Dr Edward Yiu Chung-yim to put career in academia on hold to promote participatory democracy and green projects in Hong Kong legislature as he considers run in September polls
JEFFIE.LAM@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Tuesday, 14 June, 2016, 8:01am
Dr Edward Yiu Chung-yim. Photo: David Wong
A housing and land policy academic has decided not to renew his contract with Chinese University and instead embark on a journey into the uncertain world of politics – starting with a possible run at the Legislative Council elections in September.
Dr Edward Yiu Chung-yim, an associate professor of the university’s department of geography resource management, has pledged to promote participatory democracy and green projects in the legislature if he were to be elected for the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape sector, a functional constituency seat occupied by the pro-establishment camp since 1991.
“I would not just want to be a part-time legislator who leaves the work of filing inquiries or writing papers to his assistants,” Yiu said. “I want to change the political culture ... and I want to show the voters my determination and commitment.”
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Yiu is among 10 people who have considered contesting seats for functional constituencies – long dominated by business and pro-Beijing figures – since the Occupy sit-ins of 2014.
Tension has mounted in recent years between pro-democracy legislators and the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape sector after several marathon filibusters were staged by the former to drag out approval of projects accused of being “white elephants”, such as the city’s over-budget and delayed high-speed rail link to Guangzhou.
But Yiu is adamant such conflicts do not have to exist if the government spends wisely on projects truly beneficial to Hongkongers.
“At the end of the day, what the sector wants is jobs,” he said. “If we are spending billions of dollars on the third runway when the problems of air traffic control have yet to be solved, and it will also kill dolphins, why don’t we use that money to invest in renewable energy, which could drastically lower air pollution?”
With his academic background, Yiu believes he could bring creative ideas and foreign experience to the legislature.
He also advocates a more democratic composition of the Town Planning Board, in which all members are currently appointed by the city’s chief executive.
In 2012, Democratic Party member Stanley Ng Wing-fai lost the sector’s seat to Tony Tse Wai-chuen by a mere 204 votes.
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Ng announced last month he would not take another shot at the seat, despite being confident about his chances, as he did not want to split the pro-democracy vote among several candidates. Tse is expected to seek a second term.
Now in his early 50s, the scholar is unfazed at the prospect of giving up a steady income to enter politics, saying he would still act as an assistant to legislators even if he lost at the polls.
“Political parties have been conducting little research and they always need talent to help them do that. I am not worried,” he said.
Yiu had his first taste of elections in the district council polls last year by running in the Chi Fu constituency in Pok Fu Lam, where he encouraged residents to get involved in green initiatives. He eventually lost the race to the incumbent.
“At first I just studied a cluster of buildings, then I looked into the community, and now I want to work on the city’s governance,” the buildings surveyor said. “It’s like connecting the dots ... and it helps me understand the city’s social problems bit by bit.”
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1974509/chinese-university-academic-looks-challenge-pro-beijing
