Ahead of opening of new legislative session, war of words surrounding deputy chairman position escalates
JEFFIE LAM AND NG KANG-CHUNG
PUBLISHED : Monday, 05 October, 2015, 11:53pm
UPDATED : Monday, 05 October, 2015, 11:53pm
There were reports the pan-democrats had wanted Alan Leong Kah-kit (left) of the Civic Party or Democrat Sin Chung-kai (right) to be the deputy chairman. Photos: K.Y. Cheng, Sam Tsang
Pro-establishment legislators have stepped up rhetoric over the vacant role of deputy chairman of the Legislative Council house committee ahead of the opening of the new legislative session next Wednesday.
The post is up for grabs following the resignation of former Civic Party legislator Ronny Tong Ka-wah in June.
The pan-democrats will today discuss their candidate for the post, which includes responsibilities such as meeting with Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on a regular basis.
But the pro-establishment camp, which has the majority in the legislature, has vowed to squeeze their rivals out of the key posts in panels and other committees as revenge for a surprise "ambush" to grab control of the public works and establishment subcommittees of the influential Legco finance committee.
The ambush, part of the pan-democrats' "non-cooperation" campaign, has forced government funding requests to face more obstacles and greater scrutiny.
The hostilities between both camps have also seen an unofficial long-standing agreement, that the deputy chairman position in a Legco panel will be held by someone from the rival camp to the chairman, broken.
By the 2014-15 legislative session, the pro-establishment camp had grabbed the chairmanship of 16 of the 18 panels, with only three deputy chairmanships still in the hands of pan-democrats.
"The pan-democrats played a trick last year to grab control [of the two finance committee subcommittees]. They will pay the price this time," said Ip Kwok-him, of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong. Party colleague Tam Yiu-chung, speaking after a meeting of about 30 pro-establishment legislators yesterday, said: "If the pan-democrat candidate is OK to us, we will have no problem letting him or her take up the post. Otherwise, we may contest."
There were reports the pan-democrats had wanted Alan Leong Kah-kit of the Civic Party or Democrat Sin Chung-kai to be the deputy chairman.
Wong Kwok-kin, of the Federation of Trade Unions, on Monday said the pro-establishment camp hoped pan-democrats could put forward alternatives.
"We are not ruling out Leong and Sin at the moment," he said. "We just want to locate the most acceptable candidate as that would make things smoother."
Wong added Leong was not very popular among the pro-establishment camp.
Sin yesterday said the pan-democrats had yet to decide whom to nominate, but emphasised the pro-Beijing camp should not turn down the pan-democrats' suggestion, if they agreed the post should be taken by a pro-democracy lawmaker.
At Monday's meeting, the pro-establishment camp also agreed to send Chan Kin-por, of the insurance sector, to contest the chairmanship of the finance committee in the new legislative year. The post was previously held by Tommy Cheung Yu-yan of the Liberal Party.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1864415/rhetoric-begins-ahead-legco-return-hong-kong-lawmakers
