February, 2007

The Star Ferry Pier Preservation Protest

Lam Oi-wan

(The author is a freelance researcher and editor who volunteers full time with Hong Kong In-Media, a citizen's media center.)

On Dec. 12, 2006, protesters occupied the Star Ferry pier demolition site for two days, an incident that developed into a political crisis for the Hong Kong government. After the Star Ferry clock tower was torn down, causing strong public reaction, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen admitted the government's mistakes. Later the government and politicians tried to address the public's concern by reforming the city's conservation policy by incorporating "collective memory" as a criteria for preservation. The government also appointed new members to the Antiquities Advisory Board. The government though has either missed the point of the protest or has intentionally shifted the focus from a political issue to a cultural issue.

Governance Crisis
Opposition against land reclamation and demolition of the Star Ferry pier has a long history. The Society for the Protection of the Harbour, established in 1995, has blocked various land reclamation projects. In 2004, it successfully stopped land reclamation in Wan Chai through legal action but failed in Central in 2005 because the government had already awarded the reclamation contract. According to the government, the land reclamation plan that implied the demolition of the Star Ferry pier had been studied since 1999. However, the government withheld a document from the Antiquities Advisory Board that warned against demolishing the Star Ferry pier as it would cause public discontent. Thus, even though land reclamation had been approved, the public was not aware that the Star Ferry pier was to be demolished until 2006. Last year 90 percent of local architects expressed their opposition to demolition of the Starr Ferry pier as did local artists.

During the occupation of the demolition site, the Legislative Council (Legco) passed a motion demanding that the government suspend the demolition. However, the government claimed that the land reclamation plan had been approved by Legco and no oppositional voices had been heard. Thus, instead of suspending the demolition, the government asked the police to clear the scene and the contractor to expedite the demolition. The weakness of Legco was evident again as the government shifted the land reclamation discussion to the issue of land use and then ignored Legco's decision through utilising its administrative power. Moreover, influenced by the government's public relations response, the mainstream media, especially TV news reports, packaged the pier's demolition as an inevitable development in a nostalgic tone.

In short, however, the Star Ferry protest is the result and reflection of the failure of governance: (1) traditional consultation bodies, such as professional groups and advisory boards, are either ignored or manipulated; (2) no channel exists for civil society to negotiate with the government on planning issues; and (3) the media has lost its watchdog function while the government fools the community through public relations exercises.

From Star Ferry Pier's Preservation to Queen's Pier's People's Planning
Even though the government seemingly gave in by changing the composition of the Antiquities Advisory Board and adding the criteria of "collective memory" to its preservation policy, the campaign moved to save the Star Ferry's neighbouring pier in Central, Queen's Pier, reorienting its focus and criticising the current colonial governance system and advocating the practice of people's planning.

During the colonial period before the 1997 handover, Queen's Pier was the anchoring point for the British royal family and the governors of Hong Kong. Their landing on the pier marked their claim on Hong Kong. It is rather ironic that the current citizen's movement, which performed a symbolic ritual on Jan. 21, 2007, to reclaim the pier as people's space, seeks to save the colonial pier.

The issue at stake is not just "cultural heritage" but participatory democracy-people's planning. The object of criticism is the colonial system and the post-colonial rule of former elites who have introduced various neo-liberal policies-the privatization of education and health care, so-called tax reform abolishing the inheritance tax, etc.-which subsidises the corporate sector at the expense of people's livelihood. In terms of city space, urban renewal projects turn into the privatisation of public space, urban gentrification and marginalisation of the poor.

The agenda of people's planning differs from the campaign for universal suffrage. In fact, there is some scepticism about representative politics and the monopolitical agenda of pursuing formalistic democracy. Since the July 1 rally in 2003, organising mass movements has become a strategy for the pan-democratic alliance in campaigning for universal suffrage. The two mass rallies in 2003 and 2004 successfully stopped the implementation of Article 23 and eventually sacked the former chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa. However, the political movement failed to motivate mass participation towards social and economic reform as well as political reform from below (such as from various consultation bodies).

In a series of discussions after the Star Ferry pier protest, many speakers agreed that civil society has been weakened in the past 20 years because of the development of representative democracy as much oppositional force has been absorbed and that since the 1997 handover of sovereignty the sense of frustration and disempowerment has become more widespread as the local economy relies increasingly on China and the central government is in control of the political system. Meanwhile, the campaign for universal suffrage is deadlocked while new frontiers for engaging with the public are not part of the pan-democratic alliance's agenda. As a result, the public feels disempowered.

Some social critics have pointed out that the pier preservation groups have opened up a new social movement tradition. It is more experimental than new, however, as the protest started spontaneously without much planning. Slowly, the protest has developed into a series of issue-based guerrilla battles with the government with specific and attainable goals while discursively challenging the fundamental wrongs of the political system. The next move depends on the continuous reflection and reorientation of engaged citizens and activists.