Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah and other pro-democracy activists are losing patience with Beijing, and a further delay in the pace of political reform could see them take to the streets or launch other drastic action.

Tong suggested at a Frontier forum on Wednesday pan-democrat legislators should consider staying away from Legco meetings, while the public should boycott schools, not go shopping and halt trading, to express their discontent should Beijing turn down double universal suffrage for 2012.

Moderate democrats are not getting anywhere, especially on this issue of political reform. Our voices are simply not being heard, he said.

If things are not working in the legislature, and if things are not working out officially, then I think people will go underground and it will go back to the streets.

Mad dog Wong Yuk-man, chairman of the League of Social Democrats, went further, calling on all pan- democrat lawmakers to resign, and to boycott next years Legislative Council elections, if dual direct elections for 2012 are rejected by Beijing.

The Democratic Party, it appears, has other tactics up its sleeve. Its chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan said there will be a long battle and democracy supporters are even prepared to go to jail for the cause.

Ho, apparently, is attempting to adopt the Taiwanese opposition method the Shih Ming-teh strategy when referring to a sustainable war.

Shih, a veteran Taiwanese political activist, launched a campaign last year to unseat Taiwans president Chen Shui- bian. The highlight of the Shihs movement was an around-the-clock sit- in outside the Presidential Office.

But whatever Ho has up his sleeve, it will certainly not change Beijings stance on 2012. Neither will the threats by Tong and Wong move Beijing.

In this column last week I said threats are not the best calling cards, and certainly not with Beijing.

I also pointed out that the whole town knows that dual universal suffrage in 2012 is out of the question. And the pan-democrats are aware of that too.

Deep down in their hearts they also know their actions will not change that. So, all they can achieve from their tough stance is a matter of principle, especially with the 2008 Legco elections coming up soon.

They will be able to tell their supporters they had fought hard, and while they failed to get 2012 on the table, they managed to force Beijing to agree on 2017, thereby depriving Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen of the credit.

The decision of the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee on Tsangs political reform report is expected to be announced in Beijing tomorrow, after which several mainland officials will arrive in Hong Kong to explain it.

It is widely expected the meeting will not provide a clear timetable.

But whatever the ruling, the pan- democrats should try to work towards that goal if they do not wish to be marginalized.

As Tien has said, life is all about compromise. Besides, dual universal suffrage in 2012 is not an unanimous view.