Chapter 21: The Long and Winding Road

Chapter 21: The Long and Winding Road

George Orwell prefigured 1984 as a year of grave portent, by using it for the title of his novel set in an authoritarian future where Big Brother would be forever watching the movements of every citizen. He simply inverted the numerals of 1948, the year in which the book was written. For Hong Kong, the year proved far removed indeed from any Orwellian prophecy. Given the assurances of the Joint Declaration, within the parameters of the foregone conclusion that the colony would revert to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the future seemed about as rosy as anyone could dare hope.

By any reckoning, the declaration was a remarkable document, in which China guaranteed the retention of laws, customs and social institutions very different from her own, together with the preservation of the freedoms enjoyed by all Hong Kong citizens. Not only that, but the terms of the guarantee would endure for 50 years - to June 30, 2047.

Thirteen years was a long time in which to prepare for the Handover. Under Lord Mountbatten's guidance, India had been rushed to independence - and separation into India and Pakistan - in a mere five months. If all of the intricacies associated with the severance of an entire sub-continent could be dealt with in less than half a year, the equivalent of 150 months - from the signing of the Joint Declaration to the enactment of its intentions - was a generous margin indeed.

So generous in fact that it gave rise to another difficulty altogether - the question of pacing. As any journalist knows, nothing so concentrates the mind as a tight deadline. Prolonged lead-time encourages ennui and boredom, prevarication and delay. All of the latter results were to beset the long and winding road to 1997.

Although the grace period seemed lengthy enough, something had fundamentally changed. A watershed had been passed. Before 1984, if you asked what made Hong Kong tick, you might be told it was the mechanism of one of the world's great engines of industry. After 1984 you didn't need to ask. The ticking was in everyone's head, relentlessly counting down the days.

But everything started out with the best of intentions. While there was no question of calling a referendum, the people of Hong Kong were invited to submit their views to an assessment office. Many did so, collectively and individually. The independent monitoring team concluded that 'most of the people of Hong Kong found the draft agreement acceptable. It also detected a general feeling of relief and a wish to build Hong Kong's future on the foundation provided by the draft agreement'.

However, the monitors further noted that, of the 1 000 or so written views received, more than two-thirds expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement. Nevertheless, submissions from 430 representative bodies, including residents' associations, trade unions and religious organisations, showed that 334 approved the agreement and only 33 opposed it.

Ever since Mrs Thatcher's fateful visit to Beijing, every utterance that might be construed as having any bearing on Hong Kong's future had taken on profound - though frequently unwarranted - significance. As an early Greek philosopher is alleged to have noted, in times of uncertainty people will read omens even in bird droppings.

Still taking to heart David Ford's description of them as 'the opposition', the media pursued their investigations - and their quarry - with renewed vigour. It was a time for instant rent-a-quotes from those who might be presumed to, but very likely didn't know, and for cautious prevarication by those who did know but were reluctant to admit to their knowledge.

As Assistant Director in charge of the news division, Irene Yau had long been used to facilitating a more orderly access to senior government officials, sparing them from being overpowered by all this media attention. Her GIS 'minders' now came into greater prominence as 'Irene's Army', surveying locations in advance for the best placement of mike stands and Mills barriers they carted around to provide media opportunities. Key figures in these operations were Akber Khan and S Y Tam.

While more aggressive journalists might resent being 'herded' into situations where they must compete with their rivals for hoped-for words of enlightenment, it was the only way to manage what might otherwise have been an impossible situation that would discourage threatened senior officials from making any kind of public appearance.

As it was, many such officials, performing ceremonial functions which they felt deserved the greater and more topical prominence, refused to answer questions on matters that did not pertain to the occasion because they felt that to do so would rob that occasion of much deserved publicity. Life, as they were at pains to point out, went on regardless, and wasn't all future-oriented.

Lacking that excuse, delegates from both sides of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group, which would follow through on the nitty-gritty of amending and implementing the numerous laws, ordinances and procedures to be sorted out, had a particularly hard time of it whenever they met in Hong Kong.

They had already agreed a schedule of meetings to process this considerable volume of business. The first meeting was held in London in July 1985. The objective was to ensure that 'the transition of present-day Hong Kong to a Special Administrative Region of China should be smooth and co-ordinated, causing as little disruption as possible to the social, business and administrative environment in Hong Kong'.

The Basic Law had been stipulated by the Joint Declaration as the means of enshrining its provisions in greater detail. It was intended to serve as the Bible for the administration of the future Special Administrative Region. The Basic Law Drafting Committee had been formed even before the signing of the Joint Declaration.

Its deliberations took so long that most of Hong Kong's avid newspaper readers began to tune out of those columns devoted to their coverage. Nevertheless the appearance was of no stone left unturned, and when the draft document was published in 1988 the public were invited to comment. Those citizens who woke up to the fact that this - and not the Joint Declaration - was going to define the mode and manner of the future Special Administrative Region began to scrutinise its contents with greater application.

Seminars were called to discuss the Basic Law and books were published analysing its provisions. Although not responsible for producing the API's and other publicity materials urging such discussion, ISD did much to schedule television placements and distribute print materials.