HK: making the best of a messy situation

I have seen a lot of articles and news reports about Hong Kong's latest protest movements on social media and it is interesting to see the range of opinions. I don't want to start responding to individual comments as I hate getting sucked into these arguments on social media - but there are a number of people who feel that these protesters are not only upsetting Hong Kong's stability by disrupting everyday life there but damaging Hong Kong's long term image as a viable commercial hub, a city open for business. They are moaning about businesses and offices which are affected by the street protests, how daily routines have been forced to change, how public transport in HK has been subjected to delays and how tourists may be afraid to visit as a result of the current situation. I would like to respond to that in today's article.

I would like to draw a parallel with a situation I have had to face in the last few days - a filling in one of my molars fell out. I called up the dental clinic at my local hospital and tried to get an appointment, groan. The lady I spoke to said, "Oh my colleague who does this will get back to you... He's not around today." When this guy finally got back to me, I was offered two dates - neither I could make because of work commitments. I was incredibly frustrated - he then said, "okay, let me check with another colleague of mine to see if she can fit you in any earlier, maybe she can get you an alternative date for an appointment sooner. I will get back to you."As I put down the phone, I flicked the gap on my molar with my tongue and thought, "it isn't that big a chip, maybe I can live with this, it's no big deal. It's right at the back of my mouth and nobody can see it, it is not causing me any pain for now anyway. I can learn to ignore it, maybe I will get used to it after a couple of days and it wouldn't feel weird, it's not like I have absolutely perfect teeth anyway..."

I then chatted to my friend Karen on Facebook - Karen is a dentist and I told her about the situation and she berated me. "For crying out aloud, yes finding the time to go to the dentist may be a pain when you are busy with work but you could be causing yourself far more long term damage if you ignore the filling that has fallen out. With a chipped tooth, you are missing important enamel to protect the dentin below. You may not feel any pain now, but your tooth is far more susceptible to decay in this state - don't be stubborn, do whatever you need to do to get that dental appointment to get that tooth fixed before it gets any worse. You may face some inconvenience now sure, you've are a busy man with loads of work related stuff to do, but trust me, you're saving yourself from far greater pain in the future if you act now."

A part of me wanted to ignore the chip on my tooth.

Turning to the situation in Hong Kong, yes the protests have caused some disruptions and I can see why some local residents are alarmed - but they are reacting like me when I could get a dentist appointment at a time that suited me - I went into denial mode, worrying about the disruption finding time for the dentist would cause to my work schedule rather than pausing for a moment to think about the long term consequences of leaving that tooth untreated. How many of you have pondered, "wait a minute, what are these people protesting about in the first place? What brought thousands of HKers into the streets like that to rise up against the government?"

The answer is simple: as part of the handover in 1997, China had promised Hong Kong full democratic elections to elect their own leader by 2017 - that promise was broken by the Beijing government when they announced that they will only allow Beijing-approved candidates to stand for that elections, thus ruling out the possibility of any pro-democracy leader to ever be in charge of Hong Kong. This is why the people of Hong Kong are out in the streets protesting angrily because they simply don't trust the Beijing government after they have broken that promise. This move is seen as the Beijing government tightening its grip on Hong Kong - that is something which strikes fear in the hearts of most HKers.

HKers are fighting back.

Indeed, there has been general resentment against mainlanders in Hong Kong for a long time already - Hong Kong is an oasis of prosperity perched on the southern tip of China. For those of you who wax lyrical about China's economic boom, you need to realize that whilst some people are indeed getting rich in China today, the vast majority of Chinese citizens still get by on very little and many still live in poverty; whilst in sharp contrast, the vast majority of HKers have a standard of living on par with any rich Western first world country. This contrast breeds mistrust and unease between Hong Kong and China as HKers want to protect their way of life which have given them this advantage.

We are in a messy situation - the protests are causing undoubtedly disruptions, but what is the alternative? Let's go back to the other messy situation discussed earlier: the filling in my molar has fallen out. That's a very messy situation - but ignoring the problem simply isn't going to make it go away, it will only lead to far worse problems for me with that tooth in the future. Likewise, for those who are concerned about the disruptions caused by the protests - would turning a blind eye to Beijing's broken promise have been the lesser of two evils? Well that depends on whether or not you trust the government in Beijing and clearly, many HKers don't trust Beijing and believe that there will be long term damage done if they simply do nothing at this stage. They are protesting today because doing nothing simply isn't a sensible option.

Is this the lesser of two evils?

Life can sometimes put us in a difficult situation where we are forced to choose the lesser of two evils - there isn't a good solution, just one that causes less harm as we try to limit the damage done. In the case of the Hong Kong, it is easy to ignore the long term consequences of Beijing's actions - the long term erosion of Hong Kong's way of life (and her relative advantage over mainland China) is a slow process whilst the disruptions of the protests are immediate. You would have to decide: which is worse? Short term disruptions vs long term damage?

For those HKers who are very concerned about the short term damage about Hong Kong's protests - they should simply nip over the border into China, go as far as Shenzen and have a look then ask themselves this important question: do you want Hong Kong to be like mainland China? If not, then join the protests and focus on the big picture of Hong Kong's future. So you have a choice, you can either put up with the disruption and inconvenience from the protests now, or you can turn a blind eye to Beijing's broken promise and face far bigger problems in the future? Like my damaged tooth, ignoring the problem never solves it and that is what these people have to realize, as much as they may resent the disruptions caused by the protests. Can you see the big picture and understand the long term issues at stake here?

As usual, let me know what you think about this issue - feel free to leave a comment below, thanks for reading.