Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on Thursday urged lawmakers to vote on the SAR government's electoral reform proposals according to the wishes of the public. At a question and answer session with members of the Legislative Council, he also said the government was seeking public opinion on who would be held responsible for delaying constitutional development if the electoral reform package were voted down by opposition lawmakers. If all public opinion polls on constitutional reform so far are any indication, there is little doubt the majority of Hong Kong residents will hold the "pan-democrat" camp responsible for blocking this city's progress toward universal suffrage when it is just a step away.

The LegCo will vote on the reform package by the end of next month or early July at the latest. This means there is only about a month left for Hong Kong to convince the opposition camp not to quash its hopes of achieving universal suffrage in the 2017 CE election. The opposition lawmakers have vowed to veto the constitutional reform proposals on three different occasions in recent months. This is to show they are absolutely determined not to listen to the majority of local voters. This is an extremely irresponsible act. It will no doubt have an adverse impact on the city for years to come in addition to seriously damaging the opposition's own future.

The opposition has tried all kinds of tricks to gain public support for their unconstitutional demands. These nasty tactics include illegal and abusive mass protests like "Occupy Central" and harassing local residents as well as tourists. All the excuses they have used for these appalling acts have proved baseless. The majority of local residents have consistently shown in opinion polls and signature campaigns they don't trust the opposition camp as far as electoral reform is concerned.

It is, therefore, a great shame the opposition has chosen to pretend they don't see what most of the public really want. Or maybe they are convinced they have a pretty good chance of retaining their critical minority in the LegCo in the 2016 legislative elections. This is despite blocking the government's reform proposals as they promised. Either way they have clearly demonstrated their wanton disregard for the popular wishes or for their own political credibility.

The opposition lawmakers have constantly asked for "real universal suffrage". What they have not explained to the public and may never do, is what exactly "real universal suffrage" is. This is similar to their use of the term "international standards" in regard to democratic elections. They seem to think people will believe them if they stick to such lies long enough. But why bet one's political career on something so obviously wrong?

(HK Edition 05/29/2015 page10)