Moral obligations, political decency no longer work with opposition legislators

Having been ravaged by a year-long social unrest and three waves of COVID-19, Hong Kong’s economy and social conditions are now arguably in their worst shape in a decade.

It will surprise few people that Hong Kong residents, especially those struggling to make ends meet, earnestly hope that Hong Kong’s lawmakers focus on efforts to fight off the pandemic, revive the economy and improve residents’ livelihoods in the coming months.

A telephone survey conducted by the Hong Kong Research Association from Sept 30 to Oct 6, which randomly interviewed 1,046 residents aged 18 or older, found that 71 percent of those polled believed the Legislative Council should focus on economic and livelihood issues in the upcoming year. Only 20 percent chose tackling political issues.

That the latest survey results echoed those of the previous one conducted in August shows the popular will at this moment. It also indicates that many Hong Kong residents are now desperate for an immediate relief from the current dire socioeconomic situation caused by the triple whammy of Sino-US trade war, months of violence and vandalism, and the nine-month-long COVID-19 pandemic.

It is hardhearted for anyone to be oblivious to such a humble aspiration of residents who are in desperate need of relief from their suffering. Yet, opposition lawmakers, who are assured of their generous monthly pay on time no matter how poor the economy is, have no qualms about continuing with their filibustering stunts in the legislature to hinder the normal operation of LegCo, sabotaging the administration’s efforts to lift Hong Kong out of the swamp.

That the opposition legislators wasted no time in derailing LegCo’s operation by obstructing the election of chairmen and deputy chairmen of various committees with their usual delaying tactics last Thursday, a day after the legislature started its extended term, shows that they are hellbent on pursuing their own partisan interests at the expense of the overall interests of society.

It is unfortunate for Hong Kong people that moral obligations and standards of political decency no longer seem to work with many opposition legislators.

The consolation is that they have the National Security Law to fall back on, which stipulates, in Article 22, that a person seriously interfering in, disrupting, or undermining the performance of duties and functions in accordance with the law by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be guilty of an offense of subversion.