The measure proposed to ‘safeguard’ local core values from ‘mainlandization’
TONY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 19 November, 2015, 12:24pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 19 November, 2015, 1:24pm
Lawmaker Claudia Mo of the pan-democratic Civic Party tabled the measure. Photo: SCMP Pictures
The home affairs minister has warned against “seeing different cultures with a narrow perspective”, as lawmakers voted down a motion calling for the government to defend Hong Kong’s way of life from “the mainland’s influence”.
However, in conclusion to a 90-minute debate in the Legislative Council this morning, Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah stopped short of commenting on pan-democrats’ concern about graft and language-standard issues in the city.
“It is not conducive for anyone to see different cultures with a narrow perspective or from an exclusive angle. It is not the Hong Kong that we are familiar with,” Lau said. “We should appreciate a multicultural and inclusive Hong Kong.”
READ MORE: Growth spurt: report shows 879,000 Hong Kong residents now from mainland China
The motion on “Safeguard Hong Kong from Mainlandization” was tabled by Civic Party lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching yesterday.
Speaking this morning, Mo said the government must safeguard the city’s core values as she was worried about Hong Kong being increasingly influenced by the mainland.
“‘Mainlandization’ refers to [consumer rights,] rampant corruption and abuse of power in the mainland,” she said. “Consumer’s confidence in the mainland has gone bankrupt because everything can be fake.”
Education representative Ip Kin-yuen expressed support for Mo’s call. He said the city’s education system had also tended towards the mainland as many schools were opting to teach Chinese language classes in Mandarin, rather than in Cantonese – the most commonly spoken language in the city.
However, the Beijing-loyalist camp countered that the pan-democrats were merely rejecting the central government’s sovereignty over Hong Kong.
READ MORE: In Hong Kong, fear of mainland influence hardens into prejudice
Sports and cultural sector representative Ma Fung-kwok, also a local deputy to the National People’s Congress, said from the 1990s on, “media around the world usually use” the Chinese term which roughly translated to “the interior” or “the inland”.
“If anyone in Hong Kong still describes our country as ‘the mainland’, they are rejecting Beijing’s resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong,” Ma said.
The motion was voted down, with 19 in favour and 34 opposing it.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1880441/dont-be-narrow-minded-hong-kong-minister-warns-motion
