Opposition farce in LegCo deplorable
The opposition members in the Legislative Council did what they do best yet again on Wednesday morning — forcing LegCo President Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen to adjourn a scheduled question and answer session with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor by staging a noisy farce of protests and refusing to behave as responsible lawmakers. The “protest” was focused on the disqualification of opposition lawmaker Eddie Chu Hoi-dick as a candidate in a village committee election in the New Territories because he supports the right of “self-determination” for Hong Kong society with independence as an option. Naturally Chu was one of the noisy protesters, who not only refused to sit down, keep quiet or leave the chamber as Leung ordered them to. Apparently they still believe they can do whatever they want, however they want, no matter what the public make of their behavior.
The incident came as no surprise to the great majority of Hong Kong residents, who have seen it too many times in recent years. However, given the fact the opposition camp just lost the LegCo by-election in Kowloon West geographical constituency on Nov 25, the second time this year in the same constituency, it does make people wonder if those opposition politicians actually know why they lost, for harboring separatist sentiment equals career suicide. At the very least, people have no obvious reason to believe the opposition camp is genuinely unaware of anything wrong after its two candidates failed to even pose a modest challenge to the lone proestablishment rival in the latest LegCo by-election. Is this their way of telling the public they are truly incapable of learning from their own mistakes or simply don’t care anymore?
After watching the opposition lawmakers’ deplorable behavior on live TV, many local residents went on social media to express utter disgust if not outright indignation at such glaring disregard for public interest. Although people are probably used to seeing opposition politicians act so disrespectfully and irresponsibly, at least some of them may still be hoping the opposition parties will find the decency and courage to mend their ways and show they can be saved. If nothing else, they should have learned by now that neither Hong Kong independence nor right of “self-determination” with independence as an option can be tolerated under any circumstances in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. No one can change this reality no matter how many foreign governments support them.
The result of the latest LegCo byelection shows the great majority of Hong Kong voters do not trust opposition parties now and quite likely never will again unless they respect popular demands, learn from past mistakes and redeem themselves. If they insist on being disruptive and obstructive as they have been for years, they must be prepared to suffer more heavy reverses in LegCo elections in 2020.