LegCo in chaos as pro-establishment attempt to ram through draconian National Anthem legislation
Fights erupted in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on Friday, as rival lawmakers sought to take control of the House Committee.
There have been months of gridlock in the legislature as the election of a new House Committee chair has been strung out, as a result of filibustering by the temporary chair, Dennis Kwok.
“The current logjam in LegCo is a direct result of a broken system where the only strategy that the democrats have, despite representing the majority, is filibustering,” said Johnny Patterson, director of Hong Kong Watch.
Patterson continued: “Deadlock in a legislature often is part of a healthy democracy as it ensures the voice of the minority is heard and not trampled on. It happens in Congress & UK all the time. Rewriting the rules to bulldoze through bad legislation is not the answer.”
Despite Kwok chairing the election in lines with the Legislative Council rules and procedures, the pro-establishment camp have in recent weeks become increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress. Following pressure from the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong, the President of the Legislative Council Andrew Leung sought new legal advice on the issue, claiming that the incumbent Starry Lee was permitted to deal with committee matters while standing for reelection.
With democrats and pro-government lawmakers holding two pieces of conflicting legal advice, there was a major conflict on Friday about whether Mr Kwok or Ms Lee were the rightful chair of the committee.
One of the first pieces of legislation that Lee was seeking to fast-track was a controversial national anthem law.
In 2019, Hong Kong Watch published a report, written by Dr Kevin Carrico which raised serious concerns about the proposed National Security Legislation. The report underlines that:
The law introduces a number of vague charges which threaten rule of law and human rights
The use of Annex III for BJ to directly legislate in HK introduces a 'legislative backdoor' which undermines autonomy