more democratic ways to pursue democracy, yet they (the opposition) are choosing undemocratic means without the people's mandate. "The biggest reason why I am opposed to the 迷利倉ccupation is because it amounts to injustice and hypocrisy especially when they link the occupation with 'love and peace'. There is an economic theory called 'moral hazard', meaning that 'I am the host of the dinner but you are the one to foot the bill.' If you go ahead even though so many people are against it, you are leaving the innocent people to bear the consequences, ie to foot the bill," he declared. Lui goes on to enumerate the financial toll of the threatened occupation, penciling in a financial loss of HK$1.6 billion per day. "Some people even suggested that HK$1.6 billion is a conservative figure," he said. "Rents are very high in Central, roughly calculated as something like HK$500 million per day. They don't need very many people to block the roads. If the roads are blocked and people cannot go to work, the loss in terms of productivity will be very immense. They may have a gathering at Victoria Park instead. They will still catch international and local media attention but the citizens will find it more acceptable. Lui guesses the organizers of "Occupy Central" have become less vocal and receded into the background because of poor reaction, though, he adds, the movement is not dead. "They may have miscalculated and spoken out too early, knowing no political issue in Hong Kong can last a very long time," he pointed out. Considering Hong Kong's consistently low voter turnout during elections, he proposes paying a cash bonus of HK$500 for people who cast ballots. In Hong Kong, over 5 million people are eligible to be registered as voters but only 3.4 million are registered. This means only 33 percent are interested in voting. "People who are not interested are the silent majority with mild views," Lui says. "If the turnout is high, radicals (like Leung Kwok-hung, nicknamed Long Hair) will lose. Look at the 'five-district referendum' in 2010, the five resigned lawmakers were re-elected' simply because no other people participated and so the voter turnout was only 17 percent."迷你倉