‘I considered resigning over protests’: Hong Kong’s labour minister and only cabinet member with opposition background
- Law Chi-kwong who was pressured by former Democratic Party colleagues to step down at height of civil unrest, gives candid television interview
- He says extradition bill was withdrawn because of peaceful July 9 protest, and not the intense clash three days later outside legislature
Hong Kong’s labour and welfare minister, Law Chi-kwong, the only cabinet member with an opposition background, has revealed he considered resigning over the months-long social unrest sparked in June last year.
“Many people have asked me this question, and even urged me to quit. Why didn’t I do it?” Law said in a television interview broadcast on Friday night. “I had to consider how my individual act would affect the team and Hong Kong in the long term.”
Law resigned from the Democratic Party he co-founded and joined the cabinet of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in 2017. His party wrote to him in August last year, asking him to regain the aspiration of pursuing justice and democracy, and to quit the government.
The former associate professor in social work at the University of Hong Kong also mentioned he knew Lam for decades, seeing how she rose through the ranks from department head to bureau chief, and then to the city’s top role.
“Power brings great negative impact on individuals, and I keep reminding myself and my friends about this,” he said, adding that with authority came the feeling that others would not dare argue back.
