Deng Xiaoping said back in 1984 that “the people of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong” also means “patriots governing Hong Kong”, adding there are three criteria for patriots: respecting one’s own nationality; sincerely and unconditionally supporting the motherland’s resuming the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong; and never harming Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability. Today, these criteria still apply, and members of the Legislative Council who have sided with the “burn together” faction of the opposition camp are definitely not patriots. Those burn-together advocates have abused their lawmaker power in wild abandon to obstruct the operations of the special administrative region government, delaying the passage of many bills designed to boost economic development and improve people’s livelihoods. Such abusive behavior driven by extreme political bias is unique to enemies of the people. That is why Hong Kong society is overwhelmingly in favor of kicking those burn-together advocates out of LegCo.
Aside from breaching their oath of office, those burn-together lawmakers, by wantonly sabotaging LegCo operations whenever possible, have most likely violated Article 22(3) of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
The burn-together faction, which emerged in the heyday of the “black revolution”, advocates hate and violence toward the SAR government, but particularly the Hong Kong Police Force as well as the central authorities and mainland compatriots in general. Its members in LegCo put their venomous hatred toward the motherland on full display in October 2019 through May, using the House Committee chairperson election as an opportunity to delay the approval of the National Anthem Ordinance by any means imaginable. It’s their way of declaring they are sworn enemies of the Chinese nation and proud of it.
Make no mistake about it: Opposition legislators resorted to filibustering tactics to obstruct the normal operations of the SAR government long before the burn-together faction became a thing last year. They earned that label purely because of the extreme manner in which they sabotaged LegCo operations by filibustering and delaying the House Committee chairperson-election process for more than half a year just to delay the passage of the National Anthem Ordinance and, in doing so, effective delayed a raft of welfare-related bills, such as extending maternity leave to 14 weeks.
Another delaying tactic frequently used by burn-together lawmakers is demanding quorum calls as often as they want to waste precious time at taxpayers’ expense and make the SAR government as well as Hong Kong society as a whole miserable. Since LegCo resumed daily business on Oct 14, they have demanded 80 quorum calls during four general sessions and wasted at least 14 hours and 20 minutes, in addition to aborting LegCo sessions three times. All such abusive acts are “achievements” that the burn-together faction are extremely proud of and are meant to please their foreign patrons.
They have also gone out of their way to discredit the Chinese mainland’s rule of law and glorify burn-together advocacy ever since 12 fugitives were intercepted by mainland law-enforcement authorities while fleeing justice in Hong Kong, on their way to Taiwan for “political asylum”. They not only portrayed the “dumb dozen” as potential victims of mainland “police brutality” but also paraded their families in Hong Kong as “emotional hostages” for political ransom. In sharp contrast to hate-mongering toward the mainland, those burn-together advocates have said nothing about five other fugitives who managed to flee to Taiwan but have been “locked up” in secret there. All but one of those fugitives were charged with serious criminal offenses but allowed to post bail while waiting for trial in Hong Kong. With “generous help” from the burn-together faction, they have jumped bail to avoid justice and become hate-mongering material for those burn-together advocates. Given what they have done, those burn-together advocates in LegCo are obviously no patriots by any stretch of the word’s definition.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress made the decision to allow all legitimate members of the Sixth-Term LegCo to continue executing their constitutional duty for no less than a year until the Seventh-Term LegCo is elected, probably in November 2021. But the opposition members of LegCo and especially those burn-together advocates have completely squandered this precious opportunity to do good for a change, and instead continued to sabotage Hong Kong however they can. As such, the great majority of local residents said in recent public opinion polls they were fed up with the unconscionable burn-together politicians and demanded their immediate expulsion from LegCo.
It is safe to say that all civilized societies on Earth expect their lawmakers to be true patriots and the best examples of law-abiding citizenry. In Hong Kong, however, almost all opposition lawmakers over the years have proved they were the exact opposite of true patriots and would stop at nothing to harm the sovereignty, national security and development interests of the country by obstructing the SAR government’s law-based operations and trampling the rights and interests of millions of Hong Kong residents. In that respect, Hong Kong society would be best served by kicking those criminally inclined politicians out of LegCo as soon as possible.
Aside from breaching their oath of office, those burn-together lawmakers, by wantonly sabotaging LegCo operations whenever possible, have most likely violated Article 22(3) of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The National Security Law enforcement department of the Hong Kong Police Force may pursue those burn-together politicians as well.
The author is a current affairs commentator.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
