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Interview ︱ Yuan Haiwen: The Democratic Party takes time to heal and think about the transformation of people’s livelihood work and never rely on seats alone

2021-10-14T23:09:27.714Z


The Democratic Party closed the registration for internal participation in the Legislative Council election on Monday (11th). The Central Committee did not receive any party member registration. Han Dongfang, the only party who publicly stated his intention to win the election, failed to obtain enough party members’ nominations. In other words


The Democratic Party closed the application for internal participation in the Legislative Council election on Monday (11th). The Central Committee did not receive any party member registration. Han Dongfang, the only party who publicly stated his intention to win the election, failed to obtain enough party nomination. In other words, the Democratic Party This year will be absent from the Legislative Council election for the first time.


In an interview with "Hong Kong 01", the Democratic Party member of Sham Shui Po District Yuan Haiwen said that there are many reasons why he and the Democratic Party did not stand for election. The most important thing is to maintain the unity of the party and after careful evaluation of the chances of winning, he believes that he is still not ready.

He pointed out that politicians will never rely on a single seat for people's livelihood work. If they really show their performance in people's livelihood work, they will be recognized by the public.

He described that under the current political situation, the Democratic Party is still in the "healing" stage and needs time to think about the transformation and the way forward.


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Describing that passing the oath is a "coincidence" does not mean that it has been recognized by the system

At the time of the visit, the Democratic Party had already concluded its participation in the Legislative Council election.

Yuan Haiwen said that there are many reasons for the decision not to participate in the election. First of all, he stated that even if he passes the oath, it does not mean that he will be able to enter the gate in the future. There are many "coincidences" in passing an oath to continue to be a member of the Diet. For example, in the past rumors of the government, many of the "negative list" behaviors involved members' offices; and because there were no public housing estates in the constituency, he was in the past. Under the "influence" of the Civil Affairs Department, it is impossible to rent the office. There is no official office for councillors to this day, so there is no "recruitment." "Lucky" component. Moreover, the red line is set by the government. The so-called "harm to Hong Kong's overall interests" is defined so vaguely that it can be changed at any time."

According to the threshold originally set by the Democratic Party, party members who intend to stand for election must obtain 20 member nominations from their regional branches and 5 member nominations from each of the remaining 4 regional branches.

According to Lu Wenduan, the vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, this approach is like "a high threshold for elections in disguise."

Yuan Haiwen did not agree with this statement. He assessed that at the moment in the party, if they really fight for nomination, at least five or more people are capable of obtaining enough party nomination, including himself.

He also believes that the threshold may indeed be slightly higher than in the past, but in the past legislative council elections, there were more nomination checkpoints in the Democratic Party, including polls, 8 current members voting for support, and approval by the branch membership meeting. Due to lack of time, the procedures have been greatly reduced: "It is obviously not the whole truth to say that our threshold is too high and make it difficult for party members who intend to stand for election. We have skipped so many procedures, why don't those people mention it? "

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I can barely win the election

Yuan believes that the Democratic Party has two very important considerations. One is to maintain the unity of the party: "We will see this time that there are many different opinions in the party, especially many people who think that they should not stand for election. Of course, some of them are dissatisfied. The new electoral system, but many people say that the Democratic Party is still not ready. Even those who support the election have diverse views, and I respect Han Dongfang’s views, and I have given them too. He is nominated." The second is the actual chance of winning: "After the election, will the public still vote for you? In particular, we will see many core supporters of the Democratic Party. Seeing the dissolution of the Education Association and the FDC, they all think that the Democratic Party should not Can you run for the election again, when all objective conditions are unsuitable, will you reluctantly run for the election, will it help us maintain public support?"

Yuan Haiwen admitted frankly that during August and September, the establishment camp, especially Lu Wenduan, used different methods to "ventilate" and even "intimidate" elements. He said that if the Democratic Party did not stand for election, it might violate the National Security Law, confront the Basic Law, etc. A lot of hats, "In this case, if you rashly decide to run or not, do you think this will still be the true opinion of the party members?"

He also stated that he did not want to respond in particular to Lu Wenduan's remarks, especially when he noticed that his views on what the Democratic Party means "can enter the gate" and what it means "cannot enter the gate" are also the same for the time being.

"These lines will keep drifting, and it will be hard to guarantee that you will vote against Article 23 in the future, and you will be said to "do not support the Basic Law" and "endanger national security." If everything is subject to the wind and noise he releases, wouldn't it? Being led by the nose by him? This is endless. We must focus on the autonomy of the party."

Lu Wenduan, the vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, has written several articles about the Democratic Party in recent months, which is considered to be "inspiring."

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The people's livelihood work seat is only an auxiliary

Yuan Haiwen also mentioned a deeper problem: It is often said that if a political party does not have seats, it will lose its existence value and that officials will not care about people without public office status. But this is actually a question of "chickens and eggs first", even if there are seats. When the government deliberately empties itself, it can also be difficult.

For example, he pointed out that the district councils of the democrats dominate the district. Not only are the district offices reluctant to listen to political content, but even people’s livelihood work deliberately creates difficulties for the district councils. “For example, in October last year, the district council wanted to promote health and safety in Sham Shui Po District. The community hopes that private doctors’ clinic fees will be more transparent, and a patient’s rights-related investigation will be initiated. This is not politically controversial, right? After waiting for a year, the Civil Affairs Department has not even issued a public invitation and cannot answer the specific reasons.” On the contrary, when the establishment dominated the district councils in the past, the Civil Affairs Department could say "whatever is needed" and approved an open invitation within two to three months.

He believes that what really determines the value of a political party or an individual politician depends on whether the past work performance is recognized by the public.

Yuan Haiwen cited consumer rights in the policy area of ​​his expertise as an example.

In the Banyan Tree closure event in early September, Yuan Qian received more than a thousand requests for help. "I believe that no member of Hong Kong has received more requests for help than me, not even the Consumer Council."

He mentioned that he had listened to the complaint of the victim through online video for three consecutive nights, and learned a large number of details of the case. The law enforcement agencies also politely contacted him to obtain useful information. In the end, the customs arrested Banyan Tree One on Tuesday (12th). Male directors.

"This is where the value of a politician lies? You have achieved achievements in regional work and livelihood policies, and you have received recognition from the public. If you know a certain category of issues, you are looking for. It doesn't matter whether you are a member of the Legislative Council. It depends on the facts. Therefore, for the development of a party, it must be difficult without a legislative council seat, but it will not be said that the people’s livelihood work must be sustainable if there are seats in the legislative council. "Since I joined the party, I haven’t used this model. The seat should be an auxiliary, and should not turn the cart before the horse. If it turns into “chasing seats to chase seats,” it’s not a good thing for anyone. Besides, if you live the people’s livelihood. Work is focused and doing your best. Even if the government qualifies you, these abilities can't be taken away; on the contrary, the government gives you power to do things. Then once the government dQs you or empties you, you can't do things. The world doesn't work like this." Yuan Haiwen said.

The Democratic Party is in a state of "injured", it takes time to explore the way forward

Therefore, Yuan Haiwen believes that under the new political normal, the Democratic Party also needs to think about how to transform in the future.

"In the past, everyone thought that as a political party, one must run for elections, but now that the space is so small, I would describe the Democratic Party as in a state of "injured", so many members have been arrested and charged, and freedom of speech and various aspects has been greatly reduced. Narrow, it takes a period of consolidation and recuperation." But he admitted that there is no clear direction at the moment: "There is no standard answer. If there is any, someone has said it early in the morning. It will take some time to explore. But at least we will stick to it. Keep serving the citizens and think of ways to develop other income. Of course, I also hope that the party can support party members more in terms of finances and so on."

To criticize the government for not sincerely caring for the people is purely "handing papers to the central government"

Looking forward to the future political situation, under the firm control of the Legislative Council by the establishment, there will no longer be any major political disputes in the Parliament.

Officials have always emphasized that after the implementation of "patriots ruling Hong Kong", the SAR government can concentrate on dealing with people's livelihood and achieve "good governance and good governance."

However, in Yuan Haiwen's eyes, this is also political work at all.

"A government that really puts people’s livelihood first, should take the initiative to understand the needs of the people and make improvements, rather than waiting for the Central Liaison Office to settle in the district before signing in to the district together, and ‘steel making for the whole people’ style requirements to speed up housing construction. Such a hurry can sometimes bring other disadvantages.” Speaking of a specific example, Yuan Haiwen pointed back and pointed to a vacant lot: “This formerly was the Changsha Bay Cooked Food Market. After the FEHD took it back, the current government The plan is to build transitional houses.” However, he stated clearly that there are many flyovers next to the area and industrial buildings behind it. In fact, it is not suitable for building houses. However, in order to catch up with the backwardness, the government hastily decided to build transitional houses.

"It's basically to hand in homework to the central government. Seeing that the central government wants to say goodbye to the caged homes, they just take the medicine and build them without thinking clearly. Our Sham Shui Po District Council has always believed that the construction of a social welfare complex is most in the interests of the residents. It’s the consensus of our community.”

Yuan Haiwen lamented that the government, seeing that the central government attaches great importance to housing issues, hurriedly asked for speeding up housing construction and proposed "Northern Metropolitan Areas" to draw cakes and muscles, but for some policies that should also be implemented early in the morning that are beneficial to the people's livelihood, such as consumer cooling-off periods, medical beauty treatments, etc. The supervision of equipment, etc., is not mentioned in the Policy Address. In fact, to a considerable extent, it reflects that the government does not really care for the people’s urgent needs, but simply does what the central government wants, and does the most "politically correct" thing. It is political work in the end.

"Today the people of Hong Kong are most concerned about the issue that many basic human rights have been disproportionately suppressed under the National Security Act and the epidemic, and various freedoms have been drastically narrowed. It is impossible for the government not to know? But are they willing to deal with it? Woolen cloth?"

The Democratic Party does not run for the Legislative Council Li Huaming or resigns Lam Cheng: The new system welcomes the election of the Legislative Council with different political stances | Democrats: No party members sign up to run for the Legislative Council Luo Jianxi points out that the threshold is very reasonable, Banyan Tree and other 3 beauty companies shut down Yuan Haiwen accepts 900 victims for help The total amount exceeds 57 million

01News

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-10-14

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