Civil disorder erupted in Hong Kong a year ago, culminating in the "Occupy Central" protests. We must now take stock of its knock-on effects on the community, for better or worse.

Clearly, there have been a lot of negative consequences.

Firstly, the "pan-democrats" voted down the proposed Chief Executive election package. Hence, local citizens have lost their right to choose the next CE in 2017. As a result, the vote for the city's next chief will continue to be restricted to the 1,200-member Election Committee (EC). In such circumstances, most potential candidates would undoubtedly consider the majority views of the EC rather than the public. The recent debate over the use of the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) is a splendid example. CE Leung Chun-ying is said to be inclined to honor his pledge to cancel the arrangement for employers to pay severance pay and long-service gratuity from employees' MPF contributions. This has been the legitimate wish of all labor unions, right or left-wing. However, it's believed that with strong objections from the business sector, which hold a large number of votes in the EC, most potential candidates would be unwilling to support such a proposal. But, if Hong Kong were to have "one man, one vote", it's highly unlikely this would be the case. The result of the rejection by the "pan-democrats" of the CE election package is that Hong Kong's middle and lower-class citizens will suffer most.

Secondly, there have been major concerns over the deterioration in the rule of law. The 79-day protest had set an extremely bad example of disregard for law and order. It's unimaginable that protesters were able to stop and search police cars before they could move to their destinations. Even after the "Occupy" protests ended, civic misbehavior continued with the so-called "evening strolls" in Mong Kok and the siege of police stations to protest the arrests of rioters. A recent incident saw students storm a University of Hong Kong Council meeting and illegally detain its members. Some of these radicals even went to the extreme of making bombs with the intention of causing major disasters in Hong Kong.

Thirdly, many local businesses have yet to recover from the damage caused by the "Occupy" campaign, which has led to a drastic fall in the number of mainland tourists. Tourists have found their personal safety threatened with rioters kicking their suitcases on the streets and hurling abuse at them. The tourism downturn has caused a slump in the city's retail business, and unemployment could worsen.

With the "Occupy" campaign and the defeat of the electoral reform package, Beijing is worried that Hong Kong could now be used by foreign powers as a base to subvert the central government. Beijing, therefore, may take a more cautious approach to involving Hong Kong in its master economic development plan. That might explain why Hong Kong has been sidelined in two of the country's biggest initiatives in recent times - "Belt and Road" and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Considering Hong Kong's leading financial status, the city would be a logical place to host an AIIB branch. The fact that we have been passed over is cause for self-reflection. If Beijing decides to leave us out in the national economic development, the losers are our own residents.

On the positive side, more protesters have been taken to court to account for their wrongdoings and, despite the disappointing and prejudiced leniency shown by some judges, the overall punishments handed down on the defendants are reassuring.

A shock reorganization of the "pan-democratic" camp has seen the rise of new moderate and rational political groups which oppose the radicals' hostile and confrontational tactics against Beijing, and prefer a trust-building dialogue. It's expected these new groups will grow stronger as they are more in tune with the views of the majority of the middle class.

The biggest gain is that the silent majority is no longer silent. They had come out strongly with a signature campaign against the "Occupy" movement.

Moving forward, may I make the following suggestions:

More voters, especially the silent majority, should turn out in force in the coming two elections to get rid of those radical "pan-democrats". The "Occupy" campaign has exposed the malevolent intentions of some public figures.

A comprehensive review of law and order capabilities is also needed so we can better cope with any future "Occupy"-style anarchy. The police should be better equipped and trained, especially in the gathering and presentation of evidence. More full-time prosecutors and judges should be employed instead of using private solicitors to act as prosecutors or deputy judges. Such lawyers had been involved in most of the acquittals.

Foreign political funding had been used to support the "Occupy" campaign, but the law is clearly inadequate in dealing with this grave problem. The Law Reform Commission should speed up research on the legislation for Article 23 of the Basic Law to enact it as soon as practicable to strengthen the national security.

Finally, it's clear that we have failed badly in educating our young people in the proper concept of nationhood and patriotism. The Education Bureau should amend the existing curriculum and make Chinese history a compulsory subject in secondary schools. It should also strengthen the monitoring of teachers who plant questionable ideas in our students.

(HK Edition 09/25/2015 page11)