Law professor Albert Chen Hung-yee says opposition lawmaker Dennis Kwok Wing-hang has neglected his duties. (PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)
Opposition lawmaker Dennis Kwok Wing-hang from the Civic Party has neglected his duties by failing to elect a chairman of the Legislative Council House Committee after 15 meetings, says Albert Chen Hung-yee, a Basic Law Committee member and law professor at the University of Hong Kong.
Opposition lawmakers have also abused their powers by discussing unrelated issues at length during House Committee meetings in order to filibuster and delay the election, Chen says.
This fiasco and Kwok’s misconduct have sparked strong condemnation from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, and the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong SAR.
In Chen’s view, these two offices rightly spoke out during a time of constitutional crisis, and their actions did not constitute an intervention in Hong Kong affairs, as is alleged by some people.
It will not be easy to find a solution, he says, and court injunctions typically don’t apply to issues in LegCo. It will also be difficult to establish the case that Kwok has committed the offenses of breaching the LegCo oath and misconduct in public office.
Chen believes the statements made by the HKMAO and the Liaison Office are legitimate comments on important aspects of the implementation of the Basic Law in Hong Kong
Originally deputy committee chairman, Kwok was tasked with facilitating the election because the committee chairwoman, Starry Lee Wai-king, is standing for re-election in the new legislative session. Kwok is not the committee chairman, and does not have any powers as such. The election is his only responsibility.
Fifteen meetings have been held between October and Friday. But Kwok, in allowing opposition lawmakers to speak widely and freely on irrelevant topics, never started the nomination and election process, which usually takes around 10 minutes.
“The failure of the House Committee to elect a chairman after 15 meetings in six months is scandalous and a matter of grave concern,” Chen tells China Daily in an exclusive interview.
“The paralysis of LegCo’s legislative functions is clearly detrimental to the public interest and is causing a serious malfunction of LegCo’s constitutional role as conferred by the Basic Law.”
As a result, at least 14 bills have been held up, including the National Anthem Bill and a bill to extend the statutory maternity leave, and 89 pieces of subsidiary legislation, as they could not be scrutinized by LegCo plenary meetings before being endorsed by the House Committee.
Chen believes the statements made by the HKMAO and the Liaison Office are legitimate comments on important aspects of the implementation of the Basic Law in Hong Kong.
“I consider it is legitimate for the central government, through the HKMAO and Liaison Office, to issue an admonition and draw the public’s attention to this,” the Basic Law expert says.
“I don’t think it is a breach of Article 22 of the Basic Law for the HKMAO and the Liaison Office to make their recent statements or comments.”
Chen reckons the opposition camp is shifting the focus to Article 22 to cover up their misconduct. But it is not easy to charge Kwok with breaching the LegCo oath under Article 104, which requires him to uphold the Basic Law and to swear allegiance to the Hong Kong SAR of the People’s Republic of China.
“A very high threshold is required with regard to prosecuting for the offense of breaking the LegCo oath. The matter has not yet reached this level,” Chen says.
“As to misconduct in public office, this is often used to prosecute people involved in corruption (such as former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen ).”
Chen advises LegCo to resort to its Rules of Procedure to resolve the matter, echoing suggestions by people familiar with the Rules of Procedure, including former LegCo secretary-general Pauline Ng Man-wah, former House Committee chairwoman Miriam Lau Kin-yee, and senior counsel Ronny Tong Kah-wah.
