Legislators who break Basic Law pledge should resign
Patrick Ho says Legco members who violate their vow to uphold the Basic Law - such as by burning a copy of it in protest - should resign and oppose the system from the outside
After a fierce and rip-roaring round of campaign battles, the Legislative Council election is now over, and the elected candidates are preparing for their inaugural session next month. The day will of course be mainly taken up with the swearing-in ceremony for the new members.
According to Article 104 of the Basic Law, key members of constitutional institutions are required to swear to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region before taking office.
This practice has more than ceremonial significance, and is based on legalistic common sense. It is adopted by most leading democracies in the world. For instance, a newly elected US president is required to utter the prescribed words: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Why must the US president swear to protect the constitution? Because it is the nation's legal and moral foundation, and it sets forth the separation of power and the rights of citizens, among other things.
Its equivalent in Hong Kong is the Basic Law, which outlines the roles of the three branches of government - the executive, legislative and judicial. Therefore, if any members who have sworn to uphold the Basic Law do anything to undermine it, in reality they would be undermining their own legitimacy.
On more than one occasion in recent years, some Legco members have participated in the destruction of copies of the Basic Law, the most recent occurring in front of the central government's liaison office on July 1, when a serving Legco member took part in the incineration of a copy of the constitution.
Arguably the most dramatic such instance occurred in 2005 within the Legco chambers, when Leung Kwok-hung ripped apart sections of the Basic Law and received a warning from Legco president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai. Such action constitutes a clear violation of the legislators' pledge, at their swearing-in, to protect the Basic Law. Leung's fellow Legco members and allies Albert Chan Wai-yip and Wong Yuk-man also confessed to having burnt copies of the Basic Law.
