Sentiment report

【明報專訊】THE GOVERNMENT has released its "Report on the Recent Community and Political Situation in Hong Kong" (sentiment report), which it has submitted to the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO). Having 158 pages, it is largely a chronicle (a written record of historical events) of what happened in the 79-day Occupy movement. Some momentous events are given such scanty(smaller in amount considered necessary ) treatment in it that one may be worried that a future reader of it may not be able to understand thoroughly what caused and what came of the gigantic mass movement Hong Kong saw after the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) had made its August 31 decision. Because of the prevailing political atmosphere, one may say the government just went through the motions of preparing the report and submitting it to the HKMAO after its fruitless dialogue with the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS). The report is of little political significance.

It is proper for the government to have just gone through the motions. First, it has made good a promise it made the public. Second, it has avoided arousing controversy by refraining(to avoid doing) from doing any analysis or making any comments. Third, it has avoided making things more unfavourable to the second round of constitutional-reform consultation. This is most important because, constitutional reforms remaining acutely controversial, it would do society no good at all for the report to add fuel to the flames.

That said, many find certain statements in the report unsatisfactory. For example, it says in conclusion, "It is the common aspiration of the Central Authorities, the HKSAR Government and the people of Hong Kong to implement universal suffrage for the [Chief Executive] election in 2017 in Hong Kong as scheduled and strictly in accordance with the Basic Law and the relevant Interpretation and Decisions of the NPCSC." It is not clear from the report whether the "relevant Interpretation and Decisions" include the August 31 decision. If they do, will "common aspiration of the people of Hong Kong" not sound questionable? If few Hong Kong citizens objected to the August 31 decision, the gigantic mass movement would not have taken place.

Furthermore, the report, which is an official chronicle of what happened during the Occupy movement, does not seem to stand the test of strict criteria of history. Certain parts of it seem too crude(simple and not skilfully done or made)  to represent the truth.

The government had regard to so many political considerations in preparing the report that it does not meet the "factual record" requirement of history. The mass movement certainly makes an important chapter of the history of Hong Kong. To be responsible to history, the government should commission an independent team of historians to find out what happened in Hong Kong during the movement and make a factual account of it lest important pieces of information should be washed away by the torrent (large amounts/uncontrollable) of time and, as a result, the truth should be blurred(difficult to understand or separate clearly). Furthermore, during its dialogue with the HKFS, the government said not only that it would prepare a sentiment report but also that it would set up a platform on which people from all sectors could explore with it possible post-2017 constitutional arrangements. The pressure generated by the Occupy movement has disappeared, but it is a good idea to create a platform for dealing with constitutional-reform controversies through dialogue. Constructive interactions between the government and the public on the dialogue platform will hopefully bring about positive results. In the second round of consultation, the government should keep the "dialogue platform" option and positively try to carry it out.

明報社評 2015.01.07﹕民情報告政治意義不大 對話平台有助朝野互動

政府公布提交給國務院港澳辦公室的《近期香港社會及政治情况報告》（簡稱民情報告），厚達158頁，檢視其主體報告，主要是流水帳式記錄佔領行動79日以來發生的事態。一些記述顯得避重就輕，令人擔心後來者閱讀報告時，將難以洞悉全國人大常委會8．31決定之後，香港發生大規模群衆運動的來龍去脈。按現時的政治氛圍，這份在政府與學聯對話沒有成果之後提出的報告，已經淪為走過場式的產物，政治意義不大。

政府現在以走過場方式處理民情報告，是恰當做法。首先，履行了政府對市民的承諾；其次，不分析、不評論，可以避免爭拗；第三，不至為今日開展的第二輪政改諮詢，增添負面因素，這是最重要的，因為政改爭議仍然尖銳，民情報告若火上加油，對整體社會絕無好處。

即使如此，不少人對報告一些表述會有意見。例如報告結語指「嚴格按照《基本法》和全國人大常委會的相關解釋及決定，讓香港如期依法落實2017年普選行政長官，是中央、特區政府和香港市民的共同願望」，行文未清晰界定所謂「相關解釋及決定」是否包括8．31決定；若包括在內，則「香港市民的共同願望」的說法，在這裏是否有問題？事實上，若全體香港市民都對「《基本法》全國人大常委會相關解釋及決定」沒有異議，就不會有那麼大規模的抗爭行動了。

另外，民情報告作為記錄佔領行動事態的官方文件，恐怕未能經受嚴格的歷史準則檢驗，部分關鍵之處顯得粗糙，未能反映全面真象。

民情報告有太多政治考慮，不可能滿足歷史如實記錄的要求。這次群衆運動，今後肯定成為本港歷史的重要章節，為了對歷史負責，政府應該委請獨立學者團隊，全面了解和調查整件事，如實記錄和敍述，以免隨着時日冲刷，失去一些重要點滴，使事態模糊而無法保留真象。另外，當日政府與學聯對話時，除了民情報告，還提出了建立多方對話平台機制，讓各方人士與政府共同探討2017年之後的政改安排。如今佔領運動壓力消失，但是對話平台處理政改爭議是好構思，朝野透過對話平台良性互動，有望起到積極作用，政府在第二輪諮詢應該保留對話平台選項，推動並爭取實現。

Glossary

chronicle﹕a record of events in order of occurrence

go through the motions﹕If you go through the motions of doing something, you do it because you have to, not because you really want to.

platform﹕a place, means or opportunity for public expression of opinion

Examples to use the new vocabularies:

the project done by the students are too crude to present in the whole form.
a torrent of tourists from the mainland China crowded shopping areas in Hong Kong.
The truth will be blurred if no other independent parties investigate the events.
I have to refrain from writing any irrelevant ideas to have a better result in the writing exams.