The City of Ryde Council is set to consult with its Multicultural Advisory Committee in August to seek advice on ways to “enhance social cohesion” amid community divisions over a motion passed in June supporting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
The council unanimously to support the “right to protest” and to “value the protection of human rights of our Hong Kong and Chinese residents”.
The motion expressed opposition to a which has sparked violent clashes between Hong Kong police and protesters over recent months.
The council in north-west Sydney also resolved to express its stance in letters to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and humanitarian organisation Amnesty International.
However, Ryde Deputy Mayor Simon Zhou told SBS Cantonese that he believed councillors were “not fully informed” about the extradition bill before supporting the June motion.
A man (C) is detained by police after getting into a fight with anti-extradition protesters outside the Kwai Chung police station in Hong Kong, China, 30 July Source: AAP
He said he’d received numerous complaints about the council’s move to support the protests, resulting in a “deterioration of harmony and social cohesion” within the community.
As a result, Cr Zhou successful moved a meeting for councillors to consult with the Multicultural Advisory Committee, to address “community concerns”.
“None of our local residents came to me complaining or discussing that or raised any concerns before June 25. After June 25, our local Hong Kong community came to me raising concerns, many of them come to me with an unhappy attitude and blamed us,” he said, adding that the majority of complaints related to the council's "interference" in the issue.
He said business owners had expressed concerns that “hatred” within the local Chinese community was having an adverse effect on businesses.
But the councillor who introduced the motion supporting the Hong Kong protests, Cr Peter Kim, criticised Cr Zhou’s July motion as being “unfair” and suggested the Multicultural committee was “predominantly represented by the pro-China group”.
“I support further debate and communication between the various Chinese groups with the aim of creating social harmony. I thought the motion was unfair because of the lack of representation of the pro-Democracy group [in the Multicultural committee],” Cr Kim said.
“So I and several members of the pro-democracy group will join the multicultural committee so that we can have a fair and equitable debate.”
Nearly one in four people (24,000) living in the Ryde local government area identified as having Chinese ancestry, according to the 2016 Census, with that group divided between Mandarin and Cantonese speakers.
Ryde Mayor Jerome Laxale said he supported further debate within the Multicultural Advisory Committee.
“We’re a very harmonious and multicultural city, one of the most diverse in NSW and there’s no reason why that needs to change,” he said.
“We’re a very successful multicultural community and we wanted to enhance that through Cr Zhou’s motion and you can tell by the unanimous vote that it received that every councillor is on board with that.”
At the July council meeting, several members of the public voiced their support and opposition to the move to support the Hong Kong protests.
Mayor of the City of Ryde, Jerome Laxale Source: https://www.facebook.com/jeromelaxale
Sydney academic in politics and Ryde resident, Dr Bin Lin, believed the council made the “right move” to support the protests.
"We see a huge number of supporters [of the June motion] present today. The number of supporters triples those who are against it,” he said at the meeting.
A demonstration was held in the suburb of Eastwood by residents who expressed their support of the council's June 25 decision.
People demonstrating in Eastwood in support of the council's June decision. Source: Supplied
Meanwhile, the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Sydney issued a statement, expressing the Chinese Government's strong dissatisfaction of the council's motion.
"Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, and all matters related to Hong Kong are purely China’s internal affairs, which any external forces have no right to intervene," the statement said. "China wishes to express its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the recent so-called Hong Kong resolution passed by the City Council of Ryde of NSW."
When asked by SBS about the jurisdiction of local councils to discuss international affairs, the Office of Local Government said: “Under the Model Code of Meeting Practice for Local Councils in NSW, councils are able to deal with any matters that are within the jurisdiction of the council at meetings.”
Further debate on this issue is expected at the council's multicultural committee meeting on August 28.
