Newly elected Hong Kong lawmakers Yau Wai-ching (center left) and Sixtus Leung (center right) are surrounded by photographers outside the legislature council in Hong Kong
Two newly elected pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmakers barred from the legislature for insulting China in their swearing-in ceremony set off another round of disorder in the chamber by scuffling with guards Wednesday as they tried again to take their oaths.
The weekly Legislative Council meeting had begun minutes before Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Leung rushed into the chamber. They were defying an order by the council’s president preventing their entry until a court settles a legal challenge filed by the government aimed at denying them another chance to be sworn in.
The two, who are from the Youngspiration party, were disqualified last month after they inserted a derogatory term for China into their oaths. Yau also used an expletive.
The case was due in court yesterday; the same day that local media reports say Beijing officials will meet to discuss reinterpreting Hong Kong’s constitution as a way to resolve the crisis. The move has raised fears that Beijing is interfering in the semiautonomous Chinese-controlled city’s rule of law by bypassing its courts.
The South China Morning Post yesterday quoted “a source familiar with the situation” according to whom “Beijing chose the route of intervening in the row with an interpretation of the Basic Law because it wanted a fast track to resolve the controversy once and for all.”
“The judicial process could take more than a year if either the government or the two localists loses the case and either side appeals against the Court of First Instance ruling,” SCMP’s source said, adding that the lawsuit would probably eventually proceed to the Court of Final Appeal.
Yau, 25, and Leung, 30, were part of a new wave of youthful pro-democracy lawmakers elected in September amid a rising tide of anti-China sentiment, with many Hong Kong residents concerned about Beijing eroding the city’s wide autonomy.
As Yau reached the center of the room, she pulled out a small microphone and speaker and recited the oath, which calls for pledging allegiance to “the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.”
Security guards tried to throw Yau and Leung out, but other pro-democracy lawmakers rushed to their defense.
The groups scuffled. Yau was ejected and the council president then adjourned the meeting as guards grappled with Leung and his supporters, who also argued with pro-Beijing loyalists at their desks.
It was the third straight week that a council session had been tossed into chaos over the matter. MDT/Agencies
Legco forms committee to examine controversial HKD50m payment to CY Leung from Aussie firm
The Legislative Council has passed a petition to form a select committee to investigate Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s acceptance of over HKD50 million from Australian Corporation UGL when he ran for Hong Kong leader, Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported.
The petition, presented by Democratic Party lawmaker Andrew Wan Siu-king and Accountancy sector lawmaker Kenneth Leung, was passed after 28 pro-democracy lawmakers stood up in support of the proposal. Legislative Council President Andrew Leung announced that “a select committee will be instituted.”
The case was exposed two years ago by Australian newspaper The Age, which revealed that “Leung Chun-ying had received a payment of over GBP4 million from UGL in exchange for agreeing to not join rival firms within two years. The agreement was signed in December 2011, when CY Leung was running for the top job in the sister SAR.”
According to HKFP, Wan and Kenneth Leung said in the petition that, “many questions are still unanswered, including why the chief executive did not declare the payment to the chief justice upon assuming office in accordance with Article 47 of the Basic Law.”
They also asked the chief executive to clarify whether his agreement with UGL amounted to a conflict of interest, and whether part of the payment should have been subject to tax, Free Press added. The report further explained that the power of the committee is limited “as it is not covered by the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance. It may, however, summon individuals to give evidence with the authorization of the Legislative Council.” MDT/Agencies
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