Stephen Shiu Yeuk-yuen announced in his online radio program Fengyexiaoxiao on March 22 that hkreporter.com will cease to operate by month's end. At first it looks suspiciously like an April Fools' Day prank to lure the media. But if you pay attention to how politics is reported in the city, you will notice radicals seldom get ample coverage in the mainstream. In the rare case that their activities get into the papers, the news is oversimplified and biased to the extent that no one can really make sense of what is going on among the radical dissidents - a significant force that is gaining ground in the local political landscape.

While a joke might be the only way for Shiu to get his message through, and the kind of thing that he (who is known as a "talented man of ideas") actually would do, the whole setting of the program as posted on YouTube makes it seem unlikely. The episode was broadcast live, as usual. What was not so usual (though becoming increasingly common with online political radio programs) is the presence of a studio audience with around fifty people. According to Shiu, the decision was made the day before. While the audience, which included paid radio staff and veteran volunteers, seemed not to have been informed in advance, they were not unprepared for the news, indicating that the idea of closing down hkreporter.com has been around for some time.

What Shiu said during the program was illuminating and important, and it was a pity that none of the traditional media reported his message. After expressing his disappointment to Christopher Lau Gar-hung (chairman of People Power political party and a presenter on hkreporter.com) and Raymond Chan Chi-chuen (People Power's Legislative Councillor, also hkreporter.com's host and former CEO) without revealing why, he placed his polemic on Chin Wan, the godfather of the local independent movement, in the closet.

Chin Wan dismisses the "Occupy Central" movement as a waste of time. Worse, he thinks the inevitable failure of the movement will discourage supporters of democracy from participating in the future. In order words, "Occupy Central" will not have the mobilizing effect that its proposers intend, and instead will demobilize the whole democratic movement. The time-proven formula to democracy, he thinks, is to facilitate the development of a local identity.

Shiu criticized Chin Wan as being wrong in principle. Hatred against mainlanders not only leads us nowhere, but also is nonsensical in practice. How about the newly arrived migrants from the mainland who already have their right of abode? If democracy is a universal value, it should not be exclusive. For Shiu, mobilization is an incremental process, and democracy is not a one-shot thing.

People at hkreporter.com have always been a peculiar mix. With Long Hair Leung Kwok-hung, the Trotskyist with a belly, Raymond Wong Yuk-man who denounced his Kuomintang past, and Shiu, more of a liberalist prospering on pornography, it is not easy to put the grouping into a box. The break-up has been a matter of time in coming, and their recent success only serves to accelerate the separation. I fully agree with the critique that Shiu launched against Chin Wan during that part of the program, and I admire his courage to express such views at a time when our society has become hysterical, populist and irrational.

Radical is a bad thing in Hong Kong. As democracy and universal suffrage are enshrined in the Basic Law, the "Love China, Love Hong Kong" camp, and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying himself, should be the first to enthusiastically embrace these rights. As such, there is ample room for diplomacy with dissidents who share some of our principles, such as a fair and inclusive society.

By participating in the discourse and mobilization on the frontline, we can help build a consensus as to what kind of democracy our society wants. This is the only way to avoid the wrong kind of dissidents from monopolizing the discourse. Absence is not an option, and we are already late on the scene.

The author is a member of the Commission on Strategic Development.

(HK Edition 03/27/2013 page9)