No amendments put forward by both for entire 2014-15, watchdog reports
Two pan-democrat “super seat” lawmakers have been listed, along with the usual suspects from the pro-establishment camp, as the laziest members of the last legislative session.
The research, conducted annually by a watchdog group Catholic Monitors on Legislative Councillors, showed that James To Kun-sun and Albert Ho Chun-yan, both from the Democratic Party, did not move any motion or put forward amendments to others’ motions for the entire 2014-15 session.
Others who shared the dubious distinction of not bothering to move any motion or amendment included a regular – Lau Wong-fat of the Business and Professionals Alliance – who was described as the worst offender for not moving even one motion since the research started in 1991.
There were three from the Liberal Party – James Tien Pei-chun, Felix Chung Kwok-pan, and Tommy Cheung Yu-yan.
A spokesman for the watchdog, Francis Hui Wai-bun, said: “These legislators might be too busy with other affairs. But we believe it is their duty to put forward motions so as to urge for improvement of governance or other people’s livelihood affairs.”
Ho, in defending his poor track record, blamed filibustering by some of his pan-democrat colleagues for taking up most of the time.
Ho and To are so-called “super seat” legislators. They were returned from the district council (second) constituency of the Legislative Council. There are five such “super seats”. Four of the incumbents, including To and Ho, took part in this year’s district level elections. To was re-elected, while Ho lost.
The research also found that To and two of his fellow pan-democrats, Dennis Kwok and Ronny Tong Ka-wah, had not shown up or abstained on more than half the occasions when they were required to vote.
A total of seven lawmakers, including Lau, were found to have done so.
The watchdog group criticised them for not making their stances known. “They deserve to be openly criticised,” said Hui. “As a legislator, he or she has the responsibility of telling the public their position on a social issue.”
Hui acknowledged that Lau had been in poor health but said: “If he feels he cannot manage to serve the public well, he should resign.”
The group’s research also found that 36 of the 109 motions put forward by legislators in the last session would otherwise have been approved, but they failed because of the so-called “split voting” system that requires endorsement by a majority of lawmakers from both geographical and functional constituencies.
On overall attendance, the group identified Lau, non-affiliated Dr Leung Ka-lau, and Cheung Kwok-che of the Labour Party as the three worst offenders.
Source URL: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1891726/laziest-hong-kong-lawmaker-last-session-duo-pan-dem-super