Civic Party gets a timely wake-up call
Long before her defeat in the Legislative Council election last September, it was an open secret that relations between Mandy Tam Heung-man and the core of the Civic Party, which she co-founded, had been fraught with unease and uncertainty.
Her re-election bid was only endorsed by the party following an intense debate. In view of her declining popularity within the accountancy functional constituency, it was feared that she would lose.
She did - to Paul Chan Mo-por, by a sizeable margin. And, before her setback in the Legco poll, she also lost her seat in the Wong Tai Sin District Council, where she made a successful debut in elective politics.
With that double blow, her political career has been cast into doubt.
Against such a background, it is not surprising that her decision to quit the party at the weekend did not cause a stir in political waters.
Although her dramatic decision to vote down the 2007-2008 electoral blueprint in 2005 proved to be crucial, the fame of the 'Goddess of Democracy', as she was dubbed, proved to be short-lived.
Compared with the four prominent Civic Party barrister-legislators, Ms Tam has been unable to build solid support both from her accountancy constituents and the public.
There is no denying that her departure will be an embarrassment to the party. Her criticism that the party has overly emphasised political issues at the expense of livelihood improvements will play into the hands of Civic Party-bashers.
She is also not the first, and certainly won't be the last, to say that the party has been slow to move into district work.
The fact that there may be some truth to her criticism means the media is unlikely to get very excited and try to take things much further.
Barring more unexpected resignations of prominent members, her decision to quit is unlikely to inflict severe damage on the party, or weaken it.
It will not take long for the story of her resignation to vanish from the headlines, unless the controversy turns ugly. At this stage, that appears unlikely.
But her departure is also indicative of something more fundamental about the party's development. Indeed, Ms Tam is not alone in voicing her frustration and disappointment.
The fact that such views came from a founder member shows that the party, more than three years after its inception, is still unable to articulate its thoughts on such fundamental issues as the relationship between politics and livelihood matters - and between community-wide and district-based interests.
The Civic Party has paid a price for pressing the government on issues such as the idea of a 'second governing team', floated by the central government liaison office research head Cao Erbao. Critics have said it is oversensitive about the role of mainland bodies in Hong Kong while giving too little attention to economic and livelihood issues.
The party's approach of attaching great importance to its members' efforts in Legco and winning over the media makes it vulnerable to such salvos.
The party, which originated from the barrister-led Article 23 Concern Group, is bent on diluting its elitist, lawyer-dominated image by having a better mix of people in its core leadership.
Ms Tam aside, its leadership once included professionals such as former legislator (social welfare) Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung. One of its vice-chairmen, Albert Lai Kwong-tak, is an engineer and environmental activist.
Although Ms Tam's political potential may remain in doubt, her resignation makes it doubly difficult for the Civic Party to boost its strengths by broadening its base and policy agenda.
Chris Yeung is the Post's editor-at-large.
