Opinion | Neutering the opposition in Hong Kong Legislative Council won’t improve governance, as Carrie Lam will find out

This month, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed a resolution allowing the Hong Kong government to oust four pro-democracy lawmakers. Beijing said it had only broached the subject at the request of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

All of Hong Kong’s pan-democrat lawmakers have resigned after the resolution. The only non-establishment lawmakers who have stayed on are Cheng Chung-tai of Civic Passion and Pierre Chan Pui-yin of the medical functional constituency. The Legislative Council has become a mere rubber stamp.

Following the Hong Kong government’s postponement of the Legco elections, the NPC Standing Committee had extended the current term for at least a year, a decision which stirred up heated debate among democrats, localists and other Hongkongers who support democracy. Many felt that staying to serve the one year would be endorsing Beijing’s unconstitutional act. The pro-democracy lawmakers who accepted the extension were condemned for violating the fundamental principles of democracy.

At the time, I believed and advocated that one should not retreat from any battlefield lightly. The Legislative Council was one of the key arenas for vocal opposition to the government’s bills, and a collective resignation would not bring any good to the city.

However, now that Beijing has unlawfully disqualified the four lawmakers, the promise of “one country, two systems” has been completely shattered. With its move, the NPC has only shown the whole world the falsehood of “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong”.