words irma widjojo

bc meets up with the woman behind the annual July 1 march and finds out what she hopes for her homeland, Hong Kong and its people.

On the morning of June 4, 1989, Jackie Hung saw her father cry while sitting in front of the television. He was watching the coverage of the Tiananmen Square massacre. ‘He said to me, “Those bad guys have killed all of them,”’ Hung says, referring to the eventful day when thousands of people were wounded and many killed because of the iron fist of the Chinese government. ‘That was the first time I saw my dad cry,’ she adds.

Her father’s tears became the turning point for Hung. The Tiananmen Square tragedy happened just a few months before the 19-year-old was to enroll in the Academy of Arts for theatre studies – instead she changed gears and applied for the social science programme at Lingnan University. ‘Those students were the same age as me,’ Hung says of the victims of the massacre. ‘I asked myself, “They did something for the nation, what can I also do for my people?”’ and her life since that day has been dedicated to answering that question.

The summer before she began her university career, Hung worked at an office where her main role was to collect as many newspaper clippings about the Tiananmen Square massacre as possible. ‘That’s when I really learned a lot about the issue,’ she says and it has been the spur for her activism in supporting causes and challenging the government for the betterment of people’s life standards.

Hung has been involved in every July 1 march since they started in 1997 after Hong Kong’s handover to the Chinese government. The march has become a Hong Kong tradition in which people come together to protest against the government’s policies and demand greater democracy. ‘I saw what happened at Tiananmen Square,’ Hung says. ‘I didn’t want Hong Kong to have the same fate as these people under the Chinese government. I was so disappointed to find out that the Hong Kong government had made a decision without consulting its people.’

In September 2002, Hung co-founded the Civil Human Rights Front, an alliance organization that brings together Hong Kong non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Currently, the front has more than 50 NGO members, approximately half of whom are active. ‘I know not all of them are as active as we want them to be, but they always renew their membership each year!’ Hung says, chuckling a little.

From 1997 to 2002, Hung says that even though she was glad that people came together to challenge the government and its policies, she felt their attention was misplaced. ‘People who protested focused too much on the politics of the government,’ she says. ‘They did not think about what people were actually going through, the poor and the marginalized.’ The NGOs under the Civil Human Rights Front’s umbrella are fighting for different causes – students’ rights, immigrant workers’ rights, the rights of those with different sexual orientations... – but they have something in common: they are trying to get a more inclusive deal for those they represent.

Hung recalls the July 1 marches before 1999 and says that Hong Kongers still did not understand how to accept others different from themselves. ‘A guy from an organization came up to me one year and asked: ‘Why am I marching with these people? There’s a group of sex workers on my right and there’s a group of Filipinos on my left,”’ she says. ‘I told him: “But this is Hong Kong! There are so many different people here, and they all have listened to your story. Now it’s time for you to listen to theirs.” But I think people have become more accepting now and many have realized the importance of human rights even for marginalized groups.’

She also created the Civil Human Rights Front to give a greater voice to anyone who found it difficult to make themselves heard. She points out that most NGOs have only two or three officers. If instead of each working in a small capacity on their own, 50 pooled their resources, the greater organization would have a force of at least 100 people working together. In fact, the Civil Human Rights Front has been responsible for organizing the marches by arranging government permits and crowd insurance, inviting other groups to participate and spending weekends distributing flyers in places to get the public’s support.

When asked which July 1 march has been her most memorable, Hung’s answer is surprisingly not the 2003 march, the biggest in Hong Kong’s history. ‘People get caught up with the 2003 march,’ she says. ‘But that march was supported by the media. Honestly, I was a little afraid because of that reason. I did not want the yearly march to be dependent on the support of the media. It needs to come from the people.’

Instead, her most unforgettable was the one in 1997, even though only 10,000 people showed up and it was on a much smaller scale than that of 2003. ‘We were drenched from the rain, but I thought everyone was fighting for an important issue, which was the right of abode,’ she explains.

TIME Asia magazine named Hung one of 20 Asia’s Heroes under 40 in 2004. Despite this, she is almost dismissive of her efforts. ‘People want to speak up and protest,’ she says. ‘We are just here to provide an opportunity for them, a platform.’ But she also warns that Hong Kong people need to realize how fortunate they are being able to voice their opinions freely. ‘They need to take this chance before it’s too late,’ she says. ‘And what is wrong with people asking for a better life, right?’ Still, she estimates 50,000 people will march on July 1 focusing on people’s livelihood and more rights for the under-represented.

The 40-year-old activist is currently working for the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese. ‘I’m not a very religious person, but I believe that God is giving me the encouragement to move on, despite the challenges.’ It is source of satisfaction that she has never been arrested at any of the rallies she has participated in. She has also made sure that all of the organizations involved in the July 1 march have done their best to follow any rules and regulations set down by the police department. ‘I do not want to give any reason for the police department to stop the July 1 march,’ she says. ‘It has become a part of Hong Kong tradition and I don’t want it taken away.’ Yet she is always prepared to be detained. ‘I don’t mind getting arrested. In fact, I feel that it might be good for me to get arrested to see what life in jail is like,’ she says with a smile. ‘But I don’t want to get my parents worried.’

Hung describes how in later years, every time her father saw a rally on the television, he would put his glasses on and peer closely at the television. ‘At first I didn’t understand what he was doing,’ she explains. ‘But my sister told me that he always does that when he sees a rally. He wants to see whether he can see my husband or me amongst the crowd.’ Remembering her father’s 1989 tears even while she sits at a table piled with donation boxes in preparation for this year’s July 1 rally, Hung says, ‘You know, I don’t like the Chinese government, but I also dislike like the HK government because they are very similar. I just want the best for Hong Kong people. That’s why we need to come together and fight for our rights.’

Visit www.civilhrfront.org for more on this year’s march.