Earlier on in a newspaper article by Tian Feilong, the Director of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, he mentioned that Beijing does not want “loyal trash”, which gave rise to a sensation. Though Hong Kong’s mainstream public opinion on the issue of political system is a far cry from Tian’s, a lot of Hong Kongers agree to his comment – “loyal trash”. Unlike how they fight back against criticisms from overseas, the pro-establishment politicians and Hong Kong government officials have been apathetic towards Tian’s comment, waiting in a low-profile manner for the commotion to pass by as soon as possible. Ironically, such a low-profile manner opposite to their “wolf-warrior norm” makes the comment - “loyal trash” - feel even more precise. With “loyalty” to Beijing as an irrefutable premise, no one from the pro-establishment camp has dared to rebut an accusation made by an academic speaking on behalf of the Party, who is not even a government official, fearing offending anyone from Beijing who is a crony of the Party. Prioritizing “loyalty” over everything, having no backbone and being oblivious to honor and disgrace, what are they if they are not trash?

There is always an exception to everything. Ip Kwok-him from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, who is about to retire and does not aspire to a higher position anymore, has been the only one from the pro-establishment camp to speak out against the “theory of loyal trash”, possibly because “boldness comes when a public servant desires nothing”. He said in an exclusive interview by The Sing Tao Daily that the saying is “so off-putting”, and “the diction…'loyal trash’ is so ill-mannered and insulting”. He even criticized Tian for “using such wordings that might make people feel that he is ‘academic trash’”. Though Yip believes being mocked by Tian as trash is an insult, unfortunately it happens that the masses in Hong Kong agree to the insult made about the pro-establishment figures by the one they also deem “academic trash”. Perhaps it is time for Yip and the pro-establishment camp to do some self-examination and reflect upon why they have gone so far as to ask for an insult.

Let’s brush aside the universal values such as democracy and freedom for a while, and look into the economy and people’s livelihood that the pro-establishment camp attaches most importance to. Looking back on what has happened over the past 23 years, one will find that the pro- establishment camp who have had the power in their grip are only able to show us a failed transcript. Apart from the CCP(Chinese Communist Party) factor, the greediness and incompetence of the entire pro-establishment camp is also one of the reasons why Hong Kong has got into such a situation. We should remember that in those years after the change of sovereignty, the majority of Hong Kong people were still economic animals nonchalant towards politics, and used to being ruled by a colonial government, hence their demands made on the government mainly economic and livelihood-oriented, and their political appeals feeble. The reasons behind the protest against the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law in 2003, in which 500 thousand people took to the streets, include quite a number of post-SARS and post-financial crisis factors. If Hong Kong people’s piled-up grievances against the government in those years, which were mainly related to their economic lives, had been handled well, the public discontents would have dispersed, and would not have been transformed into political appeals.

However, what were the pro-establishment figures who held immeasurable power doing? Encountering an economic depression right after the Handover, a lot of citizens suffered badly for the inability of the entire pro-establishment camp. Later on, with the mainland economy taking off and the Individual Visit Scheme implemented, the Hong Kong economy was picking up. Yet, uneven distribution of wealth came into being in the wake of the economic upturn. Property price and rental rocketed. While the affluent were accumulating a lot of wealth, the wage earners did not benefit from anything at all. “Developer hegemony” were buzzwords back then. Facing such conditions, the pro-establishment camp did not put forward any policy to make any reform, but on the one hand, demanded “on behalf of Hong Kong people” more “measures in favor of Hong Kong” from the central government in the name of “expanding the pie”; on the other hand, capitalized on the power they monopolized to grab most of the benefits for members of their cliques. So, a weird phenomenon that sweeteners from Beijing did not benefit Hong Kong people popped up. Before long, since more and more Hong Kong people were aware that the predicament Hong Kong was in could be ascribed mainly to the pro-establishment camp monopolizing the power, they turned almost all economic appeals into a political one – universal suffrage. Since the political wind of Mao Zedong-style leftist ideology started blowing with Xi Jinping and Leung Chun-ying taking the helm respectively in 2012, Hong Kong, amidst intensifying political conflicts, has been going all the way through the Occupy Central and anti-extradition movement up till today that it is on the verge of collapse.

In recent years, the pro-establishment camp has been aiming at curtailing Hong Kong people’s political appeal by touting the “Singaporean style” economic prosperity. But Hong Kong people have already passed by that stage. If it had been initiated during the “honeymoon period” (1997-2008) after the Handover, and the government had dared to force through economic reforms concerning people’s livelihood at the risk of offending those having a vested interest, maybe it would have done the job, as the majority of Hong Kongers had not awakened to the fact that the entire pro-establishment camp was the group having grabbed the biggest portion of vested interests, and their incapability and greediness hampered any reforms in favor of people’s livelihood from moving forward. Provided that Hong Kongers have known pretty well where the crux of the problem lies today, mention of “Singaporean style” prosperity is of no avail.

Beijing delegated powers to the “politically reliable” pro-establishment camp for governing Hong Kong in those years after the Handover in the hope of maintaining influence of the central government as well as preserving the package of “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong”. But the greediness and incapability of the pro-establishment camp swiftly escalated Hong Kong’s economic conflicts into irremediable political conflicts levelled at the central government. What’s the point, if any, for Beijing to continue empowering the pro-establishment camp? It is hardly possible for the CCP to nod at Hong Kong people’s democratic appeal, but in order to stabilize Hong Kong’s situation, Beijing may try to turn the political issue into an economic one by giving an overhaul to the pro-establishment camp – the ones gaining most invested interests. Even though the vested interests from the pro-establishment camp are not to be allocated to the masses, and the exploitative economy in Hong Kong is to be kept, the benefits should be transferred to the party and state. Given that the pro-establishment camp is worthless now, what’s the point of feeding the trash even though they are more loyal than before? Hong Kong pro-establishment camp has their use value consumed by their own greediness and incapability, and asks for an insult and being replaced in the end.

(Lam Hoi, journalist)

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