Opinion | Ending budget filibuster was Legco's darkest day
Albert Cheng says action of president effectively killed off legislature's independence, while pan-democrats simply stood by and let it happen
On Tuesday, the president of the Legislative Council, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, finally ended 60 hours of filibustering on the budget bill with some tricky manoeuvring and the support of semi-reluctant mainstream democratic lawmakers.
It was Legco's darkest day and a sad moment that marked the death of one of our core values - the separation of powers between the three branches of government.
Limiting the time on the budget debate is equal to stripping the constitutional rights of lawmakers
Hong Kong people are no doubt saddened by the fact that our proud system and competitive advantages built up for over a century have been shattered overnight.
The delaying tactics were launched by a small group of radicals from the League of Social Democrats and People Power to protest against the lack of a universal pension scheme and to demand a HK$10,000 cash handout for local residents. They moved some 700 amendments to the bill and engaged in long speeches to draw out the debate.
I have never had any hope that Tsang would do the right thing as Legco president. Since taking over, he has been trying to portray an impartial political image. He may have fooled the majority of the public and the media, not to mention the pan-democrats, but not me.
Under the eye of the central government and Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong, Tsang had to toe the line and fulfil a political mission, which meant that ending the filibuster was inevitable. Even though his actions seemed to be based on the Basic Law and Legco's rules of procedure, Tsang has still killed off the legislature's independence.