Jump to content

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 13: Line 13:
|headquarters = 12/F, SUP Tower,<br> 83 [[King's Road, Hong Kong|King's Road]],<br> [[North Point]], [[Hong Kong]]
|headquarters = 12/F, SUP Tower,<br> 83 [[King's Road, Hong Kong|King's Road]],<br> [[North Point]], [[Hong Kong]]
|membership_year = 2013
|membership_year = 2013
|membership = {{increase}} 24,564<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dab.org.hk/eng?t=1301|work=The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref>
|membership = {{increase}} 24,564<ref>{{cite web|title=Basic Info|url=http://www.dab.org.hk/eng?t=1301|work=The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref>
|youth_wing = Young DAB
|youth_wing = Young DAB
|national = [[Pro-Beijing Camp]]
|national = [[Pro-Beijing Camp]]
Line 44: Line 44:
{{Contains Chinese text}}
{{Contains Chinese text}}
{{Politics of Hong Kong}}
{{Politics of Hong Kong}}
'''Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB)''' is the largest political party in [[Hong Kong]], having 13 seats in the [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong|Legislative Council]] and 134 seats in the [[District Councils of Hong Kong|District Councils]]. The party was founded on 10 July 1992 as the '''Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong''' and changed to its current name when it merged with the [[Hong Kong Progressive Alliance]] (HKPA) in 2005. Headed by Chairman [[Tam Yiu-chung]], It is seen as a flagship [[pro-Beijing camp|pro-Beijing]] party and a shadow [[Communist Party of China]] in Hong Kong.<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSHKG27734220070808 "Hong Kong pro-Beijing party chairman dies", Reuters, 8 August 2007]</ref>
The '''Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB)''' is the largest political party in [[Hong Kong]], having 13 seats in the [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong|Legislative Council]] and 134 seats in the [[District Councils of Hong Kong|District Councils]]. The party was founded on 10 July 1992 as the '''Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong''' and changed to its current name when it merged with the [[Hong Kong Progressive Alliance]] (HKPA) in 2005. Headed by Chairman [[Tam Yiu-chung]], It is seen as a flagship [[pro-Beijing camp|pro-Beijing]] party and a shadow [[Communist Party of China]] in Hong Kong.<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSHKG27734220070808 "Hong Kong pro-Beijing party chairman dies", Reuters, 8 August 2007]</ref>


==Party beliefs==
==Party beliefs==
The party is known for a Beijing loyalist party. It stresses the "one country" part of the "[[One country, two systems]]" principle. As for issues on democratic reform, it takes a position to support slower pace in relative to what the [[Democratic Party of Hong Kong|Democratic Party]] supports, DAB claims by doing so stability and prosperity will be achieved.
The party is known for a Beijing loyalist party. It stresses the "one country" part of the "[[One country, two systems]]" principle. As for issues on democratic reform, it takes a position to support slower pace in relative to what the [[Democratic Party of Hong Kong|Democratic Party]] supports, DAB claims by doing so stability and prosperity will be achieved.


The party's main claim is that it is natural for ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong to be "patriotic" and support the government of the [[People's Republic of China]].<ref name="Chan">Chan, Ming K. So, Alvin Y. White, Lynn T. Crisis and Transformation in China's Hong Kong. [2002] (2002). M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-7656-1000-0.</ref>
The party's main claim is that it is natural for ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong to be "patriotic" and support the [[government of the People's Republic of China]].<ref name="Chan">Chan, Ming K. So, Alvin Y. White, Lynn T. Crisis and Transformation in China's Hong Kong. [2002] (2002). M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-7656-1000-0.</ref>


* Furthering co-operation between Hong Kong and the mainland, promoting mutual trust, and creating opportunities economically.
* Furthering co-operation between Hong Kong and the mainland, promoting mutual trust, and creating opportunities economically.
Line 57: Line 57:


==History==
==History==
===Founding and the eve of reunification (1992–1996)===
===1992–2004===
The DAB was founded on 10 July 1992 as the first major pro-Beijing party as a part of the [[PRC United Front strategy]] on the even of the [[handover of Hong Kong]]. In January 1992, [[Lu Ping]], director of the [[Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office]], publicly urged the territory's pro-Beijing bodies to organise themselves into political parties to gear up for the 1994/95 three-tier elections.<ref name="Report 1993">{{cite book|page=10.8|title=China Review 1993|first1=Joseph Yu-shek|last1=Cheng|first2=Maurice|last2=Brosseau|publisher=Chinese University Press|year=1993}}</ref>
⚫
The DAB was founded in 1992 as the first major pro-Beijing party. It was formed by a group of local loyalists of the Chinese Communist regime, leaders from the [[Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions]] (HKFTU),<ref>{{cite book|page=161|title=Contemporary Hong Kong Government and Politics|editor1-first=Wai-man|editor1-last=Lam|editor2-first=Percy Luen-tim|editor2-last=Lui|editor3-first=Wilson|editor3-last=Wong|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|year=2012}}</ref> such as [[Tam Yiu-chung]] who was the general secretary of the HKFTU, and the [[Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers]],<ref>{{cite book|page=xxi|title=The Other Hong Kong Report 1992|editor1-first=J. Y. S.|editor1-last=Cheng|first=Paul C. K.|last=Kwong|publisher=Chinese University Press|year=1992}}</ref> such as its founding chairman [[Jasper Tsang Yok-sing]] who was the principal of the local Communist-controlled school [[Pui Kiu Middle School]]. The major leaders of the DAB participated in the [[Hong Kong legislative election, 1995|1995 Legislative Council election]]. It was regarded as test cases of the popularity of the new party.<ref>{{cite book|page=55|title=The Other Hong Kong Report 1996|editor1-last=Mee|editor1-first=Kau Nyaw|editor2-last=Li|editor2-first=Si-ming|publisher=Chinese University Press|year=1996}}</ref> Many candidates lost to the [[pro-democracy camp]] in the election, including party chairman Jasper Tsang Yok-sing who lost to [[Bruce Liu Sing-lee]] of the [[Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood]] in the [[Kowloon Central (constituency)|Kowloon Central constituency]].


⚫
56 founding members of the DAB included the local loyalists of the Chinese Communist regime, so called traditional "leftists", such as leaders from the [[Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions]] (FTU),<ref>{{cite book|page=161|title=Contemporary Hong Kong Government and Politics|editor1-first=Wai-man|editor1-last=Lam|editor2-first=Percy Luen-tim|editor2-last=Lui|editor3-first=Wilson|editor3-last=Wong|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|year=2012}}</ref> such as [[Tam Yiu-chung]] who was the general secretary of the FTU, as well as [[Chan Yuen-han]], and also the [[Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers]] (HKFEW),<ref>{{cite book|page=xxi|title=The Other Hong Kong Report 1992|editor1-first=J. Y. S.|editor1-last=Cheng|first=Paul C. K.|last=Kwong|publisher=Chinese University Press|year=1992}}</ref> such as [[Jasper Tsang Yok-sing]] who was the principal of the local Communist-controlled school [[Pui Kiu Middle School]] and a [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] delegate, and also school teacher [[Gary Cheng Kai-nam]].<ref name="Report 1993"/> Jasper Tsang and Tam Yiu-chung became the first Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the party.<ref>{{cite web|title=認識我們>歷史>1992|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070630012855/http://www.dab.org.hk/tr/main.jsp?content=category-content.jsp&categoryId=1244|work=The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref>
The DAB and the [[Hong Kong Progressive Alliance]] (HKPA), another pro-Beijing party, allied with each other in the crucial [[Provisional Legislative Council]] debate on the substantial arrangements for the [[Hong Kong legislative election, 1998|1998 Legislative Council elections]]. This move was tacitly endorsed by the [[Heung Yee Kuk]], and heralded as the unofficial merger of the parties.<ref>{{cite news|title=The old pack reshuffled
|url = http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=38876&sid=&con_type=1&d_str=19970930&sear_year=1997
|author = Andy Ho
|publisher = ''[[The Standard (Hong Kong)|The Standard]]''
|date = 30 September 1997
|accessdate = 23 July 2008}}</ref> The Provisional Legislative Council controlled by the Beijing government vetoed the [[1994 Hong Kong electoral reform|democratic reform]] introduced by the last British governor [[Chris Patten]] and replaced the [[first-past-the-post]] with the [[proportional representation]] method in the Legislative Council elections to prevent another landslide victory of the pro-democracy camp. In the 1998 elections, the DAB preformed strongly by taking a quarter of the votes and five seats in the [[geographical constituencies]], compared to 15% of and two seats in the 1995 elections.<ref>{{cite book|page=131|title=Power Transfer and Electoral Politics: The First Legislative Election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region|editor1-first=Hsin-chi|editor1-last=Kuan|publisher=Chinese University Press|year=1999}}</ref>


The DAB became the direct rival to the major [[pro-democracy camp|pro-democracy]] party [[Democratic Party (Hong Kong)|Democratic Party]] which was formed in 1994. Its first major contest was the [[Hong Kong local elections, 1994|1994 District Board elections]], in which 37 of the 83 members were elected.<ref>{{cite web|title=認識我們>歷史>1994|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070630090920/http://www.dab.org.hk/tr/main.jsp?content=category-content.jsp&categoryId=1246|work=The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref> It participated in the [[Hong Kong municipal elections, 1995|municipal elections]] in the following year, winning 8 directly elected and 2 indirectly elected seats.<ref>{{cite web|title=認識我們>歷史>1995|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070630091159/http://www.dab.org.hk/tr/main.jsp?content=category-content.jsp&categoryId=1247|work=The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref> Major leaders of the DAB participated in the [[Hong Kong legislative election, 1995|1995 Legislative Council election]]. It was regarded as test cases of the popularity of the new party.<ref>{{cite book|page=55|title=The Other Hong Kong Report 1996|editor1-last=Mee|editor1-first=Kau Nyaw|editor2-last=Li|editor2-first=Si-ming|publisher=Chinese University Press|year=1996|ref=harv}}</ref> Three of the four party leaders were defeated by pro-democracy candidates in the election,{{sfn|The Other Hong Kong Report 1996|p=38}}</ref> including party chairman Jasper Tsang who lost to [[Bruce Liu Sing-lee]] of the [[Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood]] (ADPL )in the [[Kowloon Central (constituency)|Kowloon Central constituency]].
The DAB and its sister organisation HKFTU are well known for their ability to mobilize their supporters, including employees of PRC state-owned companies, to vote for their candidates in elections. In 2000 it had ten councillors in Legco. In the wake of the controversies over the legislation of [[Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23|Article 23]] of the [[Hong Kong Basic Law|Basic Law]] in 2003 as well as the unpopularity of the [[Tung Chee-hwa]]'s administration, as hardliner for the legislation and the government DAB's popularity dropped drastically and the [[Hong Kong local elections, 2003|November 2003 District Councils elections]] saw its seats drop to 62. The election results have led to the resignation of chairman, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing.<ref>Cannix Yau, [http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=32506&sid=&con_type=1&d_str=20031127&sear_year=2003 "DAB chief resigns over 'worst setback'"], [[The Standard (Hong Kong)|The Standard]], 25 November 2003</ref> However, as [[Ma Lik]] had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer from 2004 until his death in 2007, Tsang still effectively controls the DAB. Tam Yiu-chung remained as chairman after he succeeded Ma Lik as chairman.


===Provisional Legislative Council and early Tung Chee-hwa era (1996–2002)===
===Since 2004===
The DAB took part in the preparatory works for establishing the Special Administrative Region on the eve of the [[handover of Hong Kong]]. In January 1996, Jasper Tsang, Tam Yiu-chung, founding members Ng Hong-mun and Lee Cho-jat were appointed to the [[Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region|Preparatory Committee]]. It had 46 members elected to the Beijing-controlled [[Selection Committee]] in November 1996. In the following month, the Selection Committee elected 10 DAB members to the [[Provisional Legislative Council]] (PLC).<ref>{{cite web|title=認識我們>歷史>1996|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070205042944/http://www.dab.org.hk/tr/main.jsp?content=category-content.jsp&categoryId=1248|work=The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref> The DAB and the [[Hong Kong Progressive Alliance]] (HKPA), another pro-Beijing party, allied with each other in the crucial Provisional Legislative Council debate on the substantial arrangements for the [[Hong Kong legislative election, 1998|1998 LegCo elections]]. This move was tacitly endorsed by the [[Heung Yee Kuk]], and heralded as the unofficial merger of the parties.<ref>{{cite news|title=The old pack reshuffled|url = http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=38876&sid=&con_type=1&d_str=19970930&sear_year=1997|first = Andy |last=Ho|newspaper = [[The Standard (Hong Kong)|The Standard]]|date = 30 September 1997|accessdate = 23 July 2008}}</ref> The Provisional Legislative Council, which was controlled by the pro-Beijing camp, vetoed the [[1994 Hong Kong electoral reform|democratic reform]] introduced by the last British governor [[Chris Patten]] and replaced the [[first-past-the-post]] with the [[proportional representation]] method in the Legislative Council elections, so that the weaker DAB would be able to exploit the benefit of the proportional representation by taking a seat in every [[geographical constituency]] without having a majority of the votes. After the SAR was established, Tam Yiu-chung and was also appointed to the [[Executive Council of Hong Kong|Executive Council]] by [[Chief Executive of Hong Kong|Chief Executive]] [[Tung Chee-hwa]] as the representative of the party.
⚫
In the [[Hong Kong Legislative Council election, 2004|2004 Legislative Council election]], they managed to exploit the proportional representation electoral system to equalise votes for two of the candidates the party endorsed standing in the same constituency. Although support of [[Chan Yuen-han]] (DAB) was far higher than [[Chan Kam-lam]] (HKFTU) in [[Kowloon East (constituency)|Kowloon East]], according to earlier polls, the two organisations managed to have both elected. At [[Hong Kong Island (constituency)|Hong Kong Island]] constituency, the ticket of Ma Lik and [[Choy So-yuk]] ultimately benefitted from a democratic camp mix-up that led to the resignation of the [[Democratic Party (Hong Kong)|Democratic Party]]'s leader, [[Yeung Sum]]. The DAB become the largest (by number) political party to be represented with 12 seats, with the pro-business [[Liberal Party (Hong Kong)|Liberal Party]] coming second (10 seats) and the Democratic Party coming third (9 seats). On 16 February 2005 the DAB merged with the more business-oriented Hong Kong Progressive Alliance and added "progress" its name and became the "Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong". The two parties were merged with new leadership selected on 31 May 2005.


The DAB's electoral campaigns have been largely assisted by Beijing and its united front organs. The [[Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region|Liaison Office]] would moblise various social groups and organisations to campaign for and to vote for the party, including employees of PRC state-owned companies and grassroots organisations such as the [[New Territories Association of Societies]] (NTAS) and the Kowloon Federation of Associations (KFA) The DAB's sister organisation FTU also moblised its workers to campaign for the DAB members. The FTU also sent a recommendation letter to its four hundred thousand members to seek support for DAB candidates.<ref>{{cite book|page=106|title=Understanding Modern East Asian Politics|first=Christian|last=Schafferer|publisher=Nova Publishers|year=2005}}</ref> As a result, the DAB has been preforming well in the elections. In the 1998 LegCo elections, the DAB took five directly elected seats by taking a quarter of the votes, compared to only two seats with 15% of the votes in the 1995 elections.<ref>{{cite book|page=131|title=Power Transfer and Electoral Politics: The First Legislative Election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region|editor1-first=Hsin-chi|editor1-last=Kuan|publisher=Chinese University Press|year=1999}}</ref> In December 1998, the party's 5th Central Committee decided to increase a Vice-Chairmanship, [[Ip Kwok-him]] and Cheng Kai-nam were subsequently elected as Vice-Chairmen.<ref>{{cite web|title=認識我們>歷史>1998|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070205043008/http://www.dab.org.hk/tr/main.jsp?content=category-content.jsp&categoryId=1250|work=The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref> In the [[Hong Kong local elections, 1999|first District Council elections]] in November 1999, the party filled in 176 candidates, 83 of which were elected, more than double compared to the 1994 elections.<ref>{{cite web|title=認識我們>歷史>1999|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070205043018/http://www.dab.org.hk/tr/main.jsp?content=category-content.jsp&categoryId=1251|work=The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref>
⚫
The [[Hong Kong local elections, 2007|District Councils Elections in 2007]] saw the great bounce back of the DAB by winning more than a quarter of the seats in the district level, far ahead of other political parties. The DAB remained as the largest party in the Legislative Council in the [[Hong Kong legislative election, 2008|2008 Election]], even though Chan Yuen-han and [[Wong Kwok-hing]], members of the DAB and used to run for the DAB, began to run under the HKFTU banner with more pro-labour approach. In October, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, the founding chairman of the DAB, was elected as the [[president of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong|president of the Legislative Council]].

In the [[Hong Kong legislative election, 2000|second SAR LegCo elections]] in September 2000, despite the conflict of interests scandal of Gary Cheng, the DAB became a clear winner, capturing 11 seats in total, 7 in geographical constituency direct elections, 3 in [[functional constituency (Hong Kong)|functional constituencies]] and 1 [[Election Committee (constituency)|Election Committee constituency]]. Although Gary Cheng was elected, he soon resigned his party posts and LegCo seat under public pressure. After DAB candidate [[Christopher Chung Shu-kun]] losing to pro-democracy Independent [[Audrey Eu Yuet-mee]] in the [[Hong Kong Island by-election, 2000|10 December Hong Kong Island by-election]], the DAB commanded 10 LegCo seats by the end of 2000.

===Article 23 setbacks (2002–2004)===
In 2002 the beginning of the [[second term of Tung Chee-hwa as Chief Executive of Hong Kong|second term of Tung Chee-hwa's administration]], Chairman Jasper Tsang was appointed to the Executive Council, succeeding Tam Yiu-chung. However the governing coalition between Tung Chee-hwa the DAB and the pro-business [[Liberal Party (Hong Kong)|Liberal Party]] suffered from growing disunity as the popularity of Tung administration dropped. Although it continued provide stable support to the government as Beijing's demand, it paid a hefty political price in the sense of increasing middle-class disaffection with the party and growing rank-and file complaint. The DAB was increasingly frustrated by unequal political exchange with the government and the skimpy political rewards meted out by Tung. Jasper Tsang even openly aired his displeasure and advocated power sharing with the government.<ref>{{cite book|page=29|title=The First Tung Chee-hwa Administration: The First Five Years of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region|first1=Zhaojia|last1=Liu|first2=Siu-kai|last2=Lau|publisher=Chinese University Press|year=2002}}</ref>

In the wake of the controversies over the legislation of [[Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23|Article 23]] of the [[Hong Kong Basic Law|Basic Law]], which outlaws treason, sedition, subversion and secession against the central government, the image of DAB was severely undermined by its unconditional support and defence of the legislation. The [[Hong Kong local elections, 2003|November 2003 District Councils elections]] saw the worst electoral performance in party's history, only 62 of the 206 candidates were elected. The party Vice-Chairman and LegCo member Ip Kwok-him was defeated in his own power base and long-time headquarter [[Kwun Lung (constituency)|Kwun Lung]] by the pro-democracy [[the Frontier (Hong Kong)|The Frontier]] member and LegCo member [[Cyd Ho Sau-lan]] by a narrow margin of 64 votes.<ref>{{cite book|page=101|title=Patron-Client Politics and Elections in Hong Kong|first=Bruce Kam|last=Kwong|publisher=Routledge|year=2009}}</ref> The election results led to the resignation of Chairman Jasper Tsang.<ref>Cannix Yau, [http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=32506&sid=&con_type=1&d_str=20031127&sear_year=2003 "DAB chief resigns over 'worst setback'"], [[The Standard (Hong Kong)|The Standard]], 25 November 2003</ref> Tsang claimed that the electoral setback was due to the DAB's "Tung loyalist" public image. In December the party's Standing Committee elected [[Ma Lik]] as Tsang's successor.<ref>{{cite web|title=認識我們>歷史>2003|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070205043105/http://www.dab.org.hk/tr/main.jsp?content=category-content.jsp&categoryId=1255|work=The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref>

===2004 LegCo election and merge with Progressive Alliance (2004–2007)===
⚫
The [[Hong Kong legislative election, 2004|2004 LegCo electoral campaign]] unfolded amid an economic rebound partly engineered by Beijing's up-lifting measures. The PRC athletes' impressive gains in the [[2004 Summer Olympics|August 2004 Athens Olympics]] and the 50 Chinese Gold Medalists' visit to Hong Kong right before the polling induced among the voters a strong nationalistic pride that was beneficial to DAB candidates.<ref>{{cite book|page=191|title=Social Movements in China and Hong Kong: The Expansion of Protest Space|editor1-first=Khun Eng|editor1-last=Kuah|editor2-first=Gilles|editor2-last=Guiheux|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|year=2009}}</ref> The DAB also managed to exploit the proportional representation to equalise votes for two of the candidates the party endorsed standing in the same constituency. Although support of [[Chan Yuen-han]] (FTU) was far higher than [[Chan Kam-lam]] (DAB) in [[Kowloon East (constituency)|Kowloon East]], according to earlier polls, the two organisations managed to have both elected. At [[Hong Kong Island (constituency)|Hong Kong Island]] constituency, the ticket of Ma Lik and [[Choy So-yuk]] ultimately benefitted from a democratic camp mix-up that led to the resignation of the [[Democratic Party (Hong Kong)|Democratic Party]] Chairman, [[Yeung Sum]]. The DAB become the largest political party in the Legislative Council to be represented with 12 seats (if including the two members ran under the FTU banner), with the pro-business Liberal Party coming second with 10 seats and the Democratic Party coming third with 9 seats.

On 16 February 2005 the DAB merged with the more business-oriented Hong Kong Progressive Alliance and added "progress" its name and became the "Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong". The two parties were merged with new committees and leadership in May, Ma Lik was re-elected as Chairman and Ip Kwok-him, Tam Yiu-chung, [[Maria Tam Wai-chu]] and [[Lau Kong-wah]] as Vice-Chairmen. Since the merge with the Progressive Alliance, the DAB has gradually leaned to a more pro-middle-class position. In April 2007 leadership election, solicitor [[Gregory So Kam-leung]] succeeded Maria Tam as the Vice-Chairman of the party. The four new Standing Committee members were all professionals; besides Gregory So, Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan, the Chairman of the Young DAB was a solicitor, [[Starry Lee Wai-king]] was an accountant, [[Ben Chan Han-pan]] was an engineer.<ref>{{cite news|title=民建聯新班子 突顯年輕專業|date=25 April 2007|newspaper=Wen Wei Po|url=http://paper.wenweipo.com/2007/04/25/YO0704250002.htm}}</ref> Meanwhile, the pro-labour and pro-grassroots FTU faction began to run in elections in their own banner. On 8 August 2007, Chairman Ma Lik died of cancer in [[Guangzhou]]. Tam Yiu-chung was elected as the new Chairman by the Standing Committee on 28 August.<ref>{{cite web|title=關於我們 > 歷史 > 大事年表 > 2007|url=http://www.dab.org.hk/?t=841&mmode=adcp|work=The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong}}</ref>

===Recent development (2007–present)===
⚫
The [[Hong Kong local elections, 2007|District Council Elections in 2007]] saw the great bounce back of the DAB by winning 115 seats, more than a quarter of the seats in the district level, far ahead of other political parties. The DAB remained as the largest party in the Legislative Council in the [[Hong Kong legislative election, 2008|2008 Election]], even though Chan Yuen-han and [[Wong Kwok-hing]] were founding members of the DAB and used to run for the DAB, they began to run under the FTU banner with more pro-labour position. In October, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, the founding Chairman of the DAB, was elected as the [[President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong|President of the Legislative Council]]. His membership at the Executive Council was succeeded by Vice-Chairman Lau Kong-wah. In the [[Hong Kong local elections, 2007|2011 District Council Elections]], the DAB recorded a greatest victory in party's history, accumulating 136 seats, about one-third of the total, more than all pro-democratic parties combined.


The DAB supported [[Leung Chun-ying]] in the [[Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2012|2012 Chief Executive election]]. In the [[Hong Kong legislative election, 2012|Legislative Council elections]] in September, with the party's electoral strategy of splitting candidate lists, the DAB won handsomely three seats in the [[New Territories West (constituency)|New Territories West]] for the first time and two seats [[Hong Kong Island (constituency)|Hong Kong Island]] since 2004. It continued as the largest political force supporting the SAR administration today.
The DAB supported [[Leung Chun-ying]] in the [[Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2012|2012 Chief Executive election]]. In the [[Hong Kong legislative election, 2012|Legislative Council elections]] in September, with the party's electoral strategy of splitting candidate lists, the DAB won handsomely three seats in the [[New Territories West (constituency)|New Territories West]] for the first time and two seats [[Hong Kong Island (constituency)|Hong Kong Island]] since 2004. It continued as the largest political force supporting the SAR administration today.
Line 119: Line 129:
| 25.23{{increase}}
| 25.23{{increase}}
| 5
| 5
⚫
| 3
| 2
| 2
⚫
| 2
| {{Composition bar|10|60|hex={{DABHK/meta/color}}}}
| {{Composition bar|9|60|hex={{DABHK/meta/color}}}}
| {{N/A}}
| {{N/A}}
| 2nd{{nochange}}
| 3rd{{nochange}}
|-
|-
! [[Hong Kong legislative election, 2000|2000]]
! [[Hong Kong legislative election, 2000|2000]]
Line 185: Line 195:
| 190,792{{increase}}
| 190,792{{increase}}
| 23.53{{increase}}
| 23.53{{increase}}
| {{Composition bar|81|390|hex={{DABHK/meta/color}}}}
| {{Composition bar|83|390|hex={{DABHK/meta/color}}}}
| {{N/A}}
| {{N/A}}
|-
|-
Line 192: Line 202:
| 22.94{{decrease}}
| 22.94{{decrease}}
| {{Composition bar|62|400|hex={{DABHK/meta/color}}}}
| {{Composition bar|62|400|hex={{DABHK/meta/color}}}}
| 20{{decrease}}
| 30{{decrease}}
|-
|-
! [[Hong Kong local elections, 2007|2007]]
! [[Hong Kong local elections, 2007|2007]]
Line 208: Line 218:
|}
|}


==Leadership==
==List of chairmen==
===Charimen===
* [[Jasper Tsang]], 1992–2003
* [[Jasper Tsang]], 1992–2003
* [[Ma Lik]], 2003–2007
* [[Ma Lik]], 2003–2007
* [[Tam Yiu-chung]], 2007–present
* [[Tam Yiu-chung]], 2007–present

===Vice-Chairmen===
* [[Tam Yiu-chung]], 1992–1997, 2002–2007
* [[Gary Cheng]], 1997–2000
* [[Ip Kwok-him]], 1998–2009
* Paul Lo, 2000–2005
* [[Maria Tam]], 2005–2007
* [[Lau Kong-wah]], 2005–2012
* [[Gregory So]], 2007–2008
* [[Ann Chiang]], 2008–present
* Carson Wen, 2009–2011
* Horace Cheung, 2011–present
* [[Starry Lee]], 2011–present
* Pang Cheung-wai, 2013–present
* Chan Yung, 2013–present


==See also==
==See also==
Line 218: Line 244:


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist|30em}}


==External links==
==External links==

Revision as of 23:41, 24 January 2014

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
民主建港協進聯盟
ChairmanTam Yiu-chung
Vice-ChairmenStarry Lee
Ann Chiang
Horace Cheung
Pang Cheung-wai
Chan Yung
Founded10 July 1992
Merger ofProgressive Alliance
Headquarters12/F, SUP Tower,
83 King's Road,
North Point, Hong Kong
Youth wingYoung DAB
Membership (2013)Increase 24,564[1]
IdeologyPro-CPC
Patriotism
Conservatism
Political positionCentre to Centre-right
National affiliationPro-Beijing Camp
ColoursBlue, red
Executive Council
3 / 32
Legislative Council
13 / 70
District Councils
134 / 507
NPC
8 / 2,987
CPPCC
26 / 2,280
Website
www.dab.org.hk
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
Traditional Chinese民主建港協進聯盟
(Short: 民建聯)
Simplified Chinese民主建港协进联盟
(Short: 民建联)
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMínzhŭ Jiàngǎng Xiéjìn Liánméng
(Short: Mínjiànlián)
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationMàhnjyú Gin-góng Hihpjeun Lyùhnmàhng
(Short: Màhn-ginlyùhn)
Former name
Traditional Chinese民主建港聯盟
Simplified Chinese民主建港联盟
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMínzhŭ Jiàngǎng Liánméng
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationMàhnjyú Gin-góng Lyùhnmàhng

Template:Contains Chinese text

Politics and government
of Hong Kong
Laws
Executive
  • University Grants Committee Secretariat
  • Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency
Legislature
  • Political camps:
Judiciary
Court of Final Appeal

High Court

District Court

  • Chief District Judge: Justin Ko

Magistrates' Court

  • Chief Magistrate: So Wai-tak

Special courts and tribunals:

Districts
District Officers
Elections
Electoral Affairs Commission

Chief Executive Elections

Legislative elections

District council elections
Foreign relations
Documents

Consular missions in Hong Kong

Hong Kong–China relations

Hong Kong–Taiwan relations

Related topics
flag Hong Kong portal

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is the largest political party in Hong Kong, having 13 seats in the Legislative Council and 134 seats in the District Councils. The party was founded on 10 July 1992 as the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong and changed to its current name when it merged with the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA) in 2005. Headed by Chairman Tam Yiu-chung, It is seen as a flagship pro-Beijing party and a shadow Communist Party of China in Hong Kong.[2]

Party beliefs

The party is known for a Beijing loyalist party. It stresses the "one country" part of the "One country, two systems" principle. As for issues on democratic reform, it takes a position to support slower pace in relative to what the Democratic Party supports, DAB claims by doing so stability and prosperity will be achieved.

The party's main claim is that it is natural for ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong to be "patriotic" and support the government of the People's Republic of China.[3]

  • Furthering co-operation between Hong Kong and the mainland, promoting mutual trust, and creating opportunities economically.
  • "Constructive monitor" of the HKSAR government, scrutinising various government policies and decisions, providing "constructive policy alternatives" whilst securing the progress, prosperity, social stability and harmony for Hong Kong.
  • To break down social barriers based on the common interest of Hong Kong; to strengthen communications with Hong Kong residents to better reflect their opinion; to be more accountable to the public.
  • To nurture political talent by committing the necessary funding, organising training, providing opportunities for those who want to take part in politics.

History

Founding and the eve of reunification (1992–1996)

The DAB was founded on 10 July 1992 as the first major pro-Beijing party as a part of the PRC United Front strategy on the even of the handover of Hong Kong. In January 1992, Lu Ping, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, publicly urged the territory's pro-Beijing bodies to organise themselves into political parties to gear up for the 1994/95 three-tier elections.[4]

56 founding members of the DAB included the local loyalists of the Chinese Communist regime, so called traditional "leftists", such as leaders from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU),[5] such as Tam Yiu-chung who was the general secretary of the FTU, as well as Chan Yuen-han, and also the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers (HKFEW),[6] such as Jasper Tsang Yok-sing who was the principal of the local Communist-controlled school Pui Kiu Middle School and a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference delegate, and also school teacher Gary Cheng Kai-nam.[4] Jasper Tsang and Tam Yiu-chung became the first Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the party.[7]

The DAB became the direct rival to the major pro-democracy party Democratic Party which was formed in 1994. Its first major contest was the 1994 District Board elections, in which 37 of the 83 members were elected.[8] It participated in the municipal elections in the following year, winning 8 directly elected and 2 indirectly elected seats.[9] Major leaders of the DAB participated in the 1995 Legislative Council election. It was regarded as test cases of the popularity of the new party.[10] Three of the four party leaders were defeated by pro-democracy candidates in the election,[11]</ref> including party chairman Jasper Tsang who lost to Bruce Liu Sing-lee of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL )in the Kowloon Central constituency.

Provisional Legislative Council and early Tung Chee-hwa era (1996–2002)

The DAB took part in the preparatory works for establishing the Special Administrative Region on the eve of the handover of Hong Kong. In January 1996, Jasper Tsang, Tam Yiu-chung, founding members Ng Hong-mun and Lee Cho-jat were appointed to the Preparatory Committee. It had 46 members elected to the Beijing-controlled Selection Committee in November 1996. In the following month, the Selection Committee elected 10 DAB members to the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC).[12] The DAB and the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA), another pro-Beijing party, allied with each other in the crucial Provisional Legislative Council debate on the substantial arrangements for the 1998 LegCo elections. This move was tacitly endorsed by the Heung Yee Kuk, and heralded as the unofficial merger of the parties.[13] The Provisional Legislative Council, which was controlled by the pro-Beijing camp, vetoed the democratic reform introduced by the last British governor Chris Patten and replaced the first-past-the-post with the proportional representation method in the Legislative Council elections, so that the weaker DAB would be able to exploit the benefit of the proportional representation by taking a seat in every geographical constituency without having a majority of the votes. After the SAR was established, Tam Yiu-chung and was also appointed to the Executive Council by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa as the representative of the party.

The DAB's electoral campaigns have been largely assisted by Beijing and its united front organs. The Liaison Office would moblise various social groups and organisations to campaign for and to vote for the party, including employees of PRC state-owned companies and grassroots organisations such as the New Territories Association of Societies (NTAS) and the Kowloon Federation of Associations (KFA) The DAB's sister organisation FTU also moblised its workers to campaign for the DAB members. The FTU also sent a recommendation letter to its four hundred thousand members to seek support for DAB candidates.[14] As a result, the DAB has been preforming well in the elections. In the 1998 LegCo elections, the DAB took five directly elected seats by taking a quarter of the votes, compared to only two seats with 15% of the votes in the 1995 elections.[15] In December 1998, the party's 5th Central Committee decided to increase a Vice-Chairmanship, Ip Kwok-him and Cheng Kai-nam were subsequently elected as Vice-Chairmen.[16] In the first District Council elections in November 1999, the party filled in 176 candidates, 83 of which were elected, more than double compared to the 1994 elections.[17]

In the second SAR LegCo elections in September 2000, despite the conflict of interests scandal of Gary Cheng, the DAB became a clear winner, capturing 11 seats in total, 7 in geographical constituency direct elections, 3 in functional constituencies and 1 Election Committee constituency. Although Gary Cheng was elected, he soon resigned his party posts and LegCo seat under public pressure. After DAB candidate Christopher Chung Shu-kun losing to pro-democracy Independent Audrey Eu Yuet-mee in the 10 December Hong Kong Island by-election, the DAB commanded 10 LegCo seats by the end of 2000.

Article 23 setbacks (2002–2004)

In 2002 the beginning of the second term of Tung Chee-hwa's administration, Chairman Jasper Tsang was appointed to the Executive Council, succeeding Tam Yiu-chung. However the governing coalition between Tung Chee-hwa the DAB and the pro-business Liberal Party suffered from growing disunity as the popularity of Tung administration dropped. Although it continued provide stable support to the government as Beijing's demand, it paid a hefty political price in the sense of increasing middle-class disaffection with the party and growing rank-and file complaint. The DAB was increasingly frustrated by unequal political exchange with the government and the skimpy political rewards meted out by Tung. Jasper Tsang even openly aired his displeasure and advocated power sharing with the government.[18]

In the wake of the controversies over the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law, which outlaws treason, sedition, subversion and secession against the central government, the image of DAB was severely undermined by its unconditional support and defence of the legislation. The November 2003 District Councils elections saw the worst electoral performance in party's history, only 62 of the 206 candidates were elected. The party Vice-Chairman and LegCo member Ip Kwok-him was defeated in his own power base and long-time headquarter Kwun Lung by the pro-democracy The Frontier member and LegCo member Cyd Ho Sau-lan by a narrow margin of 64 votes.[19] The election results led to the resignation of Chairman Jasper Tsang.[20] Tsang claimed that the electoral setback was due to the DAB's "Tung loyalist" public image. In December the party's Standing Committee elected Ma Lik as Tsang's successor.[21]

2004 LegCo election and merge with Progressive Alliance (2004–2007)

The 2004 LegCo electoral campaign unfolded amid an economic rebound partly engineered by Beijing's up-lifting measures. The PRC athletes' impressive gains in the August 2004 Athens Olympics and the 50 Chinese Gold Medalists' visit to Hong Kong right before the polling induced among the voters a strong nationalistic pride that was beneficial to DAB candidates.[22] The DAB also managed to exploit the proportional representation to equalise votes for two of the candidates the party endorsed standing in the same constituency. Although support of Chan Yuen-han (FTU) was far higher than Chan Kam-lam (DAB) in Kowloon East, according to earlier polls, the two organisations managed to have both elected. At Hong Kong Island constituency, the ticket of Ma Lik and Choy So-yuk ultimately benefitted from a democratic camp mix-up that led to the resignation of the Democratic Party Chairman, Yeung Sum. The DAB become the largest political party in the Legislative Council to be represented with 12 seats (if including the two members ran under the FTU banner), with the pro-business Liberal Party coming second with 10 seats and the Democratic Party coming third with 9 seats.

On 16 February 2005 the DAB merged with the more business-oriented Hong Kong Progressive Alliance and added "progress" its name and became the "Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong". The two parties were merged with new committees and leadership in May, Ma Lik was re-elected as Chairman and Ip Kwok-him, Tam Yiu-chung, Maria Tam Wai-chu and Lau Kong-wah as Vice-Chairmen. Since the merge with the Progressive Alliance, the DAB has gradually leaned to a more pro-middle-class position. In April 2007 leadership election, solicitor Gregory So Kam-leung succeeded Maria Tam as the Vice-Chairman of the party. The four new Standing Committee members were all professionals; besides Gregory So, Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan, the Chairman of the Young DAB was a solicitor, Starry Lee Wai-king was an accountant, Ben Chan Han-pan was an engineer.[23] Meanwhile, the pro-labour and pro-grassroots FTU faction began to run in elections in their own banner. On 8 August 2007, Chairman Ma Lik died of cancer in Guangzhou. Tam Yiu-chung was elected as the new Chairman by the Standing Committee on 28 August.[24]

Recent development (2007–present)

The District Council Elections in 2007 saw the great bounce back of the DAB by winning 115 seats, more than a quarter of the seats in the district level, far ahead of other political parties. The DAB remained as the largest party in the Legislative Council in the 2008 Election, even though Chan Yuen-han and Wong Kwok-hing were founding members of the DAB and used to run for the DAB, they began to run under the FTU banner with more pro-labour position. In October, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, the founding Chairman of the DAB, was elected as the President of the Legislative Council. His membership at the Executive Council was succeeded by Vice-Chairman Lau Kong-wah. In the 2011 District Council Elections, the DAB recorded a greatest victory in party's history, accumulating 136 seats, about one-third of the total, more than all pro-democratic parties combined.

The DAB supported Leung Chun-ying in the 2012 Chief Executive election. In the Legislative Council elections in September, with the party's electoral strategy of splitting candidate lists, the DAB won handsomely three seats in the New Territories West for the first time and two seats Hong Kong Island since 2004. It continued as the largest political force supporting the SAR administration today.

Factions

As the largest political party of Hong Kong, the party can be divided into three main factions:[citation needed]

  • Unionists, i.e. members belonging or came from the Federation of Trade Unions.
  • Indigenous residents in the New Territories
  • Fujianese

Controversies

Claim of no Tiananmen massacre

On 15 May 2007, party leader Ma Lik provoked widespread condemnation within the local community when he claimed that "there was not a massacre" during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, as there was "no intentional and indiscriminate shooting". He said the popular belief of foreigners' "rash claims" that a massacre took place showed Hong Kong's lack of maturity. He said that Hong Kong showed, through this lack of patriotism and national identity, that it would thus "not be ready for democracy until 2022".[25]

Vice Chairman Tam Yiu-chung defended Ma, but questioned the timing: "people will understand it gradually".[25] However, Vice Chairman Lau Kong-wah, immediately offered to apologise, and distanced the party from Ma, saying that Ma had expressed "a personal opinion".[26] The DAB Central committee declined any further action against Ma following their meeting, and there was no official apology.

Allegations of irregularities

The DAB has been accused by pro-democracy media and politicians of providing benefits to certain people, including seafood meals and local trips to outlying islands at prices significantly lower than market rates in order to win their support. Other allegations include free transport to mobilise people for their cause. However, none of these practices are strictly illegal in Hong Kong.

Election performances

Legislative Council elections

Election Number of
popular votes 		% of
popular votes 		GC
seats 		FC
seats 		EC
seats 		Total seats +/− Position
1995 142,801Steady 15.66Steady 2 2 2
6 / 60
 5Increase 3rdSteady
1998 373,428Increase 25.23Increase 5 2 2
9 / 60
 — 3rdSteady
2000 374,780Increase 28.40Increase 7 3 1
11 / 60
 1Increase 2ndSteady
2004 402,420Increase 22.73Decrease 8 2 -
10 / 60
 0Steady 1stIncrease
2008 347,373Decrease 22.92Increase 7 3 -
10 / 60
 1Increase 1stSteady
2012 366,140Increase 20.22Decrease 9 4 -
13 / 70
 3Increase 1stSteady

District Councils elections

Election Number of
popular votes 		% of
popular votes 		Total
elected seats 		+/−
1994 81,126Steady 11.82Steady
37 / 346
 28Increase
1999 190,792Increase 23.53Increase
83 / 390
 —
2003 241,202Increase 22.94Decrease
62 / 400
 30Decrease
2007 292,916Increase 25.73Increase
115 / 405
 38Increase
2011 282,119Decrease 23.89Decrease
136 / 412
 17Increase

Leadership

Charimen

Vice-Chairmen

See also

References

  1. ^ "Basic Info". The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
  2. ^ "Hong Kong pro-Beijing party chairman dies", Reuters, 8 August 2007
  3. ^ Chan, Ming K. So, Alvin Y. White, Lynn T. Crisis and Transformation in China's Hong Kong. [2002] (2002). M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-7656-1000-0.
  4. ^ a b Cheng, Joseph Yu-shek; Brosseau, Maurice (1993). China Review 1993. Chinese University Press. p. 10.8.
  5. ^ Lam, Wai-man; Lui, Percy Luen-tim; Wong, Wilson, eds. (2012). Contemporary Hong Kong Government and Politics. Hong Kong University Press. p. 161.
  6. ^ Kwong, Paul C. K. (1992). Cheng, J. Y. S. (ed.). The Other Hong Kong Report 1992. Chinese University Press. p. xxi.
  7. ^ "認識我們>歷史>1992". The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
  8. ^ "認識我們>歷史>1994". The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
  9. ^ "認識我們>歷史>1995". The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
  10. ^ Mee, Kau Nyaw; Li, Si-ming, eds. (1996). The Other Hong Kong Report 1996. Chinese University Press. p. 55. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  11. ^ The Other Hong Kong Report 1996, p. 38.
  12. ^ "認識我們>歷史>1996". The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
  13. ^ Ho, Andy (30 September 1997). "The old pack reshuffled". The Standard. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  14. ^ Schafferer, Christian (2005). Understanding Modern East Asian Politics. Nova Publishers. p. 106.
  15. ^ Kuan, Hsin-chi, ed. (1999). Power Transfer and Electoral Politics: The First Legislative Election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Chinese University Press. p. 131.
  16. ^ "認識我們>歷史>1998". The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
  17. ^ "認識我們>歷史>1999". The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
  18. ^ Liu, Zhaojia; Lau, Siu-kai (2002). The First Tung Chee-hwa Administration: The First Five Years of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Chinese University Press. p. 29.
  19. ^ Kwong, Bruce Kam (2009). Patron-Client Politics and Elections in Hong Kong. Routledge. p. 101.
  20. ^ Cannix Yau, "DAB chief resigns over 'worst setback'", The Standard, 25 November 2003
  21. ^ "認識我們>歷史>2003". The Democratic Alliance of the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
  22. ^ Kuah, Khun Eng; Guiheux, Gilles, eds. (2009). Social Movements in China and Hong Kong: The Expansion of Protest Space. Amsterdam University Press. p. 191.
  23. ^ "民建聯新班子 突顯年輕專業". Wen Wei Po. 25 April 2007.
  24. ^ "關於我們 > 歷史 > 大事年表 > 2007". The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
  25. ^ a b Ambrose Leung, "Fury at DAB chief's Tiananmen tirade", Page 1, South China Morning Post, 16 May 2007
  26. ^ 「馬力認輕佻拒撤觀點,否認促為六四定調 願受黨處分」, Ming Pao, 7 May 2007 Template:Zh icon

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Democratic_Alliance_for_the_Betterment_and_Progress_of_Hong_Kong&oldid=592247794"