The prelate is critical of the government's proposed constitutional changes and urges lawmakers to vote against them. For Beijing, universal suffrage is not only illegal, but is also impractical.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/SCMP) – The Hong Kong government should conduct a "territory-wide public opinion survey" to allow the people to decide whether or not they want the constitutional reform package it is proposing, Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun said.

Bishop Zen, who is in favour of universal suffrage and direct election for the post of Chief Executive, said the government's constitutional reform package was unacceptable.

The government has proposed to the Legislative Council (LegCo) a number of reforms that include giving the government the right to appoint district councillors to the Election Committee who would then elect the Chief Executive and legislators.

For years though, the population has been demanding universal suffrage and direct election for the post of Chief Executive.

Voting on the reform package is expected to take place in mid-December.

A protest rally against the proposed reforms is scheduled for December 4; organisers want the government to grant everyone the right to vote.

Legislators should reject the reform plan, Bishop Zen said because the "government proposal is meaningless, would not advance democracy and is dubious".

He noted there was no point in continuing the discussion, urging the LegCo to oppose the proposal if the government failed to give a clear account of how it plans to progress towards full democracy.

"Where do we go from here? We have to know what the second step is. We need a timetable of when the final goal can be reached, and even if they cannot give a timetable they should tell us what steps we should take to reach that goal," he said.

In fact, proposed changes apply only to the elections of 2007 and 2008, and Beijing has stated that universal suffrage won't be on the table after 2008.

Bishop Zen insists instead that Beijing should honour its promise of giving Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, but he would not blame Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen for failing to fulfil the people's aspirations.

"Has he got the ability to fight for us in Beijing to allow us to start all over again? We have to pity him," he said.

In Beijing recent media coverage has lambasted Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement for its demand for universal suffrage.

An editorial in the China Daily newspaper published on November 1 said the demand for universal suffrage "is not only unlawful, it is impractical".

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