In this undated photo, members of a club in Guangzhou's Tianhe district for talented young people from Guangdong and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions pose for a group photo. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
New members of the city’s newly elected legislature promised on Tuesday to improve young people’s prospects, including promoting young people’s participation in the nation’s development — one of the lawmakers’ many visions for serving society in the next four years.
The new Legislative Council, which was formed by Sunday’s citywide poll, includes some young and first-time legislators from a variety of professional backgrounds. At a news conference on Tuesday attended by 39 lawmakers-elect from the Election Committee Constituency, they discussed their shared ambition to raise the voice of the youth groups.
Among them was Kenneth Leung Yuk-wai, a first-time lawmaker-elect and chairman of the Hong Kong United Youth Association. He told the media that his priority in the new position is to broaden the younger generation’s development prospects, including facilitating their involvement in the national development.
We need to create more platforms and connections for our youth to develop their future.
Nixie Lam
Leung said that to create better development opportunities for young people, the city must address the deep-seated social problems that have restricted young people’s development and undermined their confidence in the future. Leung added that he looks forward to working closely with the “senior members” of the new Legislative Council.
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Incoming lawmaker Nixie Lam agreed on the urgent need to create more opportunities for the younger generation. She said that she received many comments from young voters during the campaign about the different challenges they were facing.
“We need to create more platforms and connections for our youth to develop their future,” Lam said.
Lillian Kwok Ling-lai, a teacher-turned-legislator, attributed her first-time success in being elected to the improved electoral system, which expanded the number of seats in LegCo from 70 to 90 in an effort to broaden the legislature’s representation and better suit Hong Kong’s realities.
The Election Committee Constituency, which takes up 40 seats in the Legislative Council, was added to the LegCo election to allow candidates to stand for the constituency regardless of their professional backgrounds, as long as the person is nominated by 10 to 20 members of the 1,500-member Election Committee.
Kwok said she will always bear in mind the overall interests of Hong Kong during her service, including promoting education reform in Hong Kong.
At a separate media briefing on Tuesday, the 27 incoming lawmakers from the 30-seat Functional Constituencies pledged to stay united, scrutinize the government’s decision-making, and cooperate with the government to solve long-standing social issues.
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Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, who was reelected to represent the industrial sector, said lawmakers from Functional Constituencies will speak not only for their respective trades, but also for the interests of society as a whole.
Leung said he is confident that the newly elected lawmakers will overcome partisanship and provide practical advice to the special administrative region government while monitoring its governance.
Martin Liao Cheung-kong, a veteran lawmaker representing the commercial sector, said he hopes lawmakers from various professions will come up with the best solutions to the social problems, now that the Legislative Council has returned to normal functioning from its past violence and filibustering.
