‘No Democracy Without Election’: Elmer Yuen on Hong Kong Parliament

HK Security Bureau recently accused HK Parliament founders of violating the National Security Law.” (L-R) Victor Ho, Elmer Yuen at the press conference. Screenshot of HK Parliament conference

The Hong Kong Parliament Electoral Organizing Committee will launch a global online election later this year and select 35 members to form the first parliament, according to Elmer Yuen, one of the founding members and advocates.

Hong Kong Parliament was established in 2022 to “serve and represent Hong Kongers on both local and global platforms.”

While the parliament cannot implement laws at present, it will lobby for international recognition and return to represent Hong Kong after the collapse of the Chinese Communist Party, which will happen in two to three years, according to Mr. Yuen’s estimate.

Mr. Yuen, an entrepreneur who the Hong Kong government is intimidating through its announcement of a HK$1 million ($127,600) bounty on his head, said that the election was open to any Hong Konger above 21 years old, including those who ran for the Beijing-controlled Hong Kong government.

Target Turnout 1 Million People

When asked how many people were expected to run and vote online, Mr. Yuen said he expects  50 to 100 people to run and around one million overseas Hong Kongers and 70,000 people currently in Hong Kong to vote. The total expected turnout accounts for about 10 percent of the total population of Hong Kongers globally, which is estimated to be 10 million.

The number of participants will not be high, he admitted, because of the pressure from the Chinese Communist Party’s National Security Law (NSL) which makes any act of political dissent against the Beijing-backed Hong Kong authorities an arrestable offence.

“I really have no choice because there is a National Security Law. Without the NSL, even millions of people [voting] are not a problem,” Mr. Yuen said.

The NSL, imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 after the pro-democracy movement in 2019, it is said to be a means of extending the CCP’s political and ideological control from mainland China to Hong Kong..

‘No Democracy Without Election’

Mr. Yuen, who ended all his business in mainland China in 2020 and committed himself to the democracy movement of Hong Kong, emphasized the significance of the election for any democracy.

“All we are doing is really the first step to democracy,” he told The Epoch Times. “You cannot have democracy without an election.”

“If you say, ‘Oh, I want to achieve democracy without an election,’ you end up like China… There are 192 countries in [the] United Nations. Every one of them goes through some form of elections; even China has their fake People’s Congress.”

Elmer Yuen, an anti-CCP advocate and Hong Kong democracy activist, addressed a “Hong Kong’s way out” conference held in Sydney, Australia on Feb. 19, 2023 (Cindy Li/The Epoch Times).

Mr. Yuen referred to Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibet parliament-in-exile for comparison, which has won international attention and support over decades.

Since the establishment of the CTA in 1960, there are now organizations supporting the Tibet issue in the parliaments of over 30 countries, which discuss the issue in their respective national parliaments.

From 1992 on, when the human rights situation in Tibet was put on the agenda of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, governmental and nongovernmental representatives have been discussing the Tibet issue every year.

“So my basic answer is just one answer: If you want democracy, you have to go through the election one way or the other,” said Mr. Yuen.

Yuen’s Family Target of CCP

However, the price of speaking out against the CCP has even cost him his family with Yuen’s eldest daughter, youngest son, and daughter-in-law being questioned by Hong Kong police last month due to his overseas campaigning.

Yuen’s daughter-in-law Eunice Yung Hoi-yan, is a pro-CCP member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. She renounced her relationship with Mr. Yuen in 2022 right after the launch of the committee, criticizing the exiled Hong Kong Parliament as “a premeditated and malicious organization toward [the] Hong Kong government.”

Riot police deploy pepper spray toward journalists on the 23rd anniversary of the city's handover from Britain to China as protesters gathered for a rally against the new National Security Law in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020. Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images

“The group plans to subvert government functioning and undermine its administration,” Yung wrote in the statement. “I fully support the authorities to set examples and crack down on any illegal acts according to Article 37 of the National Security Law.”

Despite the authorities’ threat, Mr. Yuen said that he would not surrender and planned to hold a worldwide press conference.

“I won’t give up… It’s a matter of principle,” he said. “No matter what you do, it’s useless. No matter what you do with my family, even if you trade hostages with me, it’s still not negotiable.”

Concerns Remain Within Hong Kong Community

Meanwhile, Hong Kongers around the world continue to hold concerns about the legitimacy of the Hong Kong parliament, according to Bin Lin, an advocate for Hong Kong democracy and a media commentator who now resides in Sydney.

While some Hong Kongers supports the Hong Kong parliament initiative, others are sceptical about Yuen’s history of doing business in mainland China.

In addition, concerns about whether former Hong Kong councillors are actually representatives of the city, whether Beijing will gain access to the data of voters, and how many turnouts there will be, also abound within the community.

A protester holds a flag reading "Liberate Hong Kong, the Revolution of Our Times" during a demonstration in Hong Kong, Dec. 31, 2019. The Canadian Press/AP-Lee Jin-man

But Mr. Lin himself supports being open-minded to the Hong Kong parliament initiative.

“If we can establish an organization representing the people of Hong Kong through elections, why don’t we do it?” he told The Epoch Times.

“I think this is one way. There are many ways, not just one. Don’t deny each other. Don’t limit yourself to one way to suppress another. That’s what the CCP wants to do.”

Mr. Lin, who has a PhD degree in political science from the University of New South Wales, suggested taking the new initiative as a general pro-democracy Hong Kong group rather than a parliament-in-exile.

“The parliament hasn’t been established yet, and people have started asking if the parliament has the executive power, the legislative power, and a military… That’s too early to discuss,” he said.

‘Democracy Not Born Overnight’

Responding to doubts about the Hong Kong parliament, Mr. Yuen referred to the history of other democracies in saying that everybody has different opinions.

Protesters march on Hong Kong streets with a sign that reads "Resist Tyranny" during the annual rally on July 1, 2019. Yu Gang/The Epoch Times

“Take a look at the U.S. history… in the beginning, when they started writing the U.S. Constitution, there was less than five percent of the people wanting to become independent. Thirty-five [percent] still wanted to be part of England,” he said.

“Different opinions are normal… Democracy is not born overnight. There’s no perfect solution. It has to be worked on over many generations… You have to keep trying.”