Szeto Wah (; 28 February 1931 – 2 January 2011) was a Hong Kong democracy activist and politician. He was the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union and former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1985 to 1997 and from 1997 to 2004.

Being one of the two icons of the Hong Kong democracy movement alongside Martin Lee, Szeto played an instrumental role in the emergence of the pro-democracy camp. Entering politics as a trade unionist for teachers, Szeto founded the influential Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union and was first elected to the colonial legislature through the newly created Teaching functional constituency in 1985. He and Martin Lee became the two pro-democrats appointed to the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee by the Beijing government in 1985 until the duo resigned in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

Szeto played a significant part in gathering popular support of the Hong Kong public in the Tiananmen democracy movement and subsequently the Operation Yellowbird rescuing the wanted democracy activists. He also founded the Hong Kong Alliance which has been responsible for the annual memorials for the protests. On the basis of the pro-democracy support he also co-founded the United Democrats of Hong Kong to contest in the first Legislative Council direct elections which later transformed into the Democratic Party.

Szeto remained as the unofficial party whip of the Democratic Party. He retired from the Legislative Council in 2004 and retained his influence in the pan-democracy camp. In 2010, he led the moderate faction of the camp to oppose the radical-led Five Constituencies Referendum movement and played a significant role in drawing the revised proposal of the electoral reform package in the Democrats' negotiation with the Beijing authorities. He remained the chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance until he died in 2011 at the age of 79.

Early life and underground activism

thumb|right|Szeto Wah in front of Yau Ma Tei Government School in 1947

Szeto Wah was born in Hong Kong on 28 February 1931 in Hong Kong with the family root in Chikan, Kaiping, Guangdong. His father, Szeto Ting, moved to Hong Kong for work during his young age. In 1941 during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, his family moved back to Kaiping. He recalled his patriotism grew during the war when he heard about the stories of the Chinese war heroes. His mother died at the age of 38 in 1942 and his father remarried afterwards. In 1945, when the war had almost ended, his family moved back to Hong Kong. His father died of cancer at the Precious Blood Hospital in 1952 and was survived by his second wife and ten children.

In Hong Kong, Szeto Wah studied at the Yau Ma Tei Government School and then Queen's College, and graduated from the Grantham College of Education. Under his brother Szeto Ming's influence, he and his siblings joined the YWCA which had a strong left-wing leaning at the time during his student life. He was contacted by the underground Communists and joined the Chinese New Democracy Youth League, the predecessor of the Communist Youth League of China, in September 1949. Under the instruction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Szeto founded the Hok Yau Club in 1949. Without any official affiliation, Hok Yau Club was responsible for recruiting youths for the Communist cause. Among the recruits at the time was Mo Kwan-nin, who rose to the deputy director of the New China News Agency in 1980s. The club ceased to function between 1952 and 1953 after it was busted by the Hong Kong Police Special Branch. At the same time, he entered the teaching profession in 1952. After the journal was closed down in 1966, the party ceased to contact Szeto.

Teacher unionism and activism

In 1971, the Hong Kong government suggested unpegging the salaries of the certificated masters to the nurses to cut their salaries by 15 per cent which sparked an uproar among the teachers.

In 1977, the Precious Blood Golden Jubilee Secondary School was exposed with a corruption scandal. The teachers and students launched a strike for two days. In response, the Director of Education issued warning letters to the teachers. The PTU received complaints from the teachers and demanded the withdrawal of the warning letters. Afterwards, the school changed its leadership and issued new restrictions into teachers' contracts and warning letters to teachers against Szeto Wah's advice. In May 1977, the Education Department closed down the school with the approval of the Executive Council. The PTU organised assemblies and petitions to demand the reopening of the school and investigation of the event. As a result, Governor Murray MacLehose appointed a three-member committee into the event consisting of Rayson Huang, Lo King-man and Maisie Wong. The committee suggested the founding of the Ng Yuk Secondary School to receive the teachers and students, withdrawing the warning letters and negating the actions of the school.

The PTU continued to grow into a significant labour union and pressure group in the territory. According to do Rosario, Szeto even became one of "the most influential persons in Hongkong's political scene mid-70s".

Szeto Wah also launched a petition movement as the civil Chief Executive to mock the first Chief Executive election of 1996 by the Beijing-controlled 400-member Selection Committee. Szeto eventually accumulated more than 104,000 signatures with their ID numbers. The election was ultimately won by shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa who was hand-picked by Beijing.

For his staunch pro-democracy conviction, Time once described him as "democracy's foot soldier", and named him one of the 25 most influential people in Hong Kong.

Szeto Wah and other Democrats ran in the first SAR Legislative Council election in May 1998 in which Szeto and Li Wah-ming won about 145,000 votes, taking two of the three seats in Kowloon East. Although the pro-democrats won 20 seats, their influence was balanced by the pro-Beijing members elected through the 10-seat Election Committee constituency. Szeto was re-elected in 2000 and decided to retire in 2004.

In 2005, the "Real Brothers incident" broke out in the Democratic Party as there were allegations of the reformist faction being infiltrated by Beijing. Szeto Wah became one of the five-member committee to investigate the incident. As a result, the accused reformist faction was defeated in the 2006 intra-party election.

On 25 May 2007 Szeto Wah was one of eight people arrested and charged with speaking at a radio show broadcast hosted by the unlicensed Citizen's Radio on the subject of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Critics argued that the Hong Kong government selectively persecuted Szeto for using unlicensed equipment when delivering the political message as other members had spoken on the radio and were not charged. Szeto Wah attended the party meeting after chemotherapy and spoke in support of the revised proposal, stating that it was better to have the increase of five directly elected seats, five functional constituency seats but almost directly elected and the abolition of the appointed District Council seats than nothing.

After the Democratic Party voted for the revised package, the Democratic Party and Szeto Wah received harsh criticisms from its former allies and supporters, condemning them for betraying democracy and the Hong Kong people. "Longhair" Leung Kwok-hung in a protest in front of the PTU headquarters said Szeto Wah had his cancer got into his brain. In the following 1 July march, Szeto on his wheelchair also received criticisms from his supporters, saying that the "Democratic Party sold out Hong Kong people." In response, Szeto argued, "Sold out? How much for selling out? ... Are you pig or dog? Can you be sold out?"

Death and funeral

right|thumb|Szeto Wah's memorial service in front of the [[Old Supreme Court Building, Hong Kong|Legislative Council Building]]

Szeto Wah died on 2 January 2011 at the Prince of Wales Hospital. He was 79. His last words were "Success doesn't need to involve me; however, when success comes, I will be part of it." In a service at St Andrew's Church in Tsim Sha Tsui, bells tolled six long and four short times, representing the victims of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. In accordance with his wishes, Szeto's body was cremated; half the ashes to be scattered in Hong Kong waters, the other half scattered in a garden at Cape Collinson Crematorium.

Exiled mainland dissidents Wang Dan and Wu'erkaixi had expressed their strong desire to attend the funeral. Pan-democrats petitioned the Hong Kong government to allow them to enter Hong Kong to attend Szeto's funeral on compassionate grounds under the one country, two systems principle, although NPCSC delegate Rita Fan said the request represented a huge dilemma for the government as it would set a precedent. On 10 January, Wang Guangya, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, declared that decision on whether to allow dissidents to enter was in the hands of the Hong Kong government; he expressed confidence that they would "handle it well". On 26 January, the government announced that the application of Wang Dan to enter Hong Kong had been declined by after "careful consideration"; a spokesman said the decision was made based on the potential "consequences" of allowing him in. The decision was denounced by Wang, Wu'er Kaixi, and pro-democrat legislator Lee Cheuk-yan, saying that the government had surrendered the principle of "one country, two systems".

Personal life

Szeto Wah was never married in his life. He only had a romance publicly acknowledged with his fellow teacher Wong Siu-yung who died in the 1980s. Under Wong's influence, Szeto was baptized as Christian on 8 April 1985. He lived with his younger sister in Mong Kok. His brother, Szeto Keung, joined the state-owned New China News Agency Hong Kong Branch in the 1950s and remained working there.

Aside from his political career, Szeto was also well known for his Chinese calligraphy skills. He was also a keen swimmer.

See also

  • List of Chinese pro-democracy activists
  • Memorials for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989

References

Bibliography

  • RTHK 香港電台 鏗鏘集:華叔您好 2010-06-06