Opinion | Herd instincts of Hong Kong's pro-establishment lawmakers point to woeful lack of talent in politics
Gary Cheung says independence of thought appears to be sorely missing in the Beijing loyalist camp, and this includes the party's new leader
Starry Lee Wai-king, chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, raised some eyebrows with her down-to-earth question at the chief executive's question-and-answer session last Thursday.
Lee's was the opening question at Leung's first encounter with lawmakers since the rejection of the electoral reform package in Legco last month. She asked what action the government would take to tackle the hygiene black spots in the city. In response, Leung unveiled a plan for a citywide campaign to clean the streets.
Lee's question fell short of the expectations of many people who believed that, as an executive councillor and leader of Hong Kong's biggest party, she should have raised a bigger issue - such as how the government planned to improve relations with the pan-democrats in the post-reform era.
The accountant-turned-politician is still seen as lacking character and strong personal style, three months after taking the helm of the DAB. Unlike her predecessors Tam Yiu-chung and Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, who led the party through some hard times, Lee has yet to show the charisma expected of her. Instead, the softly spoken lawmaker always chooses her words carefully and seldom departs from the expected line.
Tam still has a leading role in the pro-establishment camp even after stepping down as DAB chairman. Lee was nearly invisible in the botched walkout by 31 pro-establishment lawmakers from the legislature seconds before the historic vote on the government's electoral reform package - except that she joined the bungled move.
Lee, who has been groomed for bigger things by veteran DAB leaders since she joined in 2004, is not the only pro-establishment lawmaker who lacks character. Ng Leung-sing, the lawmaker for the finance sector, told the media after the walkout that he simply "followed the footsteps of other colleagues first, without asking any questions".
His reply was reminiscent of the famous quote by Lin Biao , once Mao Zedong's anointed successor during the Cultural Revolution, that "we must implement Chairman Mao's instructions even if we don't understand them".