MR CHAN KIN-POR (in Cantonese): President, the Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2019 (“the Bill”) under consideration today originally only concerned miscellaneous amendments, including amendments to the lists of persons comprising functional constituencies (“FCs”), the relief of minor errors or omissions in election returns and the way nomination forms are to be submitted by candidates. Given that some matters of principle are involved, I feel it incumbent on me to speak. Certainly, I will decide whether to lend it my support after listening to the views or responses of the Government in the end. I thank the President for giving Honourable colleagues much time to have discussions today, and they like to attack FCs. Dr KWOK Ka-ki has spoken for 10-odd minutes earlier. I will surely not do the same, but I hope the President will give me proper speaking time.
In fact, having been a Member for 10-odd years, I have personally witnessed a good many government policies. Pro-establishment Members are often smeared by the opposition camp. They confound right and wrong, calling black white and vice versa. To some degree, the elections this time around have actually reflected dissatisfaction with the Government. Why is there dissatisfaction? It is certainly because of the unsatisfactory performance or even inaction of the Government in the past. But to a large extent, the Government actually has not had the opportunity to clearly explain a number of its policies to the public. It is widely known that its propaganda effort is lousy, while that of others is world-class. But the worst part is that there has so far been no sign that the Government will change its way of communication with the public, such as using the latest method or data to assist their efforts at giving explanations to the public. I hope the Government can really turn over a new leaf and exert its very best, or else it can expect more smearing campaigns to come, and all of its efforts will just end in vain with nil achievement.
Why did I make this point? Because FCs have been incessantly smeared and defamed with such simple slogans as “zero votes” over the years. In fact, how would uncontested seats get “zero votes”? But in the world nowadays, it works best when something is simple and seditious. It is useless to talk to them logic or facts. Such a phenomenon is absolutely pitiful, yet it is the current state of affairs in Hong Kong. When emotions overwhelm everything else, they simply have no regard for how long those Members have served and how much contribution they have made to the local community, for they are blinded by hatred. The greatest pity now is that a multitude of people are affected. But they are not to blame as they really believe the notion. No matter how long those Members have served, those people are keen to unseat and replace them by virtually anyone else, totally leaving the quality and qualifications of candidates out of their consideration.
Hence, some candidates do actually arouse concerns. Their competence has been called into question, and the pervasiveness of the situation has undermined people’s perception of the Government. Even worse, despite having maintained the 60:40 split of votes, the pro-establishment camp has managed to secure some 10% of seats only. I find it a fairly important issue that warrants a comprehensive review by the Government. Certainly, I appreciate the point made by a number of Honourable colleagues, and as seen from the social media, many people have reflected the situation relating to the spate of rumours surrounding the polling process of some joining the queues repeatedly in an attempt to obstruct others from casting votes, some observing in pairs whether the names in the electoral registers had been crossed out, ballots papers being handed out to those without identity cards, and so on. I have relayed the foregoing to Secretary Patrick NIP, and I believe he will also seriously examine the existing system. Elections held under such an unfair system do not mean much, and even if he finds solutions to such problems, it will not change the unfair nature of the elections this time around.
Now think about this. Seeing that dozens of or even a hundred ward offices had been devastated, people simply dared not affix publicity materials or campaign on the streets for fear that they would be assaulted. How could there be fair elections then? Those in the pro-establishment camp in Hong Kong always grin and bear it, working strenuously as supporters of the Government. But the other party knows nothing but to oppose. If we also engage in opposition, Hong Kong will accomplish nothing. But in reality, what do people like us, who have been working quietly and assiduously to serve the local community, get in return? Sometimes I really feel disheartened seeing that.
I believe it was the organized actions coupled with vote allocation assisted by the latest technologies that won the other party the victory. As to the way forward for the pro-establishment camp, I believe the system should be improved, such as requiring fingerprint authentication before admission into the polling stations, so as to increase the fairness, effectiveness and reliability of the system with the help of new technologies. The Government should give it consideration.
FCs have often been subjected to incessant smearing by Dr KWOK Ka-ki and his like. Their contribution has also been dismissed, without being given a fair deal. The Hong Kong economy has recently been showing signs of recession, and every time the Hong Kong economy has got into trouble, the importance and contribution of FCs will be brought into the limelight. Take the current disturbances as an example. The tourism, catering and retail industries have respectively been hard hit, throwing a large number of workers out of job. We see that Members representing the tourism, catering, labour and wholesale and retail sectors have been going around to solicit assistance from the Government and various quarters of society, so as to save the industries and assist the affected workers. In recent years, I have seen that FC Members have actually made marked progress with continuous improvement. They have done more and more, and their commitment, devotion and contribution to Hong Kong have also increased over time with assiduous efforts made in a low profile. People may not clearly know what they are doing, but in times of economic crises, we will particularly see that they have really made an enormous contribution, which is an indisputable fact.
Insofar as financial, professional and economic issues are concerned, FCs are real experts. In response to the risk of economic recession currently in sight, Members representing such sectors as finance, business and insurance have been striving to tide the industries over, offering advice and suggestions to the Government and assist the Government in rescuing the Hong Kong economy.
We know that the Finance Committee will consider the relief measures tomorrow, which include a wide range of schemes to support small and medium enterprises. Such measures are primarily initiated by FCs which put forth to make them better meet the needs of the business sector or the general public. When Hong Kong encounters difficulties, how should we save the financial industry? In fact, FC Members have offered plenty of advice and made a significant contribution. Certainly, when the economy went full steam ahead, we also contributed enormously in mapping out the future. Yet we would not openly claim credit for it. Sometimes my heart aches with sadness. No matter how much solid work we have done, some people will influence members of the public with some sort of sentiments through the media. Even if we have done a hundred good things, they may pick a couple of things to defame us, and we will be doomed…
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr CHAN Kin-por, I remind you to please come back to the question of this debate.
MR CHAN KIN-POR (in Cantonese): Okay. Just now, I have been speaking on the Bill as to the amendments introduced to FCs. A number of Members have expressed their views earlier on. I would also like to talk further about my views on the amendments to FCs, with your indulgence, President.
Let me pick up where I left off. Apart from the financial sector, the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape sector, as one of the professional sectors, has actually put in a great deal of efforts, and the untiring and conscientious work of Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok in the Public Works Subcommittee is seen by all.
I appreciate the contribution of directly elected Members in monitoring the Government and reflecting public opinion. But given the slow development of political parties, they may be well versed in political affairs with a total lack of experience and interest in financial and economic affairs. Hence, the balance in the Council largely hinges on the participation of FCs. Regrettably, for political reasons, the opposition camp will only keep attacking FCs, unwilling to give them a fair deal.
President, I notice that at a meeting of the Bills Committee, some Members have stated that no changes can be made to FC seats as the existing method for forming the Legislative Council as prescribed in the Annex to the Basic Law cannot be amended at present. But the Government can still broaden the electorate of FCs by way of legislation to enhance representativeness. I actually suggested in the last Legislative Council a review of the composition of FCs. Regrettably, as the opposition camp called for complete abolition instead of a patchy fix, the Government did not take on board my view.
I concur that as a prerequisite, the broadening of the electorate must be premised on genuine FCs, with functional sectors rather than employees or practitioners as the core. For instance, the nine new functional constituencies introduced by Christopher PATTEN back in those days were basically occupation specific, and I think they were merely nominal. I hope the Government will also understand that. Certainly, in this last year of the term, I know that there is not much room left to deal with this issue now. But Members should understand that FCs function as an avenue for the business sector to express views on government policies, thereby facilitating the introduction of effective and practical measures by the Government to bring about appropriate economic development for Hong Kong.
Moreover, the current Bill proposes to raise the limits prescribed for minor errors or omissions in election returns under the de minimis arrangement from $3,000 to $30,000 for geographical constituencies, and from $500 to $5,000 for traditional FCs, so as to facilitate candidates in rectifying election returns with minor errors or omissions. I think the increases, insignificant though, are relevant. In fact, a number of Honourable colleagues and me have been investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (“ICAC”) due to some minor errors or omissions. But no action would be taken after investigation, and the cases would be disposed only with a warning issued. As far as I know, such cases have occurred from time to time.
Take the 2012 Legislative Council Election as an example. ICAC investigated a total of 140 candidates whose election returns contained errors or false statements (including suspected false statements). Consequently, no one was prosecuted or cautioned after investigation, and the cases were disposed with a warning issued in accordance with procedures, with a reminder against recurrence. Such cases were even more common in District Council elections. Some 560 candidates in total were investigated under similar circumstances, and consequently, no one was prosecuted either. I think the Government can put its time to better use. But certainly, I consider it a great leap forward from the past practice. It is entirely appropriate to introduce a tenfold increase to the relevant limits.
Nevertheless, I hope the Bill introduced by the Government will not just deal with minor issues. Instead, it should focus on the broad principles and deal with situations that will lead to distorted elections with, among others, the help of technologies, as stated by me just now, to enhance the accuracy of voting and reduce corrupt and illegal conduct in the election process. Those are significant matters. I hope the Government can commit resources to enhancing the credibility of the results of direct elections and FC elections of the Legislative Council to be held next year, so that people will feel better assured. This time around, many people told me that while they clearly saw a high turnout supporting certain candidates, the outcome was contrary to expectation. I also hope the Government will gather information about various allegations, suspicions and rumours in the community surrounding the elections this time around, then clarify them one by one, and make improvements. Thank you, President.