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How can the government despise the parliament and provoke dissatisfaction without oversight to promote good governance?

2022-06-22T00:35:34.513Z


After the turmoil against the amendment bill in 2019, the central government moved to revise the electoral system in Hong Kong. Although the number of seats in the Legislative Council increased from 70 to 90, the number of directly elected seats was reduced from 30 to 20, and the 5-seat super district council seats were cancelled.


After the turmoil against the amendment bill in 2019, the central government moved to revise the electoral system in Hong Kong. Although the number of seats in the Legislative Council increased from 70 to 90, the number of directly elected seats was reduced from 30 to 20, and the 5-seat super district council seats were cancelled. ——The pan-democratic faction is almost "extinct", replaced by a large number of new stars of the establishment.

It stands to reason that the political duality will no longer exist, the relationship between the executive and the legislature will return to normal, and no one will use the "rab" to delay the government's legislation.

However, after the five-month session, members have complained one after another that the SAR government has not been able to take into account the views of members. From the perspective of some of the government's operations, it is inevitable that some people will question the legislative and supervisory functions of the Legislative Council.


For example, Leung Hee, Member of the Legislative Council for Hong Kong Island East of the DAB, criticized the government for its habit of "submitting documents late", sometimes not submitting relevant information to the Legislative Council until the night before the meeting, so that members did not have enough time to understand the issues and affected the quality of the meeting Deng Fei, a member of the Election Committee, also expressed the hope that the government will not listen to the opinions of members at the later stage of policy formulation, but should consult the members during the drafting process; another member of the parliament complained to the media, describing this approach as making members a "representative". mobile phone".

Jiang Yuhuan said that he, like other "Shan Ding Members", did not know the policy until "very late" and could only express his opinions at the Bills Committee, but "if you don't agree to change once, you will make trouble with me."

(Photo by Liang Pengwei)

Cai Ziqiang, a senior lecturer at the Department of Politics and Administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told the "Hong Kong 01" reporter that the current Legislative Council's supervision ability has declined, which is reflected in the limited familiarity of members with issues and the narrowing of parliamentary supervision space.

Choi Tsz-keung found that with experts in certain policy areas leaving Parliament, there are currently no "newcomers to the Legislative Council" with sufficient expertise to fill their vacancies: "For example (former Democratic Legislative Council member) Lee Wing-tat, he is recognized as a landslider. Experts on housing issues. But when the pan-democratic MPs are not there, many new members of parliament try to find their positions, but they are not "familiar" and have no grasp of many issues. You will find that whenever there is a relevant issue, reporters will turn to ask the local people Research societies or other civil society organisations are more professional and understand the issues than MPs.”

Under the new election system, there are 56 "new members of the Legislative Council" and 34 senior members.

Cai Ziqiang believes that these "old people" are limited by their political spectrum and limited supervision of the government. "They seem to be confined to a narrow political spectrum, and they often worry about whether asking certain questions will embarrass the government? Will it harm the government?" Social harmony? Afraid of receiving "warm reminders"."

According to him, the current Legislative Council members will receive "warm reminders" from time to time, reminding them not to entangle with the government on certain issues, or reminding them that it is not time to touch on certain issues, thinking that certain questions may not be conducive to social harmony and stability .

Cai Ziqiang believes that the supervision ability of the current Legislative Council has declined, which is reflected in the current members' familiarity with issues and changes in the parliamentary supervision space.

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

"For example, the development of the northern metropolitan area and Lantau tomorrow are all national policies that the central government is concerned about. Members asked whether they would be regarded as anti-central and anti-government, and would be detrimental to social harmony? Even if you support the policy, there are bound to be blind spots within the huge infrastructure project, and it is necessary to Members should supervise and clarify the problems, otherwise it will become a 'big white elephant project'." Cai Ziqiang pointed out the overrun incident of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail project in 2014 as an example, "In the past, pan-democratic parliamentarians would be poor to the government on these blind spots and details. Reluctant to give up. You remind them to 'let go', but they are even more reluctant to give up, but there will still be such oversight in Parliament in the future?"

Cai Ziqiang said: "You think that the parliament in the past had too much 'rab' and too much political criticism, instead of effectively supervising the government and promoting good governance and good governance. But the current situation is just the opposite. gone."

For details, please read "Hong Kong 01" e-weekly issue No. 322 (June 20, 2022) "

Internal protests turned into out-of-conference negotiations, how does the Legislative Council check and balance and cooperate with the government?

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Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-06-22

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