Hong Kong people need to vote for the change they deserve

As Hong Kong voters prepare to go to the polls, the stakes have arguably never been higher. In the four years since the last Legislative Council election, our way of life, supposedly protected under the mantra of “one country, two systems”, has faced unprecedented challenges in the form of a systematic undermining of our core values and freedoms.

I used to believe in the maxim that people get the government they deserve, but no longer. Hong Kong people certainly deserve better than the current quality of governance. The problem is that, in the absence of full universal suffrage, there are very few direct actions we can take to bring about change.

This feeling of powerlessness is at the root of the frustration that drove tens of thousands of our young people to occupy the streets for 79 days in 2014 and is now fuelling the localist and pro-independence movements.

In the midst of this turmoil, we badly need the incoming Legco to respond to the mood of the community and generate some hope that the downward spiral in the quality of our governance can be reversed.

Universal suffrage cannot be ignored by next Hong Kong chief executive, Regina Ip says

Going forward, we must find a pathway to a more mature party political system that can aspire one day to work shoulder to shoulder with a democratically elected chief executive. To achieve this, we need to be more effective at grooming political talent; we need to select the most able candidates to fill seats on government advisory committees – rather than establishment “yes” men and women – and then encourage them to work their way up to higher political office.