Heung Yee Kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat said yesterday that he had declined an offer to stay as an Executive Council member under Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying so he could focus on handling conflicts over unauthorised structures in the New Territories.
Lau said he had tried to act as a peacemaker during the government's crackdown on unauthorised and illegal structures as protests by angry villagers began to swell from the middle of last year.
Speaking at a meeting of the rural affairs body yesterday, Lau said the 'house removal storm' had taken the relationship between the kuk and its 27 rural committees and the government to a low point.
'To handle this storm and defend villagers' traditional legal rights, I decided not to accept the Executive Council appointment so I could focus on the Heung Yee Kuk's work,' he said.
Lau said politics in rural New Territories had been 'stirred up like the wind and rain' recently, and that 'the people's discontent was rising'.
But he said he hoped he could continue leading the kuk to co-operate with the government.
During the unauthorised housing structure row, many rural residents accused Lau of being weak in negotiating with the government.