Enquiry Questions
1. What is the function of the Legislative Council and combination of law-makers?
2. Can the Legislative Council represent citizens and perform its function?
3. Is it appropriate to use filibuster in the Legislative Council?
4. Apart from institutional drawbacks, why can't the Legco perform its funtion?
5. The impact of Oath-taking saga and "DQ incident" on Legco and political development in HK
Key Concepts
Geographical Constituency
Split Voting System
Check and Balance
(Traditional) Functional Constituency
Political power/ spectrum
Filibuster
New District Council (Second) Functional Constituency
Representation/ representativeness
Political violence
Hong Kong localism and independence
Pan-democracy Camp
Pro-establishment Camp
Rule of Law
Socio-political participation
Social polatization
Basic Facts: (Basic Law Article 17,68,69,73)
Laws enacted by the legislature of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region must be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record
in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress
Ultimate aim: the election of all the members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage
Term: Four years
Exercising power of Legco
Enact laws
1. To enact, amend or repeal laws in accordance with the provisions of this Law and Legal procedures
6. To debate any issue concerning public interests
Check and Balance
2. To examine and approve budgets introduced by the government
4. To receive and debate the policy addresses of the Chief Executive
5. To raise questions on the work of the government
7. To endorse the appointment and removal of the judges of the Court of Final Appeal and the Chief Judge of the High Court
9. .. give a mandate to the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal to form and chair an independent investigation committee if Legco charges the Chief Executive with serious breach of law or dereliction of duty
Control public expenditure
3. To approve taxation and public expenditure
Procedures for voting on bills and motions in the Legislative Council
Passage of bills introduced by the government: simple majority vote of the members of the Legislative Council present
Passage of motions, bills or amendments to government bills introduced by individual members: simple majority vote of each of the two groups of members present (Functional constituencies & geographical constituencies through direct elections)
Addition of new District Council (second) Functional Constituency (2010 Hong Kong Electoral reform)
--> Equal political rights for every voter?
Yes: every voter has two votes
No: unequal weighting, power to influence the decision of Legco is not the same, New District Council is more competitive than Traditional Functional Constituency
In what extent can the Legislative Council represent citizens?
Legco members from Geographical Constituency &NFC: larger vote base --> more citizens' authorization --> higher representativeness
Legco members from TFC: smaller voter base --> less citizens' authorization --> X representative citizens --> can represent those specific sectors industries to protect their interests
Filibuster (Conflicting Point: Efficiency vs Comprehensive (legitimate))
- an action which aims at obstructing the law-making process
e.g. prolonged speaking, even on very minor issue (proposal of amendment to government bills --> require long discussion time)
e.g. absent --> meeting aborted
Solution: Terminate?
Why did Legislative Councillors use filibuster?
- veto power
- split-voting system (mechanism is fair or not?)
- composition of the legislative council (--> majority is Pan-establishment)
- add pressure -> postpone/ make amendments
Successful example: National education
- (HK) counter-balance the pro-establishment vote allocation machine
Does filibustering in the Legislative Council harm the interest of Hong Kong citizens?
Agree
Waste of public funds & time
prolonged time discussion without any concrete outcomes, exaggeration on minor issue like usage of wordings, grammar
X necessary
e.g. Universal Retirement Protection, Old Age Living Allowance (OALA)
Pospone/ Delay the implementation of laws --> X help the needy public --> social problem cannot solve --> worsen QoL
Disagree
protect the rights of the minority (comprehensive discussion, cater total concerns & interest of different stakeholders)
add pressure to the government
practicing legislative power on check
Justification
Efficiency vs Comprehensiveness
o Law-making should be put comprehensiveness as the first priority in order to execute the separation of power and improve/ amend the deficits & loopholes in policies
o ↑ efficiency as it will not face much opposition and public opinions
o less conflicts
Hong Kong's political spectrum (Source South China Morning Post November 4, 2016)
Pro-establishment - Diehards of Beijing government and Hong kong SAR government
Pan-democracy - Emerged in 1980s, supported "One Country, Two Systems," while expecting democratization in China and Hong Kong
Radical pro-democracy - Similar to pan-democrats, but they employ more radical instruments both in the Legislative Council and social movements
Localism - In Controversy. Agree with "One Country, Two Systems," but expecting keeping sharp distance to Mainland China and against any Beijing's influence in Hong Kong
Self-determination - the future of Hong Kong should be in the hand of Hong Kong citizens, of which "One Country One System", "One Country Two Systems", or independence all are options for Hong Kong citizens
Unable to be catergorized
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