On 1st July 2008 looking back on 1st July 1997

July is one of those months which reminded me about certain event. For me it is the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese sovereign. Nowadays I live in Cyprus, not only I don't get my 1st July holiday, I rarely hear any news about Hong Kong. The only way I keep in touch with what's going on is via the Internet and the weekly conversation on the telephone with my parents.

In my own way to commemorate the Handover , I watched the BBC Documentary series "The Last Governor" on youtube. The documentary series consists of 5 parts, each series with very catchy names. "A Democratic Time-Bomb", "Restraint in Difficult Circumstances" ,"Lewis Carroll Country", "Loosening the Screws" and ,"Another Balls-Aching Week".



For me watching the series is like going back in time and seeing the entire event unfold again. Yes it is documented from Chris Pattern perspective and yes Pattern has been portrayed as the hero of the day and the Chinese PRC is portrayed as the bad guys. In reality politics are never that simple.

I remembered in 1995 Legislative Council not only I went to vote on the, I even went to help pulling votes for one particular candidate. Even though the candidate I support lost his seat, it was a very beautiful day for Hong Kong.

Even up to today, critics are still divided on how Chris Pattern handled Hong Kong in the final days of British Colonel power. I think people should also think that what Chris Pattern did was what he thought was for the good of Hong Kong people at that time, against very aggressive opposition from China, as well as within some part of Hong Kong community, he stuck with what he believed in rather than taking a easy way out. He genuinely tried to help Hong Kong through those uncertain days. You can doubt his ideology but shouldn’t doubt his good intention.