Let the court clarify what is acceptable behaviour when taking oaths
The government’s move to eject four more lawmakers may raise tensions, and we should trust our judges to rule according to the law
The oath-taking fiasco leading to the disqualification of two pro-independence lawmakers has intensified. Just when the legislature is struggling to restore order and stability following the saga, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung have again asked the court to remove another four opposition members on the grounds that they had failed to take their oaths of office according to the law.
The government may think that it is only fair to oust those who have not sworn themselves in properly, especially after the state’s top legislative body stepped in with an interpretation of the relevant provision in the Basic Law. But the move to unseat more pro-democracy lawmakers has raised the stakes even higher, so much so that it may backfire and fuel more uncertainty. Speculation has been growing ever since as many as 15 lawmakers were deemed by Beijing as having failed to swear in properly under the law. Instead of invalidating them in one fell swoop, the judicial review only targeted Edward Yiu Chung-yim of the architectural sector and three directly elected members, Lau Siu-lai, Leung Kwok-hung and Nathan Law Kwun-chung.