Golden opportunity to end LegCo deadlock

The opposition’s persistent obstruction shows they really want to paralyze the government and legislature, David Wong points out

Filibusters staged by the opposition have plagued the Legislative Council for a few years. As a result council meetings have been a farce with minimal new legislations being ratified, few but the most essential funding applications approved and new civil service positions being passed painfully slowly. There should be no more doubt about the real motive of the opposition, which is to paralyze both the government and LegCo. There is no sign of the situation improving and it is very likely to worsen in coming months. The opposition’s favorite targets are new laws or funding requests related to the mainland and quite a few are on the horizon. The co-location arrangement for the West Kowloon terminus of the Express Rail Link and national anthem legislation have to be dealt with early next year. They are sensible and beneficial to Hong Kong but there is no doubt they will be opposed as well.

To understand the seriousness of the problem, one only has to tune in to the live broadcasts of LegCo, which are freely available on television, radio and online, and listen for about an hour. In order to senselessly extend the question and answer period, opposition members kept asking questions that are literally nonsense. For example, during a recent deliberation on the issue of increasing food safety staff, which is not controversial at all, opposition lawmakers asked questions such as why specific kinds of vegetable are or are not tested for certain kinds of metal or chemical. These insignificant and off-topic questions could take up a lot of deliberation time and in the end, everyone just voted yes as expected. More disgusting nonsense was demonstrated during a budget speech deliberation a few years ago when opposition members completely ran out of things to say and started reading verses randomly from the Bible to spend their remaining speaking time.

In addition to killing speaking time with hollow speeches and questions, opposition lawmakers have also exploited loopholes in LegCo’s Rules of Procedure to table trivial amendments and trigger adjournments at almost every legislative item and meeting. Hundreds of amendments were made to the annual budget plans and many legislations; most of them were merely changes in punctuation or preposition. It took up hours just to vote down those silly amendments. Adjournment debates were initiated to stop an item from being discussed at LegCo and they led to more time wasted on debating on the adjournment and voting.

The public is probably too familiar with the opposition’s quorum-calling trick. According to the Rules of Procedure, half of all LegCo members, that is 35, have to be present at the council chamber for a council meeting to go on. All opposition members would simply leave the chamber whenever they want to abort a council meeting. If just a few pro-establishment lawmakers happened to be occupied elsewhere, or could not return to the chamber within 15 minutes, the meeting would have to be adjourned for the week. Anyone who stays at the LegCo building could not easily forget the incessant bell ringing throughout the day. It should be noted that all LegCo members are obligated to attend council meetings and it is simply wrong to expect only pro-establishment members to do so. Although the proestablishment camp has countered it by taking a break at every 45-minute mark of the hour, it is still the most disruptive delaying tactic.

Some may view the LegCo squabble as petty political bickering but in fact it deeply hurts Hong Kong. It repeatedly opens up the wounds of social polarization and increases division among ourselves. It has delayed many significant legislations that would have improved and updated our laws — one such example was the legislative amendment to safeguard intellectual property. Many infrastructure and works projects were needlessly delayed and resulted in higher construction costs. Some livelihood projects — such as roads, schools and hospital improvements — have to be postponed and many construction workers have complained that the lack of public projects affects their incomes.

Clearly, for the sake of Hong Kong, this situation should not continue. The pro-establishment camp has long tried to amend LegCo’s rules to block the loopholes but it requires a simple majority in both the functional and geographical constituencies. The disqualification of six LegCo members for taking illegal oaths has created a timely and rare opportunity to make the necessary changes. It is hoped the many loopholes in the current Rules of Procedure can be fixed, such as shortening the unnecessarily long debate time, setting a limit on the number of amendments and lowering the requirement of quorum. In the coming weeks, the opposition, knowing the end is near for their filibustering tactics, will surely respond drastically. One can only hope that this is the last time.