Wong optimistic on LegCo work as 'pan-democrats' behave better

Wong Kwok-kin, a lawmaker since 2008, had gone through tough times in the Legislative Council. Recently, he observed that the "pan-democratic" lawmakers have been behaving better, and LegCo's operations are returning to normal and the social atmosphere has eased.

A dozen "pan-democratic" lawmakers were invited to activities and the banquet given in honor of President Xi Jinping during his visit to Hong Kong earlier this month, and they had refrained from creating trouble as the city celebrated the 20th anniversary of its return to the motherland, noted Wong.

The invitations to certain moderate "pan-democrats" had made the "nativist" branch of the opposition camp envious as they had openly called for a boycott of the 20th anniversary celebrations, but the call was not heeded.

Asked to comment on why only part of the "pan-democratic" lawmakers were invited to attend the banquet to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, Wong said during past events, all lawmakers were invited but some of them created trouble. "So this time, only a few were invited. The mainstream 'pan-democrats' also drew a line with the radicals, nativists and 'self-determination' groups by refusing to boycott the celebrations and so the overall atmosphere has improved."

At the LegCo question-and-answer session last Wednesday, radical lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, also known as "Long Hair", was the only troublemaker, protesting and screaming from his seat before he was expelled from the council chamber.

"The moderates, such as the Democratic Party and Civic Party, are frustrated and are hoping to find a way out," Wong said.

"In recent years, they had opposed the government on most issues, struggled and caused disturbances but that was not good to them. Hong Kong citizens are getting bored, and they ('pan-democrats') have not got what they wanted - the so-called "real universal suffrage". Now, with a new chief executive, they are trying new ways to cooperate with Lam instead of confronting her.

At the question-and-answer session, James To Kun-sun of the Democratic Party demanded reopening the political reform, while the Civic Party's Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu made a fuss by suggesting legalization of Article 22 of the Basic Law but he did not mention Article 23.

"They were just political gestures of the 'pan-democrats' to please their supporters. We must allow them time and space to turn around. If they behave too normally, they may anger their supporters and invite attacks from the radicals as well," Wong commented.

joseph@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 07/11/2017 page7)