Democrats welcome DAB abode action
Pro-democracy legislators who have been helping right of abode seekers challenge failed claims say they are not worried about losing votes to the DAB after the rival party flexed its muscles in the residency fight.
The pro-government Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong has been helping claimants make progress with their cases by using its links to Beijing.
Beijing's liaison office said it had submitted a report on the demands of 7,000 failed abode seekers to the central authorities after a new claimants group met DAB chairman Ma Lik last Sunday.
Analysts saw the liaison office move as an exercise to win the DAB votes for September's Legislative Council elections.
But Democratic Party lawmaker Cheung Man-kwong said legislators were pleased claimants were getting more help.
'There are things more valuable than votes, such as family reunions,' he said.
Legislator Cyd Ho Sau-lan from The Frontier said: 'Many parents said they understood the limitations of pro-democracy legislators.'
Chung Yik-chuen, who helped set up new abode group, the Request for Family Reunion Association, said it would keep out of politics.
The group will pursue family reunions in the interests of the mainland and Hong Kong. It bars members from holding assemblies or petitioning the government in its name without permission from the group's leaders.
