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Director's Report
The past year has been a troubled time for both the global community as well as Hong Kong. As we move toward the future, we realise that the context of our human community has changed radically, that we must learn to discern the sign of the times again so that we can be more faithful to respond to the yearning desires of the people. I also see the mission of HKCI as not only providing a Christian witness in Hong Kong but also as being a more active participant in the global ecumenical movement as the world has become more closely bound together as one human family in the wake of Sept. 11 and the present emphasis on anti-terrorism. In this report, I want to, first of all, highlight four challenges which the human community is facing that are reflected in Hong Kong as well as around the world and then outline HKCI's effort to address these issues and to seek alternatives.
The First Challenge: Resisting Militarism and Building Justice and Peace
Almost a year after the tragic attacks of Sept. 11 in New York and Washington, D.C., we find that the world is in the midst of a militarist revival with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373 requiring countries to implement anti-terrorism measures. In the wake of this U.N. resolution, more and more governments have taken steps to introduce new security legislation and new law enforcement measures. However, these anti-terrorism measures have not brought peace to the world but rather have given many governments an excuse to intensify their repression of internal protest and dissent.
For example, the United States has introduced secretive anti-terrorist measures, including the creation of military tribunals in which foreigners can be tried for terrorism that do not uphold standards of a fair trail. The United Kingdom has also enacted new legislation—the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act—by which people suspected of terrorism in the United Kingdom can now be detained without charges being filed or a trial. In addition, the Chinese government has amended the country's criminal law so that now it is a criminal offence to be a member of a “terrorist organisation”; but since there is no definition for such an organisation, the law can be interpreted as referring to any political opposition or religious groups.
Many human rights activists in Asia point out that the anti-terrorism campaign led by the Western nations has undermined the discourse on democracy in other socio-political contexts, particularly in countries outside of the West. Pakistan is a good example of this phenomenon. While considered an indispensable ally in the “war against terrorism,” it has removed its remaining institutions of democracy, such as an independent judiciary and people's right to organise through political parties.
Furthermore, today's climate of militarism has given governments, such as that of Japan, permission to escalate their military ambitions and power. Since World War II, there have been firm constraints on the role that the Japanese armed forces can play in international conflicts. Japan's military is currently prevented from any action other than self-defence by the country's pacifist Constitution, but Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi wants to relax these constitutional constraints to remove the ban on collective self-defence or aiding allies when they are attacked. Since Sept. 11, the Japanese public has moved significantly behind offering support to the U.S. military campaign against terrorism. These developments, of course, have raised concerns among neighbouring countries which suffered from the wartime military aggression of Japan.
In Hong Kong, an anti-terrorism bill was gazetted in April 2002. The Bills Committee held its first meeting on May 17. In spite of the serious implications that the bill will have on people's liberty, the government declared on June 24 that it was determined to push it through the Legislative Council (Legco) before the legislature's summer recess in July. Numerous amendments were proposed, and some seven drafts were put before Legco members. The legislator representing the legal sector, Margaret Ng, strongly opposed quick passage of the bill because there were many problems and potential threats to the fundamental rights of Hong Kong's citizens in it, including broad definitions of “terrorists,” “terrorist acts,” “terrorist associates” and “terrorist property.” Moreover, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) can specify by notice in the Government Gazette people, organisations and property as terrorists, terrorist associates and terrorist property. All that is required is that he has reasonable grounds to believe that they are so. In addition, if the secretary for security has reasonable grounds to suspect that any funds held by any person are terrorist property, the secretary can immediately freeze the funds for two years simply by issuing a written notice. As a result, innocent people wrongly suspected of being terrorists or terrorist associates or of holding terrorist funds will commit criminal offences. In spite of these concerns, the bill was passed in July, 2002.
To break the cycle of violence in this global climate, the current anti-terrorism campaign is not the solution. It is too limited a concept to be able to express a way of thinking that can liberate people from fear and strengthen the democratic basis for eradicating global inequalities and injustice. True security does not rest on how we exclude and reject others. We have to at least try to understand what prompts violence before we can address how to stop it. Thus, collective efforts to eliminate unreasonable and unjust poverty and deaths should be a way of thinking that can help to eliminate terrorism. What is needed today is a global alliance of all movement activists to work together to resist violence that is being minimised and concealed in the disguise of anti-terrorism.
The Second Challenge: The Suppression of Freedom and the Strengthening of Civil Society
In the past year, there have been many controversial cases that indicate that the Hong Kong police force is tightening their control over freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Incidents reported by the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor in August this year are clear illustrations of this trend, among which are the following:
August 18, 2002: The police forcefully confiscated loudhailers used by peaceful demonstrators, including elderly and disabled people, who were calling for lower transport fees. The police claimed that the noise would disturb the inauguration ceremony of the MTR Tsueng Kwan O Line. Democratic Party legislator Wong Sing-chi was among the demonstrators who suffered cuts and bruises during the incident.
May 9, 2002: Student leaders and an activist were arrested in the early morning in their homes for organising a peaceful procession against the abuse of police powers. Charges were filed against them for organising an unlawful public gathering.
April 25, 2002: The police forcefully broke up a protest in Chater Garden by right-of-abode claimants who had their citizenship denied them by the government. The police also obstructed normal journalistic activities by restricting the media to a press area and unlawfully handcuffed two journalists, thus interfering in their news reporting responsibilities.
March 14, 2002: The police arrested and prosecuted 16 Falun Gong practitioners, including four Swiss nationals, one New Zealander and 11 Hong Kong citizens, for their peaceful sit-in on the side of the pavement outside of the central government's Liaison Office, claiming that the practitioners were obstructing a public place and contravening a provision of the Summary Offences Ordinance that was enacted to address problems of hawkers. The demonstrators were convicted on Aug. 15, 2002, with each person fined between HK$1,300 (US$167) and HK$3,800 (US$487) for obstruction in a public place.
According to the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor's report, all of these incidents show that the police have not only failed to facilitate the peaceful demonstrations listed above but that they have also used all sorts of measures to obstruct public events and prevent the citizens of Hong Kong from holding peaceful assemblies. Moreover, the police have frequently stirred up the emotions of demonstrators and have even violently intervened in demonstrations when it is unnecessary.
From the above incidents, there is evidence that the police have increasingly moved from targeting certain frequent protesters to groups outlawed by China, such as Falun Gong, to students and other ordinary citizens who are protesting not only about human rights and political concerns but economic issues as well.
In the past, many people in Hong Kong believed that as long as they were not involved in political demonstrations and activities they would not be harassed by the police. Now, however, even ordinary people's rights are being abused, particularly those who are socially marginalised, such as right-of-abode seekers and the unemployed. With this greater understanding of the present situation, we must enable the public to realise that in order to protect one's basic rights, including our means of daily survival—issues related to housing, transportation, education, employment, etc.—we must not neglect the civil and political arena of our community and we must strive for the protection of our civil liberties, including efforts to push the government to amend the Public Order Ordinance and other ordinances that have been misused by the police in recent years to curtail freedom of speech and assembly. In order to do this, we must stand together to strengthen the cooperation and mutual support among different groups and to respect the equal rights of others.
The Third Challenge: The Economic Crisis and the Search for Alternative Community
In October last year, the World Economic Forum's East Asia Economic Summit 2001 was held in Hong Kong. Twenty Christian organisations, including HKCI, issued a manifesto as an advertisement in a local Chinese-language newspaper to express our deep concern about the disparity between the rich and the poor globally as well as locally.
In the manifesto, we pointed out that globalisation allows transnational corporations (TNCs) to plunder the world's resources. Corporations enjoy many advantages—government-built infrastructure and factories, tax holidays, weak labour and environmental laws, etc.—without taking any social responsibility. Meanwhile, the rest of society has to bear the consequences.
As we open our eyes to see the world around us, we can only conclude that we live in an insane world, a world which chooses to waste so many resources on weapons and militarism while so many of its people are in need of the basic necessities of life, a world which continues to destroy the environment by irresponsibly dumping radioactive materials, poisoning the oceans and polluting the air, a world which believes money and power are more important than life and communities, a world where more and more people accept injustice as the norm and lose their will to resist. We are facing a culture of death, not because we are literally dying, but because we are becoming embittered, disillusioned or indifferent.
In Hong Kong, the unemployment rate is at a record 7.8 percent and is expected to rise further. In comparison, Hong Kong's unemployment rate 13 years ago was only 1.1 percent; and in 1997, it stood at 2.2 percent. Not only is Hong Kong's current unemployment rate high when weighed against its own previous figures, but it is also higher than most of our neighbours. Moreover, it not only affects the less-educated and low-skilled middle-aged workers but also threatens the middle class and civil servants who had been considered stable sectors. Among the unemployed population, the unemployment rate in the 15 to 19 age group stands the highest.
In order to face this challenge, a government task force is due to draft a population policy to improve Hong Kong's demographic profile and to search for ways to bridge the skills gap, which is one factor causing the rapid rise of the unemployment rate. The policy will address the issues of decreasing productivity, ageing and low fertility. The main concern is how to make our population more compatible to our economic structure. There are two problem areas which are targeted as being largely responsible for the mismatch of human resources in Hong Kong—the low educational level of the Hong Kong population in general and the influx of unskilled migrants from the mainland.
According to the government, half of the population above 15 has attained an education equivalent to just Form 3 or below. Youth with a low educational level occupy a substantial proportion of the unemployment rate. Another group of people who are blamed for the high unemployment rate are new immigrants from the mainland who are viewed as uneducated and unskilled and who are believed to either steal jobs from local workers or exploit the welfare system.
Recently, various proposals have been suggested to tackle this mismatch of human resources. The first proposal announced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa is to ask the central government to redistribute the daily quota of 150 mainland immigrants who move to Hong Kong, which is primarily reserved for family reunions, in order to leave more places for mainlanders with professional qualifications.
Meanwhile, since the handover in July 1997, the debate about whether the Hong Kong government should grant right of abode to the children of Hong Kong citizens born in mainland China has been one of the community's most controversial issues. Initially, thousands of people from the mainland won right of abode in a verdict rendered by the Court of Final Appeal (CFA), Hong Kong's highest court, on Jan. 29, 1999. This decision though was overturned when the Hong Kong government asked the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing to reinterpret the articles of the Basic Law pertaining to right of abode, a reinterpretation on June 26 of that year that withdrew their right to stay in the community. Although the Hong Kong government offered a concession policy at the time that permitted right of abode for some, thousands of people who felt they should have benefited from this policy were still deemed to be beyond the confines of the policy, and thus, they filed a second lawsuit that was decided by the CFA on Jan. 10, 2002. In this second case, only several hundred people out of more than 5,100 claimants were extended right of abode.
These decisions have resulted in many separated families and personal tragedies as well as questions about the independence of the judiciary in Hong Kong. It has been difficult for the right-of-abode seekers to gain support from the people of Hong Kong because of the current economic downturn that has caused much unemployment, reduced wages and uncertainty. Although it is quite natural for local people to feel insecure and to perceive the abode-seekers as a threat to their jobs and financial security, there is another reason, however, for local resentment toward the abode-seekers: the government's manipulation of people's insecurity and fears by projecting after the CFA's January 1999 decision that 1.67 million immigrants would flood Hong Kong. This strategy, in retrospect, was successful in creating deeper divisions between local people and mainland immigrants and of producing an image of all new Chinese immigrants as being a social burden on Hong Kong.
Another vulnerable group who face severe obstacles in their efforts to become part of Hong Kong society are non-Chinese ethnic minorities from Southeast and South Asia who comprise 4 percent of the population. They face bias or even outright rejection in their search for employment and housing and a lack of appropriate schools for their children. Furthermore, they are prime targets of harassment by the police, and they must often endure rudeness and discriminatory attitudes in their contact with government departments.
Lastly, more than 250,000 foreign domestic workers (FDWs) are often targeted as scapegoats and have been the first to be sacrificed during Hong Kong's economic downturn in the past few years. Government policies that have been proposed include wage cuts, the removal of FDWs' maternity protection, the imposition of a service tax for their use of public services and facilities and an additional tax of HK$500 (US$64) per month out of their minimum monthly wage of HK$3,670 (US$471) to subsidise the transport costs of local domestic workers.
In evaluating the Hong Kong government's policies to address the challenge of poverty, instead of moving toward the elimination of poverty and empowering the poor, their aim appears to be to use different means to discriminate against the poor, to make them seem to be a burden to society in order to further marginalise them from the community.
As Christians, we must care about the severe social injustices that people are facing. We also believe that everyone is created in God's image, and therefore, we all are born to equally enjoy what God has provided for all of us. Regardless of our gender, age, colour, ability, ethnic and social differences, everyone is entitled to equity and should not be deprived of their dignity. Today most of the world's resources are in the hands of the few and the governments that they highly influence, which is not the plan of God.
To change this dehumanised and unjust reality, we must seek new paradigms for a radical social transformation. We must affirm life as the ultimate goal of any form of economic system. We must put life before profit, relationship and caring before competition, building communities before individual success.
The Fourth Challenge: An Illegitimate Election and the Promotion of Democracy
As expected, Tung Chee-hwa gained a second five-year term as Hong Kong's chief executive after securing the nomination of more than 700 of the 800 Election Committee members on March 24, 2002. The reasons for Tung's victory are related to, first of all, the nature of the electoral process—a “small-circle election”—and, secondly, the blessing of the Chinese government. When President Jiang Zemin openly said in 2000 that he would support Tung for a second term, it became clear to all members of the Election Committee, as well as Hong Kong's people, that Tung was the anointed candidate of Beijing.
After securing his second term, Tung's first important announcement was to introduce a new ministerial system on April 17 that came into effect on July 1. The system consists of three senior positions—chief secretary, financial secretary and secretary for justice—and 11 ministers. Under the system, the three secretaries and 11 policy bureau heads are political appointees directly answerable to Tung.
From a democratic point of view, the introduction of the new ministerial system has three major problems. First, all policy officials will be accountable only to Tung. Secondly, the legislature has no role in the approval of the appointment of the policy secretaries. Lastly, there was no public consultation on this major reform of the political system despite calls for the government to hold a public consultation before the decision was finalised.
Since the handover, Hong Kong has experienced many policy disasters owing to the government's denial of people's basic human rights and the welfare of its marginalised people. One major reason for all of these problems is that our government is not accountable to our people. Rather, it is only accountable to Beijing and a few tycoons. To rectify this lack of accountability, the people of Hong Kong must strive for a truly democratic and accountable government. However, we also realise that the road to Hong Kong's democracy cannot be separated from the realities of mainland China. Thus, we must organise the people to commit ourselves for a long-term struggle to achieve political reform. Unless we change the people, the government's lack of accountability will not change.
HKCI's Mission Priorities
Based on the above analysis, we believe that unless the human community is awakened to making a different choice about life and a commitment to live a different lifestyle we will not be able to survive as one global community. We also believe that the Church, in order to live faithfully to the calling of the incarnate Jesus Christ, should allow more freedom to practice our ministry outside of the boundaries of the institutional Church and to release more resources and energy to support alternative ministries through action and community-building. In order to address the above concerns, HKCI has emphasised three major mission priorities: reconnecting Christian ministry with social justice, empowering young students to be active agents of civil society and strengthening the link and promoting dialogue among movement activists.
To achieve results under the first priority, HKCI has strengthened ourselves as an alternative educational resource on social ministry for local seminarians and local congregations. We believe that the lack of social consciousness of many local church pastors is closely related to the inward-looking theology that they received in seminary. The Church is usually concerned about evangelism and church growth, the needs of society are not their priority. Secondly, although some churches have begun to take action to respond to social problems, such as poverty and soccer gambling, their emphasis is primarily focused on personal morality and care for individual victims: they rarely adopt social justice agendas and perspectives. Thus, to renew the Church, we must return to the root cause of the problem, that is, to transform theological education by injecting a social justice orientation to the curriculum as an integral part of theological training.
In the past year, the first social ministry course was offered at the Lutheran Theological Seminary and was well received by the students. In the summer of 2002, we initiated our second project in this area with a new summer fieldwork programme for seminary students from both the Lutheran Seminary as well as the Theological Division of Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The students who joined the programme indicated great interest and appreciation of this initiative. In this course, in order to enable the seminarians to better understand the impact of globalisation, the annual summer theological credit course, which HKCI has organised for the past 10 years, was based on the theme “Globalisation and the Christian Church.”
Our second priority is to conscientise young students through a civil society education project that we initiated in 2000. For this project, we intentionally chose Tuen Mun District as the initial area to begin the programme. The objective of the project is to introduce alternative educational resources related to strengthening young people's understanding and participation in civil society in secondary schools. We are very grateful that this project has gained much support and the participation of several schools and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as well as the Dept. of Cultural Studies of Lingnan University.
Our third priority is to promote links for dialogue and cooperative action among movement activists and to reach out to a wider circle of people in the community. The objective is to increase mutual understanding, eliminate prejudices, seek alternatives and promote solidarity. As I mentioned earlier in this report, Hong Kong's civil society has become divided and diluted since the handover. To address these problems, we have to address people's daily struggles and empower them to understand the interlocking nature of various forms of oppression as well as to promote mutual support and equal participation. In view of the fragmentation of civil society and the shrinking of people's freedom in Hong Kong, mutual support among different groups has become imperative.
In addition to seeking to live out our Christian social witness and providing alternative educational resources for the Christian community and civil society, HKCI has also sought to contribute to the wider ecumenical movement, particularly in Asia. Since Hong Kong has become a shelter for many Asian NGOs, to make good use of their expertise and to strengthen the network between the local as well as the Asian regional groups, HKCI has organised several seminars and workshops to invite other Asian movement activists to share their experiences based on their unique national, religious and cultural perspectives.
In addition to local activities, both myself and other staff members have been invited by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), the Asia-Pacific office of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF-AP), the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and a Sri Lankan organisation, the People's Alliance for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), to a number of consultations and programmes as speakers or participants related to such issues as ecumenism, human rights, national security, alternative social paradigms, interreligious cooperation and fair elections.
In the wake of the violent attacks of Sept. 11, we launched a seminar and co-organised a candlelight vigil to commemorate the lives of the victims of the violence as well as several demonstrations to protest against the war in Afghanistan and the continual and escalating violence in the Middle East.
Lastly, I want to highlight two things which have empowered HKCI with new energy and hope. First, HKCI was fortunate to have the opportunity for the first time to organise a flag day fund-raising activity, which was held on July 6 this year. Although we were inexperienced, we were able to recruit about 600 volunteers and collect HK$300,000 (US$38,462). With this extra income, HKCI will be able to undertake some needed repairs to our office that have been prolonged for many years. Another exciting development is that we were able to attain extra support for the social ministry project and the civil society education project that has allowed us to recruit a new staff member, Kandy Wong. She is responsible for the social action and movement network. Now HKCI's staff is younger and more gender-balanced.
As we face the challenges of the 21st century ahead of us, there are many pressing issues and agendas on which HKCI should put more emphasis and energy, not in a superficial manner, but rather to dig into the root causes of the problem and to develop new resources and enthusiasm to bring about necessary changes. These include:
First, to rebuild the power and solidarity of and among the most marginalised people in the community;
Second, to empower young people to be active agents to bring new vision and energy to renew the Church and transform society;
Third, to seek new alternatives of development which are just and ecologically friendly;
Fourth, to promote interfaith dialogue and cooperation for common actions in peacemaking and social transformation;
Lastly, to strengthen the educational resources for social ministry in order to enable the seminaries and the Church to see new horizons of Christian mission outside of the institutional Church's boundaries.
The future of HKCI does not rest solely on the shoulders of the staff: it is a task shared by all HKCI members and those who share the same vision and commitment to the call of God's mission at this time of human history. I am especially thankful for many friends who have generously given their time and money to support HKCI in the past year. I am also thankful for the financial support of our local and overseas partners which has been the main resource to sustain our day-to-day survival.
May God's love and wisdom continue to inspire us to see new possibilities for life, to heal us in the midst of our division and brokenness and to liberate us from fear, hatred and despair. Amen.
Rose WU
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