Two untrusted parties

Both the Civic Party and the Democratic Party vowed before the Legislative Council (LegCo) meeting on the passage of the budget bill that they would not get involved in the filibuster campaign launched by People Power and the League of Social Democrats. Ironically, their pledges were no more than crocodile tears, for they failed to keep their promises and secretly served as accomplices to the radicals when the filibuster began.

The two parties' plot is to delay the passing of the bill through two tactics. The first is forcing meetings to be cut short due to poor attendance, a more destructive tactic than having to listen to repeated speeches. The second tactic is to play a two-sided drama during the meeting. The radicals use up time to finish their lengthy statements, only for lawmakers from the opposition camp to deliberately raise questions for the radicals which in turn wastes more time.

In fact, the last LegCo meeting was postponed because 60 per cent of opposition lawmakers were absent. Half of the lawmakers from the Civic Party and over two-thirds from Democratic Party were elsewhere with various excuses. Some said they were delayed by lawsuits in the courthouse while others claim they are busy teaching at schools. It is rather outrageous that these lawmakers, funded by our taxpayers and elected by our citizens, seem more concerned with making money than honoring the trust bestowed in them by voters, regardless of the consequence.

After an informal meeting held by the President of the Legislative Council Jasper Tsang Yok-Sing on how to deal with the filibuster, Civic Party leader and lawmaker Alan Leong Kah-kit said while the party did not support filibustering, the chair of LegCo should never denounce or dismiss it, since it was not the duty of LegCo to co-operate with the administration. His words were supported by Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing. A fox cannot hide its tails. The two parties' pretending to keep away from the filibuster are only posturing. They are actually working hand in glove with radicals to delay the budget from passing to cause greater loss to the government and the whole society.

The defeat of the two parties and the fall of most of their political stars in the last LegCo election proved they are untrustworthy. Once they have earned a seat in the chamber by designing lies to win votes from the citizens, they don't care about their promises.

The author is a current affairs commentator. This is an excerpted translation of his column published in Wen Wei Po on May 6.

(HK Edition 05/07/2013 page1)