I have been wondering what the point of still having a forum is. Nowadays, whoever is the loudest and most aggressive gets the say. No one is interested in reasoning.

Since there is nothing to discuss, let’s talk about the historical impression. Imagine the time was turned back to 37 years ago when China and Britain started to negotiate Hong Kong’s future. If the CCP had shouted maniacally “Hong Kong does not implement separation of powers,” “the central government has the right of full governance,” “if you aim to win majority you are trying to seize power” every other day, would Hongkongers still believe “tomorrow will be better”? One country is not the prerequisite of two systems, but two systems is the prerequisite of Hong Kong agreeing to be handed over back to China.

Since there is nothing to discuss, let’s talk about how embarrassing it is, when some people who praised “separation of powers” in the past are now shooting themselves in the foot with it.

Justice Andrew Li and Geoffrey Ma, the previous and current Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, have both elaborated the importance of Hong Kong’s separation of powers; even the soon-to-be Chief Justice Andrew Cheung has pointed out during a judgment that, the Basic Law has confirmed the separation of powers. When searching the term “separation of powers” in the judiciary judgments database, over a hundred results come up. Now Carrie Lam denied the “separation of powers” exists, but only “work separation of powers.” The noble Justice turned into a factory worker at a production line in a split second. Lam claimed some people “have misunderstood,” “have limited knowledge,” by which she meant all Justices, all implicated to have been backing the wrong principle, committed political mistakes that are unjustifiable.

How about the fallen Education Bureau? The concept of separation of powers has always been in the teaching materials since day one. According to the officially-recognized teaching materials from the Education Bureau website, “separation of powers” is even one of the learning units of the Basic law and in the education material created by Justice Patrick Chan can easily be found. So what did the Education Bureau do? It deleted the data after being questioned by reporter, then argued that removing old files is its standard practice. The trick of school textbooks tampering, which the Japanese had done, can now be witnessed by us, more direct and more blatant.

When common sense is being violated, then we should look at the historical records. Liber Research Community has unearthed an ancient article written by Priscilla Leung in 2006, which stated Hong Kong’s constitution is the separation of powers; Maria Tam explained to the British “Your Excellency” government the importance of separation of powers back in 1984. Going with the flow and changing your stance as the political environment suits is a skill many Hongkongers are too slow and oblivious to get grips of.

It was said, the exact wording “separation of powers” is not stated in the Basic Law. Then I would like to bring to your attention that, the exact wordings “executive-led,” “love my country, love my party,” “right of full governance” are not written in the Basic Law either, none of them; on the contrary, contents that describe administrative, legislative and judiciary check and balance each other and are mutually exclusive can be found everywhere.

So the Education Bureau tampers with history, the legal elites in the Western District dare not to discuss the subject and the Chief Executive lied with her eyes wide open. The argument about separation of powers was picked before, and it was agreed that the three powers have checks and balances, why are those in power still bothered about the wordings and would not let this go?

The reason is simple. Every “western” political concept is evil and needs to be redefined and have Chinese characteristics added to it. “Democracy,” “freedom” and “rule of law” have been reinterpreted; now even “separation of powers” needs to be rewritten: the only separation is the works. I am the boss and you only need to do the work.

There is no separation of powers because there is only one mighty power; there is no one country, two systems because there is only one autocratic country. Behind the “right of full governance” is the implementation of Leninism: the party in charge of all, administrative agencies in a tight grip, the judicial and legislation in complete control and makes full use of the power in hand. That is the essence of dictatorship.

The current system is a power-hungry monster. Those in charge of the system are insatiable and long for a full, unlimited governance. They fantasize to maintain the power framework of colonial governance in the old world. In Hong Kong, it is they who love colonial times most.

Hongkongers mourn that the trend is changing too fast. Freedom, rule of law, election, separation of powers...everything we treasure disappears in front of our eyes. Carrie Lam doesn’t actually have to deliver a lengthy speech, but instead, next time maybe she could say, “Hong Kong has no separation of powers because 2+2=5”; or simply, “obey me will you prosper; against me will you die.” The end.

(Allan Au Ka-lun, veteran journalist)

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play