Church leaders in Hong Kong have called on Christians to march in December against a Chinese government proposal on the constitutional reform, which they described as unjust, reports Ekklesia.

|TOP|“To respect the Hong Kong people’s yearning for universal suffrage, we demand the government withdraw the proposal immediately and instead offer another proposal which allows Hong Kong to implement as soon as possible an electoral system based on one person, one vote,” said leaders from Methodist, Congregational and Roman Catholic churches at a press conference held at Hong Kong’s Methodist Centre.

According to Ekklesia, the church leaders have demanded universal suffrage for the chief executive, currently selected by a Beijing-backed committee of 800 electors, and legislative council elections. At present, only half of the 60-seat legislative council is directly elected.

The October reform proposals of the Hong Kong government would increase the number of electors for the post of chief executive and the legislative council of territory if they win the vote on 21 December.

Opponents, however, claim the reforms violate democratic principles and fail to outline when and how universal suffrage will become a reality for Hong Kong’s 6.9 million inhabitants.

|QUOTE|“Where do we go from here? We have to know what the second step is. We need a timetable of when the final goal can be reached, and even if they cannot give a timetable they should tell us what steps we should take to reach the goal,” said Catholic Bishop Joseph Zen at the press conference.

He added: “The proposal is useless.”

Opponents have called on Christians to hold a demonstration against the reform proposals on 4 December.

|AD|According to Methodist pastor Peter Wong Yuk Chee, local research shows that 65 per cent of those surveyed would like to see a timetable on political reform, with only 26 per cent saying they would not mind if there was none.

He said: “We call on Christians and the people of Hong Kong to stand in solidarity with each other, to use our action to express our demand for universal suffrage and say No to the proposal [through a march on 4 December].”

The Rev. Po Kam Cheong of the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China said: “We ask all legislators to vote against the proposal and to join the march.”

The latest call for action follows a meeting between church leaders and pro-democracy legislative councillors on 4 November to express their rejection of the proposals.

A pro-democracy rally held in Hong Kong on 1 July 2003 fell on deaf ears, with Beijing rejecting universal suffrage for the territory as unlawful.