Brisk business at ‘patriots-only’ Legco: Hong Kong lawmakers heed Carrie Lam’s appeal to ask fewer questions before budget meetings
- Questions about leader’s office, security and legal administration saw sharpest drop percentage-wise
- Officials freed to work on pandemic, but lawmakers hope limit on questions does not set a precedent
Hong Kong lawmakers elected last December under Beijing’s “patriots-only” reforms asked significantly fewer questions about the Chief Executive’s Office, security agencies and legal administration ahead of recent meetings on this year’s budget.
This was after city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor urged Legislative Council president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen to appeal to lawmakers to ask fewer questions and free officials to focus on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The lawmakers responded by accepting a limit of 10 questions per person before the budget meetings from April 8 to 14.
Research by the Post showed that the 90-member Legco filed 906 questions for written replies, a far cry from about 6,000 in 2020, when there were still about 20 opposition pan-democrats in the smaller, 70-member chamber. Leung, as president, does not file questions.
Tik Chi-yuen, the only centrist lawmaker, filed 10 questions, half of which were on social welfare policy, saying he had to fulfil his duty as the sector’s representative.
