Hong Kong Legislative Council oath of office controversy

Sixtus Leung

Yau Wai-ching

Two Youngspiration members-elect of the Legislative Council sparked the controversy over the oath of office process.

The Hong Kong LegCo members' oath-taking controversy is an ongoing event which triggered by the two members-elect of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), pro-independence Youngspiration legislators, Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching, elected in 2016 had their oaths of office invalidated by the LegCo secretary-general Kenneth Chen at the inaugural meeting of the legislature on 12 October 2016.

The two displayed the "Hong Kong is not China" banner, inserted their words into the oaths and mispronounced "People’s Republic of China" as "people’s re-fucking of Chee-na". The actions of the duo were widely criticised by the public. The controversy escalated when Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen unprecedentedly asked the court to disqualify the two legislators on 18 October, followed by the walkout staged by the pro-Beijing legislators to force adjournment to block the pair to retake their oaths on the following day.

Background

Main article: Hong Kong legislative election, 2016

In the 2016 Legislative Council election held on 4 September 2016, six localist candidates with different agendas striving for the "self-determination" of Hong Kong were elected with 19 percent of the total votes, despite the Electoral Affairs Commission's (EAC) unprecedented move to ban six localist candidates from entering the election on the ground of their pro-independence stance, including Hong Kong Indigenous' Edward Leung who ran in the February's New Territories East by-election. Leung campaigned for Youngspiration's Sixtus Leung, 30, who stood in the same constituency as a "back up" plan. Leung was duly elected with 37,997 votes. His party colleague, Yau Wai-ching, 25, also won the last seat in Kowloon West with 20,643 votes, becoming the youngest female to be elected to the legislature.

Course of events

Oaths invalidated

On 11 October 2016, a day before the inaugural session of the 6th Legislative Council, the government issued a statement warning the members-elect of the Legislative Council to swear to uphold the Basic Law and swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China as required by the Article 104 of the Basic Law.

On 12 October, five localist and eight pan-democratic legislators used the oath-taking ceremony as a protest prop as they had in the previous sessions, by either shouting slogans or making extra statements before or after taking their oaths. However, the oaths of independent pan-democrat Yiu Chung-yim, Youngspiration’s Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching were invalidated by LegCo secretary-general Kenneth Chen. Yiu added phrases such as "universal suffrage" immediately after his oath had his oath invalidated. Leung and Yau pledged allegiance to the "Hong Kong nation" before they took the oath while displaying a banner that read "Hong Kong is not China". They also mispronounced "People’s Republic of China" as "people’s re-fucking of Chee-na", a variation of the term Shina used by Japan for China deemed derogatory since the Second World War, three times. Both of their oaths were also declared invalid, which ruled that the trio could not vote in the subsequent election of the LegCo President, in which Andrew Leung of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) was controversially elected.

Condemnation

The actions of the two Youngspiration legislators were widely criticised as "offensive". The Hong Kong government denounced duo for modifying their oaths and hurting the feelings of Chinese people, accusing their actions as "in violation of the dignity expected of LegCo members, or even spoke or acted in an offensive manner that harmed the feelings of our compatriots." Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said many people were "angry and disappointed" over the oath-taking process. "This seriously affects the feelings between Hong Kong and mainland people," he added. State media Xinhua on 14 October quoted a "person-in-charge" of the Central People's Government’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong as expressing "strong anger and condemnation" over the two legislators' "despicable words and actions" which "has challenged the nation’s dignity and severely hurt the feelings of all Chinese people and overseas Chinese, including Hong Kong compatriots. We express strong anger and condemnation."

Sixtus Leung blamed his "Ap Lei Chau accent", which does not exist, as the reason to be misunderstood his pronunciation of "China" as "Chee-na" and the alleged profanity. He also argued that the word "Chee-na" is not offensive as "Dr Sun Yat-sen used the term 'Chee-na' when he was lobbying overseas." He also argued that the "Hong Kong is not China" slogan was a factual statement, "just like ‘apple is not orange'." His action and explanation was attacked as "kindergarten-like". A group of Ap Lei Chau residents issued a joint statement rejected his excuse, saying that [Sixtus] Leung Chung-hang’s terrible action has made those of us who were born and bred in Ap Lei Chau angry."

On the other hand, secretary-general Kenneth Chen's decision to invalidate the three legislators was questioned. "Secretary-general ruled the oaths as invalid without consulting legal advice," Lau Siu-lai, elected on her platform for self-determination, said. "It was an unjust decision and the subsequent meeting, in which the president was elected, was therefore unlawful." The pro-Beijing camp, on the other hand, sent a petition to the LegCo president asking him to also invalidate the oaths of Demosisto's Nathan Law and Lau Siu-lai. Law had raised his tone while swearing allegiance to China, sounding like he was asking a question, while Lau paused for six seconds in between every word in order to, she said, make the oath meaningless. Lau's oath was later invalidated by President Andrew Leung on 18 October along with pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) legislator Wong Ting-kwong who missed the word "Hong Kong" when reading the oath after Leung was consulted with lawyers. The five legislators would be allowed two to retake their oaths on the next meeting on 19 October.

On 17 October, Sixtus Leung said he and Yau Wai-ching would consider compromising by retaking their oaths properly on the next meeting on 19 October to keep their seats. But both insisted they had done nothing wrong and brushed off mounting calls for an apology and their resignation, as well as threats of legal action against them. They claimed that the word "Chee-na" was referring to the regime but not to the people or culture.

Various pro-Beijing and Beijing-friendly organisations ran more than a dozen adverts in local newspapers, urging the duo to apologise or even resign, including one of the statements was issued by more than 200 historians and educators, including former chief curator of the Hong Kong History Museum Joseph Ting Sun-pao.

Government's legal action

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying

Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen

The two top government officials mounted a legal challenge against Legislative Council President Andrew Leung and two Youngspiration legislators on 18 October.

On 18 October night just hours before the next LegCo meeting, the Hong Kong government took the unprecedented step of mounting a legal challenge to disqualify two Youngspiration legislators on grounds that their actions in the oath-taking process had contravened the Basic Law. Johnny Mok Shiu-luen, SC, representing Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen accused the duo of "sending a message to the world and also to the public that we can function as a member of LegCo without pledging allegiance to the HKSAR of the People’s Republic of China," Mok said. Jat Sew-tong, SC, acting for LegCo President Andrew Leung argued that the government’s move was a "serious deprivation of the constitutional rights" of the two legislators-elect. Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung allowed the government's application for a judicial review, but denied the government an interim injunction to bar the pair from retaking their oaths on the next meeting. The hearing on the application was set for November 3.

The pan-democracy camp accused Leung Chun-ying of "ruining the separation of powers" by inviting the courts to intervene in LegCo’s domestic affairs. “The Chief Executive pays no respect to the dignity and the independence of our legislature," Civic Party legislator for Legal constituency Dennis Kwok said. Rita Fan, Hong Kong delegate to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Maria Tam, member of the Basic Law Committee under the Standing Committee slammed the pan-democrats back, denying the existence of the separation of powers in the Basic Law. Fan said the Basic Law "makes no mention" of separation of powers, while Tam said separation of powers was not how Hong Kong’s political structure was defined.

Pro-Beijing camp's walkout

The pro-Beijing legislators staged a walkout on 19 October to force adjournment in order to block the Youngspiration legislators to retake the oaths.

Paul Tse, a pro-Beijing independent legislator had suggested to stage a walkout to force adjournment in order to block the two Youngspiration legislators to retake the oaths if they did not apologise. Four pro-Beijing lawyers-turned-lawmakers, including DAB's Holden Chow and BPA's Priscilla Leung, had slammed Tse’s idea, saying a forced adjournment would be a huge blow to LegCo. However after the court's ruling, the pro-Beijing camp decided to stage the walkout at the second meeting of the Legislative Council on 19 October after Wong Ting-kwong and Yiu Chung-yim retook their oaths. Sixtus Leung, Yau Wai-ching, as well as Lau Siu-lai who were suppposed to retake the oath after Yiu were unable to do so.

New People's Party chairwoman Regina Ip dismissed accusations that they were buying time in collaboration with the government, although a few members admitted the administration’s unprecedented legal challenge led by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying had indeed given them a strong boost in taking the step. She was quoted as arguing such a move would cost them public support, "but why couldn’t we do something when even the government has made such a move? We do not want to appear feebler than the administration," a pro-Beijing legislator said. LegCo President Andrew Leung said it was "unfortunate" his colleagues chose to walk out and that he had no choice but to adjourn the meeting.

After the walkout, as pro-Beijing lawmakers met the media, explaining the rationale behind their action, radical democrat legislator "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats (LSD) threw luncheon meat at them in protest. The canned food was a symbol against filibusters after former pro-Beijing legislator Wong Kwok-hing of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) measured the cost of marathon debates in terms of luncheon meat that could have been bought instead. The legislators pointed fingers and hurled luncheon meat at each other in front of the media cameras, putting what many have condemned as "kindergarten behaviour" on full public display, both for the local and international audiences.

LegCo’s democratic caucus convenor Democratic Party's James To said the pro-Beijing members "blatantly adjourned the meeting with the use of rules of procedures to block lawmakers from retaking their oaths". Democrat Lam Cheuk-ting, who had originally planned to petition at the meeting setting up a select committee to investigate HK$50 million Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying received from Australian engineering firm UGL Limited, accused the pro-Beijing camp of helping Chief Executive. Civic Party legislator Dennis Kwok said the walkout was a huge blow to the city’s rule of law, and disrespectful to the court system as the court had refused to grant an injunction preventing the Youngspiration pair from retaking their oaths.

After the pro-Beijing legislators walked out, localist Civic Passion’s Cheng Chung-tai was seen turning the flags of China and Hong Kong, which DAB’s Lau Kwok-fan had brought into the chamber, upside down. DAB’s Chan Hak-kan said Cheng’s act was against the law. Lau subsequently reported Cheng to the police and urged them to investigate and prosecute in accordance with the law.

LegCo President's on-hold decision

On 25 October, LegCo President Andrew Leung took a U-turn by deciding to delay the oath-taking of Leung and Yau on Wednesday's general meeting on 26 October, six hours after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying warned of "far-reaching repercussions" on the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland should the matter not be "rectified". "I note with grave concern the intention of the pro-establishment lawmakers to forestall the [oath-taking] at all costs," Andrew Leung explained. If he let the pair to retake the oaths, "the most probable outcome is that LegCo will come to a complete halt", as the pro-Beijing camp had threatened a second walkout to block the duo from retaking their the oaths. The Youngspiration pair slammed the president for what they called a "ridiculous" reversal of his earlier decision.

See also

• 6th Legislative Council of Hong Kong
• Hong Kong independence
• Hong Kong LegCo candidates' disqualification controversy
• Localism in Hong Kong

External links

• Works related to Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at Wikisource