AdvertisementHong Kong protestsOpinionCommentChristine LohOpinion | Will those in the political middle please step forward to bridge the great divide and save Hong KongThe political middle

should accept Carrie Lam’s olive branch and open up space for reconciliation. Moderates who sympathise with the protest movement should remember that the ability to talk across the divide is

a democratic virtueReading Time:4 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPChristine LohPublished: 6:30am, 11 Sep 2019Updated: 6:40am, 11 Sep 2019 Hong Kong’s opposition and establishment camps might

not be able to bring themselves to do it, so someone else will have to. As an existential crisis engulfs the city, the political middle has a great responsibility to seize this moment and

the political middle names like “middle-of-the-roaders”, “fence-sitters”, “opportunists” and “whateverists”.

It is high time to reclaim this middle ground. Hong Kong needs to ease up on political polarisation. We need political moderation to move from anger and protest to dialogue and

reconciliation. This is not to ignore or discredit strongly-held political views. Indeed, a healthy society must be able to accommodate passionate advocates. What we want is principled

advocacy that helps us heal in times of doubt and division. Moderation is a salve. It is a disposition, not an ideology. It helps us resist the temptation to persist with political conflict:

when too much has been invested in resistance, it can be hard to stand down and talk to those across the divide. But talk we must as this is the way to solve problems, even those that seem

intractable.

 There are deep-seated fears and concerns in Hong Kong about the “one country, two systems” experiment, as well as frustrations over wide socio-economic inequalities. In the midst of the

massive peaceful protests that started in June – a most impressive display of the city’s political moderation – a small minority’s descent into violence has brought about a change in Hong

Kong’s civic chemistry.Advertisement