Starting a press campaign against Tiananmen massacre denier Ma Lik
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China is planning to run advertisements in newspapers on June 3, a day before the annual rally held in Victoria Park commemorating the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square crackdown, condemning Ma Lik for denying the event had ever taken place. For this reason, alliance leaders led by its founding chairman Szeto Wah, one of the rally’s organisers, was out and about to raise money for the campaign.
The adverts will demand an apology from Mr Ma, chairman of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, who said that the bloody repression inflicted on students and workers in Tiananmen was an “invention”.
They will also call on Mr Ma, as a member of the National People's Congress, to ask the central authorities to release relevant documents for a public inquiry.
The controversy generated by Ma Lik’s statement shows how, despite the Territory’s return to the mainland in 1997, China’s Communist Party has so far failed to silence Hong Kong’s democratic voices. It is also an indication of the important role Hong Kong’s Basic Law plays. Agreed to by both London and Beijing, the Territory’s constitution is set to last for at least 50 years after Hong Kong’s transfer to China.
Fearful of democratic unrest in Hong Kong, district leaders appointed by Beijing as advisers in the run-up to the handover are still working behind the scenes to help Beijing understand and especially manage the Territory’s politics. But by their own admission their services are less needed since Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen is doing such a great job.
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31/05/2016 18:51
