Hong Kong government does not have to grind to halt, rival lawmakers say, as one predicts legislature could be closed for six months
- Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai and Liberal Party leader Felix Chung suggest business could continue at alternative venue
- Among urgent matters to be addressed are approving funds for city’s livelihood issues
Hong Kong’s legislature can continue to function despite the heavy damage inflicted on its headquarters by protesters, two leaders from opposite political camps have said.
On Wednesday, lawmaker Wu Chi-wai, chairman of the Democratic Party, said conducting important legislative affairs such as vetting funding requests related to livelihood matters was still possible, if an alternative venue could be found.
Pro-establishment legislator and Liberal Party leader Felix Chung Kwok-pan agreed, although he estimated it could take six months for the Legislative Council complex to reopen.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about what attitude the government takes in the current political situation,” Wu said on a radio programme. “If it says it cannot solve many livelihood issues because [protesters] have disabled Legco, it is trying to tear society further apart.”
Chung said on a radio programme on Wednesday that although he had not visited the building after the incident, he knew the secretariat office had been seriously damaged and some computer servers lost.
“The Legislative Council’s operation will basically make no progress for the coming half year, or even the coming year,” said Chung, who represents the textile and garment industry.
Chung’s estimation was more pessimistic than the official prediction that the complex could be operational in just two weeks.
But Wu said the government could make a list of urgent legislative items such as requests to fund government works related to livelihood issues, and identify an alternative venue to process the items in one go.
Chung agreed that Wu’s proposal could work. He said Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her cabinet should discuss arranging an appropriate time and location for Legco matters.
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But, the government’s allies in Legco doubted whether it was feasible to hold meetings elsewhere.
Gary Chan Hak-kan, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, the largest party in the legislature, said the secretariat first had to sort out the voting and quorum systems, among other housekeeping matters, to properly conduct a meeting.
The Legislative Council Commission, the body that oversees Legco’s management and housekeeping issues, would convene a special meeting on Thursday morning to discuss all the issues. Commission members would first survey the damage in the Legco complex, and then hold a meeting at the government headquarters in Admiralty.
Lo Wai-kwok, leader of another pro-establishment party, the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, was more pessimistic.
“The location of the fallback site is a technical problem, but if the pro-democracy camp will not cooperate during the meeting, there can’t be much done,” Lo said, referring to pan-democrats who rejected voting on funding requests in batches, but would vote on individual items.
“Without pan-democrats’ cooperation, there will be no point in convening the meeting,” Chan said.
But Claudia Mo Man-ching, convenor of the pro-democracy camp, said it was possible to overcome the difficulties.
“Even if it can’t be resolved in days, that is certainly resolvable within two weeks,” Mo said.
She said the pan-democrats would be more than willing to convene a meeting at an alternative venue.
“We will not object to the proposals like pay rises for civil servants, and funds for building new hospitals,” she said.
The outstanding funding applications pending for the Legco Finance Committee’s approval also include a request for HK$550 million for a study on building at least 1,000 hectares of artificial islands off Lantau Island.
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung meanwhile cancelled a scheduled meeting with pan-democrats on Wednesday morning, where they were expected to discuss the committee’s priorities.
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Pan-democrats have accused Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s administration of not living up to its own promise of being more open, and listening to different views.
“What she said ... was only a public relations tactic, and will do little to convince people that she and her officials are sincere about mending fences with the public,” they wrote in a joint statement.
What she said ... was only a public relations tactic, and will do little to convince people that she and her officials are sincere about mending fences
Chung said although Lam had promised to listen more, she had not put that into action.
Wu added that young people stormed Legco because they were “disappointed and desperate”. He said the government should answer protesters’ demands, and set up an independent panel to investigate the authorities’ handling of the controversy.
Protesters have demanded the government withdraw the bill instead of suspending it, stop defining a violent protest on June 12 as a riot, exonerate those arrested, and investigate police’s alleged use of excessive force.
