Martin Lee calls for more dissenting voices
Pro-democracy lawmakers criticised the government yesterday for not allowing dissenting voices on various advisory and statutory bodies.
The legislators challenged the government to disclose the political background of Election Committee members appointed to statutory and advisory bodies.
There are about 800 members on the Election Committee, which has the power to choose the chief executive and has representation in the Legislative Council. About 390 of them have been appointed to about 500 advisory and statutory bodies.
In the Legco meeting yesterday, Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping said the government was unable to provide the political background of those members because they were chosen on the basis of merit rather than political background.
'The political affiliation of a candidate, or whether he is a member of the Election Committee, is not an important factor,' he said.
Martin Lee Chu-ming, of the Democratic Party, said Dr Ho acknowledged that very few people from the democracy camp were sitting in those bodies.
'You [Dr Ho] said the government will enlist talents from ... people holding different views. But very few democrats have been chosen. Does that imply there aren't democratic professionals to choose from?' Mr Lee said.
Dr Ho noted there were few democrats and promised to examine the issue when revising the appointment arrangements.
