The Legislative Council (LegCo) did Hong Kong people a great favor on Wednesday by rejecting another attempt by the opposition to derail Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying while reaping political gains themselves.

The LegCo's rejection of a motion to invoke the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance to inquire into unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoings by Leung would allow his administration, which has been under repeated political siege by the opposition, the badly needed time and leeway to tackle the pressing livelihood issues such as poverty, housing and pollution problems.

The issue of unauthorized building works in the Chief Executive's private home had been thoroughly debated by lawmakers in the LegCo and Leung had repeatedly given detailed explanations. The allegation of wrongdoing during Leung's campaign for the top job of the city is also already being dealt with by existing effective legal procedures. Any further attempt to entangle this issue would not only prove to be an unnecessary move, but also demonstrate nasty intention to gain political advantage at the expense of the interests of Hong Kong people. Invoking the powers and privileges ordinance for frivolous charges would be nothing short of abuse.

After repeated defeats in their attempts to hound the Chief Executive and his administration, the opposition should have realized that the LegCo is a place for promoting the benefits of Hong Kong people rather than an arena for political vendettas, and that they should bring political rivalry back to its normal track focusing on political platform and agenda rather than personality smearing.

Faced with pressing livelihood issues, Hong Kong is in dire need of cooperation and coordination among different stakeholders of the society - including members of the opposition camp - in formulating and implementing relevant policies.

The opposition should rethink their tactic of seeking political advantage by unceasingly bullying and hounding the Leung administration, lest Hong Kong people will be the eventual losers.

(HK Edition 02/21/2013 page1)