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Hong Kong pays last respects to
democracy icon Szeto
AP, HONG KONG
Hundreds of people paid their final respects in Hong Kong yesterday to veteran
democracy activist Szeto Wah (司徒華), a leading campaigner for the victims of
Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters at Tiananmen Square and a voice for
dissidents in mainland China.
Mourners filed into the grounds of an Anglican church, signing a condolence
book, then laying flowers and bowing to a large black backdrop bearing Szeto’s
portrait and the Chinese inscription “Uncle Wah, we will always miss you!”
Many Hong Kong residents identify with Szeto, who died on Jan. 2 from lung
cancer at 79, because of his strident opposition to the undemocratic mainland
regime.
“Hong Kong is a window for mainland China. If Hong Kong can serve as an example
of democracy for all Chinese, then there is hope for Chinese democracy,” said
one mourner, 45-year-old primary-school teacher Bruce Lee. “And Mr Szeto Wah was
a critical component of Hong Kong’s resistance to the oppression of the Chinese
Communist Party.”
“He was a leader. He was very successful in his persistent pursuit of democracy
and his ability to organize people who cared about democracy,” said Kay Wong, a
48-year-old TV commercial director.
Later yesterday, Szeto’s casket was carried into the church for a Christian
funeral service as a church bell was struck six times, then four — symbolizing
the late activist’s lifelong cause of remembering June 4, the date of the 1989
Tiananmen crackdown. He was to be cremated later yesterday.
Besides fellow democracy activists, among the attendees was Hong Kong Cardinal
Joseph Zen (陳日君樞機), also a harsh critic of Beijing’s human rights record and a
key papal adviser on Sino-Vatican relations.
Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed administration has had to handle Szeto’s funeral
carefully, given his revered status in the territory and his open opposition to
the mainland regime.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) stopped by before the funeral
service, bowing to Szeto’s portrait and conveying condolences to his family
members, but skipped the service itself. Upset by the perceived slight, several
mourners chanted “Shameless” as Tsang left the church.
Tsang also decided to ban Wang Dan (王丹) and Wuer Kaixi (吾爾開希) — former student
leaders of the 1989 protests now living in exile in Taiwan — from attending the
funeral.
A primary school principal who set up a powerful teacher’s union, Szeto, like
many Hong Kongers, was galvanized by the student-led protests at Tiananmen
Square. He channeled his organizing skills to build a support group for the
Tiananmen movement, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic
Movements in China.
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