Construction seat contender hopes for LegCo comeback
Tony Tse Wai-chuen seeks to win back functional constituency position he had lost in 3-way vote
Former legislator Tony Tse Wai-chuen hopes to make up lost ground with his bid for the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency in the Sunday Legislative Council by-election through “hard work and a humbler attitude”.
In the 2016 general election Tse lost the seat to Edward Yiu Chung-yim; the court subsequently disqualified his opponent for taking the oath improperly.
Tse told China Daily that communication with the constituency is vital. He aims to consolidate the support of people who voted for him in 2016 and secure ballots from those who did not back him and find out why they did not vote for him.
“I have personally contacted many people in the constituency to listen to their views, in form of small groups, and know my inadequacies. I also send them ‘Wish Cards’, asking them to list out things they hope will happen,” Tse said.
If he wins and returns to the legislature, Tse has a number of plans to benefit the four professions in the constituency, and support young professionals.
New aims
The government should give more opportunities to small- and medium-sized firms instead of awarding projects to large companies, Tse said when revealing his objectives.
Surveyor by profession, he would also like the government not to award tenders to the lowest bidders, and give greater merit to project design.
To help young professionals, he suggests the government provide more home-buying options, such as sandwich-class housing, as a form of upward of mobility.
Tse also took aim at the opposition camp’s filibustering tactics.
“In the past few years, the ‘pan-democrats’ filibustered crazily at the Legislative Council Public Works Subcommittee and Finance Committee meetings to stall project funding,” Tse said.
“This had adverse effects on the building industry. If funds are not approved, the government will not award projects to the contractors. Even if works have started, the government cannot pay the contractors phased payments if funding is delayed,” he said.
Tse added the entire industry from architects, engineers at the top to construction workers would suffer if building projects were not awarded in an even manner.
When contacting voters, Tse discovered that many of those who did not vote for him in 2016 said they did not know what he had done, or did not know how to contact him.
“While I was a lawmaker, I did a lot of work but unfortunately not many people, especially the younger surveyors, knew what I had done.
“I have now also learnt to make greater use of social media and give the professionals more timely, precise information, as they have no time to read any more lengthy reports,” Tse observed.
“In fact, there was less media coverage about me during the 2016 election, while the two other candidates did better than me in campaigning with social media,” he said.
Many attributed his 2016 defeat to a split vote; he faced another pro-establishment candidate Bernard Lim Wan-fung who received 1,235 votes against Tse’s 2,009, which let Yiu take the seat with 2,491 votes.
Tse’s defeat had a chain effect on the 2016 Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape, or ASPL, subsector election to the chief executive Election Committee, with the election largely won by “pandemocrats”.
In the Sunday vote Tse faces only one opponent, Paul Zimmerman.
I have personally contacted many people in the constituency to listen to their views...” Tony Tse Wai-chuen,
Staying cautious
As the by-election is a one-onone contest, many think Tse will win but he is not complacent.
“I cannot take for granted that votes that went for Lim last time will be automatically transferred to me,” he said cautiously. “To secure support of people who voted for him, I need to understand their needs, concerns and let them know more about my work.”
Tse described the by-election as a tough battle, knowing that his opponent Zimmerman topped the Election Committee ASPL subsector election in 2016 with more than 2,500 votes.
“There are more than 7,600 voters in the ASPL constituency. I hope more voters will come out this time in order to dilute his ‘iron votes’ and so a high turnout rate will help me,” he pointed out.
Tse has impressive all-round experience in the industry, having worked with the government, property developers and also serving as a lawmaker. In June last year it was reported that then CE-elect Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had offered him the post of Secretary for Development but he declined.
When asked during the interview, Tse attempted to sidetrack the question, saying incumbent Development Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun is doing a very good job. “Let’s focus more on the future and not look at the past,” he replied without confirming or rejecting the reports.