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Events >> The Democracy Award >> 1997 Democracy Award

Martin C.M. Lee, chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, received NED's 1997 Democracy Award on April 9, 1997. The Democracy Award is presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to advancing democracy in their native countries. Mr. Lee was chosen for this honor in recognition of his role as Hong Kong's most outspoken advocate of human rights, press freedom, and the rule of law over the past 15 years. Lee is the founder and chairman of Hong Kong's first political party, the United Democrats of Hong Kong, which won elections in 1991 and 1995, the first democratic elections that have ever taken place in the city. Mr. Lee was also instrumental in the passage in 1991 of Hong Kong's Bill of Rights, and he has been unyielding in his defense of the principle of "one country, two systems" that China has pledged to honor when it reassumes sovereignty over Hong Kong in July.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

People receiving an award like this usually say very humbly, "I don't deserve this, and so on." But I will tell you I really wanted this thing. I really wanted to be given this award, not for my sake but for the people of Hong Kong. Because I want them to know that they are not fighting for democracy alone in Hong Kong. I want them to know that there are many, many friends in the USA, and indeed, in other parts of the world, who are supporting us in the fight for democracy. So I thank you all for giving this award to me. And thank God you didn't give it to anybody else. I don't say that I deserve it more than anybody else, but I need it more than anybody else.

I thank Senator Helms, who has always been a strong supporter of Hong Kong. There was a report in Hong Kong recently that he is going to initiate a bill which will not grant a visa to anybody serving on the illegitimate provisional legislature. That really caused a lot of problems to some of my friends who had reluctantly accepted an appointment to the provisional legislature. I think many of them will say, "Well, not that I wanted it, Senator, but it was thrust upon me."

And I thank Congressman Berman. You are absolutely right that you cannot separate democracy from human rights. Because in Hong Kong a lot of people will say, "Democracy was a new thing from the British government that they didn't give to Hong Kong people earlier." True. If you look at British history, they never gave democracy to any colony until the very end. The same goes for Hong Kong. But China is not in a position to complain. If China had insisted, "You left it to your governor to appoint them -- we want our chief executive to appoint them in the future," then China would have a case. But China did not insist on that. To the contrary, China signed this agreement which says in one sentence: the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be constituted by elections. The British government was then under an obligation to give us an elected legislature within 13 1/2 years of transition. So China cannot complain.

Of course, without a democratically constituted legislature, those sitting there would have no reason to legislate to protect human rights in Hong Kong. And as we already know, they are already busily preparing themselves to legislate draconian laws to please the leaders in Beijing. That is what is to be expected of them, because they are appointed by Beijing. So repressive laws will be passed, but what can our judges do? Assume they are the most independent judges on earth -- they will still have to apply that law. Well, many years ago, in the Weimar Republic of Germany, the German judges were doing good justice to the German people until Hitler took over. But because he controlled the Bundestag he had the laws changed overnight. And the same judges found that they had become instruments of injustice. Some, of course, refused to apply those terrible laws and were executed. Others had to apply those draconian laws.

I thank Steve Solarz for his support over the years, and I miss Congressman Porter tonight, who has always been a staunch supporter of Hong Kong. He is introducing a bill to protect all reporters from Hong Kong so that they would be able to come to this country if necessary. The only problem is that everybody now writes down their profession as a reporter.

As for Senator Mack, you have always been a friend of Hong Kong. I remember the first time I saw you, you told me that you are also Catholic. I have to say that there are so many Catholics in the present administration in Hong Kong that people are beginning to call it a Catholic mafia.

Democracy is something to which we must always continue to aspire. Even in your country people cannot take it for granted. There are still many things which we all can do better. In Hong Kong we have so much to learn. We've been seeing that since the election. We have been given partial democracy by the British only because our governor wouldn't dare go beyond the basic law, which, of course, is a very undemocratic document. It would be our future constitution, but the people of Hong Kong liked even that small degree of democracy and it worked. They have seen the government become much more accountable than before.

So I don't believe democracy will be extinguished. Because the flame of democracy has been ignited now, belatedly, and it is burning in the hearts of all the men and women of Hong Kong. So an iron fist cannot extinguish it. It may be blocked, it may be hidden for some time. But the flame will glow, I am sure, because the whole world is going towards democracy and human rights and the rule of law. I cannot believe that the old leaders of China -- for they are all still old even after Deng -- can block that tide for too long. It's bound to be there. And we are dedicated to this cause of democracy. We will stay behind and fight for it.

And I'm very happy that a colleague of mine, Mr. Andrew Cheng, a member of my party, is with me here on this occasion. I'm even happier that another colleague is here, who doesn't even belong to my party, but who is a successor of mine in the legal function of constituency, Ms. Margaret Ng.

We will stay and fight. People ask me this question again and again: "What is going happen to you, Martin?" I always give this answer: "Martin Lee is not my problem. Because I rather like this guy and I think you do too. But they don't, so they have got to think of some way to get rid of me. I am going to stay there and fight for human rights and democracy and rule of law."

A lot of my friends praise me -- they say I'm courageous and all that. But actually I'm not. Because I believe I am on the winning side. You can be a coward and still bet on a winner. I believe I'm on the winning side because my philosophy in life is very simple: so long as I'm still there fighting I cannot lose. It is only when I give up that I lose. And I will not give up, so how can I lose? Democracy will come to Hong Kong, as indeed it will come to China. My vision for my country, China, which is a big country, is that soon it will become a really great nation, when the human rights of every Chinese citizen will be respected and protected by law. And I know that these things will come when my friends here nd my friends all over the world back us up. I will go back and tell the people of Hong Kong that we are not alone in this fight and that we are going to win.

I want to thank NED, of course, for giving me this award. As I said I really wanted it, and I will treasure it and look at it every day and remind myself that there are so many people that are with us. Thank you Carl Gershman.

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen.