Hong Kong’s envoys to the nation have a duty to uphold the Basic Law, not trash it

Alice Wu says Maria Tam’s comment suggesting Leung Chun-ying’s term of office should be extended runs counter to the Basic Law that she, as a local deputy to the NPC, ought to be protecting

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Maria Tam talks to Hong Kong media im Beijing while attending the annual liang hui. Photo: Simon Song

Published: 8:01am, 20 Mar 2016Updated: 8:00am, 20 Mar 2016

The annual liang hui – “Two Sessions” – has always carried an air of political mystique. It is inevitably so, perhaps, under “one country, two systems”, in which well water is not to mix with river water. So most Hongkongers are left at the periphery, a fact that is most pronounced during liang hui. Over the years, the occasion has become, for Hong Kong, open season for the practise of political “tasseography” – the reading of political tea leaves requiring interpretation and speculation in equal measure.

The masses are alienated. The “mediums” that connect the two systems in the one country are the Hong Kong delegates of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and deputies to the National People’s Congress. They’re privy to what our national decision-makers think. In return, they offer up their thoughts on Hong Kong. We, of course, have no control over what they say, and we don’t get to judge whether what they do say actually makes Hong Kong better understood or increasingly misunderstood.

READ MORE: Chair change shows Hong Kong deputies no longer in the driving seat at National People’s Congress

For months, we have been concerned over the deteriorating relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland. The people’s confidence in “one country, two systems” is at its lowest point since pre-1997.

So, it was shocking to hear one veteran local NPC deputy, Maria Tam Wai-chu, say that it would be damaging to change our government and “form a new cabinet every five years”. “Unless the chief executive commits a criminal offence, the most ideal is to let him continue with the policy he proposed,” she went on.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (right) leaves after the opening ceremony of the NPC in Beijing. Photo: AFP

This kind of talk does not help Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying one bit. She basically botched Leung’s re-election bid, assuming he intends to seek a second term.

Of course, it is unfair to lay blame for everything – social discontent, social unrest, the emergence of localism – entirely on Leung. Rational individuals would see it is unfair. But it was preposterous of Tam to suggest that it would be OK to extend the chief executive’s term so there is no need for a re-election, unless the office holder has committed a crime.