Legislative Council by-election candidates differ on Hong Kong’s main focus, some say technology as others emphasise culture
- Analyst raises concern that candidates’ failure to engage with public will make residents feel distant from lawmakers
- Some candidates say city must focus on technology, while others think culture, commerce and traditional Chinese medicine need attention
As six candidates fight to fill four seats in Hong Kong’s legislature, a debate has resurfaced on whether the city should put more focus on technological innovation, or other areas such as culture, commerce and traditional Chinese medicine.
Some candidates also argued that national education and poverty relief were Hong Kong’s most pressing needs, and the government should work more closely with the Legislative Council to find solutions.
The six aspirants are contesting in the Legco by-election to fill four vacancies, with only the 1,400 members of the Election Committee eligible to vote on Sunday morning to decide who gets to replace the four previous incumbents who quit their jobs earlier this year to take up senior official posts in Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s administration.
While the candidates were upbeat about the coming poll, an analyst argued that the contestants had done little to engage the public during their campaigning, and worried that Legco would gradually lose residents’ recognition.
The six candidates are tech company chief Shang Hailong, Professor William Wong Kam-fai, public affairs director Gary Wong Chi-him, Ken Lee Kwong-yu of the Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), Adrian Ho King-hong of the New People’s Party (NPP), and Chan Wing-kwong, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB).
