[Rethinking the District Council. 6] Clarify the powers of the district councils and those who administer Hong Kong to perform their duties｜01 Weekly

weekly

Written by: Huang Shunyang

2021-04-28 12:00

Last update date: 2021-04-28 12:00

The central government earlier made an effort to revise Hong Kong’s electoral system, in which district councils were removed from the election committee category on the grounds that they were "non-political organizations."

Some establishments took the opportunity to point the finger at the pan-democrats, accusing them of often bringing political issues into the parliament, making the district councils supposed to be concerned about the deterioration of the original intent of the people's livelihood in the region.

Some people even suggest that the SAR government re-appoint members in the district councils, or delegate powers to the district committees, which are also district advisory organizations.

However, the relevant proposals may exacerbate the ambiguity of the powers and responsibilities of district boards and district committees. Furthermore, the problem with district boards becoming highly politicized is that all parties have not clarified the functions, powers and responsibilities of district boards and district committees. It is necessary for the authorities to speak clearly so as to ensure that the governors of different positions can perform their respective duties.

Reflecting on Community Governance Series Report No. 6

related articles:

[Rethinking the District Council.

1. The Civic Party Mai Zijian: What did the establishment do?

[Rethinking the District Council.

2] The People's League Zuo Huixiong: The government's improper governance and the establishment of the system are tragic

[Rethinking the District Council.

Three] Independent Organization Zhang Jingxun: District Councillors should be forward-looking

[Rethinking the District Council.

Four] Democratic Party Ye Zijie: Improving people's livelihood should not divide political views

[Rethinking the District Council.

5] Functions specified in the regulations: political issues should not be discussed

Tan Yaozong, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, pointed out in a media interview earlier that before the change of district councils, the central government or the SAR government will study and adjust the composition of district councils, such as changing the total number of district councilors and districts. He also pointed out that some people suggested that new district councils should be reconsidered. Appoint members to increase representativeness and balance opinions.

This remark is inevitably associated with the series of political disputes caused by the pan-democrats in the district council.

For example, on January 16 last year, when the Commissioner of Police Deng Bingqiang attended the Central and Western District Council, he was called "PK Deng" by pan-democratic councillors. Before the end of the meeting, District Councillor Ip Kam-lung proposed a provisional motion to condemn Deng Bingqiang for sheltering the "police violence". Asked him to step down, Tang Pingqiang and the District Affairs Commissioner left immediately. On March 24 of the same year, the Wan Chai District Council held its fourth meeting. Vice Chairman Mai Jingxing proposed a written motion against the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law and was criticized as "extra power." "; On January 15 this year, the Home Affairs Commissioner stated that the Tai Po District Council’s Security and Constitutional Affairs Committee oversees "Immigration Affairs" in Tai Po District and other terms of reference does not conform to the functions of the District Councils under the District Councils Ordinance. During the election of the vice chairman, officials from the Civil Affairs Department and the District Council Secretariat voluntarily left the scene.

Similar cases abound. As a district councilor who reflects public opinion, promotes community building, and supervises public services at the regional level, it is natural to strengthen communication and coordination with law enforcement agencies on community public security issues, but to condemn the issue of “police violence”. Asking Deng Pingqiang to step down or to set up a "Security and Constitutional Affairs Committee" with the functions of the Legislative Council obviously brought the Parliament into political disputes and undermined the benign relationship of cooperating with the District Affairs Commissioner in handling regional affairs.

Of course, political disputes in Hong Kong have to be dealt with, and the incident involves social conflicts and negative emotions accumulated by the anti-amendment turmoil. "Politicians" need to force the government to investigate the incident and clarify who is responsible for the incident.

Although the community has debated the nature of the powers of the district councils in the past, the main responsibility of the district councils is to provide advice to the government on various district affairs and pay attention to the welfare of the district, rather than proposing motions from the "legislative" level in an attempt to concurrently serve as the legislative council to make laws , Examine and approve public expenditures, supervise the functions of government work, and even pursue "police violence" responsibility.

Tang Pingqiang was asked to step down when he attended the Central and Western District Council last year, and eventually left with officials from the Civil Affairs Department.

Area committees will use funding to promote public participation in government activities.

(Profile picture)

District Council and Legislative Council can strengthen cooperation

In fact, as a district organization, the functions of district councils are regulated by the Basic Law and the District Councils Ordinance. In the past, the government used Article 97 of the Basic Law to define district councils as "non-political" organizations: "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may Establish non-political regional organizations to accept consultations from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government on regional management and other matters, or to provide cultural, recreational, and environmental sanitation services." The term "non-political" mainly means "no "Political power" (legislative power, executive power and judicial power), but because the Basic Law does not contain precise terms to delineate the nature of the power of district councils, district councils also hold election committee seats for nominating and electing the chief executive. And the district councillors have the power to stand for the district board (second) functional constituency, so there have been debates about the nature of the powers of the district board.

However, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed earlier amendments to Annex 1 and Annex 2 of the Basic Law to amend Hong Kong’s electoral system to clearly define the district council as a “non-political organization” and no longer have seats on the electoral committee and the legislative council. The council returns to a purely "consultation framework" and is responsible for providing advice to the government on matters concerning the local people's livelihood and welfare, the provision of public facilities and services, the adequacy of plans formulated by each district and the order of implementation, the use of public funds for local public works and community activities, etc. .

It can be seen that although most of the district councils and legislative council members are elected by the people and are part of the Hong Kong parliamentary system, the district councils do not have the functions and powers of the legislative council, and cannot formulate specific laws and approve specific laws. The government does not have the power to impeach the chief's negligence in public expenditure, and its functions are limited to regional welfare and the use of public funds.

On March 24, the Wan Chai District Council held its fourth meeting. Vice Chairman Mai Jingxing proposed a written motion against the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law.

(Profile picture)

But, what is citizen welfare?

For example, the representatives of the district councillors in the above incidents often extended "welfare" to political development issues such as legislation in Article 23 of the Basic Law or immigration matters. They also pointed out that the legal definition of "welfare" for people's livelihood not only includes material, but also includes freedom and human rights. , Democracy, and the mental and physical health of residents. Therefore, they believe that the district council has the right to monitor the above-mentioned areas and insist on proposing similar temporary motions in the district council. This has attracted the District Affairs Commissioner to voluntarily leave the scene time and time again.

This approach seems reasonable at first glance, but it cannot withstand scrutiny.

If in accordance with the logic of the above-mentioned democrats, in fact, all government decisions may directly or indirectly affect the "welfare" of residents, does it mean that the district boards need to monitor all areas?

If this is the case, the powers of the district boards can be said to be vast, so why is there still a need for a legislative council?

In fact, the district council is only a regional advisory body. It does not have the statutory power like the Legislative Council to force or formulate bills to require the government to do things. Even though the district councillors pass a written bill in the council to require government departments to strengthen law enforcement on regional issues, they rely solely on consultation. Cooperation between institutions and departments has limited actual results.

The staff of government departments can also "surface treatment" problems, such as the "sing and dance performance" problem in Tuen Mun Park that has plagued neighbourhoods for a long time. The staff of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and police representatives only came to the scene to advise and remind them, but they did not help solve the problem.

The restoration of Tuen Mun Park attracted about 10,000 people to attend, asking the government to face the problem squarely.

(Photo/Photo by Luo Guohui)

In this case, instead of "exceeding power" in the district councils, the district councillors can strengthen cooperation with legislative council members who are also "public opinion representatives."

On the one hand, the district council’s appropriation is an expenditure item under Head 63 of the Home Affairs Department. The amount of appropriation is voted and approved by the Legislative Council in accordance with the recommendations of the "Budget" every year for the implementation of projects and activities in the 18 districts of Hong Kong. At the beginning of the fiscal year, appropriations are allocated according to the area and regional characteristics of each district. Members of the Legislative Council should seek more opinions from district councilors, put pressure on the government on relevant regional issues, and even propose amendments to the appropriation of relevant districts, forcing the government to take it seriously. Regional issues may promote effective governance.

On the other hand, with regard to the Tuen Mun Park issue, the public has repeatedly launched the "Recover Tuen Mun" operation to force the government to face the problem squarely. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department finally proposed to amend the "Pleasure Grounds Regulations" and last year Effective on July 24, it restricts people from receiving rewards for music activities or related activities in the playgrounds under the management of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and gives the Leisure and Cultural Services Department more power to control nuisance music activities.

But for this kind of people’s livelihood issues, why don’t district board members take the initiative to work with members of the Legislative Council to study solutions and propose amendments through the Legislative Council, instead wasting more than ten years of time waiting for government departments to "work"?

Should not overlap with the area committee

The district councillors failed to clarify their boundaries and confused the functions of legislators and district councillors, which caused a series of political disputes.

In response to the above problems, the Secretary for Home Affairs Xu Yingwei pointed out in the Home Affairs Committee of the Legislative Council on January 11 this year that the existing district councils are no longer valid. In the future, the work of the district councils will be specifically reviewed and the solution will be announced in due course.

Some people suggested that the government empower the district committees, which are also district consulting organizations, to gradually take over the functions of district boards.

For example, Zhou Haoding, vice chairman of the DAB and current legislative council member, earlier proposed that the supervision of public works in the district should be followed up by the district committees.

Tan Yiu-chung even suggested that the government should re-appoint members in the district councils to increase the representativeness of the district councils and balance opinions.

The Area Committee will organize activities in the Bingshu District and apply for funding from the District Council.

(Central and Western District Information Network)

In fact, the district councils and area committees have multiple similarities in terms of staff composition and functions. Although the latter is subordinate to the District Office, in terms of the staff structure, members of the community are invited to join the committee. Before the term of the District Council, it can be said that it is customary for the current District Council members to concurrently serve as members of the Area Committees.

For example, the last Tuen Mun District Committee had a total of 126 people, of whom 28 were then district councilors, and 8 of them were from the democratic camp.

The purpose behind this approach was clarified when the Legislative Council's Home Affairs Committee discussed the fate of zone committees as early as 1998.

The then Secretary for Home Affairs, Lan Hung-chen, believed that district councils and area committees complement each other. District councillors are "usually" appointed as members of the area committees of their districts to ensure close ties between the district boards and the area committees.

In terms of functions, since the establishment of the district council system in 1982, the district committee’s mandate is to promote public participation in district affairs, to provide advice and assistance on matters such as organizing community participation activities and implementing government-sponsored programs, and to promote the residents of the district. The community spirit of the district organization.

According to Article 61 of the "District Councils Ordinance", the functions of the district councils are not only responsible for the various livelihood and welfare projects of the district, but also when the funds are allocated, the district councilors are also responsible for the district environmental improvement affairs, recreational and cultural activities promotion affairs and community activities. .

The relationship between the two in district affairs can theoretically be understood as that the district councils are responsible for advising the government on district work and reserve government funds for activities organized by the area committees; the area committees use the funds to promote public participation in government activities. Can advise different departments on regional affairs and provide advice to the Office of Home Affairs.

Area committees use funding to promote public participation in government activities.

(Profile picture)

In fact, most of the issues discussed by district board members and area committees are duplicated.

For example, take the meeting of the Northeast District Committee of the Tuen Mun District Council from 2020 to 2022 on March 16 this year as an example. The discussions centered on traffic congestion, road widening, public order issues, and discussions with the District Council on the same day. The full-time committee has a wide range of discussions.

Even though the area committees are responsible for organizing recreational activities such as carnivals and reunification performances, they will also co-organize area activities with government departments. For example, the Independent Commission Against Corruption organized the integrity promotion activities in Tuen Mun district, and the Northeast Area Committee was invited to become the support organization of the activities.

However, the above-mentioned functions overlap with the district activity groups under the jurisdiction of the district councils. The two also hold regular meetings and directly meet with relevant government departments on district matters, which raises doubts about the significance of the district committees.

Especially since the pan-democrats' victory in the district councils, the Home Affairs Department changed the past practice of appointing current district councilors and appointed at least 96 protagonists who lost in the district council elections. They do not need to be like the current district councilors. Responsible to the "voters", and the operation of the zone committees is seriously lacking in transparency and appointment criteria. The public cannot check the minutes of the meetings, and they have been repeatedly abolished by pan-democratic legislators.

For example, on September 8 last year, during the meeting of the Sham Shui Po District Council, some members of the democratic camp moved to stop funding the area committees to force the government to abolish the area committees.

At that time, Sham Shui Po District Officer Li Guoxiong reiterated that the district committees have the function of collecting public opinion. The government has hundreds of committees to collect public opinion on specific issues, and organizing activities are also welcomed by the neighbourhood.

However, the commissioner’s response could not dispel the doubts of the members. The motion was finally passed with the support of the democrats. As of today, no meeting documents of the Sham Shui Po Area Committee for 2020-2022 have been uploaded on the website of the District Council.

As there are reports that the government may expand the composition of the district committees and appoint the losers on a large scale, the democrats and their supporters are very dissatisfied. Therefore, there are voices that hope that district councils can completely block the district committee funding.

(Data Picture/Photo by Yu Junliang)

However, the "successful fight" of the Sham Shui Po District Council is limited to the district and cannot fundamentally solve the problem-to clarify the actual functions and division of labor between the district boards and the area committees. Area committees with unclear powers and responsibilities are just "chicken ribs" in the structure of the district boards. .

If the government empowers the area committees, it will only become a "victim" of the confrontation between the pan-democracy and the establishment, making the original vague boundaries of authority even more unclear, and failing to perform the original functions of the district councils and area committees.

The government should clarify the division of labor between the two. For example, only the function of collecting opinions should be delegated to the members of the district committees, and the district councils and the district affairs commissioners shall conduct research and discussion on the opinions collected by the districts to avoid overlapping functions.

If the government re-appoints members in the district boards to resolve the current political disputes in the district boards, their nature is still the same as that of the current district committee members. When the criteria for appointment are unclear, there is no need to "account" the public, how to ensure Can these members increase the representativeness of the parliament and provide useful regional "opinions"?

The role of the District Officer should be strengthened

Finally, in order to achieve effective governance that "seeks its own place", benign cooperation between the district councillors and the home affairs commissioners responsible for handling district affairs is undoubtedly indispensable.

As the home affairs commissioner in charge of the various home affairs offices, he is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government at the district level and supervises the operation of the "District Administration Plan" in the district.

They are responsible for implementing and coordinating the work of the district plans, ensuring that the recommendations made by the district councils are followed up appropriately, and promoting the participation of the residents in district affairs.

At the same time, they need to keep in touch with people from all walks of life in the community and report their concerns and issues to the government.

From this point of view, the Home Affairs Commissioner can be understood as a bridge between the District Councils and government departments, assisting in cross-departmental cooperation and dealing with different issues in the region, but the current relationship between the District Council and the Home Affairs Commissioner can be described as "freezing." According to " According to the statistics of "Zhong News", from January to November 23 last year, the district councilors/assistant home affairs officers led the secretariat and officials to leave at least 73 times in the district council meetings, involving at least 89 items on the agenda. Most of them are related to political issues, including "police violence", June 4th incident, 12 Hong Kong residents, etc. There are also epidemic issues that have been "DQ" by the commissioner. The most direct way to improve the relationship between the commissioner of home affairs and district councilors is The method is to restrict the content of the speeches of district councilors, "talk less about politics and return to the people's livelihood."

The democrats won the district council elections and successfully won more than 380 seats.

However, in the past year, there have been many incidents in the district councils, the relationship between the democratic district councillors and the government is at odds with each other, and the civil affairs commissioners have often left the scene with other officials.

(Profile picture)

However, even before the pan-democrats dominated the district councils, the home affairs commissioners had limited coordinating powers. When faced with complex regional issues, they did not have decision-making and executive powers to quickly coordinate various regional departments and deal with incidents, even in the face of the current incumbent. When a district board member puts forward a sensitive provisional motion, he has to "give the green light" to the government before he dares to lead the secretariat or other government personnel to leave the venue, or refuse to provide secretariat services.

For example, of the 73 departures mentioned above, 40 of them occurred after the government issued the district board departure guidelines in August.

The Home Affairs Commissioner’s Guidelines issued by the government in August last year mainly "instruct" the Commissioner how to deal with "crisis". For example, when a district councillor displays a slogan or song that violates "One Country, Two Systems" or the "Minato National Security Act", Must leave; the only guideline with the symbol of "empowerment" is that when government bureaus or departments need to notify the Civil Affairs Commissioner of potentially controversial issues, the Civil Affairs Commissioner can convene and set up regional inter-departmental groups, and relevant departments should also inter-bureaucratic Cooperate on issues and exercise statutory and administrative powers within their respective powers. However, the district coordinating power of the Home Affairs Commissioner is still limited.

Now that the central government is making changes to the election system in Hong Kong, one of the main purposes is to "strengthen administrative leadership." Under the framework of such a political system, the Civil Affairs Commissioner needs more power to strengthen its role in coordinating the work of the government in the region and strengthen the district. The communication between the parliament and the government can jointly manage regional affairs.

The urgent task at the moment is that the government should clarify the status quo of the unclear powers and responsibilities of the district councils and area committees at all levels, and straighten out the political and parliamentary structure, so as to ensure that the "Hong Kong governors" in different positions can perform their duties and promote Hong Kong to achieve a good governance. Good governance.

The above is excerpted from the 262th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly (April 26, 2021) "Clarifying the powers of the district councils and administering Hong Kong. Those who are responsible for their respective duties".

If you want to read the full text, please

click here to

sample the weekly newsletter and browse more in-depth reports.

Selected content of the 262 issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly News:

[Cover Story] Rethinking Community Governance-What kind of district council does Hong Kong need

Visit to HKBU Fact Check Center to combat fake news and improve media literacy of all citizens

Pursue a better life with Hong Kong society

Climate disasters are more harmful than epidemics. Sustainable investment becomes the "next normal"

The success and crisis of the Cuban model at the end of the Castro era

District Council District Council Election 01 Weekly Report in-depth report on the restoration of Tuen Mun Park Police Mob Civil Affairs Bureau Pan Democracy