Update | Hong Kong chief executive faces TV debate challenge over reform
Civic Party leader says proposed discussion should take place as soon as possible
A leading pan-democrat yesterday challenged the chief executive to a televised debate on political reform after the idea was floated by a top legal scholar.
Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit threw down the gauntlet after the idea was floated by Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee.
"The Civic Party can right now issue a challenge to Leung Chun-ying. It's best if we could enter the debate as soon as possible," Leong said.
He spoke after Chen, also a member of Beijing's Basic Law Committee, told the media that government officials and the pan-democrats should debate the government's model for the 2017 chief executive election. Pan-democrats are vowing to vote down the model if, as expected, it is based on a framework set by Beijing, with strict limits on nominations.
Chen said he felt that no moderate proposal - even his own suggestion of a "none-of-the-above" option on the ballot - could please both sides. He said debate would help Hongkongers decide what to say in a proposed opinion poll, conducted by a government-commissioned independent party, on whether the package should be approved.
But constitutional affairs chief Raymond Tam Chi-yuen said he would "firmly oppose" such an idea, based on his experiences of a 2010 debate on reform between ex-chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and Leong's party colleague Audrey Eu Yuet-mee.
"A few years ago, I arranged for a debate between the then chief executive and another lawmaker when I was the director of the Chief Executive's Office. I deeply regretted doing that," Tam said. A debate "with many rules like those for presidential elections overseas" would not help solve the impasse, Tam added. He said Beijing officials would not hold talks with pan-democrats at this stage.