Over 500,000 sign up to back legislators’ removal

More than 563,000 Hong Kong residents have signed a petition saying that lawmakers should be loyal to the city and the nation, and those who do not qualify for office should be removed from the city’s legislature.

The groundswell of support has come in an online petition started on Wednesday, hours after the Hong Kong SAR government ousted four lawmakers on the basis of a resolution by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the nation’s top legislature. District Council Observers, a local group, organized the petition drive.

Residents also signed another petition at about 80 street booths set up across the city in support of the government’s move to oust the Civic Party’s Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, Dennis Kwok Wing-hang and Kwok Ka-ki, and Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong of the Professionals Guild. All were disqualified in July from running for re-election in the now-postponed Legislative Council vote originally scheduled for Sept 6.

The four were deemed by the returning officers to be unqualified to run because they could not genuinely uphold the city’s Basic Law and swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The street petition campaign, expected to last a week, is jointly organized by several local groups, including the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, the city’s largest labor group.

Speaking on the sidelines of the street campaign, federation President Stanley Ng Chau-pei said that the petition is a good example of “the voice of the people” that garnered a swift response from the people.

Ng said his union fully supports the NPCSC decision as it is a matter that is in line with the nation’s Constitution, Hong Kong’s Basic Law, and the National Security Law for Hong Kong.

“How could our city ever allow people who are unpatriotic, and disloyal to the country, to be our lawmakers?” he asked.

The NPCSC’s decision has clearly outlined the criteria for the city’s legislators, providing a strong legal foundation for the city’s government to unseat radical lawmakers whose only aim is to ruin Hong

Kong. “I am confident that in the future, LegCo operation can be restored, and bills that are beneficial for our residents will be passed,” Ng said.

Tommy Wong, a 58-year-old owner of a currency exchange store, signed the online petition, saying that the disqualification of the four lawmakers cheers him greatly.

“For one thing, over these past years, these so-called lawmakers consistently seek foreign interference in the internal affairs of the region, which endangers national security. For another, all they were after is their own political gain, and they neglect residents’ livelihood issues,” Wong said.

Xu Tianmin, a 44-year-old resident of a subdivided apartment, signed his name on Thursday morning to a petition at a street booth in Sham Shui Po.

Seeing the signing as his responsibility as a Hong Kong resident, Xu said he is fed up with the opposition bloc’s “selfish filibustering stunts” in the chamber.

“Under the pandemic, for many grassroots residents who have a low education level like me, many of us can only scrape a living. But the opposition lawmakers just aim to paralyze LegCo, which makes me unable to receive financial assistance during this tough time,” he said.

Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, said the decision to oust the lawmakers will not affect LegCo operations as the remaining 43 legislators are enough to maintain the operation of the legislature.

According to Article 75 of the Basic Law, the quorum for LegCo meetings shall be no less than onehalf of all its seats, or 35 people.

Instead, Tam said, he is confident that bills will proceed more smoothly without the hostile filibustering from the opposition, and that the remaining lawmakers will work harder to get their work done.

The Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong also voiced its support for the lawmakers’ ousting. It said it believes that such requirements will safeguard national sovereignty and uphold the implementation of the “one country, two systems” principle. The association also expressed hope that the government can now focus more on anti-epidemic work and revitalizing the economy.