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Echo chamber or sound politics: how will Hong Kong’s legislature function without an opposition?
- Some pro-establishment legislators gleeful at opposition bloc’s exodus, but others warn of hard work ahead in proving they are not rubber-stamp politicians
- Beijing ruling earlier this month triggered expulsion of four opposition lawmakers and synchronised resignation of remaining colleagues
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There were shock waves when Beijing passed a resolution on November 11 which resulted in the ousting of four opposition lawmakers from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council.
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Even members of the pro-establishment camp were taken aback.
The disqualification of the four men led all 15 remaining opposition lawmakers to resign en masse on November 12, leaving Legco with 41 pro-establishment members and two independents.
The sudden absence of opposition lawmakers has left some in the pro-establishment camp grappling with the position they will take for the remainder of Legco’s extended term, before elections next September. The polls were postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Others are not concealing their relief that the opposition is gone, saying this will make it much easier for Legco to approve major government projects or controversial legislation without obstruction.
Yet some quarters hope to use this unusual political season to demonstrate that they are not rubber-stamp lawmakers, in the hope of winning over moderates among voters in the “yellow camp” who support the anti-government protesters behind the months of social unrest in the city last year.
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“As none of them would like to present themselves as yes-men to the public, they will try to be more constructive in the remainder of the term,” said Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies and a senior Hong Kong adviser to Beijing.
“Unlike in the past when these lawmakers would easily support the government, the administration may have to incorporate their interests to win their support on policies.”
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