Recently, more than half-a-dozen celebrities publicly came out and put their feet down against "Occupy Central" in a public forum hosted by Love China Hong Kong Alliance of Youth Cultural Societies on June 16. That forum brought together the influential political leaders including the Honorable Lam Woon-kwong and lawmaker Priscilla Leung.

As the host of this event and the person who initiated the Protect Central Campaign, I was asked in the Q&A session a challenging question about the possible motivations for "Occupy Central". Deflecting this difficult question with a smile, I suggested the audience read my recent commentaries about "Occupy". Based on the discussion, I was so impressed that many citizens were increasingly worried about the destructive wave of separatism in Hong Kong.

To dismantle the myth of separatism in Hong Kong, I would like to highlight two recent events, including the Hong Kong baby milk formula smuggling situation and the increasing economic dominance of mainland speculators over the local housing market, which have fueled Hong Kong-mainland conflicts. While the conflict of interests between various groups seem inevitable in the wave of globalization and regional integration, some potentially unprivileged groups, including some teenagers and early adults, gave a wrongful challenge by destabilizing Hong Kong society and advocating the concept of "local identity". The rationale behind these groups of teenagers and early adults is to pursue greater self-determination and for higher preservation of their self-constructed colonial tradition. The "blind faith" of some youth and early adults has promoted the evil spirit of "Occupy" and other separatist activities in Hong Kong.

Their remembrance of colonial tradition sounds absurd since they never experienced the old days in the colonial regime. Many of them just simply use the economic and social power of mainlanders as the reference point to evaluate the efficiency of the local government. With strong prejudices in their mind, they believe that the colonial government could maintain the golden days of Hong Kong, and regard the regional integration as a betrayal to them as the social problems of Hong Kong were deepened over the past 16 years.

As the saying goes, every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new. On the one hand, the generation born in the 1990s and 2000s cannot obey the social norms and cannot follow the role models in the golden days during the 1980s. On the other hand, quite a few of them seek nothing more than sharing the pride built on the "old rock" - so-called Hong Kong spirit.

To many people born in the 50s and 60s, the Hong Kong spirit is a continuation of entrepreneurship spirit and civic order. Democracy and liberty were not highlighted in the "good old days" in the 1980s. However, to the generations born over the last two decades, Hong Kong spirit is the continuation of the colony-wide framework of values and traditions because it was the British colonial government who initially opened the door to democracy in Hong Kong before the transfer of sovereignty in 1997. Some overseas-educated people believe that the old world could be slipping away if they proactively enter the new world of democracy and liberty, initiated by the last British Hong Kong governors and promoted by opposition supporters.

The British colonial government, as I believe, put much effort into winning society's praise to raising the expectations of colonial citizens to the forthcoming HKSAR government. Therefore, when the high expectations were not met, there was huge emotional resentment in society. "Occupy", in my belief, was just the propaganda to promote a surge of separatism so that the local government's ability is weakened at the end. As the weak government lessens the immunity of "One Country, Two Systems", it would spur new fears in the pro-establishment camp. The final result would likely be a strong impediment to chaos, followed by the retreat of democracy and the loss of government reputation.

I understand in the circumstance of potentially great social disorder, it might be more efficient to promote social control or even more. However, can we win praise by suppressing opposite views? It would always be a good option to socially uplift the dividing society, so that the majority of people would treasure their home soil and the true inspiration of this vibrant city.

In my mind, old chaos can be a means to new creativity, and it is high time for all intelligent and patriotic people to unite together to radiate the positive energy. It does not really matter whether the conflicts of interest arise for local people and mainlanders, as long as the local government can show substantial mutual interest between two sub-groups. A tougher question is: Is the separatism irreplaceable? Can we build a beloved community where a majority of the youth lives up to their positive dreams and life goals?

The author is the chief convener of the Protect Central Campaign.

(HK Edition 06/28/2013 page9)