The Finance Committee of the Legislative Council (LegCo) will most probably vote on the SAR government's funding bill for the proposed Innovation and Technology Bureau (ITB) today (Friday). It is the first funding bill of this caliber the LegCo Finance Committee is handling this legislative season. Some opposition politicians have vowed to delay it as long as they can with filibustering. Those opposition lawmakers have blocked the bill for three years in a row but face the risk of serious payback in the district council elections next month, which may force them to give the funding bill the go-ahead this time. That said, some of them are expected to play the filibuster card again simply because they can. That is why the chairperson of the Finance Committee is obligated to exercise his authority to cut the filibuster ploy short when necessary.

Filibustering has proved very damaging to the overall interests of Hong Kong society in the past 18 years and all the committee and sub-committee chairpersons as well as the LegCo president have the responsibility to protect the public interest and ensure lawful administration by beating down such political arrogance with the power at their disposal. Hong Kong has what it takes - in terms of talent, capital, institutional hardware and software - to become an ideal home for innovation and technology startups.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying had the foresight to include the establishment of the ITB in his policy initiatives when he took over the CE's office in 2012. It was a timely decision aimed at putting Hong Kong on the global map of innovation bases by combining the strengths of the business community and the SAR government's resources. It will help keep Hong Kong's industrial mix fresh and in sync with the global trend while creating more higher-value job opportunities for the local population. Unfortunately the opposition parties are determined to block the ITB by politicizing this economic issue and have succeeded for three years so far, with heavy loss of taxpayer money to boot. Apparently harming public interest this way is of no concern to opposition politicians as long as it makes the SAR government miserable.

This time, however, they cannot pretend they don't care about public indignation over their destructive antics, with their chances of seizing district council seats at stake. Some have already voiced the intention to "suspend" their filibustering tactic, indicating they may have to show some respect for public opinion after all. As far as the current LegCo Finance Committee deliberations over the ITB funding bill go, the mood has been quite good so far. Maybe some of those opposition lawmakers would find it necessary to make a symbolic effort at filibustering before the bill heads to a vote, but people have good reason to see it finally pass the LegCo Finance Committee this time.

Quite a number of major infrastructure development projects were delayed by opposition politicians through filibustering in the funding approval stage over the years, with tens of billions of taxpayers' money wasted as a result. Such gross squandering of public resources, in addition to delaying local socio-economic development, has left a very bad impression on the voting public's mind, but some filibuster sponsors can hardly conceal their joy over the "kills", to the point that they recently promised more such damaging acts against "worthy" bills presented by the SAR government.

With most of the chairperson and vice-chairperson positions filled by pro-establishment lawmakers in the latest in-house elections, and local courts at all levels having confirmed that the committee and sub-committee chairpersons are authorized by law to manage legislative proceedings as they see fit, it is no longer a matter of whether but "when" the newly elected chairs should exercise their statutory power of cutting unjustifiable filibusters short. And members of the public expect them to do exactly that for the sake of public interest.

It is up to us in Hong Kong society to find the best path for the city to go forward. Hong Kong's socio-economic development has reached the point where only a structural transformation can keep the city advancing instead of stalling and eventually falling by the wayside. This on-going structural transformation has been struggling due to constant political obstruction by the opposition camp. The innovation and technology sector should be able to give the city a much-needed push forward and the ITB would be tasked with steering this development. Members of the public and young people in particular should support the government's efforts to get the innovation-technology sector up and running as soon as possible, because they stand to benefit immensely from its growth.

The author is a former Hong Kong member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

(HK Edition 10/30/2015 page10)